Indoor Free Flight – Sources of Information, Kits, and Supplies

Hi, Folks:

At last week’s meeting, when Jerry flew his little “Butterfly” around in a circle and snatched it out of the air as it came back to him, it was obvious that many of you thought it was pretty neat. That little plane and the little “Junior” that he showed but did not fly, are simple, easy planes that will do much more than fly around in one circle. They will easily and consistently slowly circle up to the girders in a gym and, as the rubber motor loses torque/power, circle down to the floor. So, if you were among those that thought Jerry’s little demonstration was pretty neat, you really ought to give some thought to trying indoor free flight.

To get a kick out of indoor free flight, you do not have to build any thing that is super delicate and complicated. The plane that Jerry flew is very simple and comes RTF: all you have to do is put on the rubber, wind it, and have a ball. The “Junior” comes as a very inexpensive, easy to build kit that includes every thing you need except adhesive. They are simple, quick, and easy ways to have fun.

If you want to get THE most complete overview of building and flying indoor free flight models that is currently available, get a copy of Lew Gitlow’s Indoor Flying Models. It covers everything from a very simple “Yard Bird”, to the most sophisticated indoor duration models, to Peanut and other scale classes. It describes in useful detail all phases of building, covering, and flying indoor planes and contains plans from which you can build all sorts of things. If you have any interest in trying indoor free flight, you really must have this book. You can get a copy from Jerry Knoblauch.

There are some very good websites that focus on indoor free flight. Bill Kuhl has put together a great site that focuses on the very simple “Delta Dart” and the so-called “Denny Dart”. Check it out at http://www.luminet.net/~bkuhl/Dart.htm. (While there you should check out the video of his outdoor R/C ornithopter.) One nice thing about the “Delta Dart” and the “Denny Dart” is that they can be flown outdoors as well as inside.

Thayer Syme has a great website called Free Flight Fantasies that you can access at http://www.mindspring.com/~thayer5/modelhp.html. His article called “An Introduction to Building and Flying Free Flight Model Aeroplanes” is a terrific introduction to building indoor free flight planes. His site has plans for the “Akro” and the “Big Pussycat” that you can download. These two planes are just slightly more complicated than the Darts because they have built-up fuselages. However, building either of these should be well within the abilities of anyone who has built other types of planes from kits or plans.

One of the planes that Rick showed you was called a Nocal, a simple profile, semi-scale type model. These planes are more somewhat more difficult to build than the Darts or Thayer Syme’s planes primarily because they are more delicate. (They are, however, nowhere nearly is delicate as the indoor duration models that I displayed.) There are two good websites focusing on Nocals: Mike Morrow’s site at http://www.aeroaces.com and Don Slusarczyk’s site at http://www.indoorfreeflight.com. These sites have very good articles about building Nocals and offer plans and supplies for building Nocals.

As you look through these websites, and Indoor Duration (see next paragraph) look at the various Science Olympiad models. These are the planes that you want to try before moving on to planes such as Penny Planes and EZBs. They have stick fuselages, tissue covered wings and tail surfaces, and use readily available plastic props. They will easily do three minutes in a gym.

The best website for the delicate, ultra-light, indoor duration models is Tim Goldstein’s Indoor Duration site, http://www.indoorduration.com. There are articles, plans, and tips for Ministicks, EZBs, Penny Planes, and F1Ds, plus articles about covering with the thinnest of films and building film-covered props. Even if you do not want to build one of these duration models, the articles about building “Hobby-Shopper” EZBs are fascinating reading.

So, you have decided that you want to try some sort of indoor free flight plane. Where can you get kits and materials for them? Well, first try Jerry Knoblauch. He has lots of kits ranging from the very simple, through introductory EZBs and Peanut and other scale classes. He has tissue and film for covering, props, rubber, and winders. And, his is the only place in Connecticut, perhaps in all of New England, who has, on hand, real contest grade balsa. Before you think about ordering anything by mail or on-line, send Jerry an email at mrmodelairplane@sbcglobal.net.

If you want to browse through the websites of various suppliers just to see what is out there, check the links on the Indoor Duration website, especially those for F1D.biz, Indoor Model Supply, Ray Harlan, Peck Polymers, and FAI Model Supply.

I hope that the presentation at last week’s meeting and this information will encourage some of you to try this entertaining alternative to computer simulators and shoveling snow. If you have questions, send me an email.

Peter Hess

October 11, 2004