I learned last night that Mike Smith passed away a week or so ago. If you flew jets in Texas back when we all carried spare pistons and sleeves and pipe o rings and a full load of fuel was only about 24 ounces, then you probably knew Mike. He got out of the hobby about 10 years ago and I had not been in contact with him for quite a while.

At one time Mike owned an automotive body repair shop in Deer Park, Texas that was THE meeting place for a group of us that all got into ducted fans at the same time. We would gather there whenever a new jet kit was delivered. Some of us had to have them delivered to Mike’s shop so it would be easier to sneak them into our own shops.

Mike knew his craft well and could really lay down a nice paint job. But Mike was also an exceptional builder. He built 2 of the old George Miller F-4 Phantom kits that were designed to be powered with a single Byron fan, but he powered his with twin JMP Dynamax fans. The first one had twin OS .77s and the second had OS .91s. He also built the most detailed YA F-18C twin that I have ever seen and that was close to 20 years ago. The pictures do not do these models justice.

Everything I know about painting I learned from Mike. But I learned something else from him. I was always asking his opinion about whether I should add more detail or if I should modify this or that on a model that I would be working on and he would ask me who I was trying to please. He said “Build models to please yourself, don’t try to please everyone else. Because that will never happen.” Actually if you knew Mike you know I must have flowered that up a little. Actually last part should say “ If they don’t like it, then ____ ‘em”

Godspeed Mike Smith.