FF Indoor Scale
Larry Kruse
An important part of indoor competition, Scale brought out over 50 entries in Rubber Scale and Peanut combined, very much indicative of the return of indoor flying to the National Contest scene. When the numbers from the unofficial 14-gram Bostonian event, run concurrently, are added to the total, over 70 aircraft took to the air with multiple flights during the five hours allocated to Indoor Scale. There was no lack of planes in the air, and the appreciative audience often broke out in spontaneous applause to reward exceptional flights.
Enjoying a goodly share of the applause was Canadian Ken Groves’ meticulously crafted Fike Dream E, built from drawings authenticated by the builder of the full-scale ship. A max with the Dream was simply a matter of cranking in enough turns and letting it go—as close to automatic as you can get. Ken won Open Peanut with the ship and flew it to second place in Rubber Scale.
The weathered-looking S.E.5 WWI biplane was another crowd pleaser, flying max or close-to-max flights with every launch. Jack had the little ship trimmed level just under the 50-ft. ceiling of Pershing Auditorium. From a distance the khaki-colored biplane was at times lost from the spectators’ view against the dark ceiling tiles, only to cruise past one of the recessed ceiling lights and then reappear. Jack finished first in Rubber Scale and third in Peanut with this bird.
Junior and Senior Peanut Scale brought out the Laceys and Fikes, with one notable exception. Senior flier Don Slusarczyk built an ultralight Santos-Dumont 14-bis from the full-size plans appearing in the July 1987 issue of Model Aviation. Although Don ended up second to Melanie Sanford’s Lacy due to running out of construction time to add necessary scale details, he later had a single unofficial flight on the little craft and posted a flight of 2:01—no small feat for any Peanut Scale model, let alone a fairly unorthodox subject.
Also worthy of mention was Lance Ferguson’s repeat win in Junior Peanut Scale. Although he flies what has come to be the standard of the class—a Lacy—Lance does it very well. By the time he’s a Senior flier, he’ll be a wily veteran of the sport and very hard to beat.
Jim Miller was another flier whose efforts received applause. Jim, too, flew a canard. It was a Don Srull-designed Voisin biplane on floats, one of the Model Aviation full-size plan offerings of the last year or so. The long fuselage and stable characteristics of the plane provided near-max flights for Jim, allowing him to place second in Peanut and third in Rubber Scale.
The unofficial Bostonian event sponsored by the Nebraska FF contingent proved popular with contestants and spectators alike. The purists bemoaned the 14-gram minimum weight requirement for flying indoors, but a variety of ships showed up. They ranged from T-tail low-wingers to lovely semi-scale biplanes to multi-engined asymmetrical time-warp machines. In short, it is a really fun way to get into free flight.
As a brief editorial note: Bostonian has been around about 10 years or so. I think it’s about time that the rules are codified and the event made an official part of the Nats offering. After all, Peanut and Rubber Scale have certainly shown the way. It wouldn’t be too difficult for Bostonian to follow. It certainly has a history of success.
As good as the competition was, there was one missing element: the drama of competitive pressure. None of the fliers knew where they stood in relation to others. There was no posting of static scores or flight scores as they were flown. I suggest that a table board be a standard item at any contest, particularly the Nats. Knowing who’s pushing you or who needs some gentle nudging is an important psychological component in any competition, spurring all contestants to greater effort.
In concluding this report, I wish to thank the Scale judges and the category director. They are:
- Ron Sears
- Cliff Tacie
- Jeff Perez
- Category Director Bert Dugan
Coming from the control-line circle and the radio-control scale flight line, respectively, I’m sure that judges Ron, Jeff, and Cliff gained a whole new insight into—and perspective on—the world of indoor flight.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
