Cezar Banks holds his F1D model airplane at the Kibbie Dome Annual, a model airplane show and competition, in the Kibbie Dome on Tuesday. Photo by Jake Barber, Summer Arg.

Tim Chang works on one of his model airplanes at the Kibbie Dome Annual, a model airplane show and competition, in the Kibbie Dome on Tuesday. Chang will be part of a team traveling to Belgrade, Serbia to compete in August. Photo by Jake Barber, Summer Arg.

Patience may be a virtue, but to Steve Brown, it’s a necessity.

Brown, a participant in the Kibbie Dome Annual, has built competition indoor model airplanes for the last 25 years. This is at least his 20th visit to Moscow for the five-day indoor model airplane competition.

The contest began Sunday and will continue until Thursday.

As a three-time world champion and current world record holder, Brown said he has to be a little bit of a masochist.

“I like the idea of the nature of the technology and the nature of the material,” Brown said. “I like to fly in the competition. It’s challenging, but you have to have a very, very high tolerance for frustration.”

The hand launched and catapult gliders used in the competition are almost all made from hand, Brown said. Each model is extremely lightweight and most scale in at 1 gram — the weight of one U.S. dollar.

The competition is held in a series of events based on different weights, sizes and classes of models.

Each flight is timed and is critically analyzed by the model maker. Depending on the type of model, flights can last from a few seconds to Brown’s free flight world record of 1 hour, 1 second.

Andrew Tagliafico, the contest director for the Kibbie Dome Annual, said the dome is one of three buildings in the United States that can hold the competitions. The annual, a regional qualifying event, has been held in the Kibbie Dome every year since 1981. The world championships for indoor model airplaning are held every two years. Moscow hosted the world championships in 1996.

“It’s the best building in the world,” Tagliafico said. “Everybody who does this thinks so.”

The dome is a clean, unobstructed environment for airplane enthusiasts to take advantage of, he said. The only drawback is the planes floating all 150 feet to the ceiling and getting caught in the rafters.

“We have days that nobody gets in trouble,” Tagliafico said. “But other days several models get caught up there.”

Kibbe Dome staff members can access the top of the building to push wayward planes down, and some long lost models have been found from years ago, he said. Large helium-filled balloons can also be used by competitors to avoid in-air collisions and prevent planes from becoming entangled in the rafters.

“We accumulate old models from over the years,” he said.

Thirty competitors are signed up for this year’s annual.

Most travel long distances to reach the competition, including people from Indiana, California and Kansas, Tagliafico said. Competitors have also come from as far as Canada, Ireland and Australia in the past, he said.

Cezar Banks, a seven-time second place world champion from La Mesa, Calif., said he loves the “lure” of the hobby.

“It’s an odd hobby, and we’re odd people,” Banks said. “At least it keeps us out of the saloons.”

Banks and Brown agree that the technological aspect of the activity is what has kept them interested for decades.

Most individuals have common template categories that they adhere to, but each competitor has tweaked aspects of the model to create something all their own, Tagliafico said. Each plane can take 20 to 40 hours to build.

Each craftsman has their own table to set up and repair models throughout the competition.

“I enjoy the challenge at a high level,” Brown said. “There’s always a lot of things going on, and you make everything yourself.”

Each plane is usually made from balsa wood — a soft, lightweight wood usually found in South America. A thin, sheer film material is used for the wings and tail and glue similar to fingernail polish is used to hold the plane together.

The rubber-powered plane model is powered by a tightly wound rubber band attached to two hooks along the body of the plane. As the rubber unwinds, it moves the propellers and the plane flies up.

Environmental dynamics factor greatly into how successful each flight will be, Banks said. Even in a stable building such as the Kibbie Dome, air drafts, heat and outside weather can affect the planes.

Rising rental costs of the facility and reduced participation in the event because of high gas and travel prices may mean this is the last year for the competition, Tagliafico said.

“I just hope that we can continue to have this here,” he said. “Everybody loves the place. … The building is so large and we have such a relaxed format here. We have much more flying time.”

The Kibbie Dome is open for the competition and for spectators from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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