Classic Designs > Classic Planes

Classic plane of the moment

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Bob Hunt:
I considered naming this thread "Classic plane of the week," but I am not sure that I can update the thread that often, so "of the moment" takes me off the deadline hook...

Okay, what is this thread about? I have been a fan of the Classic era stunt models for most of my life. I started flying stunt in the Classic era, and most of my heroes did as well. That era produced some of the most distinctive model designs in the event's history, and I felt it time to highlight those models and their designers, and tell the behind the scenes stories as best I could from memory and through some research. We are in danger of losing some of that history if those of us who lived through that time do not stop and chronicle our remembrances of those planes and designers.

Truly the Classic era is responsible for many unique looking models. The event was still fairly young, and there were no "rules" regarding airplane design. As the years would pass we as a group found out that certain design attributes worked better than others and the development process started to yield higher performance models; more or less like the development of Formula 1 race cars. The planes gradually started to look very similar in design and character. Some have used the term "cookie cutter" in describing modern stunt models. And, to a degree that's true, although many still strive to make their models distinctive.

I've often written that stunt models are similar to store front mannequins. They are essentially a set of aerodynamic numbers onto which different "clothes" can be draped to achieve a certain aesthetic look. And in the Classic era this was most apparent. The staple mannequin of "numbers" in those days was the George Aldrich-designed Nobler. Hundreds - if not thousands - of "original" designs were seen at contests around the globe that incorporated Nobler wings and dimensions. But the styling of many of those spinoffs were notable in their pleasing aesthetic character... and some were not! There were a lot of forgettable models produced in that time frame, but there were a lot of amazingly beautiful models produced as well. Okay, many of those early designers started with the Nobler numbers, but they gradually stretched the nose and tail lengths, experimented with different airfoils, and added their own touches in terms of styling, and a whole generation of original designs was the result.

Most of the designs of that Classic era were Nobler sized models. This followed the engine development of the time. Let's face it, the Fox 35 was in large part responsible for the growth of the Stunt event in the 1950s and early 1960s. It fit the requirements of run characteristics better than almost any other engine on the planet. Yeah, yeah, some used the Veco 35, and some the McCoy 35 and 40, and a few even used the Foster 35, but the Fox was the dominant power system for the vast majority of those early Classic models. But, as early as 1960 some were experimenting vary successfully with larger engines, and that meant larger airframes. Certainly Lew McFarland's Shark 45 design was the most famous of these early large stunt models. And, the development went on from there as we shall discover as we present for your approval the "Classic plane of the moment" series.

I'm not even going to try and do this in chronological order; that would require actual work... Instead I'm going to just go with whichever model and designer pops into my head as I go. Please feel free to add your own personal favorite Classic model/designer stories to the mix. And, let's also include the local popular models of the era that may have not received national attention. I know of several models from my area that were unique, but were never published, and I'll highlight some of those as we go.

I want to publicly thank  my old and dear friend, Andy Lee for providing a ton of great photos from the Classic era. They will be used as we proceed with this series.

Okay, see the next thread on this subject for our first "Classic model of the moment."

Retrospectively - Bob Hunt           

Bob Hunt:
The Classic plane of the moment #1

Jim Kostecky and his series of designs:

One of CL Stunt’s most colorful, creative, talented and humorous characters was Jim Kostecky. I first met Jim at the 1969 Nats in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Before I had the pleasure of meeting Jim I had read his articles in Flying Models magazine. Specifically I read the articles on the Talon and the Formula S, with which Jim placed second at the 1968 Nats.

Sometimes when you read a person’s articles you get a sense of who he really is and then when you meet him you are disappointed to find that the actual person is much different than you had expected him to be. Well, this was not the case with Jim. He was just as engaging, warm and friendly as his etchings had suggested he would be. In fact, he was a bit of a nut case… in a good way of course. The instant I first met Jim I felt as if I had known him for years. He became an immediate friend and that friendship became closer over the years until his untimely passing.

Stunt lore is filled with the stories of the more colorful fliers, but there just has to be a special chapter devoted to the wacky antics of one Jim Kostecky. I’d like to invite those of you who are reading this who knew Jim to send in your stories about him. I know that Bob Gialdini, Dave Gierke and Greg Zajak could relate quite a few… There is a story about how Jim thought Bob Gialdini’s Eclipse resembled a large white bird. Every time Bob would set the Eclipse down on in the pit area at the 1965 Nats and leave it unattended for even a few moments, Jim would sneak up and place an egg under the model. Jim had someone distract Bob each time so that he could position the egg without having Bob catch him. Someone finally told Bob who was doing it and then Jim found one of the eggs broken all over the tools in the top of his field box. It was this type of zany behavior that endeared Jim to all.
   
Perhaps the fact that Jim was such a character, keeping everyone on their toes with his insanely bizarre antics around the competition circles, has overshadowed the fact that he was one of the most gifted designers and builders of all time and also one of the very best fliers of his era. Certainly Jim could be added very high on the “Best pilots who never won a Nats” list.

Jim’s Talon design, which was published as a construction feature in the December 1966 issue of FM was a very futuristic looking and rakish design with lots of jet fighter-like styling cues. The wing was an I-Beam type, but made with full depth ribs instead of the more traditional strip ribs. There were lots of focal points on the model. It had a swept-back fin and rudder and the top of the fin and the tips of the stabilizer/elevator assembly were fitted with what can best be described as pitot tubes. They looked great, but Jim confided in me that he was constantly catching his sleeves on them. The model also featured pseudo jet intakes on either side of the fuselage at the wing joint, long, sleek wheel pants, raked-forward wing tips, and a fully detailed cockpit which was covered by a long, sleek canopy. All this was topped off by a subtle pastel mint-green paint job which featured lots of trim detail. Taken in all at once it was a breathtaking thing of beauty. Note that one of Jim's Talons was painted metallic blue. I'm not sure which came first, the green one or the blue one.

One of Jim’s flying buddies was the legendary designer, builder, finisher and flier, Dave Gierke. Dave was working on a design series at that time that incorporated many of the same styling cues as did Jim’s models. (The jury is out on who started the design trend…) Dave’s NOVI series included four distinct models. Most of these also featured the I-Beam wing construction that used full-depth ribs. The notable exception to this was his NOVI Four which was built using a D-tube elliptical wing. I want to save any in-depth discussion of the four NOVI models for a future column just about Dave’s many contributions. Suffice to say that they had great influence on each other’s design work and certainly on the “Stunt World” in general for many years. Even today their models look modern and contemporary when placed next to the current crop of designs.

Jim had some modest success with the Talon, but it was his next design that really put him on the map. His Formula S was an extremely good flying model and one that influenced several other legendary designs as well.

Like the Talon, the Formula S had rakish jet-like styling with a swept fin and rudder (Yes, he kept the little pitot tube-like protrusions on the fin and the stabilizer and elevator), the jet-like intakes on the fuselage sides and the swept forward wing tips. The big changes on the Formula S were the substitution of a D-Tube wing in place of the I-Beam wing construction, tricycle landing gear with a very pronounced forward sweep from its mounting position in the aft third of the wing, and a very aggressive paint job in red, white and black. It was stunning, and it flew great! With this design Jim almost won the whole shooting match at the 1968 Nats, coming up just short of Bob Gieseke. That second would be the highest Nats placing for Jim.

Jim had other designs as well. He flew his Cutlass design at the 1961 Nats in the Senior class, and finished in fifth place. That model was reprised by Jim in the early 1990s, and he even competed with it at one of the early Brodak Fly-Ins. Plans for that model are still available from the PAMPA Plans service. Plans for the Talon and the Formula S are available from the Flying Models Plans service. (https://store.flying-models.com/catalog/). Another Jim Kostecky design was the America, which he flew to a fine third pave finish at the 1969 Nats, placing just behind Al Rabe who was second, and Bob Lampione who won the event that year.

Jim was an art teacher in the Lancaster New York area, and his talent in that area is evident in the color schemes and graphic art pieces on his models. Jim was of Ukrainian decent, and he worked up a great little logo that was on the wings of many of his competition models. It declared Jim as the “Ultimate Ukrainian.”

Free Flight, and especially Free Flight Scale, were also passions for Jim. I published several of his Free Flight designs when I was the Editor of Flying Models magazine in the 1980s.
Walter J. “Jim” Kostecky passed away on October 7, 2001. I was honored to have been asked to be one of the speakers at Jim’s memorial service. There were more than a hundred people in attendance that day, a tribute to Jim’s character. He was loved and admired so many from so many different walks of life. I’ll always think of Jim as both a friend and a mentor.
- Bob Hunt

 

Bob Hunt:
More Kostecky photos...

Bob Hunt:
And here are some drawings that Jim gave me that depict some of the trim schemes he was developing.

Bob

Tim Wescott:
For no reason other than I think it's cool.  It's probably too small, if you built it with 1959 methods it'd be too flexible, and there's just not enough room behind the wing trailing edge to make working on the control system easy.  But -- it's cool.

No, I haven't built one -- I just want to.

Temco TT-1 by JE Wells, May 1959 FM.  Looks like it should be OK aerodynamically (the tail's a bit short), but you'd probably want that tail boom to have some strategically-placed carbon fiber, and you'd want to think hard about how to make a strong, rigid fuselage.  Or just build it with 1959 sensibilities and accept that it'll wiggle and crack.

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