The high entry meant an intense day's flying, especially if you had entered multiple classes - it was important to be wound and ready when in was your turn to fly. Brian Seymour did a great job of encouraging people when their flights were approaching, and we managed to keep to schedule. There was even time to run the informal scale glider competition over the 30 minute lunch break.
There were no significant rule changes this year, just some tidying up and the occasional clarification - If you would like to have a look the BMFA scale rules in detail, here is the BMFA Scale rule book 2026 - scroll down to page 101 to reach indoor scale.
Here are my entries for 2026 - the only one previously flown at the event was the peanut scale Vought Kingfisher. The Blackburn Shark was for open rubber, the smaller Blackburn Ripon, intermediate scale and the Luscombe Phantom for kit scale. In addition I brought along my Keith Rider R-5 "Elmendorf Special" to enter the air race for the first time.
It's been very pleasing to see entries in the flagship open rubber class continue to grow - in 2024 there were only 6 models, in 2025 we had 12 and this year 14. For the third year running, the winning model was Tonda Alfery's beautiful Roland C.IIa - it got by far the highest flight score in the class - 350 points ahead of anyone else. Tonda's peanut and pistachio entries are lurking in the background (Roel Lucassen photo). The flight video below and most of the others in this report were taken by Jirka Alfery and posted by Vladimir Alfery on his YouTube channel. On behalf of all the flyers at the event, thank you very much!
I came second with my Blackburn Shark, despite breaking a motor while winding for the first round. Fortunately it let go at the back, next to the bobbin, so the rubber came out of the nose and no damage was inflicted on the fuselage. This meant I missed the flight, but had a new motor in for flight two. The new motor was a bit livelier than the old one, so 700 winds took it higher than usual. A qualifying flight was achieved, but the approach was rather steep, and the model bounced on landing. In the afternoon, I wound to 600 instead, and this gave a nice smooth landing with some turns still left on the motor. See video below.
George Kandylakis took third place with his peanut scale D.H.60 Moth Major - quite an achievement for such a small model and a tribute to George's building skills.
Mats Johansson built a fun diorama to display his two peanut scale Stampe SV.4's. Both are beautiful models - the yellow one on the left was entered in open rubber and placed fourth - see video below. Two peanut scale models placing in the top four of the open rubber class is very unusual. The blue and silver Stampe competed in peanut scale.
Two Richard Crossley designs were entered and finished 5th and 6th - the Fiat CR.42 Falco was built by Richard, but the Lockheed Vega on the right was by John Cooper. I'm sure the Fiat would have placed in the top three had it not been for issues with the rubber coming off the prop hook in flight. In the video below you can see the moment the rubber becomes detached and heads toward the rear peg, altering the centre of gravity and causing the model to suddenly stall just as it was approaching for the landing.
John's Lockheed Vega is a nice reliable flyer and got the joint second highest flight score.
Here is a collection of open rubber models waiting to be static judged. At the back, left to right, we have Daniel Rackstraw's new Bucker Jumgmeister, my Blackburn Shark, Tim Horne's RWD 10 and Steve Haines's Bucker Jungmeister.
In the middle is Graham Banham's Chilton DW.1 and Henk de Jong's Koolhoven FK.43 and at the front, next to the Fiat CR.42 is Peter Fardell's Bleriot XI.
Below is one of Graham Banham's flights with the Chilton DW.1.
In CO2/electric there were seven models entered, of which five achieved qualifying flights. After last year’s painful interactions with the walls, I left my Superfreighter at home!
Tonda Alfery won the class for the second year in succession with his wonderful Curtiss Condor AT32c, which benefits from flight bonuses for twin engines and retracting landing gear.
Richard Crossley placed second with his Grumman J2F-6, which scored highly in static and flew very reliably from its take-off dolly.
Graham Banham's A.W. Ensign got the highest flight score and finished third.
George Kandylakis was the last flyer to get a qualifying flight in with his Avro 504, now on floats and designated an Avro 504"O", placing fourth.
The Intermediate Scale Class continues to be popular, with 17 entries this year, of which 15 flew and 11 managed a qualifying flight. I entered for the first time this year with my Blackburn Ripon - a model where my documentation is just not good enough for the open rubber static judging..
John Cooper won the class with this Farman Carte Postale – just look at the size of that wing! My Ripon was second, just one point behind. I’d had some major repairs to do after the Manchester Velodrome meeting earlier in the year so had my fingers crossed that the trim hadn’t changed. I found out on Saturday evening, when the model took off and flew straight as a die, climbing merrily until it hit one of the basketball hoop frames in the pits area. Thankfully, Tonda Alfery caught it on its way to the floor, so the only damage was a broken leading edge. I then spent half an hour adjusting settings until I got back to a steady left hand circuit. The competition flights on Sunday went well, and the model circled nicely, keeping away from the walls.
Paul Hoey placed third with this Myers M-1 special, an enlarged version of Richard Crossley's peanut plan.
Richard Crossley's beautiful Piper Pawnee finished fourth (can you call a Piper Pawnee beautiful?) I was rather surprised how low it scored in static, nearly 200 points less than last year (when it won the class).
Peter Brown's neatly finished Piper J.3 Cub flew well, finishing in fifth place. I think the markings are ink-jet printed (let me know if I'm wrong Peter!)
Chris Blanch entered this splendid .Bristol 138 - a type not often modelled. It looks like this is built is from the 18" span Pres Bruning plan.
Who doesn't love a Waco Biplane? This Waco SRE was entered by Pete Startup.
Daniel Rackstraw brought along this new Super Decathlon, finished to his usual high standard - yellow with black markings was something of a theme in the class this year!
As mentioned at the start, the kit scale class had a massive entry this year of 29 models, which meant the static judges were kept very busy and there was only time to fly three rounds instead of the usual four. 24 models managed to achieve the 10 second qualifying time. As last year, The Vintage Model Company generously donated a trophy and cash prizes for the top three places in the class.
The class winner was Richard Crossley's fantastic P.51 Mustang built from the Golden Age Reproductions kit. The colourful, perfectly applied tissue finish ensured a high static mark and the model flew really well.
Steve Haines was runner-up for the second time with his Micro-X Taylorcraft, achieving the highest flight score of the day.
At the back of this photo of kit scale models waiting to be static judged, you can see the third placed Keil Kraft Erco Ercoupe by Chris Blanch, which achieved the second highest flight score. In front of this at left is Graham Banham's Veron Jodel Bebe, next to which is Daniel Rackstraw's Cessna Bird Dog from the VMC kit. At the front is Peter Brown's Peck Andreasson BA-4B and Tim Horne's Stinson Gulfhawk Junior from the old Megows plan. One of the Stinson's flights is shown below.
A second Keil Kraft Ercoupe was entered by Andrew Darby, which matched the static score of Richard Crossley's Mustang. Behind you can see Lurk's delightful 13" span Comper Swift, built from the Andrew Moorhouse kit plan. Pete Fardell photo.
Test flights of my Luscombe Phantom on Saturday looked really good, though the model was using all the available space in the hall. Unfortunately, on the first official flight on Sunday, I launched about 6 inches too close to the wall, as after it's first circuit the wingtip hit one of the nets hanging at the side and it crashed to the floor, breaking off the right wing and pushing the nose plug back inside the fuselage. At least the wing break was very clean, so that was quickly glued back, but I had to jigsaw the pieces of the nose plug back together. There was no time to do a test flight before round two, so I had my fingers crossed that nothing had changed in the trim. Unfortunately, after take-off, the model spiralled gently in to the left after gaining very little height. So, with only three kit scale rounds being flown, I just had one chance left to get a qualifying flight.
I'm very grateful to Andy Blackburn who had asked to see how the KP Aero type 2 adjustable nose button worked on the model. He quickly spotted that the vertical strip that was controlling the side thrust had broken - presumably as a result of the dive to the floor. Without any right thrust, the torque of the propellor was creating the left spiral after take-off. I didn't have a spare with me, so just glued in a balsa support strip to hold everything in place. Fortunately, the final flight was a good one, but a lot of grief could have been avoided if I'd just been more careful with my launch position in round one!
Paul Hoey entered a new Tiger Moth - this one built from the Hacker kit and electric powered. The all-tissue finish was very neatly done.
This is John Cooper's nicely built West Wings Hawker Hart. I have really struggled to get my example trimmed, so kudos to John for getting his to fly so well! Thanks to Lurk for the photo.
The Veron Tru-Flite Focke-Wulf 190 is not a kit you often see modelled - Mark Richards built this neatly finished example.
You can't go wrong with a Veron Tru-Flite Comper Swift - this example was built by David Cowley and you can see it flying below.
Another Micro-X Taylorcraft - Pete Startup placed fifth with this nicely built example.
I loved Ben Pallister's Grumman Bearcat, built from the Deils Engineering kit - another joint top scorer in static. The model was only finished the day before the competition and sadly Ben didn't have enough trimming time to persuade the model to fly for the necessary ten second qualifying time.
The number of peanut scale entries was the same as last year at 22, of which 17 posted flights.
Last year, Tonda Alfery won the class with a P.51D Mustang, this time he won with an equally impressive F4U-1 Corsair, again obtaining two 60 second maxes. Lurk photo.
Since the new rules came in, I'm always very interested to see how many people manage to get the magic double 60 second max - this year it was just three - Tonda Alfery (1st), Nick Peppiatt with his Nesmith Cougar (3rd) and Peter Brown's Found Centennial (4th). It still remains surprisingly hard to do! George Kandylakis placed 2nd with flights of 56 and 55 seconds, his total being boosted by the highest static score for his beautiful D.H. Moth Major (as already featured in the open rubber section).
Nick Peppiatt's Third placed Nesmith Cougar is pictured here, together with Peter Hall's charming new Jeannin Taube.
Here is Peter Brown's fourth placed Found Centennial - just about the perfect peanut scale subject with its boxy fuselage and wings with tip dihedral.
This is Gary Flack's foam Focke-Wulf FW 190D-9 which placed just outside the top ten. Behind is his pistachio scale Westland Wyvern.
John Valiant brought along a new foam peanut, as he does most years - this time a Yokosuka D4Y1 "Judy", finished to his usual high standard. Lurk photo.
Another view of the Judy, with Martin Pike's Lacey M-10 to the right.
Another shot of Mats Johansson's superb Stampe SV.4b, just one point behind George Kandylakis's D.H. Moth Major in static. Lurk photo.
There were 10 Pistachio entries, all of which posted flights.
Top static score plus two max 60 second flights ensured that Tonda Alfery comfortably won the pistachio scale class with his delightful Isaacs Fury. Lurk photo.
Nick Peppiatt came second with this Lippisch Storch - he was just one second away from also achieving two maxes. The Storch has a wingspan over eight inches, but qualifies for pistachio scale under the 6" fuselage rule.
Richard Crossley placed third for the second year running with his foam Focke-wulf 190.
Chris Blanch entered this Eaves Cougar which flew very well, scoring two 49 second flights and finishing in fourth place. Lurk photo.
The Fike model E is a popular subject for pistachio scale - here is Clive Anderson's example.
Roel Lucassen had finished this attractive Comper Streak just before the competition. It is constructed from foam and Roel was able to get it trimmed well enough to score two 31 second flights. Nigel Monk photo.
New from Peter Hall was this Santos Dumont 14bis - a very ambitious subject, but it flew - best flight was 38 seconds.
The Starter No-Cal class models are flown during the peanut/pistachio sessions. Models are limited to 16" wingspan with a minimum weight of 6 g and final score is the sum of the best two flights (in seconds) out of six. Ten models were entered and the winner was first-time entrant Colin Fray with an Ole Tiger racer. His two-flight total was an impressive 331 seconds, 117 seconds ahead of joint second placed flyers Roel Lucassen with a Mitsubishi Zero and Chris Blanch's Pottier 100TS. This year I managed to come home without a single photo of a nocal model, so many apologies for that - I'll try and do better next year!
There was enough time in the schedule to run the scale gliders again in the lunch break. Three rounds were flown - duration, spot landing and a mass launch to finish, all done by hand-launching from the balcony. The 11 entries were also given a static ranking. The flight and target scores were ranked and added together for each model, plus the static ranking to give a total score - the model with the lowest total taking first place.
Here is the row of entries, with a photo from each end. Tonda Alfery won this year with his Zlin Z-24 (the yellow painted glider with a Czech flag on the fin). Richard Crossley's Kirby Kite was second and C.Greenock's Kirby Prefect third. Thanks to Chris Brainwood for the photos.
Final event of the day was the air race, the winner of which now takes home the Chris Strachan Trophy. Last years winner, Tim Horne, was forced out right at the start with model damage, before even completing a lap, which gave the rest of us more of a chance. Winner was Nick Peppiatt with his Chambermaid (16 laps), Gary Flack second with a Keith Rider R.1 Suzy (15 laps) and I placed third with the Elmendorf Special (14 laps), despite having to run back to the pits area and glue the wing back on at one point. It was all good fun and a big thank-you to George Kandylakis for being my assistant.
To sum up, I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend (even the RC kit scale judging on Saturday!) - spending time with fellow enthusiasts, studying their models and discussing future projects is always inspiring. Also, there is the legendary curry night on Saturday! It was encouraging to see an increased entry yet again - indoor free flight scale is definitely in a healthy state at the moment - long may it continue.
A big thank-you to the organising team - especially Paul Rich, Mike Smith and Peter Fardell - for all their hard work, not forgetting all the people who volunteered to help on the day, such as the judges, scorers, timekeepers and the door team/raffle ticket sellers. Without them, the event could simply not take place.
Once again the event managed to break even financially, which is very good news for next year - keep an eye out for the 2027 date. If you have never competed at the Indoor Nationals before, why not give it a go? - you would be made very welcome and I'm sure you would enjoy yourself. At the very least you get to fly your models in a nice big hall! I think kit scale makes the ideal beginners class, but peanut scale is also very good if you are comfortable building smaller models.