Junior 60 - My 60th Model

I was given this model by my friend Eddie Ducker who originally bought it in 1953. He built and flew it, free-flight, from then until the mid-1960's when he began converting it for "Radio Assist," but the conversion was never completed. Instead the model was consigned to his loft, where it stayed until May 2008 when I mentioned that I planned to build an "old-timer" to take me back to the early days of my own model-building and flying. Eddie immediately offered me his old J60 - and I just as immediately gratefully accepted it:

Mary, Eddie's co-pilot, displaying the model as it looked at the time it was given to me:

Having received the model I spent many hours removing all the debris left-over from the original doped-on tissue. A new SC .30 4-stroke engine was purchased and fitted, along with radio gear comprising GWS (full range) Receiver, GWS Park Servos for the control surfaces, and a Supertec NARO Servo for throttle control. A normal-size 4-cell Rx Battery lives below the engine (after "hollowing-out" the side-checks a little to accommodate it) and the rudder servo lives just ahead of the tail-plane, operating a closed-loop system. The elevator servo is towards the rear and low-down in the cabin using a snake-type push-rod and the throttle servo is just behind the firewall using a wire push-rod attached to the carb's throttle arm. The covering and trim is Solarfilm

The "old - but new in box" wheels seen in the pix were also given to my by Eddie. The tires are pneumatic and have the "Model Shop" logo moulded into the hubs. They also carry the (now rare) "Made In England" mark too

This conversion of an old free flight model to radio control, started by Eddie in the 1960's and completed by me in Aug 2008, had taken more than 40 years to come to completion . . . . but was it worth the wait?

Eddie had accepted my invitation to conduct the "maiden flight under RC" and on Friday 29th August 2008 (55 years after he'd originally bought the model), she took to the air once more. The "maiden" flight was a complete success and the model showed much promise of lots of very leisurely flying to come in the future. Eddie thoroughly enjoyed flying the model. He also enjoyed seeing it fly again several times during the rest of the afternoon under my own control - I love the way it flies

Back in the workshop I later fitted longer wing-band dowels in the interests of "wing-band security" - one wing-band had detached itself during a range-test with the engine running. The band first popped-off and flew into the prop, stopping the engine and then it was deflected rearwards, hitting the neck of another modeller who was attending to his own model! I also added a few more degrees of down-thrust to the engine and am now looking forward to the next test-flight

Subsequent flying sessions went very well after increasing the engine down-thrust some more. Hands-off slow fly-bys are really nice to watch - even to the extent of being comfortable enough to leave the Tx on my chair, putting my hands in my pockets, and taking a walk around the field just watching the model "chugging-along." This is a very sweet-flying and extremely stable model - love it!

19th September, 2008: All looked perfect as I opened the throttle and watched the model take-off. But once it had gained some height I discovered that closing the throttle had no effect on the engine speed. The engine was (thankfully) not running at full speed, in fact it seemed to be running at just about the perfect speed . . . considering the problem

But, as the level of fuel in the tank decreased, so the engine began leaning-out and running faster - I quickly realised that this was a "bad" thing! The model's speed gradually increased until it was flying so fast that I fully expected it to start breaking-up - I had to find a way to slow it down!

I tried holding the model's nose up, and this worked - but only for a short while. Soon the engine was running faster and faster - and the model ceased stalling and instead started climbing very high very quickly! What to do now? I managed to stall it into a spin by holding the nose up and at the same time 'waggling' the rudder quickly from side to side. Then I recovered it again when it was close to the ground - several times. But as it picked-up even more speed I spotted the elevator fluttering! It did this over and over again despite my best efforts to slow the model. But with the engine now running "this" well, the model did loop after loop - and the elevator fluttered with every loop it exited

I knew I had to get the model back on the ground very soon - before the tail became completely detached. But how to do it? I thought my best chance was to attempt a fast landing in the large grass-covered field to the side of our tarmac strip - and then I'd try to run it into a clump of bushes in order to stop it! It was very difficult to control the model by now (the elevator had already broken in half!), and the prospect of a fast landing just didn't inspire me with any confidence at all

I decided to try some drastic, super-tight manoeuvres to slow it down, and then "get it down" before the speed could build-up again. I looped and tight-turned it over and over again, getting closer and closer to the ground, and then, just as I was thinking, "I'm never going to pull this off" - the engine cut!

The landing was actually ok and caused no damage to the model whatsoever. But unfortunately the earlier flutter had broken the elevator "joiner" and the tail-plane's rear spar. But at least the model was down safely!

Quite simply I'd inadvertently fitted a throttle servo arm which didn't exactly fit the servo's splines, so the arm had been able to move slightly - just enough to gradually un-screw the screw which holds the arm in-place. Such a simple mistake - with almost disastrous results!