To that question, I would have to respond, “Why NOT?”
This is something that since I was a small child was always floating around in the back of my mind. My first memory of this was when one Christmas morning, 1962 or 3, my oldest sister recieived a shiny new O-gauge Lionell train set from that jolly ol’ fat man. Yeah, I suppose that her being older, she would be less inclined to incinerate herself with this electric plaything. But I was a boy! A strong and healthy five or six year old boy! Surley I could handle 120VAC without my hair going all curly and such!? My parents didn’t think so.
Pre-Teen Years
Like most children as I aged, my interests varied. Widely. From large (meaning Tonka Toys) construction vehicles (dump trucks and rollers and cranes, “oh my“), with which I joyfully created an unholy mess in our backyard,
to more “advanced” activities, such as model rocketry during my Junior High School years, you know, 10-11 years old. Did I mention that this was not only building plastic replica models of the exact type that NASA was using at the time in America’s journey to the moon, or the U.S. Army’s nuclear-capable, surface-to-surface rocket, the MGR-1 Honest John, but actually FLYING MODEL ROCKETS?
With real, actual, explosive, fire-producing, solid-propellant rocket moters, sometimes in a multi-staged configuration, capable of launching cardboard and balsawood rocket-shaped projectiles into the mid-troposphere. God only knew where these beasts of my creation would land, as they were gently carried away on the prevailing winds with their brightly-colored parachutes fully deployed… hopefully…
BTW – I did build and fly an Estes Honest John rocket. It came straight down, right back to me. No worries, nuke not included.
But yeah, Mom. THIS was so much safer than 120VAC at 15 AMPS, shooting out of a wall socket at kiddie level.
High School
As my prepubescent years were coming to an end, my interests were switching gears. Literally.
Ford Motor Company introduced the Mustang Boss 429 in 1969. While I first noticed it as our local gear-head drove his around, I didn’t really appreciate it until some “Falfa-esque” dude from some distant town showed up on our turf with his fire-breathing, Cobra Jet topped, 390 cu. in. Windsor-FE powered, Mustang Mach-1 that had superior handling upgrades. When these two, uh, fellas met, well let’s just say the peaceful evening was rocked. NOT with the sounds of silence, but rather the screeching of wild banshees and the smell of burning rubber. What a glorious evening.
No more model rockets for me! I wasn’t going to space. Ever! But I was going to go to highschool. Highschool means cars, and girls, but more importantly, cars. What better way to learn about cars than by building them? Model cars of course. I wasn’t even old enough to drive yet, let alone own a real car.
But I was old enough to build models! AMT, Monogram, Revelle. These names bring a tear to my eye. That’s not just because of the memories, but probably from all of those highly psychedelic additives1 that were in the glue that I used. Testor’s Model Cement.
Cars. CARS. CARS. Everything, CARS! Me? Yeah, those Mustangs were cool. But nothing, NOTHING compared to my 1969 Camaro Z-28! Nuff said!
Cars meant everything to me. So much so, that I even enlisted with the U.S. Marine Corps fresh out of High School in 1975, just so I could take them up on their free training (MOS-3521, Automotive Maintenance Technician). Oh, and the travel! And adventure! And free clothing. And housing, medical/dental, meals, and…
- 624.02 MODEL AIRPLANE GLUE AND OTHER TOXIC SUBSTANCES.
(a) As used in this section:
(1) “Model airplane glue” means any glue or cement of the type commonly used in the building of model airplanes, boats and automobiles, containing toluene, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, ethylene dichloride, benzene, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform and other ketones, esters or alcohols, or other solvent or chemical having the property of releasing toxic vapors.
(2) “Other toxic substance” means naphtha, methanol, toxic esters, ethanol, ether, methyl cellulose acetate or other volatile substances containing naphtha, methanol or ethanol as active ingredients. ↩︎
