THREE TIMES THE FUN!
Pilots and bargain hunters converge at the IAC for NEFI 2017, Ready Made RC FPV Fest 2017, and the RC Resale Swap Shop
By Rachelle Haughn | Photos by Jennifer Alderman and the author
A favorite annual event among electric-powered aircraft fans had a new twist this year.
Held in June at the International Aeromodeling Center (IAC) in Muncie, Indiana, each year, the National Electric Fly-In (NEFI) offered more than its typical attractions of Soaring, RC Combat, a raffle, and a warbird gaggle.
Also taking place at the IAC, home to AMA Headquarters, were the Ready Made RC FPV Fest 2017 and the AMA RC Resale Swap Shop. All three events took place on the weekend of June 16-18. This year was the first time that the Ready Made RC FPV Fest and the RC Resale Swap Shop were held at the Muncie flying site.
Alec Strong, the contest director for FPV Fest, said his event was previously held in the fall in Willard, Ohio. Ready Made RC officials wanted to hold the contest earlier in the year and they chose Muncie because it is closer to more FPV pilots, Alec explained. “It’s going pretty good. A lot of racers are here—close to 60 pilots,” he stated, while multirotors buzzed through gates and around flags. Alec added that most of the aircraft being flown were multirotors, but a few fixed-wing pilots also participated.
Throughout the day on Friday and Saturday, modelers could be seen going back and forth from each event. Although there were no Control Line (CL) events going on in Muncie that day, a CL pilot was spotted at the FPV Racing event and at NEFI. He said he enjoys flying electric-powered multirotors via FPV.
At another area at the IAC, modelers and collectors were looking for the best bargains. The RC Resale Swap Shop, set up inside of and next to the former Nats Headquarters building, offered aircraft of various scales, parts, pilot figures, a flying stop sign, airplane kits, balsa, and landing gear—just to name a few. Some of the items that were for sale came from estates donated to the AMA Foundation, but others were dropped off by modelers who were visiting Muncie and simply didn’t need them anymore.
Some NEFI attendees took a break from flying to visit the swap shop. When they returned to the electric fun-fly, they were excited to show off to their fellow pilots the treasures that they found.
“We raised close to $4,000,” Mandee Mikulski, AMA Foundation’s director of development, stated about the swap shop. “Although the event did not have the attendance we hoped for, we did sell a lot of airplanes and model airplane materials.
“Our main goal with our events is to raise awareness about the AMA Foundation and the programs it supports. We accomplished this and made a nice profit for the AMA Foundation. We have close to 80 airplanes left in our collection that still need homes.”
There are still items available on the RC Resale eBay site. A link to it is listed in “Sources.”
The foundation, which supports AMA’s scholarship program, education, and national site development, previously held an RC Resale Swap Shop at the Toledo Show: R/C Model Expo and at AMA Expo East. Mandee set up another
NEFI Sponsors
NEFI 2017 was sponsored by the following companies:
- AMain Hobbies
- AMA Plans Service
- Balsa USA
- Bob Smith Industries
- Castle Creations
- Dubro Products
- HeliDirect/ Pulse Batteries
- Hobbico
- Horizon Hobby
- Motion RC
- RCGroups
swap shop during the Indiana Warbird Campaign in September at the IAC.
The Ready Made RC FPV Fest 2017 raised $825 for the AMA Foundation. While at that event, Jared “Fellstar” Goodall, tweaked his multirotor between races. This was Jared’s first visit to AMA Headquarters and the first time he’d participated in FPV Fest.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Jared said about the event and the flying site. “[It’s been an] absolutely fantastic two days. This is a beautiful facility.”
Jared explained that he had been flying multirotors since March 2017. An electrical engineer by trade, before FPV Racing, his hobby was running, but an injury changed all of that. “I needed something to do. I started watching videos and one day decided to try it. It’s a terrible addiction,” he said with a smile.
At the NEFI flightline, Charlie Brown had a somewhat similar tale. Aeromodeling became a way to keep him active and to sharpen his hand/eye coordination after several rounds of chemotherapy left him with fibromyalgia.
The five-time cancer survivor’s history with model aircraft is much longer than Jared’s. Charlie said he got his first plastic U-Control (Control Line) P-51 when he was 7 years old. He later began flying RC, but his interest became “sidetracked when I discovered Harley motorcycles,” he said.
He attended NEFI for the first time in 2016. “I got hooked hard last year. I’m going to be doing this until they plant me.”
Charlie and other NEFI regular attendees promoted this year’s event on the Hobby Squawk forum. “I like the relaxed atmosphere of it—the wide open spaces,” Charlie commented about the electric fun-fly. He added that he enjoys NEFI because “there’s a lot of great people and [I like] the social camaraderie.
“I like this because Jay [Smith] has really made it a much more friendly environment. It’s relaxed, enjoyable, and fun.” Jay Smith has been the NEFI contest director for eight years. He said the first NEFI took place 11 years ago.
This year, there were roughly 60 pilots in attendance and nearly $2,000 was donated to the National Model Aviation Museum and Animal Rescue Fund (ARF), an animal rescue organization in Muncie, Jay said.
NEFI, the Ready Made RC FPV Fest 2017, and the RC Resale Swap Shop each drew modelers of different ages and various backgrounds. In the end, however, the shoppers and pilots all had one thing in common: a love of flight.
—Rachelle Haughn
rachelleh@modelaircraft.org
SOURCES:
RC Resale
http://stores.ebay.com/rcresale
AMA Foundation
http://amablog.modelaircraft.org/amafoundation
ARF
(765) 282-2733
munciearf.com
National Model Aviation Museum
www.modelaircraft.org/museum.aspx
Hobby Squawk
www.hobbysquawk.com
NEFI Flickr gallery
www.flickr.com/photos/modelaircraft/albums/72157682333448994
Don Belfort’s 83-inch Convair 240 screams down the runway at NEFI 2017. The aircraft was built from plans and a short kit. It’s powered by a pair of E-flite Power 32 brushless outrunner motors and two Thunder Power RC 2,700 mAh 70C four-cell LiPo battery packs.
