ROBERT ‘ROB’ JOHN ROMASH (1969-2024)
ROBERT “ROB” JOHN ROMASH was born on January 16, 1969, in New Jersey. He passed away at the age of 55 on June 9, 2024.
Rob was a talented artist, visionary, and modeler throughout his life. His impressive artistry started at the mere age of four, when he began building models, and continued until his passing.
Rob was an extremely gifted toy designer, as emphasized by his ability to hand-sculpt more than 100 Matchbox Master patterns for Mattel Toys, in addition to his ownership of Eclipse Toys, a successful toy shop that he opened in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Eclipse Toys’ website (www.eclipsetoys.com) includes a portfolio of Rob’s impressive work, in addition to information about his process of designing Matchbox models and his bountiful areas of expertise.
In the aeromodeling world, Rob excelled in Indoor Free Flight (FF) competition, securing numerous world championship titles! A unique aspect of Rob’s competition background is that he would only compete with aircraft that he designed himself. Pictured is Rob at three different AMA Indoor FF Nats events. He was a prominent Indoor FF modeler who consistently brought friendly competition, joy, and laughter to the events that he attended.
AMA was directly impacted by Rob’s designing talent because he was the individual who designed the AMA ALPHA and AMA BETA. The following are a few words about Rob by AMA Education Director Kyle Jaracz:
“Rob Romash was someone I looked up to in many ways. Of course, many of us knew him as an incredible Indoor FF modeler, but you had to see him in front of a crowd to know what a showman he was. He would stand in a corner somewhere at an event and begin his winding process, and then, as he began his final tune and prepared for release, you’d realize he was sharing what he was doing with the ever-growing crowd.
“It always started with kids, too. He had a way of capturing their imaginations as he was getting ready for a flight and, in my recollections, those flights always went well. Rob would wow the crowd with his flights but also have them hanging onto his every word, as if he were the pied piper of FF.
“Rob went even further to support the hobby that he loved and lived for. He came alongside AMA to offer his services in designing, developing, and delivering professionally crafted FF models for the masses. He insisted that each kit come with a 20:1 winder to encourage youth to grow within the FF hobby. These aircraft were to become the AMA ALPHA and AMA BETA models that we distribute to youth and the young at heart across the world today.
“I’ll never forget his Jersey accent and his New York attitude. He never failed to get a laugh out of me whenever we spoke. He was a friend to the hobby, a friend to his fellow modelers, and an advocate for the skies. Those of us left on the ground will remember him fondly, but each time a small hit of lift hits one of my models, I’ll grin and remember Rob, who’s sure to be messing with my airplanes in the sky where he belongs.
“Gone too soon, but a life well lived, Rob. I will miss you.”
2025 BALLOTS AND RENEWALS!
By Angie Martin, AMA Membership | angiem@modelaircraft.org
VOTING BALLOTS were recently sent for District II vice president (VP), District IV VP, District VI VP, District VIII VP, and District X VP. The ballots included a renewal notice for individuals in these districts whose memberships expire on or before January 31, 2025.
You can read campaign statements at www.modelaircraft.org/2024campaign or on page 101 of this issue of Model Aviation. Ballots must be postmarked by November 1, 2024.
Members in odd-numbered districts will not receive ballots this year, and individuals in these districts will receive renewal notices in the weeks leading up to their membership expiration date. You can easily renew your membership online at www.modelaircraft.org/membership/renew.
CLUB ANNIVERSARY AWARD
By Katie Perry, AMA Administrative Assistant | katiep@modelaircraft.org
IN THE EARLY 1960S, AMA began to embrace the growing number of model aviation clubs across the US, wanting to have them become a more formal part of the organization. AMA began chartering clubs at that time and hasn’t looked back. Since then, nearly 2,400 clubs have been created and chartered across the country.
Clubs are an integral part of keeping this hobby alive and well. If your club, or a club that you know of, is celebrating an upcoming anniversary, nominate it for a Club Anniversary Award! This award was made for clubs celebrating their 25th, 50th, 75th, or 100th anniversaries.
Nominating a club is as simple as gathering a bit of club history and filling out the online nomination form at www.modelaircraft.org/programs/clubs-anniversary. After the form has been filled out and submitted, the respective district vice president (VP) will review it to verify which anniversary certificate the club is eligible for.
After the district VP has approved the award, a PDF file is created and sent to the nominator. This PDF file allows the club to display the certificate anywhere they choose. Some clubs print the certificate and frame it, while others proudly display it on their website or on social media. The nominator will also receive an anniversary coin to display on any club materials that they have. That way, anyone and everyone can see just how long the club has been around and enjoying model aviation.
If you have any questions about the Club Anniversary Award, please reach out to Katie Perry at katiep@modelaircraft.org or (765) 287-1256, ext. 203.
Model Builder Plans
AMA PLANS SERVICE now houses all plans formerly sold through Model Builder, Bill Northrup’s Plan Service, and the Scratch Builder’s Almanac. There are more than 18,000 plans in the collection.
The Big Stik, designed by Don Anderson and Mike Smith, is “an enlarged version of Phil Kraft’s famous Ugly Stik” that was initially published in the October 1979 issue of Model Builder magazine. For the initial magazine article, the plans were traced by S.A. Patterson.
The Big Stik has a 100-inch wingspan, 75-inch length, 19-pound weight, and 30-sq. ft. area. The initial Model Builder article states that the airplane was Quadra-powered. Don wrote that he hopes “you don’t cut any corners on design to save weight, as you’ll need all the strength that is built in to handle the G-loads possible with the Quadra.”
Plans for the Big Stik, plans number 10791, can be purchased for $29 by visiting https://plans.modelaircraft.org, or by calling the AMA Plans Service at (765) 287-1256, ext. 507.
History Preserved
A PERSONAL TROPHY
By Michael Smith, National Aviation Museum Director | michaels@modelaircraft.org
THE FIRST PERPETUAL TROPHIES, the Mulvihill, created in 1923, and the Stout awards, created in 1926 and 1930, represented monumental achievements in aeromodeling. They were the pinnacle of awards in the early days of American aeromodeling, and when won, a modeler took these magnificent treasures home for at least a year.
Although I’ve touched on the Mulvihill in past articles, a recent donation highlights the Stout trophies, created by William Bushnell Stout. In the 1890s, William was inspired by a simple flying helicopter, just like two boys named Orville and Wilbur Wright had been a few years earlier. A construction article in The Youth’s Companion caught his attention, and he stated, “I made it very carefully according to the directions and was astounded that it flew. For days after, my dream was to make a machine big enough for me to fly about in.”
Like the Wright brothers, activities other than aviation paid the first bills. He began by writing construction articles for toys that could be built from items found around
the house. These appeared in magazines such as Harper’s Round Table, Scientific American, and The Youth’s Companion. Similar articles for the St. Paul Dispatch were picked up by McClure and distributed to newspapers across the US, and William suddenly had a full-time job under the penname “Jack Kneiff.”
An air show in Minneapolis rekindled his aviation attention, resulting in several model airplane articles for The Minneapolis Journal. Demonstrations followed, as did a model contest before the full-scale event. William could see the benefit of aeromodeling and wanted to encourage future aviators.
In 1915, he cofounded Aerial Age, one of the first magazines about full-scale aircraft, but models were still important, as highlighted by a regular “Model News” column by Walter Phipps. The first issue noted the following: “It is the intention of the publishers of Aerial Age to promote interest in and encourage scientific model build[ing] and flying ... to include weekly model news, and instructive articles on model building and flying, describing and illustrating in detail the construction of the most successful types of models.”
By the 1920s, although now involved in full-scale aircraft, model aircraft were never far from William’s mind. He viewed events such as the National Championship Model Airplane Meet as important ways to encourage youth to learn about aviation and how aircraft worked. He once wrote, “It did something to the boys. It taught them fundamentals of airplane design and flying that even Boston Tech failed to get over to many of its graduates. These boys knew what made an airplane fly and what gave it performance, and they learned a type of free competition and sportsmanship that I have never seen equaled in any other form of contest.”
His support of the hobby continued on a national level when he created the Stout Indoor Trophy in 1926 and the Stout Commercial Trophy in 1930.
Jim Cahill, born in 1915, was exactly the type of kid that William was after. Inspired by Charles Lindbergh’s flight and articles in American Boy, he began building models. At 16, he was competing in the Nats, winning the 1934 Stout Outdoor Trophy. In 1936, he was one of the founding members of AMA, helped form the Purdue University Aeromodelers in 1937, and graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue. Jim would later be inducted into the National Free Flight Society Hall of Fame, the AMA Model Aviation Hall of Fame, and the Society of Antique Modelers Hall of Fame.
For winning the Stout Commercial Trophy in 1934, Jim received the perpetual trophy but also received a personal trophy. Although we had heard that trophies were awarded alongside the perpetual Mulvihill and Stouts, but we had not actually seen one before. Recently, the Chicago Aeronuts offered Jim’s personal trophy to the National Model Aviation Museum, and it is a great example of trophies from that time period!
SOURCES:
So Away I Went
William Bushnell Stout
The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc. New York, 1951
Aerial Age magazine
March 22, 1915, Vol. 1, No. 1
National Model Aviation Museum History Project Biographies
James and Robert Cahill
www.modelaircraft.org/sites/default/files/CahillJamesBJimAndRobertJBob.pdf
