Old-Timers - 2010/10

134 MODEL AVIATION
JIM WALKER Is
probably a familiar
name to most Old-
Timers. He was a
skilled aeromodeler,
inventor, showman,
and businessman.
He is probably best
remembered as the
inventor of UControl,
and he held the patent on the basic CL flying setup.
Jim was a highly motivated Type A personality who was continually
dreaming up and perfecting new inventions. He traveled to demonstrate
his products to modelers and the public at every opportunity.
Jim founded the American Junior Aircraft Company, which grew
into a business that employed many research and testing people along
with production types. He was selling 5¢ balsa gliders at a time when
aviation was new and exciting.
Most young boys wanted to fly models, and Jim’s fit into the
affordable price range. Sheer sales volume of the gliders and follow-on,
low-priced (for today) offerings were enough to produce profits and
expand American Junior. The AJ Hornet—a simple rubber-powered
Jim Walker remembered
Old-Timers Bob Angel | [email protected]
Also included in this column:
• Hearing protection
• Old-Timers as RC trainers
• Brown Junior engines
Above: Photographer Ned Nevels adds interest via Photoshop.
Ed Hamler, new Society of Antique Modelers president,
launches his Airborn at a SAM 26 contest at Taft CA while Dan
Carpenter (L) times.
Right: A 70-year-old Brown Junior powers this Kloud Queen design
skyward after roughly a 10-foot takeoff roll. Doug Klassen
photographed the author’s model at an annual Southwest Regionals.
Al Pardue holds his beautifully crafted twin pusher at Muncie IN. It’s
a fine rendition of the best of the very early pre-engine-powered
competition models. Yes, that AMA number is on the correct right
wing. Dohrman Crawford photo.
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October 2010 135
stick design—became extremely popular.
A catapult folding-wing version followed
the conventional gliders. The small model was
shot vertically from a stretched rubber band.
With wings folded, it went higher than most
other gliders. At the top of the climb, the
spring-loaded wings unfolded and rotated into
position for the glide back to earth.
That was one of Jim’s 31 patents and, as
did many of them, it fit into a category
somewhere between a model and a toy. The
Ceiling Walker was another such item,
bordering on being a toy and a rudimentary
helicopter model.
The Ceiling Walker was a simple stick
with a rubber motor powering a propeller at
each end. It would rise vertically until it
skipped along a ceiling, and it could go higher
if flown outdoors.
CL was thriving immediately after World
War II, and that probably accounted for
American Junior’s biggest sales and profits. I
took up CL at that time, but I never got to
meet the great Jim Walker or witness his
flying demonstrations.
However, I still felt like I knew him.
Wherever he appeared, an eager crowd
gathered to watch his performance and
occasionally receive a handout of one of the
items being demonstrated.
Jim’s U Reely CL reel became quite useful
where I lived, for a practical reason. When an
unmuffled engine fired up, hordes of kids,
large and small, came running from all
directions. If flying wires were laid out on the
ground, they were usually invisible to the
excited group. Before you could shoo them
aside, little feet would snag the wires,
permanently kinking them and sometimes
giving the model a good sideways yank.
With a U Reely, you could start an engine,
unreel a few feet of flying wires, launch, and
carefully let out more line while helpers
attempted crowd control. This could have
been where the term “herding cats” originated.
When the engine quit, you could keep the
airplane flying by whipping it, while cranking
the lines in without the model ever touching
the ground.
I still have a couple of U Reelys. But since
they are both a reel and a control handle,
serious CL Aerobatics fliers consider them to
be too heavy and unwieldy for competition.
The Sabre Dance was one of Jim’s famous
flying routines. He used his popular U-Control
Fireball that was powered by a two-speed
spark-ignition engine.
A battery in Jim’s pocket powered an
onboard solenoid switch, with current running
through the control wires. He could switch
between the high- and low-speed breaker
points in flight. At low speed, he could hang
the airplane on its prop, somewhat similar to
in today’s 3-D RC performances.
Jim’s Fireball was popular in my area.
Most used fairly docile O&R .23 engines.
Mounting-hole patterns weren’t
interchangeable on many engines at the
time, but we discovered that an Air-OMighty
Midget .45 would fit into the
smaller O&R mount. This produced an
overpowered hot rod that was probably
less maneuverable but highly desirable
nonetheless.
“Ukie” models were typically
overpowered for years, until George Aldrich
and others demonstrated that a larger aircraft
and smaller engine was a much better
combination for graceful, realistic flight
maneuvers.
Before RC became dominant, Jim
invented a sound-controlled glider. A blast or
two from various noisemakers could cause the
model to turn.
One of his test outings would have made a
good plot for a TV situation comedy. Jim had
several noisemakers with him, including
horns, whistles, drums, and even a small .22
caliber pistol. Firing a gun to turn the glider
got the neighbors’ attention, and they called
the police.
An officer arrived and naturally wanted to
know what was going on. Jim explained what
he was doing, and that his pistol wasn’t too
effective at turning the glider. Skipping to the
closing scene, the cop is actively engrossed in
the test, firing his louder service revolver to
turn the model.
Sometime after Jim’s death in 1958, Frank
Macy opened an American Junior store as a
sort of tribute to Jim and as a small business,
supplying some of the original models that
would otherwise have disappeared. But Frank
passed away in mid-2009, so that source is
also gone.
An American Junior Web site remains, for
those who would like to see more of Jim
Walker’s history and models. There’s even a
short movie clip of the Sabre Dance routine.
See this column’s “Sources” for the Web site
address.
Hearing loss is not necessarily age related; it
is caused mostly by accumulated damage
from high noise levels. Our Old-Timer
unmuffled engines are among some of the
worst offenders.
Most fliers have heard this, but many seem
to think that it doesn’t apply to them or that
their hearing is already damaged and can’t get
worse. Wrong!
I’ve had enough cumulative exposure to
have my hearing dulled slightly. But I’ve also
seen enough firsthand evidence in others to be
a believer.
I wear ear protection at the flying field and
encourage others to do the same. I usually
carry spare disposable earplugs in my flight
box, to give to timers or others who will use
them.
I used to use the visible earmuff type, to
encourage others to use ear protection. But for
unexplained reasons I noticed mild vertigo
when wearing them, especially combined with
the low-blood-pressure effect of rising from a
squatting position. That’s not good when
you’re preparing a model to take off.
The muffs were vented to atmospheric
pressure, so that wasn’t causing the
vertigo. But I did find that foam earplugs
didn’t cause that problem. And earplugs
are usually rated as high as or better than
the muffs in suppressing noise.
When you bench-run an unmuffled
engine it’s a good idea to use both the
plugs and muffs.
Typical RC trainers are drastically different
from typical Old-Timers. They’re heavier,
faster, and have quicker, twitchier control
responses, and they have more controls to be
mastered. But with a good instructor, a
beginner with fair motor skills can learn to fly
most RC trainers in a reasonable amount of
time.
Still, most beginners can more quickly
master the basics of takeoffs, simple flight, and
landings with a docile Old-Timer. After all,
they were designed to fly free, with no active
guidance whatsoever.
This doesn’t mean that a skilled pilot who
is destined to graduate to RC Pylon Racing or
Aerobatics will get there any faster. But it
does mean that the average sport flier will get
to the point where he or she can reliably fly
unassisted in much less time and with fewer
hours spent making repairs.
Brown Juniors were the most widely
successful of the 1930s-era FF engines. They
were among the easiest to start and most
reliable-running power plants of their day. As
a result, Brown Juniors were produced and
sold in such numbers that they are available
today on eBay, at swap meets, and through the
Model Engine Collectors Association.
Although most available Browns are now
used, they are usually found in good enough
mechanical condition to fly in a couple of
Society of Antique Modelers special events
featuring only those engines. The sight and
sound of a slow-revving Brown pulling a big
old model gracefully into the air is, to many,
the ultimate combination.
I recently answered some questions from a
fellow who had just acquired his first Brown.
One item might be useful to a few others.
The points didn’t quite open, and he was
wondering if he should bend the point
assembly for adjustment. Bending points,
especially spring steel, can easily result in
breakage. Fortunately there’s an obscure
adjustment provision for the Brown’s points.
Behind the drive washer is an insulated
eccentric sleeve, which can be rotated to
adjust the fixed point for gap. And the
exact gap isn’t critical on a Brown,
because of its relatively slow rpm and a
cam shape that alters the dwell very little
with a change in gap. MA
Sources:
American Junior
www.americanjuniorclassics.com
Model Engine Collectors Association:
John Lorenz
(817) 295-8209
[email protected]
Brown Jr. engine parts and repairs:
Jack Van Dusen
(215) 672-0608
Society of Antique Modelers
www.antiquemodeler.org
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