Before the Brushfire there was...
 

The Jester!

Ken Bonnema bipe from '67.

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

Yep, sure was! Slightly modified to taildragger, new K&B 0.40 srs 73 with Macs muffler. Hairy little beast but huge amount of fun. Bit tricky to keep inverted as it tends to roll out but with with rudder held in it does consecutive rolls, accelerating vertically.
Evan, WB#12,

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

Awesome! That's a beautiful model. Was it ever kitted, or did you build it from the plans? When you say hairy, does it have certain bad habits?

Thanks for the photos.

David

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

No, I can't say that the thing has bad habits, with low power settings and a gentle touch on the sticks it will trundle around quite nicely. It's pretty stable, long tail moment, plenty of dihedral and sweep keeps it basically upright and flying straight. But open the taps and bang the controls around and those same things also mean that the response to command can be pretty fierce and could catch the unwary out. Given that you know what you are doing this thing is a ball, but if are a bit hesitant then the speed of response could mean that you can get into trouble fairly quickly. I find that letting the sticks go and idling the throttle lets the model return to 'S&L' on its own, then you go back and try to replicate what it just did. I'm told by the watchers that I have this silly grin on my face when I'm flying it, so that probably is all you need to know.
Evan.

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

Oh, and from plans from the AMA, never kitted, to my knowledge.
Evan.

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

Nice biplane. May be I would add ailerons to the lower wing & decrease dihedral.

Rainedave, all plans you show on RCU catch my attention as I love these old designs. Pls post more of them.

Marian

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

Marian, I usually post them when I see something different or interesting. This one really isn't pattern, but the designer went on to create a true classic.

Evan, it sort of looks like you'd get some adverse roll with that tall rudder. But, I guess the dihedral and sweep overpower it. If one was to add ailerons and decrease the dihedral I think the rudder could be chopped off a bit and maybe made wider near the bottom.

David

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

Conversation with the designers brother indicate that the process described above took place, and all the mods ended up with a pattern bipe. As for adverse yaw, well thats something a rudder only model doesn't need, and this one has no detectable adverse yaw. Not surprising really, as you are relying on the yaw-roll couple to roll (and hence turn) the model. And that couple is strong on this design.
Evan.

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

Hi, Evan

When did you have an opportunity to talk to my brother Jim? Were you in the Boston area at the time?

Yes, we later flattened out both wings, made them both the same size as the top wing, added strip ailerons to the lower wing, and took the power up to a Supre Tiger 56. The mods produced a respectable Class III airplane which my dad Vince and I both flew in mostly east coast competition. Jim was the noncomformist and continued to fly his own designs which were more conventional, but flew very well. For those of you really up there in years, you may may remember Vince Bonnema as the designer of the rudder-only airplane called Rollo. He was a true RC pioneer along with the likes of Dr. Walt Good, Maynard Hill, Howard McEntee, and many other names in the AMA Hall of Fame.

The Brushfire, Fyg Leaf, etc. didn't come along until much later after I had moved to Ohio to work for the Air Force.

Sadly, Jim passed away on Christmas Day 2006 at much too young an age. He was still active in R/C with a club in the Peabody, MA area.

Thanks for sharing a memory of my brother and for reminding me of the good old days when the entire Bonnema family had modelers on the East Coast ducking for cover.

Ken Bonnema

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

Wow! Thanks for posting Ken. I love this forum. The modified version would definitely be worth building. I don't have a .56, but I have the slightly bigger brother, the V.60.

David

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

It's a beautiful sunny evening here in Ohio, so I dug (almost literally) the only surviving aileron version of the Jester out of my basement and shot these pictures. Please forgive the stained balsa and deteriorated silk (that's right, silk and dope!). There is a decal on the wing that says AMA 1969, so the model is 40 years old! I think I was a little stained and deteriorated at that age, too.

The engine is an ST .60. My dad's version (identical, but with red silk) had the .56.

Ken

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

Ken, must have been you on another forum I 'talked' to, I have never been to Boston, only been to the States once. I remembered the Jester from when I was young, and have just recently found the original magazine with the article in it. Oh, what memories! The thing is still flying, still just as much fun too. Oh, yes, that 'adverse roll' thing, you can't actually get it with rudder only, the thing yaws first, and rolls in response, so no, no adverse roll, or yaw, of course. But this thing does have huge yaw/roll coupling, rolls in level flight with enough stick and speed, the aileron boys just don't get it, and still shake their heads when they get up close. Everyone should have one...
Evan.

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

And I am sorry to hear about your brother, from you comments it seems that you all really enjoyed the hobby. I have that magazine now, American Modeller, March 1967. The one with the yellow and red 'Flybaby' on the cover, and the proud announcement of the Jester RC biplane by Ken Bonnema. No plan inside though, so I drew up my own plans way back then from the photos, never built one. I'm glad I could bring back some memories, must have been fun to fly with the .51 cause mine is way overpowered with the K&B .40...
Evan.

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

That's strange Evan. My copy of the March 1967 American Modeler has this plan on page 14, as shown in David's first post.

Ray

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

That's funny, both of the mags I have/had didn't get the plan page...must have both been 2nd hand...Thanks RFJ.
Evan.

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

So, when using the large lower wing, how was it positioned? Did you use the same LE location, or the same TE position, or split the difference?

Thanks,
David

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

The trailing edge stayed where it was and the leading edge moved forward. The main landing gear mounting blocks stayed in front of the spar and therefore also moved forward. If you look carefully at the first photo, you can see that the lower wing trailing edge still lines up with the front face of the headrest.

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

Thanks Ken. I see it clearly in the photo now.

David

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

Ken, your classic biplane doesn't look out of place today, which is a mark of a true classic. Does your modified version still have the same amount of wing sweep? It is not easy to see on the pictures.
Thanks..Chris UK.

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

Chris,

The sweep did not change. The new bottom wing is an exact duplicate of the top wing on the old plans, but with hardwood landing gear blocks added as on the original bottom wing. The landing gear downstruts are swept back a little because the larger chord moved them forward. The dihedral angle in both wings is zero.

Thanks for the compliment. I always enjoyed flying either Jester, and I definitely learned some things about bipes that helped later with the Reed Falcon and the Fyg Leaf.

Ken

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

Ken,

This model of yours (or perhaps Don Lowe) from 1980 has always been a favourite of mine. One day I will get a "round tuit" Thank you for the design.

Ray

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

That .90 powered Zlin was the first T.O.C. airplane I was ever involved with. Don Lowe picked that particular Zlin from the many types available and he specified the size and power plant he wanted. I did the design of the model version, including legal variations from true scale and the structural approach. I built it with some mold making and fiberglass help from Dave Driscoll of our USAF RPV shop. Don did very well with the airplane at the 1980 TOC.

For the 1982 TOC, Steve Rojecki and I collaborated on a much larger model of a two-place Zlin trainer. Steve flew the Zlin before every round as the demo pilot for the judges. I have searched high and low and could only find one photo. It's a lousy shot of the airplane, but it shows Steve and our engine expert Don Chapman. That airplane had a tuned pipe Rossi .90 two-stroke with a belt driven gear reduction system designed and built by Don to drive a big prop at much less than engine RPM. That was the only airplane I've ever seen that people backed away from when the engine was brought up to full throttle on the ground. It happened every time without fail, even at the TOC. The engine would ramp up to a 20,000 rpm scream and everybody would back up a step or two. Steve flew the airplane brilliantly, including 3/4 snaps to knife edge and other jaw dropping maneuvers for that time. He impressed one and all, including the international field of contestants, and probably at least partially paved the way for his win in 1984 with our Reed Falcon.

In searching for pictures of the Big Zlin, as we called it, I came across some photos I didn't know I had. I'm not sure what order they're in below, but they include the original Jester (no ailerons) and two sailplanes designs I did many, many years ago. A laurel and hearty handshake to anybody who can name either of the sailplanes. They are original designs that I named and were never published, so I don't see how anybody could know what they were called, but the one shown uncovered won Original Design at the Toledo Exposition one year and I flew the other one at sailplane contests in the Dayton area for one season. The internet is an amazing place and I won't be surprised if both are correctly identified.

Thanks to everyone for your interest in old designs by old folks. I've been reenergized to the point where I'm designing a trainer for my grandkids. Rudder, elevator and throttle with an old 4-stroke .20 that I hope I can get running. Maybe in four months or so I can post a picture of a new old guy design.

Ken

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

Ken, there is an old saying that goes something like "If you're born with balsa cement in you veins then you'll die with balsa cement in your veins" i.e. once a modeller always a modeller. I too was getting very jaded but the thread on the Jensen Ugly stik in the scratch forum re-kindled my interest. It took me 5 months to build it and I really enjoyed it. I have just got the plan for the Super Kaos and intend to build it next winter. So just enjoy it and I hope that you grandchildren enjoy it also. You're never too old! ( or so I'm told !)
All the best,
Chris U.K.

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

Ken,

Like the look of that "Big Zlin" Any plans or drawings still around?

Ray

RE: Before the Brushfire there was...
 

I'm afraid not. No sign of the molds for the cowling or canopy either.

I'f I ever find a better picture, I'll post it. Seems like there might have been photos of it in the magazines that covered the 1982 TOC.

Ken