INDOOR FREE FLIGHT
THE 2021 INDOOR FF NATS ARE A GO!
By Don Slusarczyk | don@slusarczyk.com
THE 2021 AMA Indoor Free Flight (FF) Nats will be held July 20-23. The site is Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac, Michigan, which has been the location for many years of the Indoor Fling contest that is hosted by the Cloudbusters Model Airplane Club and Detroit Balsa Bugs.
The facility consists of multiple full-size indoor soccer fields. I have flown in it many times, and the air inside is rather good. The fields are approximately 400 x 250 feet, so there is plenty of floorspace on which to fly. The unobstructed ceiling height is close to 56 feet, but the very peak of the building is a little more than 70 feet for those who dare to fly up in the girders.
I urge those who can come this year to make the trip to this facility. If you cannot make the Nats dates, there is a one-day contest being held on May 16 at the same facility. A contest flyer can be obtained from Contest Director (CD) Mike Welshans, whose contact information is listed in “Sources.”
ORWI Winder
I recently received my new ORWI digital counter winder from Dezso Orsovai of Hungary. He has been designing and refining the winder for some time now and is finally producing it for purchase.
The winder is designed specifically for Indoor FF models and comes in either a 10:1 or 20:1 ratio. The main feature of this winder design is that it has a built-in digital counter. The counter is powered by an internal lithium battery and counts up and down so that you can keep track of exactly how many winds you put into your motor. The internal battery is good for several days of flying and also has an automatic power-off feature to conserve battery power. When the battery needs to be recharged, a common USB-C cellphone charger is all that you need.
The winder also comes with a simple lock mechanism to lock the handle position. Dezso also offers several handle options and hook sizes and a version without the digital counter if that feature does not appeal to you.
For current pricing, contact Dezso directly by email. For those in the US, contact Indoor Free Flight Supply. The company is planning to stock these winders on its website, so that can be an option if you do not want to wait for overseas shipping.
Indoor Wood in the US
Indoor contest-grade balsa sheets have been difficult to find for the past several years in the US. Consequently, most of us have been buying our wood from Nick Aikman in the United Kingdom.
Indoor Free Flight Supply now sells indoor-quality wood on its website. The standard wood is .008-inch to .0145-inch C-grain in 4- to 5-pound densities for rolled motor sticks and tailbooms. The company also offers custom-cut sheets if you need something specific for your latest build. Contact the owner, Dave Lindley, for custom-cut sheets.
Dave has put a lot of effort into having quality items readily available for the Indoor FF community during the past couple of years. He is always expanding his offerings, and I frequent his website to see what new items he has for sale. In addition to the balsa wood and ORWI winders, he now sells Mylar steering
balloons and 15-meter telescoping, carbon-fiber steering poles. It’s a real one-stop shop for Indoor FF supplies!
NFFS YouTube channel
The National Free Flight Society (NFFS) now has an official YouTube channel. There are lots of videos on various aspects of FF. For Indoor flyers, there are some videos of Indoor FF models, as well as playlists of videos that cover all aspects of Indoor modeling from building, to covering, to making variable-pitch propeller hubs for F1D models. Check it out!
SOURCES:
Indoor Fling Contest
Mike Welshans, CD
mbwelshans@aol.com
ORWI Winder
Dezso Orsovai
orsid48@yahoo.com
NFFS YouTube Channel
https://bit.ly/2MVvwI8
Indoor Free Flight Supply
indoorffsupply@outlook.com
www.indoorfreeflightsupply.com
