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With the appearance in Model Aviation of the Bounty Hunter plan, the runup to next year’s One Design Event at the NATS has been launched, as it were.
I am starting this thread to collect Bounty Hunter info for all to share. I will be picking up a BMJR kit next weekend if Hurricane Ernesto (or whomever) does not blow the contest out. If not, I will get it in the mail. (Always love getting things in the mail).
I will be pleased to offer my review of the kit in this thread.
Let the Bounty Hunter info flow
Flying Weights,
CG location,
Wing/Stab angles
Etc.Dean McGinnes
Looking for a Bounty in Thermals. 😀 😀 😀
I have just received my BMJR kit.
I don’t know if any of you have purchased from Brian, but if not, you are in for a treat.
The lazer cut parts are very clear and appear to be quite accurate. The wood selection is excellent with firm balsa spars and LE stock where you need a bit of heft, and light stuff where you don’t
Most of us can pretty well assemble a kit on our own, but I would suggest going over the very complete instructions. They are illustrated by photos of each stage of construction. There are a few construction details that are a bit out of the ordinary so clear instructions are a plus.
I have another project on the board now, so it will be some time before I dig into my Bounty Hunter kit, but after seeing how well designed this kit is, as well as the airplane itself, I can’t wait to start pinning down parts and gluing.
The Bounty Hunter is not featured on their website as yet, so you will have to contact Brian directly via email.
His email is: bmjr@bmjrmodels.com
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Dean, excellent itda of such a topic. From what I am hearing, this is a real rocket ship. Lot of engine in such a small plane. I have my kit, also from BMJR, but have not started it. Rex, our pres, has his about done. Bob Stalick has done an article on it that will appear in the Digest soon.
One of our members in Atlanta has been testing his and has had some trim problems. I will see if I can get him to join in.
I added diagonal pieces between the up=rights in the fuselage sides. This added much needed stiffness to the fuselage and added a little tail weight. Great trade-off.
RexHaven’t started mine yet as am in the midst of a major liquidation of my excess model stuff on eBay. Also have a Zeek on the building board ahead of it.
I am planning on adding CF rods about .030 diameter in the longerons like we do with the T-Birds. The straight lines of the fuselage facilitate this. Thanks Fast Richard.
Hi, I have been watching Bill Gowen trim out his Bounty Hunter at the sod farm. Some observations: It is a rocket!! I’m not sure what his BH weighs, but it goes up real, real fast. He did not , reinforce his fuselage and left it stock. It has broken 2 or 3 times and has also suffered some warping. This gave him a lot of unwanted incidence which made the trim flights very exciting. I believe Bill said he was going to make another fuselage.
It was good to see it fly, and I am going to get one built as soon as I clear some space on my work bench.
The wing seems very stiff and strong. He had no damage at all to his wing or stab while he was suffering the broken fuselage thing. His is covered with a transparent plastic, not sure of the type.
Yep that’s me and my Bounty Hunter. Anything I say about the Bounty Hunter or outdoor F/F in general needs to come with the following caveat: This is my first outdoor F/F model since 1960. In the fifties I had a Kenhi Badger, a Sandy Hogan and an assortment of nameless own designs. I am an Indoor F/F competitor. I’m not even sure why I built the Bounty Hunter. It just seemed like the thing to do at the time.
Dohrm was being very kind when he said my Bounty Hunter wasn’t completely trimmed out yet. All I’ve gotten it to do so far has been big loops of varying orientation. I got disgusted the last time out when I discovered a huge upward curve in my fuse that hadn’t been there before. Even after “correcting” this I still got a loop. My next step is to build a new fuse. It will have carbon rods in the corners and may be a little deeper than standard. Hopefully it won’t break or warp this time.
My wing and stab also have numerous small breaks and may get stripped and recovered. My stab is too weak in the center LE area. I may plank and glass it there to keep the balsa from crushing again.
My TD 051 has a Galbreath head, Nelson plug, and runs on Aero 65% nitro fuel. It turns an APC 6×2 at 23,800 rpm. This may be part of my problem!
I got a pre-production kit from BMJR that had some problems that have probably been sorted out by now. Here are my original finished weights:
Fuse, engine, 2 timers 116g
Wing 50g
Stab 15g
Total 181g 6.4ozMy TD uses Hank Nystrom’s back plate mount. The firewall is about 1/8″ behind the LE of the wing to get the CG right without adding weight to the tail. I may lengthen the new fuse. Please feel free to tell me if this is the wrong thing to do! Covering is Nelson Lite film.
Bill Gowen
Decatur, GA USABill,
Reinforcing the fuse with CF rods is a good way to go, and your stab beef-up is fine too. Such changes are within the letter and spirit of the Nostalgia Gas/One Design rules.
Deepening the fuselage and definitely lengthening it is out of bounds if you wish to compete in One Design at the NATS.
Moving the engine pod back to get the CG correct is permitted as it was referred to in the original plans/construction article.
That said, if you just want to improve your chances in the AMA or Classic Gas arenas, then your proposed changes will be just fine.
This is a great thread. I can’t wait to get my Zeek finished so I can get my Bounty Hunter built and flying.
Bill, you better not let the indoor world know you are flying greasy, noisy, rocket like gas models! Looks good.
As soon as I get some things caught up around the rest of my world I plan on building a gas model, maybe for 2007.
The guys here will surely help you get it ironed out.
~jim (buxton)Am I mssing something here? The Bounty Hunter is not a Nostalgia design, is it? If so, there are no limits to what Bill Gowen wants to do. We did not have TDs and Galbreath heads, either in NOSGAS.
Hank,
While the Bounty Hunter is not a Nostalgia Gas design, the One Design at the NATS is flown to Nostalgia Gas rules. That means alterations to the airframe are limited like Nostalgia models. The fuselage shape and depth are limited by the plans, like the T-Birds, etc. 🙂
Are you real sure? I can not even find a mention of this plane under the one design events. NOS rules to me mean engine run. I am going to wack off the front of my fuselage and let someone try to stop me from flying it. It looks terrible with that stub sticking out.
I am doing a Bounty Hunter from the MA plans. As promised, there are some mistakes in the plans. So far the fues and stab are done, have not started on wings.
I haven’t built a FF since about 1965, have been doing full size gliders and built a RV-6. Saw this, and could not stand not to build the thing. I sure like balsa!!
Errors:
Stab foward square spars show as 3/32 on the plans, but should be 1/16.Stab main spar size is not called out, I think it is 1/8″.
Pylon templet is not right. It needs to be 1/4″ taller.
My fues took a nice curved shape. Did the hot water trick and got it to a almost straight. Still was way to flexible. So I added a piece of 1/16 hard sheet with grain lengthwise on the bottom. Stiffened it right up. Could do the same on the top, but is not necessary. I almost think you could use some 1/64 ply for about the same weight.
I don’t like fuses, so I am using an old Tatone timer (left over from ’65) for a dethermalizer. It will fit between the main 1/8″ if you take the protective cover off.
Bruce Patton
San Luis Obispo, CA
Bruce, the fueselage is prone to breaking behind the pylon like the T-Bird, so be careful about cutting a hold in it for the DT timer. The kit verson used a doubler to strngthen the fuselage.
Welcome back to FF.
I do understand Hank’s interpretation. I guess the only one who can answer that one is Bill Vanderbeek. I can’t seem to get him to answer his email. It would certainly help to clarify what part of Nos Gas rules apply (structure, engine run, shapes, etc,) and what do not. 😕 😕
Concerning the front end, I rather like the chin-thrust-forward look, but to each his (or her) own. 😉
Good advice to beware cutting a hole in the fuselage. Better to locate a timer up on the engine pod. If someone wants to use a bulky Tatone, they could locate it on the other side of the pylon opposite the engine timer. A better approach is to use one of the excellent MAX-III A Texas Timers. Less complication, and less weight than a separate engine and DT timer.
There are some really good hints for setting them up on high thrust models at the Texas Timers website.
I plan to use a viscous badge type timer for the DT function, and a Micro Texas Timer for the engine cutoff. 8)
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