"What got me started with radio control planes in the first place was as a kid going into a hobby shop. When I went into my first hobby shop -- I think it was the American Hobby Center on West 30th Street -- walking in I just got awed by everything hanging from the ceiling, and I said, 'One day I'm gonna have one.'

"The first thing I bought that was remote control was a car, at Walts Hobby shop in Brooklyn on 5th avenue. And I played with the cars for a little while, but I got bored with them, 'cause you could only move forward and turn left or right, and there's no more excitement. So I saw helicopters, and about 3 or 4 years later, I bought my first helicopter. I read everything that was available before purchasing it, so I read a lot of books, and I re-read them again, just so I had some idea what I was doing. But when I bought my first one, I still didn't know what I was doing.

"The first time I saw the turbine jets was in 1994 when I was at a helicopter meet in Hebron, Ohio. Someone showed up and did a demonstration with an RC turbine-powered jet, and It was like that first time I walked into a hobby shop -- I said, 'One day I'm gonna have one!'

"I built this plane here, and I had someone else paint it for me. It took about 40 hours to build. It's pretty much pre-fabricated, which means the structure's pre-built, and the internal sub structure, the support, everything is there. You do the finalization of the work: detailing and assembling everything.

"I build for other people, to support my hobby, so I probably put in a good 50-60 hours a week, working on models. But it's just part time, to offset my costs in the hobby.

"I have about 6 other planes in various stages of repair or construction and about 4 helicopters.

"It's just the total enjoyment and relaxation of flying something you built that I love. And I'm always learning something in the hobby, so it keeps my interest up."