MICRO-FLYING
By Joe Malinchak | joemal@echoes.net
NEAT FAIR 2021
I NORMALLY START TWO WORKING on my models for the Northeast Electric Aircraft Technology (NEAT) Fair several months in advance of the event. This year, I wanted to build a model to fly in the Vapor Games. I decided that a 1/48-scale, carbon-fiber model of my Corsair design would be perfect. It was, however, a little too fast to fly in the Jersey Coast Sport Flyers (JCSF) Big Top tent, so I decided to build another one.
This one was Cartoon Scale with lots of wing area. The model would have been perfect to fly in the event, but I decided to add retractable landing gear. This added weight to the model and also made it too fast to compete, so I had no choice but to fly my old, reliable standby model: my Mini Vapor!
The NEAT Fair was held September 16-19, 2021, in Peaceful Valley, New York. More than 250 pilots participated in the fun.
The Vapor Games took place on Thursday evening at the JCSF Big Top tent at the NEAT Fair site. The Vapor Games is a fun-spirited contest, and the JCSF crew did a wonderful job of organizing and running the event, which featured two separate competitions, with a flyoff of the winners of each one.
The first event had each pilot fly through hoops that were suspended from the ceiling of the tent. They had a minute to rack up as many points as possible for each hoop that they flew through. With music playing, lights flashing, horns blowing, and people cheering everyone on, it was exciting to watch. Spencer Weigand won this event flying his Mini Vapor.
Next was the Carrier Landing contest. Each contestant had a minute to make as many full-stop landings on the carrier deck as possible. Spencer also won this event, flying his Mini Vapor with great precision and winning the title of Vapor Games Champion. Devin McGrath placed second flying a Vapor.
This event is great fun, and I am already looking forward to flying in next year’s Vapor Games!
Indoor Night at NEAT
The 2021 Indoor Night at NEAT was held at the Downsville Central School District gymnasium on September 17-18. The school graciously allowed us to fly in the gym this year, as long as we followed COVID-19 protocols.
Pilot attendance was down from previous years, but it didn’t affect the quality of models that were flown—or the fun! I would say that this was the year of some great Cartoon Scale models.
Gordon Johnson had previously offered kits of his Cartoon Scale Fokker Dr.1 triplane, and they were in great force at the event. We all ended up flying them together, chasing a single Cartoon Scale Sopwith Camel that Mike Cripps had designed. Gordon also flew his beautiful, new Cartoon Scale Monocoupe. I flew my new Cartoon Scale Corsair and had a blast just doing touch-and-gos on the gym floor.
Mike and his wife, Sandy, had some
amazing models with them this year. Mike flew his new 9-inch wingspan, molded carbon-fiber Oscar, 1/100-scale F-22 Raptor, Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate, and many other fine models. I was impressed with the details on his wife’s Fokker E.III Eindecker. The rubber-powered model has a 17.5-inch wingspan and was built from the Dumas Aircraft kit. She also had a really cool micro-size, molded carbon-fiber Cootie Rogallo!
The NEAT Fair, as well as the Indoor Night at NEAT, are worth attending if you are looking for some good modeling fun. I always see and learn something new.
If you would like to see some videos of my models and more coverage of the indoor event, visit my YouTube channel that is under my name, Joe Malinchak.
SOURCES:
NEAT Fair
www.neatfair.org
Joe Malinchak’s YouTube channel
www.youtube.com/user/joemal214
