The Dayton ModelRama Swap Meet was held at the Montogomery County Fairgrounds in Dayton, Ohio, on April 25-26, 2025. This show is similar to the Toledo R/C Expo & Swap Meet, with two large buildings for swap tables, vendors, and static displays. AMA had a special dinner on Saturday night for donors to the AMA Foundation. Several special recognitions were announced after the dinner. AMA has more information on its website at https://amafoundation.modelaircraft.org.
On May 3, 2025, I attended the McCook Indoor Rubber Free Flight (FF) mini contest at the Sinclair Community College gym in Centerville, Ohio. Mike Smith and Archie Adamisin ran a good contest with a One-Design (Zephyr), Bostonian, and a PF class. This was the first time for the group to fly at this gym, so it took a little time for everyone to adjust their models to fly in the area. A few errant models got stuck in the bleachers, but the help of a tall ladder brought the models back down with no damage. One up-and-coming modeler is 10-year-old Collan Sumner, whose model outperformed some of the more experienced modelers. The group will now start preparing for their outdoor contests throughout the summer.
On May 30 through June 1, the HeliStorm competition was held at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. This was a contest for large-scale helicopters, with participants from around the world, including Chile, the United Kingdom, Germany, and China. The cold, windy, and rainy weather kept some participants grounded, but quite a few of them still flew.
There were vendor representatives from both model and full-scale helicopter companies who were available to answer questions and put on seminars. The contest has been scheduled again for next year, but at a different time to have better weather.
