Honoring those we lost
We have lost many of our modeling friends throughout the years, and each one has left his or her mark on the hobby and in our hearts. I lost two friends in 2015 who influenced me and had a great impact on our wonderful hobby.
Stefan Gasparin was a master modeler and designer of CO₂ and micro electric motors. I used his CO₂ motors in many of my micro RC projects in the early days. Stefan took notice of what I was doing, and even worked with me on many of my projects to help me succeed. We became good friends. He inspired me, and I still have a few projects to complete with parts that he made specifically for them. I will complete them all in his honor!
Azarr was a friend to all and loved to attend modeling events across the country. I first met him at the Westchester Radio Aero Modelers (WRAM) Show, where he was a vendor with his company, E-Cubed RC. He was always helpful, and had an honest, say-it-like-it-is attitude. He will be missed!
At the 2015 Horizon Indoor Electric Festival in Columbus, Ohio, an award was given in Azarr’s honor: the Azarr Unique Aircraft Award. The award was fittingly won by Peter Sripol with his vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft.
2015 Horizon Indoor Electric Festival
Each year I look forward to attending the Horizon Indoor Electric Festival, held in November at the Four Seasons Golf Dome in Columbus, Ohio. Because of the hard work of Terry Nitsch, John Lucko, and the entire crew, the 2015 event ran smoothly and the atmosphere was enjoyable.
It was a record year for the Horizon Indoor Electric Festival, with more than 300 registered pilots! With all of those aeromodelers and so many airplanes in the air at one time, it was busy during the open flying sessions.
One of the best features of this event is that there are separate scheduled time slots for different categories of models, including light scale and built-up models, micro/mini helicopters and quadcopters, seaplanes, and even a time for jets. This gives pilots time to fly their latest creations with other aircraft of the same type, which is especially important to Scale pilots because they spend countless hours on their projects and don’t want to risk flying them with RTF airplanes in the air. We all have our favorite time slots. I enjoy participating in the light scale and jet sessions, but I enjoy watching the other models fly.
One of the highlights of this event is the indoor water runway nicknamed Spektrum Lake. Much activity happens in and around this amazing indoor lake. Not only are the floatplanes drawn to it, airplanes with wheels, helicopters, and even quadcopters, seem to always be flying over or near the water.
The 3-D pilots like to dip their aircraft’s tails in the lake, and during the helicopter time slot, the heli pilots perform their stunts over it. This
Horizon Indoor Electric Festival Awards
AWARD — SPONSOR — AIRPLANE — PILOT
Best Lights — Hobbico — Surfing Minion — Dave Lees
Best Seaplane — Luke’s R/C Planes — Caproni Trans Aero — Edward Andrews
Azarr Unique Aircraft — AMA — VTOL — Peter Sripol
Best Micro Aircraft — E-flite — 1.5-inch wingspan triplane — Joe Malinchak
Best Scale — ZAP — Halberstadt D.IV — Keith Shaw
Best New Product — Fly RC/Festival — P-47/P3 biplane — Horizon Hobby
Best Jet — ParkZone — DC-10 — John Pipchok
Special Recognition: Luke’s R/C Planes and AMA
resulted in some spectacular crashes into the drink! I have put a few of my models into the lake throughout the years.
This year, I had a ball doing some low passes over the lake with my ¹⁄₇₂-scale Corsair. I strafed the water and pulled up into a climbing left turn. I also flew my Mini Vapor on floats.
Another highlight of the event is the air race that is held on Saturday evening. This year, 10 beautiful E-flite UMX Spacewalker models were donated by Horizon Hobby for the race. The models were numbered and decorated in racing colors. Forty-two contestants battled it out for the top spot!
Each heat started with a takeoff from the ground and finished after six laps were completed. The top two finishers of each heat moved on. Congratulations to the winners! Third place went to Jonathan Sawn, second place was awarded to Tim Lavender, and Adam Leese took first place.
I am happy to report that I’ve seen more modelers building their own airplanes from kits, plans, or their own designs. Keith Shaw is one such modeler. He had several beautifully crafted, micro-scale RC airplanes with him. His Halberstadt biplane is a work of art, and won the Best Scale award. He also flew a neat-looking Stevens AeroModel 1926 Farman Carte Postale 100. This airplane has a 16-inch wingspan and flies great.
Bob Spooner brought some great-looking micro models that he constructed from Stevens AeroModel kits, including his microMax and SweetDream. Both flew well.
My good friend, Henry Pasquet, had many of his outstanding ultra micro RC models with him, including several great-flying CO₂- and electric-powered airplanes. Henry let me fly his ultralight, slow-flying model that he named Little Bit Slow. It flew gracefully.
These are merely a few of the many wonderful micro models that I saw at the event. If you would like to see some of the flying that took place at the Horizon Indoor Electric Festival, or see what the event is all about, Matt Gunn made a wonderful video that can be found on YouTube under the title “The 2015 Horizon Indoor—RC Groups Video Wrap Up.” It even includes a flight of my super-micro, 1.5-inch wingspan triplane! I will write more about that model in my next column.
Awards are given each year to recognize individuals for their modeling efforts. I want to congratulate all of the 2015 Horizon Indoor Electric Festival award winners!
SOURCES:
Horizon Indoor Electric Festival
www.horizonindoor.com
WRAM Show
www.wram.org
