BMFA Southern - The Southern Area of the British Model Flying Association SABMFA

3rd International Indoor Fly

March 2010The Jan Massinkhal Nijmegen Sports Hall
Hosted by The Nijmegen Luchtvaart Club.

Initially a trial event in 2008, to see what the response would be, the IIFI now just gets better. A reward for the effort and commitment shown by this youthful and forward thinking club. With encouragement from the local council, and parental participation and assistance this event could become a permanent fixture on the Indoor-flying calendar.

The Jan Massinkhal has a ceiling height of 8meters (Cat1) and a floor area of 2870 sqyds,

A fairly smooth and unobstructed ceiling makes indoor flying a real pleasure. The worry about getting hung up on the girders, beams, pipes and ducting so much in evidence in U.K. sports halls simply does not exist.

Peanut scale entries in 2008 totalled 17, this year there were 34 and the scale judges were kept busy for the whole 2 days. Pistachio entries also doubled from 7 in 2008 to 16 this year.

F4E class was a total UK affair, as yet there does not appear to be much interest outside the UK but I could be wrong. Derek Knight won this one with his Tiger Moth.

In the duration classes, Mark Benns had the upper hand over Bob Bailey in F1D, with the aggregate of his two best flights of 54mins 18secs

Bob bounced back with a win in F1L posting 28mins 52secs for his two best in that class.

Back on the scale side, Divs Masters won F4D Open Rubber and Mrs Vibe Masters coming in 7

Andre Petit from France came first in Peanut scale with an impressive Thunderbolt. Richard Crossley asked me to proxy fly two models for him. Bit of a challenge with someone else’s model, but I managed to get a 2 place with his Chesapeake. Likewise in Pistachio scale I was proxy flying Richard’s Polikarpov I16 and gained a hotly contested 3 place.

Richard has carved both from foam, and the detail and airbrushing are first rate, something for me to try and emulate my own entry in Peanut got me 18 out of 34. All the results and numerous videos and pictures can be found on www.iifi.nl. Well worth a visit.

The buffet banquet on Saturday night was excellent and was prepared by the parents of the club members.

Now for all indoor scale fliers, INTERSCALE 2010, is scheduled for 6 and 7 November and will again be hosted by the Nijmegen club.

The journey from Calais is about the same as London to St.Ives Cornwall, and it is all dual carriageway. So dust off the trusty building board. If all else fails there are some great beers.

Details of INTERSCALE can be found on www.iifi.nl Bryan

Bryan Stichbury is a committee member of Chichester MAC www.cadmac.co.uk