2014 Horizon Indoor Electric Festival
The annual Horizon Indoor Electric Festival is held in early November in Columbus, Ohio. Terry Nitsch and his crew do an outstanding job of organizing and running this wonderful event. It is a great way to kick off the indoor flying season.
I typically start planning my projects, telling myself that I have plenty of time to get everything done before the event. Unfortunately, I usually find myself building and putting the finishing touches on my airplanes right up to the last minute.
This year, I told my wife it would be different. I scheduled my vacation to give me the time I needed to finish my airplanes and leave early for my eight-hour drive to the Four Seasons Golf and Fitness Center dome in Columbus. Fate stepped in again, however, and I found myself scrambling to get everything done on time. I even had to give up a project or two.
Yes, I arrived a day later than I had planned, but had a wonderful time hanging out with good friends. I flew as many flights as possible throughout the weekend, and plan to do it all again at the 2015 Horizon Indoor Electric Festival!
Highlights
The schedule for the November 7–9 event included time slots for open flying, light scale models, helicopters and quadcopters, seaplanes, jets, and 3-D—even some night flying was planned for the end of the day on Friday and Saturday. There were separate areas for 3-D and micro flying.
At times, the open flying sessions can become busy. I was amazed by all of the models flying at the same time in the dome this year. Although mostly RTF models were flown, it was great to see plenty of kit-built and scratch-built aircraft.
One thing that sets this event apart from others is the indoor water runway called Spektrum Lake. Floatplanes of all sizes are flown. Among them this year was Kenneth Carchietta’s beautiful scale 1912 Lévêque flying boat. The model has a 32-inch wingspan and weighs 9.75 ounces. Kenneth’s aircraft won Best Seaplane Scale.
I had a great time flying my Vapor and Mini Vapor on floats.
Another highlight was the Micro Pylon Races. This year, Horizon Hobby donated 10 ParkZone Ultra Micro (UM) T-28 Trojans for the races, and 32 contestants competed for bragging rights. The contest began with a rise-off-ground start and finished when six laps were completed for each heat.
As each race finished, the airplanes returned to the pits for repair. After the competition concluded, all 10 T-28s were raffled off to the contestants. Congratulations to the Micro Pylon Race winners: Peter Sripol (first), CJ Kurella (second), and Joseph Szczur (third).
I was impressed by some beautiful scale micro RC models that were flown this year. One of these was master modeler Keith Shaw’s incredible 1/18-scale Halberstadt biplane that he designed. The aircraft has a 19-inch wingspan and weighs 2 ounces. Keith also made a great carrying case for it that looked like a hangar.
Each day during the noontime demos, manufacturers showed off their latest offerings. Horizon Hobby representatives flew the new E-flite UMX B-17G. The 1/48-scale model has a 26-inch wingspan. Three were flying at the same time and looked great in the air.
I built a four-channel 1/72-scale F4U Corsair in the Marine’s Dream color scheme. The 6.8-inch wingspan model is constructed from Durobatics foam and features a Gasparin G10 brushless motor, working navigation lights, and randomly flashing machine gun lights. I also constructed a World War II diorama to display my airplanes. A picture frame served as the base. I cut some Depron foam to fit the frame, coated the foam with plaster, and then airbrushed the correct colors to simulate an island airfield.
The hardest part of making the diorama was creating the ocean water. I used acrylic gloss medium gel mixed with a small amount of acrylic blue paint. The gel was applied in layers, and I allowed each to dry overnight.
The Horizon Indoor Electric Festival has a little something for everyone to enjoy. With an indoor water runway and three days of indoor flying, it is a wonderful event to attend!
Awards
Each year awards are distributed at the Horizon Indoor Electric Festival to recognize individuals for their modeling efforts. Congratulations to all of the 2014 award winners!
- Best Lights (sponsored by Hobbico) — Model with more than 300 lights — Winner: Dave Leis
- Best Seaplane Sport (sponsored by AMA) — Magnum Reloaded — Winner: West Michigan Park Flyers
- Best Seaplane Scale (sponsored by Luke’s RC Planes) — 1912 Lévêque flying boat — Winner: Kenneth Carchietta
- Best Micro Aircraft (sponsored by E-flite) — 1/72-scale Corsair — Winner: Joe Malinchak
- Best Scale (sponsored by ZAP) — Helio Courier — Winner: Matt Andren
- Best New Product (sponsored by FLY RC/Horizon Festival) — UMX B-17G/FPV Vapor — Winner: Horizon Hobby
- Best Jet (sponsored by ParkZone) — Thai Airliner — Winner: Peter Sripol
In addition to the aircraft awards, Andreas and Jodi Heger and Four Seasons Golf and Fitness Center Manager Shawn Wood received special recognition. Andreas was honored for his work on the Horizon Indoor Electric Festival website, and his wife Jodi was recognized for baking a cake for the event. The Hegers' award was sponsored by Horizon Hobby, and Shawn's award was sponsored by the West Michigan Park Flyers.
Sources
- Horizon Indoor Electric Festival — www.horizonindoor.com
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
