Kermit's Blog

Change yourself . . . and you change the World!

Category Archives: My Books

The Spirit of Lindy goes on Sale!

I recently got the shipment of my first printing (5000 copies) of my new illustrated children’s book The Sprit of Lindy just in time to sell them at the Reno Air Races!

Putting out signs to promote sales at Reno!

The new book includes characters from my first book All of Life is a School and two new ones – a Dehavilland Mailplane named Geoffrey D. H., and Lindy, who represents the Spirit of St. Louis.

In the story, the characters hear about the Prize for the first plane to fly non-stop between New York and Paris and decide to build a plane that will do it.  As with the first book, we all learn a valuable life lesson by the end.

Aside from taking some artistic license with the Lindy being built by airplanes at Fantasy of Flight in Florida, it is actually very historically accurate in many of the details, including “Lindy” being visited by spirits that helped guide and encourage him at a very low point on his Journey.

My set-up in the entrance of the Main Merchandise Tent!

I decided not to sell books at Reno the last two years because I wanted to get my new book out.  I had already sold over 500 All of Life is a School books a year there for two years and wanted to come back with something new.

While I also sold a number of All of Life is a School this year, most of the sales were for The Sprit of Lindy and I bettered my total sales from previous years; selling over 600 books!  I also had 100 each of the Puff and Zee plush, which were very popular and totally sold out!

Ready for action with books and plush!

The artwork is great and I am VERY proud of how this new book came out.  I included some questions on the back that are chronological to the story where the readers can not only have fun discovering the answers, but learn a little history in the process.

I you have a cute kid, know a cute kid, or ARE a cute kid, you can order The Spirit of Lindy online at https://www.fantasyofflight.com/store/index.asp?cid=9

Kermit

Lockheed Vega heads off for Restoration!

Something recently told me to get my Lockheed Vega flying!  I’m not sure where the message came from but it seems like a great idea!

I purchased the Vega from Dave Jameson, several months after Hurricane Andrew ripped the Miami Weeks Air Museum apart on August 24, 1992.  I must have been feeling sorry for myself?  :-)

We begin the disassembly process!

While digging out from the destruction, it continued to be displayed at the EAA Museum in Oshkosh, WI.  By the time it made it to Florida for Fantasy of Flight’s grand opening in 1995, it had not flown for over a decade.  At the time, we had other things to worry about and since it looked great we just assembled it for display.

Wing coming off!

Over the years, the original 500 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engine was replaced by a bigger and later 600 hp version from an AT-6 Texan with a constant speed propellor.  It’s my intent to restore it back to the original early-style engine and ground adjustable propellor.  Because of the engine conversion, the instrument panel began to reflect later-style instruments and the plan will be to put everything back to as original as possible.

Nice shot of the disassembly from above.

Also, the wheels and brakes were upgraded and fiberglass wheelpants installed.  We haven’t looked into whether or not the original wheels are available, or even if it originally had brakes (It may have originally been built with a tailskid), but brakes will be needed for sure.  I acquired an original set of wheel pants from the Tallmantz Collection purchase in 1985  that we will try and salvage or use as a pattern for new ones.  Dave Jameson may have actually purchased this Vega from Tallmantz, so we might be reuniting them after all these years!

First load – the Wing!

The Vega will be upgraded and made airworthy by Kevin Kimball and his shop about an hour away from Fantasy of Flight in Mt. Dora, FL.  They do great work and have produced several award winning vintage aircraft restorations from this period.

Currently, it’s my intent to keep it in the colors of the Winnie Mae and use it one day as a character in my illustrated children’s book series starring many of the famous planes from the Golden Age of Aviation.  His name will be Wiley and, of course, just might find himself with a patch over one windscreen!

Second load – Bye, Bye Vega!

During the process of talking to Kevin about the restoration, I found out he has always had the dream of making a mold to produce the fuselage which was used in the making of not only the Vega but the Orion, Sirius, Altair and Air Express!

Never to have been one to be satisfied with just one model of a type, I couldn’t help but think, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a set!”  We’ll see.

Kermit

 

 

 

“Benny” flies!

I finally got to fly my Benny Howard “IKE” replica a couple of times recently, but not before a few setbacks.  It took us forever to sort out a brake problem, and then I had to figure out a way to fit in!

“Benny” is a character that shows up in my first illustrated children’s book called All of Life is a School that uses Golden Age airplanes to help tell the story.

Coming 'round a pylon!

The builder of this airplane, Kim Kovach, and the original pilot, were both smaller than me.  I believe the original pilot flew barefoot while Kim modified a pair of shoes to get in.  So I took his advice, grabbed an old pair of sneakers, and headed to the wood shop.

Modifying an old pair of sneakers!

After grinding off the heels down and sawing the toes off, I found that I could get in and operate the brakes without a problem.  There’s not much room to spare, as I find my toes tickling the bottom of the fuel tank!

Heels and Toes ready for Action!

As in the original, your heels and butt actually go down below the floorboards.  I had to wrap up a towel for a lumbar support so I could lean back and get my head down into the cockpit as well, which raised my knees to just below the panel and somewhat in the way of the throttle.

The only modification Kim made to the original dimensions was to extend the 18-inch fuselage width at the instrument panel back to the rear of the cockpit where your shoulders are.  Without it, and even with my shoulders rolled forward and inward, I just barely fit.  It’s hard to believe the original shoulder dimension was only 15 inches!

Taxiing out

One of the things that became immediately apparent was how rough it taxies on my grass runways.  As per the original, there is NO shock absorption built into the landing gear!  Oh well . . . that’s the way it was so that’s the way I’ll fly it!

Head On!

Currently, after about twenty minutes flying it, my arms and legs start to go to sleep so I end up landing sooner than I’d like.  I don’t see any cross-country’s in my future but will keep trying to find a way to make it more comfortable.

The original racer had an impossible to find 6-cylinder Menasco engine so this one has an almost as hard to find 4-cylinder Menasco with two dummy stacks.  It’s got a unique sound and I’m hoping we can fly it more for airplane of the day or special events.

I hope everyone gets out to Fantasy of Flight one day to see it fly!

Kermit

The Spirit of Lindy about to Hit the Press!

I am very excited to have completed my second illustrated children’s book in the Gee Bee Series, The Spirit of Lindy. After two years of writing, working with the artists, and endless tweaking, I recently sent it off to the printer!

It’s a great story based on the famous flight Charles Lindbergh made from New York to Paris to win the Orteig Prize in 1927.  I came up with the concept, wrote the story, and had two great Disney-trained artists, Dominic Carola (pencils), and Ryan Feltman (paint), do the artwork.  We came together to create a beautiful book that, we all feel, has more potential than my first book, All of Life is a School.

The first book was actually a condensed version of a feature film script I’d written.  At the time, I owned several of the ten airplane characters in the book.  Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to collect another character here and there and eventually realized life was leading me to collect all ten!  I now have seven on display at Fantasy of Fight!  There’s a possibility to collect two others but the third, Curtiss, will have to be built from scratch, as only the original exists and is in National Air and Space Museum in Washington.  Something tells me, I don’t think they’ll be willing to part with it any time soon!  :-(

Cover Art including Questions on the back to help teach History in a Fun Way!

While creating the next book, and to save myself some money, I got smart this time and made sure I only included new characters that I already had in the collection!   This will be my approach for future books in this series, as I’ve got plenty to work with.

Two new characters making their debut are Geoffrey D. H., an enthusiastic DeHavilland 4 Mailplane with a grand idea, and Lindy, based on the Spirit of St. Louis.  Of course, it all takes place at Fantasy of Flight where Gee Bee Zee, Puff, and all their friends pursue Geoffrey’s idea, build the plane, and learn a valuable life lesson in the process.

Geoffrey D.H. makes his debut!

Currently, I’m awaiting a sample copy from the printer to approve before we run the presses.  As with All of Life is a School, the first run will be for 5000 books.  I’m hoping to have them by the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In in late March 2012 but this may be somewhat tight, as the printer is currently on vacation and I’m not sure where I may end up on their schedule.  If I don’t make Sun ‘n Fun, I will definitely be signing copies at the Oshkosh Fly-In in July and the Reno Air Races in September.

So far, I’ve sold over 6000 copies of All of Life is a School out of the Fantasy of Flight gift shop, on the Internet, at airshows and other smaller events.  I’ve had no luck trying to break into the major bookstores so, I’m quite proud to have sold this many on my own.  I actually have signed so many books the non-autographed ones are rarer and probably worth more!  :-)

Lindy is Ready to Go!

Since the book will now be printed in 2012, I’ve missed the deadlines for entering any 2011 contests.  I’m excited to submit it, as I believe it has as much, or more, potential than All of Life is a School, which won a Bronze independent Book Publishing Award!

I have concepts for another dozen books in the Gee Bee Series and now have to think about which one to focus on next!  Once I get The Spirit of Lindy books in hand, the real work will begin trying to promote and sell them!  At least I’ve laid the foundation with the first book and already have an email list and somewhat of a following.

I’m still learning the business, which is all but impossible to break into for a first-time author.  I can only apply what I’ve learned so far and hope to implement some new things as well.  But, hey . . . now I’m a two-time author!  We’ll see.

Kermit

My first Product Endorsement!

I was recently asked to endorse a product for a Radio Control Airplane version of the famous Gee Bee R-1 Racer!  This was the airplane that Jimmy Doolittle flew and won the famous Thompson Trophy Race in Cleveland, OH in 1932.  They actually built two versions of the airplane: one for racing in the Thompson closed-course pylon races and another for participating in the cross-country Bendix Race from Los Angeles to Cleveland.

I'm now on the side of a box!

We’re fortunate to have a reproduction of the airplane on display at Fantasy of Flight, which has since become one of the characters in my illustrated children’s book series.  The first book is called All of Life is a School and I’m rapidly narrowing down on my second one.

It’s a cute little airplane with an electric motor.  Guess what it weighs with the motor and all the radio control gear in it?  FIVE OUNCES!  They brought one out for the photo shoot and later flew it for me off the ramp.  How cool!

While we aren’t getting paid for the endorsement, we are getting some great advertising on the side of the box to help advertise Fantasy of Flight.

I used to fly R/C airplanes when I was a kid and now joke to people that I crashed so many of them, it got too expensive . . . so I got into collecting Warbirds!

Kermit

It does seem . . . the Journey Never Ends!

Writing by the fire at my ski condo in the mountains of Utah.

Worked over the Christmas holidays (2010) on my book The Journey Never Ends about my metaphysical experiences and, judging by the title, the Journey of writing this book WILL NEVER END!  While most of the writing is done, I was “led” to include some simple illustrations to help describe my point of views while exploring “other” realities.

Now I have access to some of the best illustrators in the business that work on my children’s books, but it seemed life was about to take a turn in a direction I wasn’t expecting.  I realized I needed to scratch out some basic drawings anyway for an artist to get the feel of what I wanted so, no big deal as I had done this for All of Life is a School. Well, after including some them in a few early chapters for my friends to read, they all insisted that I NEEDED TO DO THEM!  I got comments like, “They’re a reflection of your energy!”  ”They’re precious . . . they’re so . . . you!”

“What . . . you’re kidding . . . I can’t draw!”  They weren’t.  I hadn’t drawn anything beyond a stick figure since third grade!  But after being reminded my whole Fantasy of Flight concept is about pushing your boundaries and realizing the untapped potential within, I found I didn’t have much of an argument.  I figured I needed to do some basic drawings anyway, in case I ended up using a “real” artist, so I began to scratch out where I felt the book needed them during the next editing pass.

Oh my God . . . I had no idea where this was all headed.  By the time I got to the end the book there were . . . Are you ready for this? . . . Over a THOUSAND drawings!  So, in case you’ve been wondering why the book isn’t finished . . . this is my excuse!

My best ice cream cone!

I continue to work on them when I get the chance.  The problem is . . . by the time I got to the end of the book with my first pass, my drawings began to improve and now I feel the need to go back and redo many of them.  They’re still pretty simple, and I’m not going to give Rembrandt or Michaelangelo a run for their money anytime soon . . . but it has been a fun yet frustrating experience.

Pretty basic, but do the job!

Simple, yet capture all that I need to get across!

With the addition of all the drawings embedded in the text, the book is now over 1500 pages!  I will have to deal the publishing issue when I get it all done.  We’ll see.  Like life . . . I have no idea where this is all headed, or when it will finally get finished.  All I can do is follow the energies and do the best I can.  I’ve finally realized it’s not my timetable and things, like Fantasy of Flight and this book, have to manifest in their own time.

Kermit

Spirit of Lindy Artwork underway!

Developing the "Star" of my new book!

As I mentioned before, I have written my next illustrated children’s book in the Gee Bee Series.  It’s called The Spirit of Lindy and features two new characters along with many of the old ones.  We’re making great progress towards completing all the artwork by the end of the year and I hope to have all the files ready for the printer by early next year.  With any luck, I’ll have product to sell by Sun ‘n Fun in late March 2011.

With the second "new" character . . . Geoffrey D.H. . . . based on my DH-4 Mailplane.

Since I have already done much of the initial hard work laying out the first book and developing character design, backdrops, colors, text boxes, finding a printer, etc. this next one should be much easier.  It’s a great story with a great theme, with somewhat of a surprising, yet profound, ending.  I think it may have more potential than my first book.  I have treatments for another dozen books in the series and, with any luck, hope to publish at least one a year!  We’ll see.

After looking at the initial drawings, I decided to add a helmet to Geoffrey's open cockpit!

Here’s the first page to have been colored, which also happens to be the first page of the book.  The same group of artists are working on the artwork and coloring that did the last book and are doing a great job!  The opening text for the book reads -

"It’s a beautiful morning over a seemingly never-ending countryside . . . as a lone Mailplane named Geoffrey D. H. . . . flies along in the sunlit skies."

I think it will be a winner!

Kermit

Gee Bee I-Phone App cleared for take-off!

Menu Page

After almost a year of design, development, and approval, I am happy to announce that Gee Bee the Little Racer and Friends is now for sale as a game application for your I-phone!  We spent a lot of time creating something of high quality for a reasonable price and the game is based on the illustrated children’s book I wrote called All of Life is a School. I’ve had an I-phone for several years and am embarrassed to admit this is the first application I’ve ever added!  Now that I’m up to speed, I’ve since found many other cool ones.

The description of the game is as follows -

Fly Gee Bee ® ”Zee” and his airplane friends through different fun environments

gaining points by delivering packages, racing the clock, dropping watermelons,

and popping small balloons with your propeller all while dodging obstacles like

hot air balloons, birds, and terrain. There are eight different levels to win medals

and six different airplanes to fly!

Menu Page for upgrades and different characters using bonus points

Download it today for only $1.99 at bit.ly/8Yf7yW or by searching your I-phone applications for Gee Bee the Little Racer and Friends. We just posted a YouTube clip that explains more at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQA7qja7YgE.  Check it out and let us know what you think!

Kermit

Oshkosh 2010!

An empty "North Forty" due to soggy ground a day into the Fly-in!

This year’s Oshkosh was a great one, even though it got off to a soggy start.  With a lot of rain prior to the event, they kept the “North Forty” closed to general aviation traffic for several days, only allowing show planes to arrive aand park in the dry areas.

I got a chance to hook up with an old friend, the World’s Greatest Aircraft Collection’s DeHavilland Mosquito!  We were very fortunate it was on display at the EAA Museum and not in Miami when Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992.  It has been many years since it has flown (1989) and once I get some additional hangars built at Fantasy of Flight, I intend to truck it back to Florida where we will go through it and get her flying again.

I got the chance to stop by and visit the KW Research Hangar where they keep all the aerobatic show planes during the fly-in.  This was the first building EAA built at Oshkosh (1983) that wasn’t a shower or a toilet.  What a legacy!  I have been an EAA member since I was sixteen, joining in 1969, and have been on the Board of Directors for almost twenty years.

One of the cooler things I got to do this year was attend a press conference where it was announced that my long-time friend and Heli-ski partner, Sean Tucker (right), and I got accepted to be on the Board of Directors of the Lindbergh Foundation.  As Charles Lindbergh began to fly around the world, he began to notice from the air how technology was beginning to impact our environment.  The Foundation was set up to promote balancing technology with the environment on the 50th anniversary of his famous flight.  It’s a great group of people with lots of opportunities to help out and network with a whole new group of friends!

I also got to read my All of Life is a School book to the kids at Kid Venture.  We had a great time and every kid got to keep an autographed copy!  Now how cool is that?  I finished writing my next book in the series called The Spirit of Lindy (how timely) and have begun the process of developing the artwork.  We hope to have the work finished by the end of the year, which might allow enough time to get it published before Sun ‘n Fun in April.  We’ll see.

With Ray Bensen!

Someone I had not seen since our Wings & Strings music festivals days many years ago was Ray Bensen from Asleep at the Wheel.  They played several times in the seven years we held the festival at Fantasy of Flight and got the crowds swaying and dancing one night at the Fly-In.  It brought back a lot of many fond memories.

With 7/8 scale homebuilt "Storch"

Another cool thing I got to see was the scaled down Storch that was part of an article in the latest EAA Sport Aviation magazine comparing this scaled down homebuilt with my original WWII German aircraft.  They did the photos and interview during Sun ‘n Fun last winter and I found myself on another cover, although I still find myself wondering why no one’s ever asked me to be a centerfold!

Kermit

July Cover of Sport Aviation magazine

Benny Arrives!

My Benny Howard “Ike” replica recently arrived at Fantasy of Flight.  It is a faithful reproduction built by Kim Kovach of Detroit, Michican and is powered by a 4-cylinder Menasco engine.  The original airplane used the impossible to find 6-cylinder Menasco so the two rear exhaust pipes on this airplane are dummies.  Kim did a great job building it and it will make a great addition to the Golden Age racers on display at Fantasy of Flight.

Benny has since been assembled and is now on display with all his friends from my illustrated children’s book All of Life is a School. I have now collected seven of the ten characters in the book!

Benny as depicted in my book All of Life is a School

I first saw this airplane several years ago at Oshkosh and made a mental note it would be great to acquire one day.  Surprisingly, Kim called me and we tentatively cut a deal on the phone based on whether or not it would fit me.  I flew through Detroit on a trip and barely squeezed into it.  The only deviation from the original was to continue the 18-inch width at the instrument panel back to the rear of the cockpit where your shoulders are.  I’m glad he did this as there was no way I would have fit into the 15-inch original!  Even now I have to roll my shoulders forward to get in.  To fit in height-wise, there are not only detents in the floor for your heels but a cushioned seat that also allows your butt to sink below the floorboards!

Benny's Cockpit

On a side note, I’ve written my next book in the Gee Bee series called and recently began the process of working with the artists.  I got smart this time and only wrote in new characters, which I already had in the collection!  Look for more about this new book with some preliminary drawings in future blog posts.

Kermit