Balsa Bluejays -- Stratton airplane kit company in full production

Lynn Latta, right, shows visitor Roger Ziebell the contents of a completed kit. An Aircruiser 60, back, shows Latta's craftsmanship, having been created from the kit in the foreground. Latta built the plane to check the accuracy of his production parts. (Bruce Crosby/McCook Daily Gazette)

STRATTON -- While McCook's helicopter kit company is still gearing up to turn out its first product, a Stratton aircraft company has quietly produced about 300 airplane kits over the last two years.

And, while Pawnee Aviation will require 10 people with skills ranging from welding and fabrication to painting, Bluejay Airplane Kits owner Lynn Latta does about all of the production himself, with the help of his wife, Sandy.

The most obvious difference in the two companies is that Pawnee Aviation's helicopters are "100 percent scale" aircraft designed to carry people, and Bluejay's products are of the radio controlled miniature variety.

But don't call them toys.

Latta is known as one of the most highly-skilled radio-controlled -- RC -- aircraft craftsmen in the area, and he turns out hand-crafted kits that, in the right hands, can be turned into woodwork creations to rival the finest cabinets.

"I've built quite a few," Latta said, adding that he started in the hobby about 30 years ago. His completed models consistently bring premium prices at RC auctions around the region.

And, he has a proud tradition to carry on.

Two years ago, he purchased templates, plans and production rights to Joe Bridi's line of model aircraft kits.

Bridi, who still lives in the Los Angeles area, retired from the model aircraft manufacturing industry after building a strong reputation for quality model aircraft.

His planes were very popular among modelers, especially competitive aerobatic RC pilots.

Working out of his immaculate, two-room shop, Latta has turned out about 300 copies of 12 of Bridi's designs, ranging from trainers to gasoline-powered monsters spanning eight feet or more.

Starting with raw balsa and or other woods, and using Bridi's original templates, Latta uses saws, sanders and a router to turn out parts manufactured to tight tolerances to make building easy. While other manufacturers have gone on to high-tech techniques such as computer controlled laser cutters, Bluejay Airplane Kits offer purchasers handcrafted quality. Other, specialized parts such as canopies and hardware, are purchased from reputable suppliers.

While Latta has purchased small ads in a couple of popular modeling magazines, many of his sales come over the Internet, via his Web site, http://bridiairplanes.com.

He has shipped kits all over the United States, and as far as Australia, although size restrictions make shipping larger model kits overseas more difficult.

Latta has just about given up trying to predict which models will sell when. First, several of the competition-type models will sell in Florida. Then it may be a trainer-type elsewhere in the country.

Latta just keeps track of his supply, and if one design proves popular, he gears up his one-man production line to keep up with demand.

It's a fact of life for RC hobbyists that they own two types of model airplanes -- those that have crashed and those that will.

As long as that remains true, Lynn Latta of Bluejay Airplane Kits will have his work cut out for him.