Prertars ae wel now during aviation’ golden Era as the Pitts Special is today, the Bicker Jungmeister was one of the ali time best aerobatic airplanes ever built. It ‘was originally intended to teach Germany's future Luftwaffe pilots a thing or two about ‘aerobatics but went on to becomes favorite of stunt pilots around the world, In the hands of fa capable driver, there wasn't anything the Biicker couldn't do. The ship exhibited such fantastic stability and manueverability that, many stunts were performed that might be deemed impossible even today. For biplane lovers the Jungmrister warms the heart, for scale enthusiasts the model is every bit as classy as the full size counterpart and for anyone who just likes airplanes, the Bicker isa joy to wateh in any kind of manuever With this in mind, Dave Platt set out to produce a one-fourth size model of this fa- mous aireraft that would satisfy anyone from the Sunday flier ts the competition pilot. Ac- cording to David, the ship should feature the same flying characteristies as the full size plane and ly in about the same manner.This {sone of the few times that the design proved tobe exactly what the designer wanted with little or no changes made to the prototype. The Biicker offered by Platt Models isexactly % scale and flies like an overgrown pattern ship. Almost any trick in the book can be completed with relative ease by anyone with ‘channel experience and a thimble full of ‘The kit is all-balsa with a comprehensive set of hardware and an enormous, 8!" metal cowl. All parts are accurately dieeut, not trunched ds is the ease in some kits now on the market. The plans are huge to say the least and a 8-page instruction booklet is in cluded as well as very large sheet ofisomet- ric drawings to aid the builder in placing the right parts in the right places. As with any new kit, [did find a few minor errors in the plans but these have been taken out by eare- ful updating. I won't attempt to quote the entire instruction booklet but I think it might be wise to touch on some of the basic structures and their building sequences, For extra support, the wings feature some quite large spruce spars that must be trimmed down at the wing tip area. A Dre- mel table saw is an excellent device for trimming these spars but if you don't have fone of these marvelous time savers, a small plane will suffice. All balsa to balsa joints ‘may be made with Hot Stuff while Fast Tak should be used for hardwood to balsa areas. With careful planning, the bottom wing may bbe completed in 5to 7 hours and the top wing finished in about 3% hours. The wings are #0 strong that they do not require typical lead. ing edge sheeting. In fact, only the center section of the bottom wing receives any sheeting at all. All cabane strut and in- terplane strut fittings are provided and are ‘easily installed. The top wing is constructed almost exactly as the bottom wing with the exception of the belleranks and center sheet: ing. All ailerons are built separately and then attached for final shaping and sanding, Eventually, the top wing will be fastened to the fuselage cabane struts with screws but I decided to tap ths hardwood blocks that ac- cept these screws to a Sia size and I now use socket head bolts for a more secure fit, After countless flights ”m sure that the bolts have stood up better than the screws would have. That is the only change I made on the wing structure and ifthe rest of the direction are followed exactly you will have a pair of per- FLYING MODELS This classic biplane design, the Pitts Special of its day, is available in Quarter Scale from Dave Platt in a fine kit that flies as well as it goes together. A SOS winner/Frank Tiano fectly straight wings each with a 65" span "The fuselage isa rather simple affair with avery light structure. Two fuselage sides are used wita typieal bulitheads installed every so often as far rearward as the wing saddle, For the aft portion, cross braces are used at the fuselage bottom very similar to the old time stick models. A single stringer then rruns lengthwise for additional strength. 1 chose to make this stringer out of spruce rather than balsa because it resists crunch: inga whole lot better, especially while cover- ing the fuselage. The motor mounts and ccabane mounts are secured with Quick Cure epoxy, Don't spare the glue in these areas, especially if you would like the cabane ‘mountsto stay in love with the fuselage sides ffler about ten Mights! The fuselage sides ‘muisthe brought together at therear ina way that they both bend exactly the same amount. Alittle wetting may benecessary to ‘accomplish this but it's really very impor- tant. Ineglected this and found myself with a somewhat hooked fuselage that had to be disassembled and then reglued. The forward portion cf the nose receives different sections ‘of sheeting anda little care must be exercised ‘when chrosing what pieces goin what places. It’s easy to substitute the upper sheeting for thelower sheeting so please do as Ididn't and ‘match the diecut pieces to the top view of the plans before attacking the joints with your trusty Hot Stuff! By the way, all sheeting for the fuselage is 4" stuff and must be damp. ened in order to achieve the proper bending without breaking or splitting. A little Fast ‘Tak and a lot of pins were used to keep the moistened sheets in place. The curved pieces of sheeting are not difficult toinstall but they would be allowed to dry overnight to insure a strong bond. The cahane wires are merely mounted to their corresponding wooden plates and epoxied in place. Once again heatness came out second since we wanted a lotof glue in this area to insure a rigid, ever- lasting bond. The balance of the fuselage construction involves abit of this and « bit of that. The wing saddles must be doubled, stringers installed, hardwood landing gear blocks epoxied in place and the like. If the plans were studied carefully before starting construction, the fuselage should be finished in about 8 hours. The tail surfaces are the simplest parts of the Jungmeister to bulld. They are simply sheets of balsa with tiny ribs fastened to either side to simulate a built up structure. These have proven to be very durable andlook seale as well. The entire stab, elevators and fin-rudder assemblies take a maximum of 2 hours to build. After carefully sanding the entire framework the ship should receive a liberal coat of Balsarite. Super Coverite was then used to cover everything insight. We want a tight, realistic covering and that’s exactly what Super Coverite lends to this airplane. For a super finish we :hen applied two light coats of clear dope (nitrate) followed by one coat of auto primer. All surfaces were then hinged, pinned and any voids filled with Spackle. A light coat of primer was applied where needed. Twenty four hours later the entire ship was sanded with 400 paper and made ready for the color coats, A look through the automobile color charts at work netted me the exact yellow and red that I needed to match the Swiss Airforce Jungmeister featured in an old Air Classics ‘magazine. Only two coats of enamel were required for a realisti> finish. All markings were made from shelf paper. After applying the markings, the Blicker received two coats ‘of RS Perfect high goss clear for a super looking, extremely durable finish. The metal ‘cow! was painted in the same way, using auto primer followed by three coats of color. Fox offers a pair of 4° wheels that look just right on the Buicker. The tail wheel which is non rotating takes a %° unit. After many flights in many wind conditions I suggest that the tail wheel be made to free swivel ‘The rudder will turn the plane very well with ‘abit of prop blast but in windy conditions the ship has a tendency to weathervane. Chang- ing the tail whee! to a swiveling type all but eliminates this tendency. With the fuselage placed upsidedown my MRC 775 radio could be installed in about 20 minutes, There's ac- tually enough room ta get both hands inside to adjust this or that. The battery pack and receiver are installed right under the servos tupas close to the main bulkhead as possible, With every thing installed in this manner, the ship required only 3 ounces to balance perfectly. For snappiermanuevers I removed the 3 ounces of weigh: figuring that the one pound of fuel on boaré would more than bal- ance the airplane. Fer once I was right. A Sullivan 16-ounce slant tank fits perfectly in the tank compartment built in the fuselage between the motor mounts. The OS .90 was fastened to the moun:s with 6-32 bolts into blind nuts. The mounts had tobe shaved abit toaccommodate this engine. Ifa.60 engine is used, the mounts are just about the right size ‘but about 8 ounces more nose weight will be required. The cowl is fastened to the fuselage by means of four nylon mounting brackets serewed into a plywood bulkhead. A layer of ‘epoxy over the brackets will help them stay in place for a long time. A small hole will hhave to be drilled in she top of the cowl for sglowplug access ora lead may be made up to fan external jack. I chose to drill the hole, ‘Another small hole will have tobe drilled so that you can get at the needle valve. With the OS .90 and the complete radio installed the Biicker weighed in at 12 and 3/4 pounds minus fuel. David says that the ship flys best at 13 pounds with a 90 and I guess he's right, Toriginally tried a 14x6 prop but soon changed toa 13x5% forbetter all around performance. The 13" proplets the 90 unload a little better and allows it to run much cooler. Performance is brisk to say the least with this combination, Most flying is done at “4 throttle for most realistic appearance In any kind of headwind, the Jungmeister Bucker Jungmeister ‘This version of te Bucter Jungmeister isa pretty classic whether it's siting on the ground oF tying Slight right rider is nesded on takeot! Landings ae smooth anc the ship stays down the test ime. ‘OcTOBER 1979FLYING MODELS ‘will literally leap off the ground at less than half throttle in less than ten feet. With a calm condition the takeoff rll might extend 025 feet at the same engine setting. At full throttle the ship is airborne almost immedi- ately, regardless of wind conditions. 1 was ‘warned that the Biicker needed a combina- tion of aileron and rudder input to turn smoothly. This came from Cav:d Platt him- self. Well, !don't know what Dave did to his ship but both mine and Bob Curry’s fly avw- fully well with just ailerons. Maybe it's be- cause we have maximum throws, I really: don't know. The ship performs like a big pat- tern bird on ailerons alore. If rudder is added, the airplane turns around on a dime. All rolling manuevers requ re aileron only. ‘A spin may be done with rud:erand elevator input but the addition of some aileron really slows the spin down. The ship stops spinning immediately upon releasing the sticks. With 2 90 up front, loops may be executed from level light with ease and they may be made aslarge as you wish. Inverted Might requires a slight bit of down stick but the ship grooves, pretty well in that altitude. Knife edge light is easily performed if not toe much rudder is put in. Too much will cause che Jungmeister to start to do a knife edge Joop! After some fuel is burned off my model becomes a little bit tail heavy. This is ideal for tail slides. Just point the nose straight up, -hrottleback, land after a few seconds the Biicker will slide straight down—everytime. It’s really a pretty sight because it looks so real. Snap rollsare very quick and I'm urethat the ship ‘will do a respectable Lomcevakbut [haven't tried one as yet. When it comestime to land, the Jungmeister almost firds its own way down to the center ofthe strip. Once on final the throttle is brought back to high idle and the ship settles in like it’s on rails. Once down we must come off the elevator and it stays glued while rolling along with its tail in the air. Very realistic! Because of ts large frontal area, the plane looses speed rapidly ‘once the wheels have touched the ground 50 therolloutis sort of short. Because ofits high stance, there is no nosing over what s» ever, land takeoffs can be accomp.ished in 6° high grass, When everyone else is clipping the grass with their props and fighting to get ‘airborne, the Jungmeister will get off in no time at all Even though the airplane features a lot of ‘open framework, its really very strong. I made one very hard landing because the ‘wind was brisk and sort of slapped the ship to the ground one day and a slightly bent land- ing gear wire was the only damage. I think that's remarkable when you consider that ‘you have a 13 pound airplane. With over 60 Aights atthe time ofthis writing there are no signs of structural fatigue whatsoever. Need: less to say, I'm impressed, So if you guys want a % scale model that. isn't too big, one that will ft in an ordinary car, one that doesn't require a chainsaw en- gine to fly well, and one taat doesn't take forever to build and use up all your dough in the process, try a Jungmeister. The kit is available from Dave Platt Models Inc. lo- cated at 6940 N.W. 15th St, Plantation, Florida 39313. The kit is priced at $119 ‘which is very reasonable for a model of this size and quality. A pilot is also available for 4 scale use for $11.95 directly from Dave. 1 really enjoy my Jungmeis-er and whether you use a 60 oF a .90, I'm certain that you'd enjoy one too. Ask anyone who has one, they'll tell you. e