Bunting Brothers planes

Has anyone here ever flown one of the Bunting Bros. planes (V-1, Baka Bomb, Yak-9)? How was it, and was it from a kit or plans? I see that Barry Baxter has the plans available. Just wondering.

I flew a Baka Bomb today. It is a 10% blowup of the Bunting Bros. original, and has about a 42" span. This one was modified to resemble the two place BB trainer. It was powered by a n.o.s. old Enya .29, and is a blast to fly. It was built by Jim Dross, one of our Tulsa Gluedobber clubmembers. It flies well.

How about a photo De? I have Bare's plans for the Baka- I plan to put an Enya .15 II diesel on it.
BTW, the "Yak 21" is a "fantasy fighter" that never existed in full-size form. The closest real aircraft that did exist that sort of fits the parameters of the model is a MiG prototype that never went anywhere.

Jake

Elwyn was taking pictures today out at the field. Perhaps he will post one (or more)here after he gets them developed.

>How about a photo De?
>
>Jake

Here is the one De flew. It was built by Jim Dross

COOL! I like it- even with the gear...
Thanks.

Jake

>I flew a Baka Bomb today. It is a 10% blowup of the Bunting
>Bros. original, and has about a 42" span. This one was
>modified to resemble the two place BB trainer. It was
>powered by a n.o.s. old Enya .29, and is a blast to fly. It
>was built by Jim Dross, one of our Tulsa Gluedobber
>clubmembers. It flies well.

With or without landing gear? Also, what does n.o.s. mean? Thanks.

New old stock.

With or without landing gear?

With landing gear. It stays a lot cleaner that way.

These are great swap meet finds. Pay the price. Maybe 1/yr on ebay.

The official names of the three Bunting Bros. kits:

Baka Bomb

Buzz V-1 Bomb (complete with profile pulse jet on tail)

Yak 21

(Out of Philly, as I recall)

It's the same kit times three. Move the canopy (or, no canopy) around, fool with the tips, tailfeathers, and voila...

I recall Bare saying he was somewhat surprised at the kit's good quality. Machined LE and TE, much like the old TF Flite Streak kit. Unusual for a low production small maker.

Jake

LAST EDITED ON Feb-22-04 AT 09:30 PM (CDT)
 
>With or without landing gear?
>
>With landing gear. It stays a lot cleaner that way.

Hi De,
How about the particulars on how you did your LG?
I have always liked the looks of the Baka Bomb (for some strange reason I am not aware of), and plan on building one w/LG.
I figured I would do one like the old Goldberg Shoestring, etc..
Thanks!
Bill <><

For some reason, the idea of a LG on one of these has no appeal at all to me. I suppose one could use a drop off gear like our Brit relatives (or Hal Debolt!) did on a great many of their Stunters in days gone if you don't like or have a hand launch or stooge set up ready.
I never found models got very dirty flying over grass and the gear just adds un-needed weight and drag on a model of this type.

Jake

>>
>How about the particulars on how you did your LG?
>I have always liked the looks of the Baka Bomb (for some
>strange reason I am not aware of), and plan on building one
>w/LG.

I believe that Jim Dross attached the 1/8' wire landing gear to the bottom of the fuselage, there wasn't enough room behind the fuel tank to mount it to the fuselage with clamps.

Baka Bomb trainer? What does the instructor do? Say, "Pay close attention now, I'm only going to show you this once!"

LAST EDITED ON Feb-23-04 AT 05:39 AM (CDT)
 
No doubt!
I used to have a book on "special attack" units of WW-2 (covered Japanese, German, Italian, British) and it had some highly interesting info in it. They went into a great deal of detail on the Ohka ("Cherry Blossom in Japanese)- the "Baka" (Japanese for foolish or idiot) was coined by the USN. One of the things mentioned was how well finished the cockpit was for an aircraft intended for a one-way mission.
The trainer version was a glider, with ballast replacing the 1,765 lb. warhead of the operational model. The student was carried aloft under the standard "Betty" carrier plane and then air dropped to land back at the field on a sprung steel skid assembly under the belly. Sounds like great fun!

Jake

LAST EDITED ON Feb-23-04 AT 05:19 AM (CDT)
 
The V-1 and BAKA look neat - not so sure about the Yak tho:

The cockpit version of the V-1 as flown by Hannah Reitsch would look good!

Note the Merco spinners on these.

Jake

>Note the Merco spinners on these.
>
>Jake

One thing I hadn't recalled taking note of before is the apparent fragility of the Yak 21's stab, mounted midway up a not too substantial looking vertical fin. I've nearly always felt that even the more usual type of stab mount, atop the fuse, was inadequate for heavy service on profile models without strips of 1/2" triangle stock balsa faired into the joint to strengthen it, or cutting a slot in the rear of the fuselage to insert the stab into.
.

Kiwi

I doubt the tail is real strong- it is only 1/8" sheet. Probably shakes around pretty good under optimum conditions, and I suspect if you hit the grond inverted with it, it would be a gonner...

Jake

"It'll probably feel real good again, once it quits hurting".

Reminds me of a story about Chiken Sakatumi. He was a Kamikaze pilot who retired after 25 missions.
The Baks Bomb and the rest should be excellent fliers.
Bare

Barry Baxter

Hi, Guys. The Baka Bomb that I built is a "tongue and cheek" 2 place trainer with a landing gear . I designed it around the Flite Streak airfoil with one extra bay on each side which gives it a 43 1/2inch wing span .From drawing board to flight ready took only one week or about 18 hours ( Fabric covered and painted ). I have been letting the guys fly it ( Cheap way to break-in a new engine ) and they like the way it flys.

Jim Dross Tulsa Glue Dobbers

I was gonna say that the wing looks really thin on the kits...and not thin on the model Jim Dross built. Good idea. Maybe Bunting Bros. can bring out ARF versions. Steve

LAST EDITED ON Feb-24-04 AT 11:48 PM (CDT)
 
That'll probably be a really neat trick since they have been defunct since the late 1960s...
I'm hoping Larry Richards may add them to his kit line though.
I've got Bare's Baka plans, and the wing is thicker than it looks in the photos.

Jake