The Keystone Indoor Electric Fly
The third annual Keystone Indoor Electric Fly was held October 15–17, 2010, in Muncy, Pennsylvania, at the huge 600 x 200-foot Generations Sports Complex Dome. It is one of the world's largest fully air-supported domes.
Planning and holding an event this large requires lots of preparation and hard work. Muncy Indoor Flyers President Anthony Minnella, Vice President Ron Angle, Contest Director Mark Vukmanovich, and all of the volunteers did a wonderful job.
This first-class gathering started with the South Williamsport Chorus singing our national anthem. What a beautiful way to begin the fun weekend.
The dome was divided into separate areas for racetrack, 3-D, helicopter, and, of course, micro-flying. Micro-flying at KIEF is an event in itself, and it has quickly become one of the world's largest gatherings of highly skilled pilots who fly state-of-the-art small RC aircraft.
One reason for this is that the micro-flying area at this event is great. It is separated by a big net that keeps all of the larger models out of micro-flying airspace. Another reason is that most pilots who fly micromodels at KIEF are good friends. It is a wonderful time to see everyone and show off your latest projects.
The year before, Martin Newell amazed us with his 1/48-scale P-51 Mustang, so I was excited to see what new models he would be flying in 2010. His new eight-channel, 1/48-scale B-25 was even more impressive than his P-51. The 17-inch-wingspan bomber featured working flaps, retracts, brakes, a steerable nose wheel, navigation lights, and even a bomb drop. Martin constructed the B-25 from Durobatics foam. He not only designed the model, but also developed the eight-channel Rabbit Hip-Hop receiver. The motors on the B-25 are independently controlled so Martin can start each one separately, as on the full-scale aircraft. He flew the model during the noon demos on Saturday and won the Best Micro Model award for his outstanding effort.
Gordon Johnson and his son, Sam, had fun flying some of their new designs. I was impressed with Gordon's new cartoon-scale Fokker Dr.I triplanes. I really like the cartoon-scale concept. Gordon tried to produce a model with ultraslow speed characteristics for indoor flight and needed to add area to the design. A great way to do it was by exaggerating the triplane features. Gordon's three-channel Dr.I had a 16-inch wingspan and weighed only 25 grams. He laser-cut the foam framework for an ultralightweight aircraft. His smaller two-channel triplane had a 9-inch wingspan and weighed only 9 grams. It flew twice as slow as the larger version.
This year's KIEF might have been the largest gathering of truly micro RC electric-ducted-fan (EDF)-powered jets.
Micro-Flying - 2011/03
Mike Cross, who is a leader in micro-ducted-fan technology, had several wonderful designs to fly at the gathering. His scratch-built 16-inch-wingspan F-84 flew smoothly. It featured Mike's custom-built 20mm fan unit and a brushless motor that ran on one 250 mAh Li-Poly cell. Mike graciously let me fly the F-84, and I was greatly impressed with its performance. He also had a beautiful new 1/32-scale MiG-15.
Ralph Bradley flew his impressive Jet Mite. It used the Vapor brick and an EDF unit from the Air Hogs Jet Scream model that ran on one 110 mAh Li-Poly cell.
I had a fantastic time flying the latest version of my 1/72-scale MiG-15 throughout the weekend. I hope we will see even more growth in micro EDFs at next year's event.
SKS Video at KIEF
We had some great vendors in attendance, including:
- Luke's R/C Planes
- 2Dogs R/C Warehouse
- Zeke's Park Scale Models
- Lightflite.com
- BSD Micro RC
- BlastRC.com
- Trains & Lanes Hobbies
- Tech-Bond Solutions
- AirLandSeaHobbies.com
- RC Micro World
- SKS Video Productions
I thank all of them for supporting the event.
I am happy to report that I had a hand in bringing SKS Video Productions to KIEF. The company has been a major supporter of micro RC, with extraordinary footage of indoor flying at previous NEAT (Northeast Electric Aircraft Technology) Fairs. I discussed with Scott Stauffer of SKS the possibility of his filming the micro-flying at KIEF. I mentioned that it would be a great event to capture on video, with the beautiful dome, all types of indoor models, and some of the world's best in micro flight. He decided to attend.
I could not wait for the video. SKS did a wonderful job. The DVD covers the entire gathering, and more than half of the footage is devoted to micro RC. There are wonderful segments on Martin Newell's B-25, Paul Bradley's Stinson Reliant SR-7, Gordon Johnson's triplanes, Mike Cross's F-84, Ralph Bradley's Jet Mite, and my 1/72-scale MiG-15, to name a few.
Contests and Results
Several contests were held at KIEF, such as Micro Fun Scale, Micro Pylon, and even a Vapor landing contest on the USS KIEF! Old Timer Climb and Glide, Micro Duration, and Open Motor Glider could be flown any time throughout the weekend, giving contestants the opportunity to put in the best flight possible with no time restraints.
- Micro Fun Scale
- Thayer Syme (Fly R/C Executive Editor) — Flyzone Albatross (on loan from designer Dave Johnson)
- George Harris — Smith Miniplane biplane
- Paul Bradley — Stinson Reliant
- Old Timer Climb and Glide
- Bob Selman — Buzzard Bombshell — 50.3 seconds
- Henry Pasquet — 40 seconds
- (Author) — 28 seconds
Old Timer Climb and Glide is one of my favorite events in which to compete. It combines building and flying skills in a laid-back atmosphere.
- Micro Pylon
- (Author) — BSD Micro RC Spitfire
- Martin Newell
- Jin Woo Choe
- Micro Duration
- Henry Pasquet — 12:57
- Ralph Bradley — 12:34
- Bob Selman — 9:26
- Open Motor Glider
- Henry Pasquet — 95 seconds
- Ralph Bradley — 76 seconds
- John Watkins — 56 seconds
I thank Del Ogren and Henry Pasquet for their help in organizing and running these events.
Seminars
The popular Microtech seminars took place Saturday afternoon. These lectures are a great way to meet some of the world's most talented micro modelers and learn about their latest creations and building techniques.
The seminars were held on the floor of the micro-flying area. I decided to put them there last year so that the speakers could easily demonstrate their models after discussing them. The lectures were a great success, and I thank Sergio Zigras for doing a wonderful job of organizing them again this year.
With separate areas for 3-D, helicopter, and micro-flying, KIEF is quickly becoming a world-class event. I am looking forward to seeing everyone this year.
MA
Sources
- Keystone Indoor Electric Fly — www.keystoneindoor.com
- SKS Video Productions — (800) 988-6488 — www.sksvideo.com
- BlastRC — (321) 252-7872 — www.blastrc.com
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
