Model

Designer—And

More.

Prologue Having traveled from Oregon to Florida Jim writes: “I finally got to meet Keith in 1990, at his home in Brooksville, Florida, a couple years before he died. I was in awe of the man, his talent, his persona...We had a wonderful visit, that is, until the lasts few minutes when Keith pulled a German Luger, aimed it at my chest, and told me to leave.” Whoa! This really got my attention! After reading the above forum post, I had to know more about Keith Laumer the model designer and what precipitated this incident. It all started started like this: After reviewing numerous plans for a new project, I discovered a few airplanes with cute names. Cute names such as Swanky Doodle, Lula-Bi, and Buttons were given to the aircraft. All the aircraft had a similar style and the same basic type of construction. The aircraft appeared (at least to me) whimsical, fun, and many looked to be aptly suited for my ideas. Coincidence? Different designers? Not a chance. The build articles and plans were all from the pen of Keith Laumer.  After selecting a plan for my project I still wondered—did Jim travel across the country just to talk about model design?

Hitting the Dirt

After a bit more digging, I discovered Jim had corresponded with Keith by telephone for over 20 years before meeting him—and Jim’s visit had nothing to do with aircraft design. Jim was a steadfast fan of Keith’s science fiction books. Science fiction? Okay. So Keith was a science fiction writer who wrote a few books. Big deal. Well, not exactly. Having attracted many fans over the years, Keith was a prolific writer who wrote more than 30 books and numerous short stories. His most notable works were the Bolo  chronicles, about the evolution of self aware tanks, and the satirical annals of Retif, a galactic diplomat. Other subjects included time travel, alternate universes, parallel worlds, and aliens who study Earth—or want to conquer it! Additionally, Keith wrote novels based upon the television series The Avengers,  and The Invaders. His works appear in over 20 collections, comics, and other writers have expanded upon the Bolo world of self-aware tanks. An impressive science fiction resume by any stretch. Non-genre works include How to Design & Build Flying Models, first published in 1960 and revised in 1970. Science fiction books are fine but what about the models? Keith’s models were drawn between 1956 and 1963 while in the Air Force, I’ve been able to locate 28 of Keith’s designs. They appeared in magazines such as Model Airplane News, Air Trails, American Modeler, Flying Models, and Aeromodeler.  With the exception of a few scale designs, Keith’s aircraft are his own creations; mostly for free flight glow power. He also designed for control line, amphibious models, rubber power, and small profile hand toss gliders.

Enter The Luger

Unfortunately, Keith suffered a stroke paralyzing one side of his body in 1972. Besides the

physical damage, the stroke also impaired his mental capacities, his communication skills, and

ability to write. Keith’s Daughter Sabrina offers us some insight from her forum post:

“His temper was always hot, but after the stroke it became ridiculous, like a 2 year old child. I could not bear to go to restaurants with him, as inevitably he would blow up at the poor waitress. He was really a kind and sensitive person at heart, but it was so upsetting to be around him with his explosive temper.” Begin with a ”hot” temper, add a stroke that alters ones mental and physical faculties, and we have the recipe for an unfortunate incident. Jim tells us how it all happened: ”Keith got pissed over something I had innocently said about the use of a video camera. He took my remark to mean I was insulting his intelligence. I should have known. He would always go ballistic whenever that happened. He later said he goes into rage when he cannot communicate correctly.’ There it is. I had my answer regarding the gun. It was drawn over a misunderstanding about the use of a video camera. Keith later apologized for the incident. Jim tell us:  “When I called him a few months later we talked a bit about the rage he felt and couldn't control and his voice broke a bit when he apologized. Jim never saw Keith again. Despite having a gun pulled on him, Jim still remained a fan of Keith and his writings. Jim’s unwavering admiration of Jim really peaked my curiosity. I had to read some of Keith’s books, so I did. My first read was The Invaders because I used to watch the show when it aired on television. Almost more memorable than the show was Dominic Frontiere’s nightmarish, creepy, music he scored for The Invaders. Frontiere also wrote more creepy music for the ”Do not adjust your television set” series—The Outer Limits. Ensuing reads included a novelette called The Peacemakers, the novel A Trace of Memory.  and lastly, The Night of the Trolls. Greylorn is next on my reading list. Keith’s writings are fast paced, typically laced with humor, and have interesting characters. I recommend them to any science fiction fan. And yes, I’m now officially hooked. Epilogue As for Keith’s aircraft designs I’m now a fan of them too. Since I wrote Easy Model Design, it was about time I got with the program. The plan I chose to modify is Keith’s Swanky Doodle.  I’ve enlarged it to 141%, which takes the wing span from 34” to 48”. Next, I resized the wood dimensions and types to compensate for the larger size and stress. Electric power and and three channels should do the job. Consider the tribute Swanky Doodle in progress!. A build article will be forthcoming. It was a good day when I discovered Keith’s model plans and books. Sadly, Keith died January 23,1993.  He was a talented man with a great imagination, intellect, and courageously worked to overcome a debilitating stroke. Invest some time in one of Keith’s worlds. Whether the time investment is with his models or books, you’ll be challenged, laugh, and be entertained. But most of all you’ll have fun and your time will have been well spent.   Fly Safe! John W. Blossick johnb@tslidehaven.com October 2018 For more information: Laumer Books-Project Gutenberg From the Wayback Machine, Jim’s site dedicated to Keith Keith Laumer plans on Outerzone web site Free Speculative Fiction On Line  Virtual gold mine of Laumer books and stories To read Jim’s complete forum post about Keith and Sabrina’s comment, CLICK HERE.