BMJR’s
Turnaround
325 Classic aerobatics for the small field flyer! By Eric Boehm
PHOTOGRAPHY: ERIC BOEHM & KATHY LLOYD BOEHM S
ome folks may argue that small field flying has never been more popular than it is today. The proliferation of foam “ready to fly” airplanes and even the quick to build homemade Depron® foam fun flyers can be found at almost every club field. But there are still a few of us old timers that love gluing balsa and plywood to- gether. Luckily there are several producers of kits for people like us. One of my favorite manufacturers is BMJR Models. I have built a few of their kits in the past and all have been wonderful airplanes. The latest offering from BMJR comes from the fertile mind of small field airplane designer, Paul Bradley. The timing of this release could not have been better for me personally. Over the past few years I have been making the transition from freeflight to small field electric R/C. Yes, I’m getting older and quite tired of run- ning through fields chasing my airplanes as they seemingly fly away while mocking my stiff old knees. I’m also getting tired of driv- ing over an hour to a suitable field. My first foray into R/C was the BMJR Ugly 30. An obvious spin off of the Stik se- ries, it comes with two wings—a flat bottom non-aileron and a symmetrical aileron sec- ond wing. I taught myself to fly on this air- plane and still take it out occasionally. I also
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built the BMJR Park Panther. It is a real rocket of a model patterned from an old- timer design.
As my flying skills improved I began look- ing for something that would step up the challenge a notch or two. Being a die-hard balsa basher, I wanted a real project to build. At one point I decided to try designing my own low wing aileron flyer but results were disappointing. Then the Turnaround 325 entered the picture. The box arrived and I tore into it immedi- ately. My first impression was, “Wow, this is a lot of lumber!” Neatly packaged in plastic wrap were 21 balsa sheets of various thick- ness and four each 1⁄16-inch plywood sheets, all beautifully laser cut with hundreds of parts looking to be glued together. The kit also had sticks for building the tail surfaces and wing spars and shaped stock for the strip ailerons. I was really impressed with the comprehensive hardware package which includes wheels, pushrod wire, horns, connectors, aluminum tubing, wind screen material, screws, magnets, and even a piece of thread needed to fish the servo leads through the wing. You’ll need to furnish the covering material of your choice, four each 6- inch servo extensions, a spinner, and the electronic components.
AT A GLANCE Type:
Construction: Wing span: Wing area: Airfoil: Length: Weight:
Wing loading: Motor: Prop: ESC:
Battery: Radio:
Servos: Manufacturer:
R/C sport aerobatic basla/ply
43.5 inches 325 sq. in. symmetrical 34.5 inches
26–29 ounces
11.5–12.8 oz./sq.ft. Rimfire 400 10–7 electric 25-amp
3S 2200 mAh Li-Po 4-channel (4) micro
BMJR Models Inc. P.O. Box 1210 Sharpes, FL 32959 321-537-1159
www.bmjrmodels.com JANUARY 2014
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