Jungster 1 & 2 aircraft

[Fighting 14]

Very interesting. That Reno racer was using a Twin Commanche nose bowl and a prop extension. Looks pretty good. After doing so much work on the mod I imagine it would have still have had that cowl on it, if it was the same airplane. I am with you. I think it is a different airplane. Very cool that you are in N.Z. I visited N.Z. in 1971. I hitched all over your country and found it to be the most beautiful place on Earth inhabited by the nicest people. I joined the Upperhut Gliding Club outside Wellington. I flew an Auster there, and remember watching formations of Harvards, and the Safe Air Bristols. Bristols?? The boat ride from Wellington to Picton was Epic!! At Franz Josef I stayed on a farm with a family and the gentleman owned a Piper Cherokee in which he flew me over the Southern Alps. What a beautiful place!! When it was time to head home I flew out of Auckland and I was offered a chance to work for Mt. Cook Airlines, but decided to head home and finish school. I often wondered how my life would have turned out had I stayed? As it was I came home finished college, joined the Air National Guard, and went on to fly for a major airline. But I will always remember N.Z. and its' beauty and friendly people. Maybe someday I will get back. You are lucky!! Your airplane has a cool history. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Fighting 14]

It would be cool though, to know there was another Fighting 14 Kiwi Jungster flying down under. Just saying in case you want to go with the Black and White.

 

[Fighting 14]

VF-14 Fighter Squadron 14 Decal - Military Graphics. Here is the Top Hat decal. I need to measure which size I used.

 

[Dominic Eller]

Classic! So you know NZ pretty well
Get in touch if you come again one day. Once all this Covid crap is sorted
We certainly are lucky with our scenery down here. I was born and raised in Wellington but live in the South Island since 1994, Queenstown, so I’m extra lucky. My day job is pretty special too, flying tandem paragliders. Pre Covid I flew Airvans a couple of days a week into Milford sound, I unfortunately Covid killed the need for contract pilots pretty quickly. I was living the the best dream ever there for a bit . I still get to fly our little Rans S6S so still living the dream really Here’s some pics to remind you of NZ
What did you fly in the air national guard? The 70s/80s must have been a great time flying military stuff?
Re Gear legs, I’m
Picking a lot of folks used Acro sport gear plans instead of the RK plans gear.
It will be interesting to see how long yours are.

 

[Fighting 14]

Bob's your Uncle!! OMG you make me jealous. Chunker!! I always prayed Delta would start flying to N.Z. so I could get back. Played guitar one night in a bar in Queenstown called the The Brown Jug or something like that back in 1971. Getting an airline job back in the seventies was pretty tough. Flew commuter airline DC-3s and Martin 404s. Guard flew C-130Bs. Finally got hired by Delta in January 1979. I started in gliders at 14 and towed and instructed. Milford Sound........what a dream place to fly into and you get to live in Queenstown and look at the Remarkables!! Probably ski Coronet peak also? Not too bad here either. We are about 30 miles as the crow flies to the Tetons and Jackson Hole. Little town here is Dubois, Wyoming. Mountains are much like yours. Doing lots of soaring still so if you get this way you have a place to park it. Yellow Yak is mine. Flew a trike once outside Phoenix and I loved it!! We got the mag issue straightened out today. Took some video of my wife taxiing the Jungster but for some reason I cannot get it from my phone to this computer. Long brain twister to sort out the mag issue, but it was a simple fix once the right and left P-leads were attached to the correct mag. All in all a great day!! Here are some pics I took of the decal and gear length.

 

[Fighting 14]

Gear length from upper bolt to axle is about 27".

 

[M Clarke]

Cowling plug is nearly finished. Will start laying up fiberglass soon! Other than that I made new rudder pedals to replace the toe brakes with heel brakes. I also installed my new instrument panel. Howard Allmon, who I had purchased my jungster from has unfortunately recently passed away. He was also the supplier for jungster 1 and 2 plans, I am going to contact his family and try to get the plans so they aren’t lost.

 

[M Clarke]

Dominic, here is my steering setup. Very similar to fighting 14’s. The gear on my Jungster 2 is quite narrow and the legs measure 32 inches from the bolt to the axle. Extending the gear on a Jungster 1 should be a feasible mod, however is it worth noting my forward visibility is non-existent.

 

[Fighting 14]

Should be mighty cool when you get her finished. Bet that cowling has been a lot of work. Looking good!

 

[Fighting 14]

For sure try to save the plans.

 

[Fighting 14]

I like heel brakes also.

 

[Dominic Eller]

Snap! Ha half our pics look like they are taken in the same country huh.
Gliders are so cool. I have good friends living in Jackson hole. They fly fixed wing and paragliders commercially. I’ll be there one day….
I used to have access to Yak 52 here in Wanaka but it’s gone now. Great plane, so much fun to take mates up in for a few Aeros and cruise around inverted for a bit
Re gear length mine are 22 1/2” mount bolt to Axel Centre. That’s the plans length for 600x6 tires and it got only 500x5 tires so she’s a bit low. Might help handling a little but not prop clearance, or potentially being as slow as possible in the 3 point for landing.
Sounds like your gear is the Acro sport mod.
I’d interested to know roughly what inc incidence the bottom of your lower aerofoil sits at in the 3 point
…..more jobs for you at the hanger

 

[Dominic Eller]

View attachment 116218
View attachment 116219
Dominic, here is my steering setup. Very similar to fighting 14’s. The gear on my Jungster 2 is quite narrow and the legs measure 32 inches from the bolt to the axle. Extending the gear on a Jungster 1 should be a feasible mod, however is it worth noting my forward visibility is non-existent.

Cowling is going to look good ! Man that’s a lot of work sanding! Are you wings finished? I’m
Looking forward to seeing them on.
Cheers for pics of tail wheel set up.
32” gear is long! I bet you don’t see anything

 

[Dominic Eller]

View attachment 116217
Cowling plug is nearly finished. Will start laying up fiberglass soon! Other than that I made new rudder pedals to replace the toe brakes with heel brakes. I also installed my new instrument panel. Howard Allmon, who I had purchased my jungster from has unfortunately recently passed away. He was also the supplier for jungster 1 and 2 plans, I am going to contact his family and try to get the plans so they aren’t lost.

That’s sad news about Howard, condolences to his family
Defiantly try and get the rights to the plans!!! We need to preserve them for future builders/rebuilders.
Would be neat to add some more mods and details to the plans. Especially for the control system, lowering the seat, moving the cockpit tension member forward for easier entry and exit and extending the gear….. the list goes on.
I have some parts in CAD format for water cutting, horizontal bolt engine mounts, undercarriage mount plates and ribs. I have a buddy who I might be able to bribe to get all the flat plate parts ready to go for CNC cutting.
Be good to collect all the pics we have and can get hold of and put them in one place for folks to scroll through. I sure got a lot of inspiration and tips from the old yahoo site with all the pics there before it got taken down and is lost for ever now.
Maybe we should make a thread here that’s just a picture dump ?

 

[Fighting 14]

Oh wow yours IS short. Yea 27" on my front tube. I will put a protractor level on it tomorrow and check the three point angle. Mine is all done now except for the gap fairings. I don't like the trashy ones it came with. I ordered carbon fiber to make some new ones. Ran it some more today and did several semi fast taxis. With the power on strong it tracks pretty well. But as soon as you pull the power to idle.........prepare to dance. Pretty good x-wind, and it was definitely noticeable. Here are a couple pics. I am 5' 10'' and sitting on a thin National seat pack. You can see it puts me up pretty high. High enough in fact you need to use goggles. The visibility sitting that high is pretty good. Putting a human in the cockpit makes it look pretty small. You can see how the crappy forest fire smoke has turn our once bright blue skies to grey.

 

[Fighting 14]

One more I missed.

 

[Fighting 14]

Another for the photo file.

 

[Dominic Eller]

Oh man I’m getting excited that your going to fly her soon!
I saw some folks had lowered their seats so I followed suit.
I’m going for a wedge pack parachute to help make the seat feel reclined just a little. I’ve made a sling seat that wraps around some 1/2 x .035 tube, which in turn is mounted to existing bolts with .090 tangs.
I’m still finalizing some details on the rear mount but it’s pretty much sorted. The fabric is still just prototype.
With this lower seat (I’m 6’1”) and a 2” seat cushion the top of my head is pretty much level with top of the turtle deck.
I even shaved of 220 grams from the ply seat I cut out

 

[Fighting 14]

Very clever and well done. Without my seat pack my head is about the same as yours, even with the turtle deck and back of my head against the headrest. Eventually I may leave the parachute out. I really need a square chute up here. Landing under the small round canopy that I have will probably really hurt at this altitude, and then you have the wind to deal with, and no riser quick releases. Ouch. I am using a small inflatable camping pillow behind the small of my back for lumbar support. The cockpit is definitely tight. I will be curious where your CG lands. Which prop are you thinking of using? I told you that my CG is about at the aft limit. I am going to run another weight and balance check with half a tank and another with an empty tank just to verify the fuel tank centroid position noting any fore or aft change in CG. On another note, where do you get your aluminum? I went to using carbon fibre for the gap strips because the price of aluminum and the shipping charges have gotten so high that I can get rolled carbon fibre cheaper. I have not used it before, but hope I can get a better lay-up and bend around the leading edge than I can with aluminum. It will be lighter I think. And I need to make a fairing for the vert fin horizontal juncture. I will try to tape the area and lay up over that using peel ply. Fingers crossed. I usually do things three times before getting it right. Winter is nipping at us so it may need to wait.

 

[BJC]

I’m going for a wedge pack parachute to help make the seat feel reclined just a little.

FWIW, I use a wedge pack in an S-1S, also hoping for a bit of a seat back recline effect. The effect, for me, at 6’ 2” is almost non-existant. Were I to look for a different parachute, I would look for a flat that would pack thinner that the wedge does.


BJC