On October 15th the Mad Dogs lost another member, Ray Sweet. Ray was a member of our club for a short time, but his presence in the modelling community spans a lifetime, dating back to the Second World War when the beginnings of our hobby was born. I first met Ray as a teenager in Phoenix, AZ attending IPMS Phoenix meetings at Val's Hobby Hangar. That was around 1977. He was also a contributing artist to the club's newsletter, Dirty Plastic. For the all too short time he was a member of the club we came to realize what a font of aviation history he was. We are better for his presence and poorer for our loss. Rest in peace Ray and thank you for becoming a Mad Dog.

- Tom Gloeckle

Ray Sweet

Memorial

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A. Raymond Sweet (1924 - 2010)



A. Raymond Sweet, 85, of Nampa, passed away Friday, October 15, 2010, at his residence. A memorial service will be held Friday, October 22, 2010, 10:00 am at the First United Methodist Church, 2717 12th Ave. Rd. Nampa.

Ray was born November 7, 1924, in Little Falls, Minnesota to Raymond and Ida (Schnieder) Sweet. He went on to complete training as an aviation mechanic and joined Northwest Airlines to work on DC-2s and DC-3s up in Fairbanks, Alaska. Looking for more adventure than Northwest Airlines could offer, he joined the maritime service as a merchant marine. When the war ended he returned to Oregon where his parents lived, graduated from Portland Union Academy and married the love of his life, Pati Conway, and started a family. Working as a Butcher for Conway's Market he worked in the grocery business in Nampa. Ray had a late career change into electronics that took him and the family to Litchfield Park, Arizona with Goodyear Aerospace where he worked for twenty five years as a supervisor in the Electric Assembly Department. He was a top ten supervisor from 1976 to 1977. When retirement came Ray and Pati moved back to Idaho and took some well deserved time off to travel and enjoy themselves.

During Ray's entire life he enjoyed building models. Whether from wood scraps and balsa wood as a child or polystyrene plastic in his later years. Ray was such an expert that while sick with malaria in the Philippines an Army sergeant was so impressed that he brought plans to Ray so he could build ID models for our soldiers and sailors to study. Ray also enjoyed time with family building a Summer Home at Karney Lakes in the Idaho Mountains.

Ray was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Beverly Dorfner; their son, Richard Sweet and infant son, Michael David Sweet.
Ray is survived by his wife of 59 years Pati Sweet of Nampa, Idaho; sons Reverend Craig Sweet (Kathy), Kankakee, Illinois and Doug Sweet (Tami), Nampa, Idaho; daughter Renee' Harvey (Joe) Nampa, Idaho; sister Connie Rawlings (Jack) Nipoma, California; brother Dick Sweet, Drain, Oregon; eleven Grandchildren and five Great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be sent to Canyon County Historical Society or First United Methodist Church Nampa, Idaho. Our thanks to Harrison's Hope Hospice. Memories and Condolences can be sent to Ray's online guest book at www.alsipfuneralchapel.com, 466-3545.

Published in Idaho Press Tribune on October 20, 2010

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Mad Dog Modelers
Modeler Profile - Ray Sweet
By Herb Arnold

#1 in a series of modeling biographies; originally published in Mad Dog Monthly, Sept 2005

Ray joined our group just a few months ago, but I don't think it will be news to anyone that he already had years of experience under his belt. Ray started modeling as a boy, like a lot of us. In the 1930's, though, the best material available for a creative youngster was the leftover wood from orange crates! From this humble clay he made a Stinson Reliant, his first scale aircraft. As you might expect, when he discovered balsa wood the world of solid modeling opened up to him like a clam. From that point on in his life, Ray was either working on a model or planning one.

Early on, he also had an appreciation of how to financially support his pastime. A hobby storeowner in Minneapolis was a willing customer for the balsa wood insulation Ray and his brother 'appropriated' from a nearby Reefer car, and Ray also kept him supplied with cellulose dope that was curiously similar to the stuff used in quantity at the local flying field! You have to admire the enterprise of youth...

He completed training as an aviation mechanic and joined Northwest Airlines to work on DC-2's and 3's up in Fairbanks. Balsa wood and modeling supplies were hard to come by, but he carved with what he could and kept busy working on the real things. In those last days before World War II started, Ray remembered seeing a single P-35 pass through, which represented 20% of the air defense of Alaska at the time!

Looking for more adventure than what Northwest Airlines could offer, he joined the maritime service. It was on a trip in the Pacific when he came down with malaria and wound up in a Philippine hospital. During his recuperation, the drugs made him turn as yellow as a lemon, but the USO supplied him with model kits, which he churned out with pleasure. A local Army sergeant was impressed enough that he brought over plans, and Ray and his fellow patients soon built a squadron of military ID models.

After recovery, Ray was back at sea with the merchant marine. The war ended, and he took a position on a ship hauling a reluctant boatload of Italian POW's back to Italy. It seems that many had adjusted rather well to their incarceration in America, and more than a few took the risk to jump overboard and swim for shore rather than go back home! Eventually, the ship made it to Naples and Ray enjoyed a memorable port call. Besides the food, charming locals, and some interesting post-war aircraft junkyards, he came across his first plastic model. It was a Lindberg P-80, a small kit, but made of this new stuff called 'polystyrene plastic' which grabbed his interest and kept it for many years.

Returning to the states, Ray married and settled down to raise a family. He landed a job with Standard Oil, which moved him to Portland, then Boise, then took up the grocery business in Nampa, always building models when he could. A late-in-life career change got him into the electronics field, and he took a job in Phoenix with Goodyear Aerospace. Defense contracts provided work on projects as varied as ICBM nosecones, ECM gear for the Navy, and SLAR for German F-104s. This period also coincided with Ray's participation in a very active modeling club in Phoenix and the production of their newsletter 'Dirty Plastic'. This quickly grew into a well-respected and extremely informative publication through the 70's and 80's, due entirely to Ray's artistic and organizational talents. These were the salad days! Ray developed a world-class reference library (more on that to come), acquired a stockpile of thousands(!) of kits, and built a fine collection of finished models that he still retains today.

Retirement came; Ray sold off the majority of the kit stockpile, and came back to Idaho. He and Patty took some well-deserved years off to travel and enjoy themselves. Nowadays you'll find him spending a lot of time up in his summer cabin during the week, but his itch to get out the X-Acto knife and build models is just as strong as ever.

We all have our particular 'set-ups' to conduct this hobby, and Ray's is worth special mention. He's got both an office and a workroom. The office has a closet completely filled with books, as well as what his wife, Patty, calls the 'Giant Scrapbook Project'. Giant it is, filling over 100 full-sized binders of meticulously cross-referenced drawings, pictures and articles gathered over a lifetime of modeling. This is simply a breathtaking accomplishment in itself. We all say, "I know I had that information somewhere..." Well, Ray actually organized it, filed it, and can find it!

I want to say thank you to Ray and Patty for their generosity and graciousness to allow me into their home for this article. It was a lot of fun to hear recollections from the 'dawn of plastic modeling', as well as just hear a fascinating life story of a very industrious, inventive and talented individual. This article barely passes on the high points, and I apologize to Ray in advance if I got any facts wrong. Hopefully, it will raise your interest some, and you can ask Ray to fill you in on the details I've left out.


Mad Dog Modeler Profile #1

Name: Ray Sweet

Subject Matter: Aircraft mostly, but no small amount of dallying in warships, some cars, and even a few AFVs.

Scale of choice: 1/72 (The One True Scale) figures prominently, but Ray doesn't hesitate to branch out if the subject intrigues him.

Stash size: Maybe only 100 or so kits today, but he did his part to keep the modeling companies in the black during earlier days...

Current Project: An Airfix 1/72 Short Stirling is on the bench... wings like an underdeveloped fruit fly, and a fuselage that makes a boxcar look sleek...

Of special note: The man behind 'Dirty Plastic', who built a reference library that would make your eyes water...