Schweizer ready
After nearly two years of work, the large-scale Schweizer is complete and ready to represent Wings for MS.
We use our passion for large-scale model aviation to create attention and raise money for MS research. Thanks to main sponsor ManageEngine, our tow combination can fly across Europe from 2027.
Main sponsor
Thanks to ManageEngine and our other partners we can finish the Čmelák and get her ready for 2027.
Donate directly to MS research, or help us take the campaign across Europe. The two are kept strictly apart.
Want to support MS research? Donate through our campaign page at the Nationaal MS Fonds. The money goes straight to them; not a euro passes through our account.
Donate to MS
Goes straight to the charity
Want to help us reach Europe? For €500 you adopt one of the five cylinders of the radial engine, with your name on the cowling. That money covers stand material, transport, printing and other campaign costs.
See the cylindersWings for MS combines my passion for large-scale model aircraft with a cause that is very close to home. My wife lives with multiple sclerosis, and that makes the need for better treatments and continued research deeply personal.
The plan is to take a matching scale tow combination — a Schweizer glider and a Z-37 Čmelák tow plane — to model aviation shows and flying events across Europe. At every event we can create attention for MS, point people to the charity and give sponsors a visible place in a positive, memorable project.
The Čmelák is being built by Nico Koning. It will take him months, and he is not charging a cent for it.
Nico was already closely involved in building the Schweizer. In the photograph he is marking out the cockpit opening on the fuselage. He is most at home with complicated problems he can solve in his own workshop, in balsa, other woods or epoxy.
His hours are not in the counter and not in the ledger, because no money changes hands. But without him this project would be standing still.
The Čmelák’s landing gear is a chapter of its own: a tow plane this size comes down hard, and the gear has to absorb that time after time. Piet van Paasen is taking that on. Exactly the kind of awkward engineering problem he enjoys.
The project has two goals: create a distinctive scale flying team for European events, and use that visibility to help raise money for MS research. The team has already grown to three people — and we are ready to turn the plan into a flying campaign.
After nearly two years of work, the large-scale Schweizer is complete and ready to represent Wings for MS.
The budget is complete. Radial engine, electronics, finishing and event equipment are covered; Nico Koning is building the aircraft.
Three people are now behind the mission, preparing the aircraft, events, partnerships and the fundraising campaign.
The budget for the Čmelák is complete. Six partners contributed in cash and in kind, and main sponsor ManageEngine made the final and largest part possible. Below is where the money goes.
Sponsorship in kind counts in full. Hobby4Life covered the airframe materials, RC-Europe the kit and all the laser cutting, PowerBox-Systems the iGyro and uniLIGHT.at the lighting. The same applies to the season ahead: lettering, printing, a tent or transport help just as much as cash.
ManageEngine made the final piece of the build possible and is the main sponsor of Wings for MS. At their request we do not publish the amount.
In return they get the most visible thing this project has to offer: the Čmelák will be finished in their livery. One aircraft, one identity, travelling with us all season, on every field and in every photograph.
Main sponsor
The build is paid for, but a season of flying across Europe is not. Pitch fees, entry fees, the tent, trailer transport, printing and the donation board all cost money. That is what the five radial cylinders are for — a Fiala FM 250 R5, five cylinders, 250 cc. €500 per cylinder, your name in scale lettering on the cowling, for as long as the aircraft flies.
Every euro of cylinder money and every expense appears in the open ledger below. Our own flying and travel costs are paid by us and never come out of this.
The build is paid for. Two things still help for the season ahead: the five cylinders above, and contributions in kind for the events.
Lettering, printing, a tent, transport and material for the stand. Often the easiest contribution a company can make, and every euro we do not spend stays available for the campaign. Everyone who joins in goes on the sponsor board at the tent, on this page and in the open ledger.
Thirteen partners make Wings for MS possible and travel with us all season — on the aircraft, on every field, in every photo and in every report that follows.
We are a private initiative, not a foundation. That makes it doubly important to show exactly what comes in and what it is spent on. The build phase is closed and fully funded; from here we track the contributions and costs of the season.
| Date | Description | In | Out |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01-09-2026 | Hobby4Life — airframe materials Contribution in kind, valued at market value |
+ €2,750 | — |
| 01-09-2026 | RC-Europe — kit and laser cutting Contribution in kind, valued at market value |
+ €849 | — |
| 02-09-2026 | PowerBox-Systems GmbH — iGyro SAT II Contribution in kind, valued at market value |
+ €91.60 | — |
| 03-09-2026 | Dalmulder & Partners — cash sponsorship Cash sponsorship |
+ €150 | — |
| 09-09-2026 | NL-Jobs Holland B.V. — cash sponsorship Cash sponsorship |
+ €1,000 | — |
| 17-09-2026 | Nico Koning — building the Čmelák Months of build work, given for nothing. Not valued in money and not counted in the total. |
— | — |
| 18-09-2026 | uniLIGHT.at — lighting set for the Čmelák Contribution in kind, valued at market value |
+ €76.02 | — |
| 20-09-2026 | ManageEngine — main sponsor, completing the build Amount not disclosed, at the sponsor’s request |
— | — |
| 28-09-2026 | CHASERVO (Akatja GmbH) — 13 HV4613 servos Contribution in kind, valued at market value |
+ €551.85 | — |
| 28-09-2026 | Kampeerhal Roden — tent for the event season Contribution in kind; value to be agreed with the sponsor |
— | — |
| 29-09-2026 | AUFWIND and TorqueAir — media partners Advance feature in both magazines plus printing and insertion of the flyer, free of charge |
— | — |
| 30-09-2026 | Fiala Prop s.r.o. — contribution to the engine setup FM 250 R5 radial with electric starter, exhaust system, fuel pump and matching propeller. Contribution in kind; the terms are confidential at the sponsor’s request. |
— | — |
| 05-10-2026 | MOBU Motors — oil and servicing for the radial engine Contribution in kind for the season; value to be agreed with the sponsor |
— | — |
Our own flying and travel costs are paid by us. Cylinder contributions are earmarked for campaign costs at events — pitch and entry fees, the tent, transport, printing and the donation board — and every one of those expenses appears in this table. Donations to MS do not appear here at all, because they never reach our account.
The funding is complete and donating is already open. The build is under way, then we set up the event kit, and in 2027 we go on the road.
Nearly two years of building completed. The first Wings for MS aircraft is ready.
Seven partners in cash and in kind, with ManageEngine as main sponsor. The build budget is fully covered.
Nico Koning is building the tow plane: radial engine, electronics, finishing and the livery in our main sponsor’s colours.
Tent, sponsor board, donation board with QR code, transport and presentation material, so we can set up on any field straight away.
Taking the complete tow combination to shows and flying events across Europe, with the result of every event published here.
Model aviation has been our way to spend weekends for many years. When MS became part of our lives, it also became a way to do something rather than simply wait: use a passion we already have to create attention, conversations and support.
MS is a disease of the nervous system. Its course is different for everyone, and there is still no cure. Research is what keeps progress moving — but research needs funding, time and people who keep pushing forward.
That is why the Schweizer and the Z-37 Čmelák are being turned into a travelling Wings for MS platform. At events, the aircraft become the reason people stop, look and ask what Wings for MS is about.
The build is a means, not the goal. The goal is research, and the money for it goes straight to a recognised MS charity while the team covers its own flying and operating costs.
We said the donation campaign would start once the aircraft was funded. It is, so it has. Our campaign page at the Nationaal MS Fonds is live.
Every euro goes straight to the charity through their own platform. The money never reaches our account, we never see it and never hold it. The page carries a counter anyone can check.
Donate via the Nationaal MS Fonds
Goes straight to the charity
Scan and donate
Goes straight to the charity
Support the build or the event season and get visibility on the aircraft, this website, event material and our social channels. Ask for the one-page sponsor sheet and we will send it straight back.
sponsor@wings4ms.orgOrganising a model aviation show, aerotow meeting or club event in Europe? Get in touch and tell us about it.
events@wings4ms.orgCall or send a message. For companies weighing up a sponsorship, a five-minute conversation usually answers more than any email can.
Sven · +31 6 22 74 13 55