International Indoor Fly In, Nijmegen, Holland - 10th - 11th November 2018
Having had such a good time in 2017 I was determined to travel over to Nijmegen again for the 2018 event. This time I was offered a lift
with Richard Crossley and Graham Banham, which made the trip more fun and made the ferry crossing much cheaper.
We had agreed to rendezvous about 20 minutes from Harwich where I had booked a parking space, to transfer model boxes. It was all going so well
until some clown decided to overturn his car on the M25 just as I was leaving South Mimms services. I was stuck for an hour and a quarter,
and at one point had given up on getting to the ferry in time. To add to the pressure, I had Jonathan Markovitz's models in my car, as
I'd agreed agreed to take them over for him (he'd taken the plane). It all worked out in the end as I got to the rendezvous about 10 minutes before
our agreed cut-off time, but it was a close run thing. It was with great relief that I sat in the bar on the boat with my first beer in hand!
This year I had new untrimmed models for open rubber and kit scale - a Robinson Redwing and Cessna Bird Dog respectively. I'd also brought another
reserve kit scale model - a VMC Tiger Moth finished the day before. Thus I was very grateful that the organisers had scheduled
a mammoth trimming session on Friday afternoon, starting at 2pm. It's a real treat being able to trim in such a large hall and by
the end of the session I had all three models going reasonably well. This was just as well, as there wasn't room in the car
to bring the Fox Moth as well as the Redwing, so if it hadn't flown, I wouldn't have had a "plan B".
Attendence was noticably down on the previous year, with both the Czech and UK contingents significantly reduced. I don't think this is
anything to worry about as I know several well known faces couldn't make it this time due to various reasons, but who hope to make it in 2019.
In any case there were lots of new models to admire, and the standard of the flying was as high as ever - particularly in kit scale
The competition schedule on Saturday and Sunday was the usual mix of scale and indoor duration, with open and kit scale classes flown both days.
Scale classes were flown to the same rules that we use at the BMFA Indoor Nationals. One change this year was to limit modellers to one entry per class
instead of two, to ease the burden of the static judges. As last year, the open electric and open CO2 were flown as separate F4E classes.
Photos in the report below are generally of models I hadn't seen before.
Let's start with the Open Rubber class (F4D), which had 15 entries, 11 of which got a qualifying flight of 15 seconds.
Jacques Cartigny had this new Potez 36 which flew very nicely without any dihedral.
Antonin Alfery had a collection of beautifully finished models with him, including this Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIc. It's moulded foam, as you might expect,
so very light. Nobody seems to have told him that Spitfires make tricky free flight subjects - just watch the video below!
This is Derek Knight's Auster Mk.5 built from an old Aeromodeller plan. If it's the one I am thinking of, designed by Aeromodeller staff, I couldn't
get it to fly either when I built one many years ago. My Robinson Redwing is lurking behind. Below you can see the best flight it made over the weekend.
This was in round 4 and it pulled me up the leaderboard high enough to take third place. I was very happy with that first time out.
This delightful Tipsy Nipper was the work of Graham Banham, built from a new Richard Crossley plan. The complex scheme had been expertly masked and airbrushed.
On Saturday the model had looked rather a handful to trim, but was going much better on Sunday and made two nice qualifying flights.
Jiri Dolezel brought along this wonderfully detailed Pfalz A.1 which sadly failed to get a qualifying flight in rounds 1 and 2. I think
the model then got damaged because he changed to his Albatros D.XI for rounds 3 and 4.
This very lightly built Pfalz E.V was built by Johan Wallin from Sweden.
Open electric (F4E) had a rather disappointing 6 entries, down from 14 last year. Star of the show was Richard Crossley's
new Consolidated Coronado. The model was built with a simplified structure to keep the model light, but beautifully finished, with many details
added using clever painting and decals. With no undercarriage, the model took off from a wheeled dolly. The first two rounds showed a tendency for the model
to be uncertain about which way to turn after it left the ground, so adjustments were made to the dolly so that the model sat in it banked over to the left.
This resulted in a couple of great flights circling steadily left - see below. The model won both the electric F4E class and best in show as voted for by the participants.
Antonin Alfery finished third in class with his 1/20 scale Albatros D.V. I have the short kit for this model, complete with moulded foam fuselage and
I intend to build it one day.
Participation in the CO2 class was hit by the low number of Czech competitors this year and there were only 5 entries.
Clear class winner was Antonin Alfery with this Rumpler C.VI, a really fine flyer as you can see below.
Chris Strachan took second place with his D.H. Puss Moth after several eventful flights, including this one which ended up in the roof netting.
Happily the centre's scissor lift was used to recover the model without damage.
Here are a selection of the 13 kit scale entries waiting to be judged. Jonathan Markovitz's winning Vintage Model Company Sopwith Camel
can be seen at the front right.
At the very back you can see John Bowerman's new Guillows Fairchild 24 which was being trimmed at the event. It got better and better as the weekend
progressed and finished up in second place. Third place was taken by Gerard Brinks with his very attractive Comet Douglas Y10-43, seen
behind the Camel.
One of the reasons for the consistency of Jonathan's flights with the Camel is that he weighs the CO2 charge he puts into the tank each time.
It certainly pays off - see the flight below.
I mentioned earlier that I brought along my new Vintage Model company Cessna Bird Dog to enter in kit scale. I'd like to
congratulate Andrew Darby on another excellent design, because the model trimmed out very easily. The model's fourth flight is shown below.
Peanut scale entries numbered 16, so it was the best supported class at the meeting.
Antonin Alfery won the class with this beautiful foam Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk.IXe. The model came
third in static and top in flying, with a two flight total of 158 seconds - very impressive!
Photo: Gustaf Enebog
Great choice of subject and excellent workmanship evident in Jiri Dolozel's Sopwith Rainbow. This model came top in static and third overall.
Andrea Hartstein from Sweden built this delightful Sommer Type F monoplane. It flew very nicely, with a two flight total of 117 seconds.
Photo: Gustaf Enebog
Messerschmitt M.18b by Gustaf Enebog. This early airliner has a high aspect ratiowing so the 13 inch span resulted in relatively short fuselage. The model
still managed a best flight of 37 seconds though. I particularly liked the exposed engine detail.
Photo: Gustaf Enebog
Great looking Macchi M.67 peanut by Vincent Merlijn.
Nine brave souls entered pistachio scale this time - I was not amomg them!
Antonin Alfery won with this Albatros D.II, making a total of three class wins at the contest. How you get a pistachio to stay up for 49 seconds heaven knows,
but Antonin managed it! The model weighs 6 grams and has loads of wing area.
Photo: Gustaf Enebog
Richard Crossley had to build this foam Martin Baker M.B.5 at short notice after his originally planned entry, an F4U Corsair, failed to behave.
Despite some trimming niggles, it managed a couple of flights around 35 seconds, good enough for 4th overall.
Thanks to Bernard Bruins and the rest of the organising team for another very well run event. As well as the chance to fly in such a large hall, I really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, the chance to chat to modellers
from other European countries and of course the excellent food provided, the cost for which is included in the entry fee. I would encourage anybody with an interest in indoor
scale models to attend next year - let's have a bumper entry for 2019!
