CAN-DO SPIRIT; VETERAN MODEL MAKER CREATES FROM BEVERAGE CANS.

Byline: Angela Randazzo Daily News Staff Writer

Virgil Cooper likes Budweiser better than Coca-Cola - or at least the container the beverage comes in.

Cooper uses aluminum cans - along with clock gears and copper wire - to make model airplanes and vintage cars. And some cans just work better than others when fashioning the wing of an airplane or the running board of a Ford Model T.

``Budweiser cans are the best because of the position of the label on the can.'' said Cooper, 72, who began making his models nearly 20 years ago.

He now has a fleet of 62 planes, most from World War II, and 12 cars from 1920 and earlier.

For Cooper, commercial model kits leave something to be desired. He prefers his own innovations - nuts and bolts to replicate the engines, old clock gears to depict rivets and propellers made from Popsicle sticks.

Innovation and attention to detail has helped Cooper win best of show and people's choice awards at previous Ventura County fairs.

According to Bob Stultz, superintendent of the fair's gems, minerals, hobbies and crafts displays, there's a spot reserved in this year's exhibit for Cooper's models.

``Virgil has won praise for workmanship,'' Stultz said. ``He turns beer and soda cans into beautiful airplanes.''

Cooper starts the process by cutting open cans to create sheets of aluminum. Then, using a process he perfected through the years, he fashions the sheets to form the body and wings of the plane.

For the airplanes with labels on the wings, he matches the beer or soda patterns so that both sides are identical. For plain silver models, Cooper prefers the shiny metal found on the outside of the can after the label is removed using paint thinner and steel wool.

Cooper builds many of his planes - like the World War II-era B-24 Liberator - from memory. He spent 14 years in the military as a mechanic. He first enlisted in the Army Air Corps, then served as a technical sergeant in the Army Air Forces during World War II. He also enlarges scale drawings found in aircraft books to use as blueprints.

Cooper has been asked many times to sell his models, but he always turns down the offers. The airplanes made with beer labels are of particular interest and he has given duplicate models away as gifts.

``As soon as you sell something, it becomes work,'' Cooper said. ``I love making models as a hobby because it's fun.''

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Virgil Cooper builds miniature cars and airplanes from soda and beer cans, including this Maxwell, left, and Ford Model T.

(2) Crafted from aluminum cans of root beer, this small-scale reproduction of a 1924 Curtiss J-1 Robin was handmade by Virgil Cooper.

Evan Yee/Daily News