fit90

I need help!

I have gotten an earlyChristmas gift. I have just purchased a used Tee Dee .05 R/C at a reasonable price. I opened it up to clean and inspect itand was pleasantly surprised to find it clean and in good shape. I was also surprised to see it had a lightened crank shaft with a drilled crank pin. After lubing and reassembling it, itfired right up and ran well. Since all my time with Tee Dees has been spent trying to make them scream like scalded monkeys (what ever they may scream like) I have absolutely no experience trying to make one idle. This engine appears to be completely stock. Should I keep it stock? Should Iswitch to a Galbreath head and Nelson Plug? I have had good luck with the Nelson hot plug in my exceptionally limited experience with other carb equipped small engines. Also, does anybody have any suggestions for fuel, prop or any of the other many things that I am probably over looking. I hope to run this engine a little this weekend and use Sig Champion 25% with added castor, an APC 5.7x3 prop and the stock glow plug. If I can not get a satisfactory idle I will try a Galbreath head and Nelson plugs. I will post the results as I get them.

Now for the real question. The ultimate Christmas gift on my wish list is to get my ten year old daughter to take an interest in R/C flying with me. She is a true girly girl and getting to the age where I am just not that cool (probably a real dork to her). Anyone have any experience here?

Thanks in advance for any and all help. You guys all have a good night.

Bob

Jim_Purcha

My Feedback: (8)

A Tee Dee 0.05 RC finished on the auction site yesterday for only $250.00. To rich for my pocket.

Jim

fit90

That's WAY more than I paid.  Besides, mine is used and did not include the box or any of that stuff.

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

I got mine back years ago from Tower I think it was high$ at ~$50,,runs good pretty quiet, probably doesnt have anywhere near an hour on it, been sitting forever....I bought a 1/2a kit the other day,,maybe I'll put it on that...Rog

icerinkdad

For the 10 year old pick a fairly simple construction project like a Goldberg Gentle Lady and have her help pick the colors. Make it a low key project that you only work on with her until she is tired (it may be just 5 minutes a day. Involve her at all steps and then when it is done remember it is her airplane. Dont fly it without taking her along. I did this with my daughter who is now 21 with control line and we built some really oddly colored planes... but she learned to fly and still goes out with dad about once a summer.

Big Al-RCU

Hi Bob,

I concur with letting your daughter help with the construction and especially picking out the colors and perhaps decorative decals obtained from the crafts store. You should have seen the Dumas Mod-Pod that my wife did up with flowers and what-not back in our younger days, (but she loved it).

I can relate my experience with club fly-ins that might give you some insight. Several members would bring 40 size trainers with buddy boxes for the guests (potential members) to fly. But the favorite was a Clancy Lazy Bee with an OS 10. Take it up a couple hundred feet, throttle back, trim for a gentle climb and let them fly with just rudder. The kids picked it up in a minute or two. But, the kid’s mother was just beaming and remarking, “Oh how cute!� (That’s the girl part). I would then offer the transmitter to the Mom and with a little urging she would usually give it a try and in every case had a ball. “Look, I can make it turn! This is fun!�

The Bee kit is no longer available but it’s selling points as a trainer were that it was an airplane that was cute (the girl part), stable, had a throttle and a large enough fuel tank for sustained flight time. I would vote for a similar combo.

HTH
Al

DeviousDave

I passed on a used one in pretty decent shape 2 weeks ago for $45. I had the thought that I could flip it on FeEbay but after selling a few engines that were rare last year thru a friend I decided that even if I made money it wasn't worth feeding the beast.

DeviousDave

I've never been married, let alone a parent so I don't have any real experience here but I think you should just enjoy your daughter for who she is and what she wants to be rather than the buddy you want. Girly-Girls need a daddy.

Go buy a gun cleaning kit and show her how to clean a shotgun. That way she'll be desensitized to it when her first date comes by to pick her up.

Mr Cox

I have one of these engines, got it slightly used too. Seems no one is actually using them for anything but bench running...?

I think these are best left at low power settings and may have overheating problems otherwise. You'll find that the muffler is not sealing against the cylinder, this is not a misstake but most likely a way to avoid overheating.

I have sealed the gap on mine and it runs fine on 10% nitro and a regular, low compression, head. Spins a graupner 6x3 at about 17000rpm ([link=http://www.google.se/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CBkQtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DxEG Keaqu8Go&ei=vWrmTIv2C4mcOs2ulOIK&usg=AFQjCNHLSswwg-RIkXUU7mh5FnZGMrWDQg&sig2=QQZB6g1yIx2ftoTjjqYU6w]Video of bench run[/link])
So it is a little stronger than a TT07GP in stock form.

I'm building a Morris Yellow jacket at the moment and might put the cox in the front, as a start, and then a Norvel after that...

fit90

Mr Cox,

I love the video.  I am impressed by the super low idle.  I hope mine will do the same.

Devious Dave,

She already knows that all future dates will need Dad's approval and that Dad's approval can disappear quickly.  I have not thought about the idea of desensatizing her to idea of "date intimidation".  Good idea.

Icerinkdad and Big Al,

I like that idea.  She has a GWS Slowstick that I put together for her but she doesn't have any of herself invested in it.  I think this little engine might work well on a Q-Tee that we build together.

Thanks to all,

Bob

gcb

My father-in-law was cleaning a shotgun when he first met me. After my wife and I were married (43+ years ago), he gave me the shotgun.

I pulled the same thing on my son-in-law...he now owns the shotgun.

George

fizzwater2

My Feedback: (61)

George - was the shotgun present at any of the weddings?

I'll bet not..

Mr Cox

It really is a pity that they don't make these engines anymore (or at least made more while they where at it), the power is comparable to the AP wasp and it throttles better then the AP (in stock form) as the cox has an adjustable airbleed.

I comparison the sure starts that are offered now which makes around 13000rpm on the same prop and can be choked down around 8000rpm, just seems a little silly and useless.

01sporty

My Feedback: (1)

I've just dug out a Tee Dee .051 to put in a Ringmaster 150 so I happened across this thread searching for the initial needle setting.

What do you mean when you say you have sealed the gap on yours? What gap?

That's a terrific bench run. What muffler is on your engine? It seems to actually do some muffling and not kill the power. Where can I get one?

Oh, mine is just a plain control line engine.

Thanks,
Walt

fit90

I just ran this engine through about four ounces of fuel.  I used Sig Champion 25% with one ounce of castor added per quart of fuel, an APC 5.7x3 prop and finally settled on a Galbreath head and Nelson HD plug with three of Bernie's shims (thickness unknown).  This is all a compramise reached after my initial experimentation.  The engine can do several things well, but only one thing at a time.  I could get it to turn this prop over 21k, idle below 6k or have a smooth/relatively quick transition from idle to WOT, but only one thing at a time.  In the final configuration I get about 19.5K at WOT and an idle between 6k and 6.5k with a sloppy but dependable transition from idle to WOT.  After watching Mr Cox's video I know that this engine is capable of better but I obviously do not have his skill or patience.  As it is, i am really quite satisfied with what I have achieved and have little to no doubt that this little engine was a great deal at $50.00 and that it will be a  tremendous little engine in service.

By the way, it is worlds easier to make an engine do one thing exceptionally well than it is to make it do more than one thing acceptably well, at least for me.

Bob

DeviousDave

I totally forgot, I have one of these engines on a 4:1 gearbox that was made by Silver Vally Innovations back in the day. I swung a 14-8 prop if I remember correctly and sounded like the engine was going to explode. I only ran it once so I never played with props again after that run-but the 14-8 was supposed to be on the large end of the prop sizes recommended.

Mr Cox

The muffler was only made for the limited run of the .05RC model from cox. There is a gap between the muffler and the cylinder of about 0.1-0.15 mm in stock form. The muffler is clearly machined to have a gap from the port downwards and out, and I suspect that this was made in order to provide better cooling or something. This however means that one still has oil all around the engine and a bit of more noise, so not much use of having the muffler on. I did not like that, and have sealed that gap between the cylinder and muffler with a piece of aluminium sheet attached with JB weld. This now makes a tight fit around the cylinder and does not seem to reduce the performance.

I have to say that I have not done anything special to this engine, it just seems to run nice as it came.

01sporty

My Feedback: (1)

Would it be a huge bother to post a little better picture of the muffler? If I ever see one, I'm going to grab it.
Thanks,
Walt

Mr Cox

I can post pictures tomorrow, the design is very similar to the Queen Bee though. Please note that the RC version was made without SPI, so putting a muffler on a regular .049-.051 may perform differently.

Here is a picture from wikipedia;

01sporty

My Feedback: (1)

That's excellent. I'd forgotten about the Wiki page. Thanks for that.
Maybe I'll try fixing a CO2 cartridge to one of the easily obtainable mufflers that don't really do much.

Walt

Steve Westphal

I have one I bought from Tower 20 years ago and it screams. Throttles down too. I took the muffeler of and ran 36% nitro with a bit of castor added. If I had several of these I would try 50% nitro. One went on flea bay friday for 261 bucks!!!!!!

lildiesel

There used to be a Cox part that could be used to eliminate SPI. Just a thick washer that fit between the crankcase and the bottom of the cylinder. I have no clue why I bought a couple of them ages ago, but now they are handy for taming down the .049s for my kid's CL projects.

Now I remember. I needed it to use the Cox annular muffler on a CL plane I wanted to fly on the baseball diamond behind my building on campus. Of course the shriek of the propeller tip noise was still objectionable, so that idea didn't work.

MJD

My Feedback: (1)

If you know anyone that carries a Ventolin puffer (for asthma), the empty can is very thin and light, might be an ideal 1/2A mousse-can style muffler. CO2 cartidges are heaaaaavy.

Mr Cox

There are also some small spray cans for deicing car locks that are well suited, or marker pens etc.

fit90

George (gcb),

Thank you for the story.  As I am sure you have experienced, it makes a father feel good to know that his "Little Girl" will find one of the good ones.  I would gladly give all of my guns, and R/C planes too, to make sure she gets one of the good ones.  If he is not the one for her I just hope I haven't given him my guns yet, R/C planes either.

Bob