1/2A engine availability
#26
RE: 1/2A engine availability
ORIGINAL: ZAGNUT
but how much of that is NOS? and the rest is spotty at best, a manufacturer will crank out a run of engines and then just sit on them until they're gone...if and when they make another run is always up in the air.
what you said about manufacturing costs is exactly what i said, everybody else knows it as well but we still aren't willing to spend what it really costs to make a good engine.
but how much of that is NOS? and the rest is spotty at best, a manufacturer will crank out a run of engines and then just sit on them until they're gone...if and when they make another run is always up in the air.
what you said about manufacturing costs is exactly what i said, everybody else knows it as well but we still aren't willing to spend what it really costs to make a good engine.
Electrics have hammered the small glow engine market - I can put together an electric flight package that is a better performer for very little money. Age is another big player. Most of the younger flyers today have never even started a 1/2A engine, held one in their hands or are able to tell the difference between a Babe Bee and a Tee Dee. Most of us who still fly 1/2A glow are long in the tooth and as we go, so goes the market.
#27
RE: 1/2A engine availability
ANDREW Sadly I have to agree with your statement most of the IC engine folks are 50+ glow or diesel . If I bought a micro electric I could fly it in my front yard
( I may this) and I have lots of engine glow and diesel 049 thru 90 and of course cannot fly a 5ft 7 lb plane there all I need is that little gadget that plugs into the trainer port
on my Optic 6 or Futaba 8A 72mz trans and ready to go of course will still go the field with the big ones martin
( I may this) and I have lots of engine glow and diesel 049 thru 90 and of course cannot fly a 5ft 7 lb plane there all I need is that little gadget that plugs into the trainer port
on my Optic 6 or Futaba 8A 72mz trans and ready to go of course will still go the field with the big ones martin
#28
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RE: 1/2A engine availability
ORIGINAL: Andrew
Electrics have hammered the small glow engine market - I can put together an electric flight package that is a better performer for very little money. hands or are able to tell the difference between a Babe Bee Most if us who still fly 1/2A glow are long in the tooth and as we go, so goes the market.
Electrics have hammered the small glow engine market - I can put together an electric flight package that is a better performer for very little money. hands or are able to tell the difference between a Babe Bee Most if us who still fly 1/2A glow are long in the tooth and as we go, so goes the market.
Sadly I'd have to agree 100%-and I indicated that in my opening post (#3) of this thread. My club -Wellington MAC(-one of 2 here in Wellington, NZ's capital) is largely R/C-has a membership of about 120+ (making it the largest or 2nd largest in NZ!) and has over the past four years or so (since I moved up here and joined) slid heavily towards the electric end of the modelling spectrum-to the extent that the bulk of the actual flying (we're a typical club in that only about a quarter of the membership actually fly on anything resembling a regular basis!) is electric ARF/ARTF plastic/foamins, electric helis, and electric gliders-you'd be lucky to see more than about half a dozen ic engined models flown on a typical flying day. We also have a thriving indoor flying scene-with regular flying sessions about every 3 weeks-again-all electric!
Innovations like ALES ('altitude limited electric soaring') have levelled the playing field considerably compared to the earlier hi-tech electric stuffand attracted a lot of support at club level competition, and that and FPV flying-all largely electric potentiated-have pretty much ensured that there will be no turning back. 1/2A as we understand it doesn't even register on the consciousness-except for the very few like me who fly it as a FF event, or the thinly spread vintage crowd who enjoy 1/2A Texaco from time to time.
1/2A's are generally too small to be effective/efficient as C/L models (OK I know there is a 1/2A Combat class in the USA)-but to the rest of the world-1/2A means 1.5cc/09 cu ins in the C/L sphere. The bulk of 1/2A production in the past went into C/L models-either plastic RTF or simple sheet beginners style ones, with a little bit of R/C from the late 70's on (the weight and size of R/C gear being the main limitation!)
With Cox and Testors gone-and electrics mopping up the small R/C model market, that only leaves F/F virtually unaffected-and we were never a significant proportion of the 1/2A market to begin with!
Just consider ourselves fortunate that we still have reasonable support for the most common brands, and thanks to the internet access to a huge knowledge base, more 1/2A plans than anyone could ever hope to build -abundant accessories-thanks to the Parkflier craze-and laser cutting to take all the hard work out of building.
We really HAVE never had it so good.............
ChrisM
'ffkiwi'
Oh-and don't forget miniscule R/C gear, a wide degree of brand interoperability, spread spectrum operation with 2.4GHz frequencies, 1.8g servos (if you ever need one that small, better batteries.....
#29
Senior Member
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RE: 1/2A engine availability
i'll only be 40 this month but i can remember when every other kid had at least one castor slimed cox C/L plane under the bed, in the closet or hanging from the ceiling...and we used to all go out to the local park unsupervised to play with these evil little mess makers....hard to imagine that kind of activity with today's grade school kids. doing my best though to keep it alive, my 6 year old already knows the joy of coming home in castor soaked clothes.... and now for him that smell will forever trigger memories of an exiting childhood.
#30
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RE: 1/2A engine availability
I can recall-as a junior in the Dunedin (NZ) club in the early 1970s (which in those days was predominantly C/L with just a small R/C element) seeing other juniors struggling with a Babe Bee powered PT 19, flying on thread lines with barely enough line tension, and hard starting engines (because all we had was straight 75:25 fuel)-oh to be one of the wealthy seniors who could afford an Oliver Tiger, Taipan 2.5 Frog 249 or OS Max 19 to put on their 'Dominator' or 'Peacemaker' . .......as I flicked futilely at my clapped out ED Hornet powered oversized and underpowered C/L trainer...........
The senior members referred disparagingly to RTF Cox models as 'plastic rotating kiddy confusers'................and 40+ years on-I'm inclined to agree with them-I suspect negative experiences with Cox RTF C/L models probably put more kids off modelling than ever got them hooked.......
ChrisM
'ffkiwi'
The senior members referred disparagingly to RTF Cox models as 'plastic rotating kiddy confusers'................and 40+ years on-I'm inclined to agree with them-I suspect negative experiences with Cox RTF C/L models probably put more kids off modelling than ever got them hooked.......
ChrisM
'ffkiwi'
#31
RE: 1/2A engine availability
ORIGINAL: aspeed I kind of wonder what the hole is for just under and behind the back exh. bolt hole?
#34
RE: 1/2A engine availability
According to the thread, it is released right about now. I guess they worked out all the bugs, and are confident enough to release it. I like all my Norvels, so am hoping for a good product here too. It looks like the old motor with a new tweaked Turbo style head and plug, and different carb that is a bit bigger and smaller fuel passages I am guessing.
#36
RE: 1/2A engine availability
ORIGINAL: Andrew The market outlook is bleak, but even though much of what is available is NOS, EX Model Engines and COX Int'l have consolidated the supply of engines and parts and are investigating some manufacturing prospects. It's hard to say what NORVEL is doing.
Electrics have hammered the small glow engine market - I can put together an electric flight package that is a better performer for very little money. Age is another big player.
Most of the younger flyers today have never even started a 1/2A engine, held one in their hands or are able to tell the difference between a Babe Bee and a Tee Dee. Most of us who still fly 1/2A glow are long in the tooth and as we go, so goes the market.
#38
Senior Member
RE: 1/2A engine availability
ORIGINAL: GallopingGhostler
The NVengines.com website doesn't show it yet, so they've probably moved to production, but not distribution yet.
The NVengines.com website doesn't show it yet, so they've probably moved to production, but not distribution yet.
They don't have it on the site yet, and it's only available in the USA at the moment. It uses a Turbo plug, not sure what kind of oil is spec'd but It sounds really cheap to run and makes the same RPM as the glow version but with 2" more pitch. There's a great thread about it in the glow motor section by our very own Hollywoodb!
ETA: Mine will be here in a day or two, cost was $165 shipped.[X(]
#39
Senior Member
RE: 1/2A engine availability
ORIGINAL: aspeed
According to the thread, it is released right about now. I guess they worked out all the bugs, and are confident enough to release it. I like all my Norvels, so am hoping for a good product here too. It looks like the old motor with a new tweaked Turbo style head and plug, and different carb that is a bit bigger and smaller fuel passages I am guessing.
According to the thread, it is released right about now. I guess they worked out all the bugs, and are confident enough to release it. I like all my Norvels, so am hoping for a good product here too. It looks like the old motor with a new tweaked Turbo style head and plug, and different carb that is a bit bigger and smaller fuel passages I am guessing.
The carb will be a bit different, or at least the needle taper will have to be. Gkamysz and I were talking about this a night or two ago, and it sounds like they are using a turbo head to help people not confuse it with a regular glow version or to keep people from just converting their old motors. I speculate it's also possible that the smaller plug hole might help in ignition timing.
#40
RE: 1/2A engine availability
What do you use to power your tx,rx and servos? Bellcranks!!!!. Control line. I would say more RC than c/l. I use Nicads mostly now. Nimh has too much drain over a week. I have even considered more leckies, no tank, no servos, just bolt on the motor, and you got to have a fresh battery for each flight. NNNNOOOO, was that out loud? . I still hate charging batteries. Probably have 20 planes to cycle flight packs, transmitter batteries, field box batteries, 2 riding mower batteries, a Corvette battery over the winter, clocks in the house, phones..... I got lots of 1/2A motors to use up before I go leckie
#41
Senior Member
RE: 1/2A engine availability
The new hybrid chemistry NiMh cells (sold under the Eneloop brand as well as a few others) have a self discharge rate of only 10% per year and they work in cold weather. I use them in my bug-out-bag for all my electronics and they seem to hold up well. They'll die like any regular battery in a low current drain device like a GPS with a sleeping power off mode but any device that has a mechanical switch will see them last a long time.
#42
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RE: 1/2A engine availability
Zagnut, your exactly right. Back in the late 70's early 80's I purchased several OS FP.15 for around $72.50 price tag still on box. I tried to sell for $50.00 plus shipping, here on RCU, no takers. Engine prices are definately dropping off the map. I have both today still NIB never seen fuel or mounted. Gave up on small aircraft for that reason, no money in the equipment after slight use, only fly Giant scale now.
#43
RE: 1/2A engine availability
The engines on Cox International seem to be reasonable considering, $25 for the basic SureStart one:
[link]http://coxengines.ca/cox-.049-surestart-engine-die-cast.html[/link]
According to [link]http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=4.00&year1=1965&year2=2013[/link]
That Cox .049 Babe Bee for $5.00 US in 1965 would be $36.85 today. Their price for the entry level with tank Skymaster and Babe Bee is $40, which is not too far off. The SureStart lacking tank seems to be representative.
[link]http://coxengines.ca/cox-.049-surestart-engine-die-cast.html[/link]
According to [link]http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=4.00&year1=1965&year2=2013[/link]
That Cox .049 Babe Bee for $5.00 US in 1965 would be $36.85 today. Their price for the entry level with tank Skymaster and Babe Bee is $40, which is not too far off. The SureStart lacking tank seems to be representative.
#44
My Feedback: (1)
RE: 1/2A engine availability
rccrasher65 ..... We fly little teenie airplanes with smaller engines coz we like to... Not because we expect to make money or even get our money back.
Looking at the pile o'beans, .... If you have an unplanned encounter with Terra Firma with a GIANT GASSER, how many beans did you spill? A devalued OS 15 doesn't come any where close.
Looking at the pile o'beans, .... If you have an unplanned encounter with Terra Firma with a GIANT GASSER, how many beans did you spill? A devalued OS 15 doesn't come any where close.
#45
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RE: 1/2A engine availability
I consider every dollar I spend on the hobby an expense, with no hope of future return. Every flight carries the risk of 100% loss, and I know I'll never use everything I have. Seems to to me that's the nature of this hobby. I look at (most) used hardware as somebody else's problem that I don't want.
#46
RE: 1/2A engine availability
ORIGINAL: MJD
I consider every dollar I spend on the hobby an expense, with no hope of future return.......... Seems to to me that's the nature of this hobby.
I consider every dollar I spend on the hobby an expense, with no hope of future return.......... Seems to to me that's the nature of this hobby.
#47
RE: 1/2A engine availability
One has to anticipate the possibility of total loss. I look at those who fly turbine jets, the ones with engines into the thousands of dollars. YouTube.com is full of jet fighter crash and burns. I'd rather dork that disposable .15 engine that cost 2/3rds of $100 than sacrifice a sizable down payment on a new car. [:'(]
In addition, the under $50 half-A engines are salvageable and reusable on a really good Figure-9.
In addition, the under $50 half-A engines are salvageable and reusable on a really good Figure-9.
#48
RE: 1/2A engine availability
RC crasher 65. Just use them up. They will work fine and now there are lighter radios. Hath they still not wings? Put the .15's in a little plane and they will demand your full attention. I have to say I like getting those little motors that everyone grows out of and picking them up (yes for less than $50) It is a challenge to me to machine little parts to get them to howl, or at least run again if that is what it needs. If you would have used those motors, think of all the fuel you would have saved. I can fly a whole year on 1/2 a gallon with the little guys, compared to 4 gallons on a .60 or worse a .90. I have seen a gallon go in a day with a .90 heli.(not mine) I will admit to a .15 beingmyfavourite size motor rather than the .049's. They aren't so fiddly and can go 200 mph if you want them to.As has been mentioned, they are tougher than bigger motors, as well as the airplanes if you crash them.
#49
RE: 1/2A engine availability
For simplicity, the .049 planes are great provided you don't live in windy city. A quart bottle of fuel would last me nearly a flying season. The .09 / .10 motors have their place, too. About the most fidgety were the .020 planes. The .049's looked rock steady compared with them.
#50
RE: 1/2A engine availability
I think sadly the whole 15 size maket has almost left us except for combat. There are almost no 15 size kits or planes anywhere. An exception is the Sig Wonder. 15 is about the edge of hand launch-small field flying. Although in a large field I routinly hand launch my wife's 99" 20 FP powered Butterfly for her. But that will become airbourne on an ant's fart