dudeman385

Hey all, I am new to the board and to the R/C airplane world. My uncle started many years ago (in 1990) working and completed the construction of a Fairchild 24 nitro r/c airplane. It is a Cox brand and it has a .049 engine. However, I am having issues with it. It has never been flown before, due to extuniating circumstances he has never messed with it after building it. Last he knew it had an engine problem and he could not get it to start. I have a lot of questions!! I NEED HELP! LOL Okay I will only list a few.
1st) Has anybody have any idea what R/c I am talking about?
2nd) HOw can I find out what kind of Nitro fuel it needs?? I have finished cleaning everything up, but I need fuel, and ogt overwhelmed when looking on the internet for what type of fuel to get.
3rd) If I post a picture can someone tell me exactly what model engine it is? What I am thinking about doing is buying a used one so I can tear it apart and learn my way around it. No where in the manual does it have information on what type of engine it is, the type of fuel used, nothing. All it says is that it came with a .049 engine.
4th) Does anyone know what kind of run time this thing has?
5th) I dont mean to seem really dumb, but how do I get the propeller off the front of the engine?

I have done some checking, and I now know that the servos all work. I have tested that out, and now have the motor mounted to the front.
Any information/input would be VERY much appreciated. You can reply on the board or email me at: [email protected] or get me on AIM at: dudeman385 or Yahoo at: Ibslick16. If I did not include enough information please let me know.
Oh yeah, almost forgot, I have been doing some research on Yahoo and on Ebay, I think I have rounded the type of engine down to being either a Cox .049 Black Widow Engine, or a Drome .049 W/ New Style Backplate. If I post a picture could anybody verify this information? Those dont look EXACTLY like it, but look VERY close.
Please help!! Thanks Josh from Goochland, VA

dudeman385

UPDATE! Got to looking at the stuff I printed and comparing it to the engine. and i think it looks closest to being a Cox Babe Bee .049 engine. If that is the case, is that any good?? Or should I try upgrading it?? Please let me know.

BGR

It sounds to me that you need some one on one help. It is hard to answer all those questions on this board. However that cox 049 will run on normal glow fuel. You dont need to get the supper dupper grease lightning stuff for that engine. I would take it to the local Hobby shop and pose your questions to them. At the minimum you will need fuel and a glow starter battery to get it going.

You may even get them to get it started for you and show you how its done, good for business!

ksechler

You're in over your head right now. You need to find a hobby shop and have them put you in touch with the local RC club. Typically speaking, anything .049 is not the best training platform particullarly something from the early 90's. The micro RC stuff wasn't as micro as it is now, and your plane will have to work harder to lift it. Also, your engine probably doesn't have a throttle. So once you fire it up and launch you have what you have until it runs out of gas. That gives you one chance to make a good landing. These little airplanes can fly pretty fast and are twitchy. They're also hard to see.

I'm not trying to discourage you and say you can't do it. You absolutely can, but you should have the help of an experienced rc'er. They will also be able to answer your questions.

MajorTomski

First STOP!!!

SELL your cox Fairchild on EBAY for a LOT of MONEY! They are very highly valued by collectors. Then use the money go go get a sig Kadet LT 40.

dudeman385

Okay, I will look into it once I get some time (getting into a hobby shop or somethign of that nature). Its kind of weird though, looks like for me to find a hobby shop I will have to go all the way to Charlottesville, you would thing the capitol city of VA (Richmond) would have a hobby shop, but really am not finding any that will work with Nitro R/C Airplanes that why I got to looking on the internet. SOO I am talking minimum of one hour drive to nearest hobby shop. And time just doesn't allow me to get out that way very often. BUT ENYWHO, exactly what is the "Normal Glow Fuel" that BGR said I will probably need? I havent found anythign called that. Could someone direct me to somewhere on the internet to buy that type of thing? I know where i can get the battery, I should be able to find that about anywhere (may end in Batteries Plus have those on every street corner around here! haha). THanks for you in put, and MajorTomSki, what is the advantage to selling the one I have now and buying a different one (perhaps the sig Kadet LT 40) does anyone else agree w/ his idea? thanks, Slick (Goochland, VA)

Montague

A bigger plane like the LT-40 will fly a lot better and be easier to learn on. If that plane is, in fact, a collector's item, then you'd do well to either sell it, or at least put it aside and get a plane designed as a trainer, and come back to the Fairchild later.

I'm not familiar with that plane at all, so I can't comment on it beyond saying that bigger always flys better. I've flown some 1/2A planes in that size range, and they are a bit of a challenge.

"normal glow fuel" just means something that is airplane fuel that isn't specifcally listed for helis or racing or 4-strokes. Now, the small engines do tend to like higher nitro, so I'd suggest something with 20% nitro. I happen to personally like Morgan fuels, Omega brand name. It has a little caster oil in it. So you'd look for Omega 20%. Other fuels are fine too, so whatever you can get locally would be ok. Some shops carry one brand, some other brands.

As for shops in your location, I'll bet there is one closer that you just don't know about. There is a rather active club just north of Richmond that I know of, and I'm sure there are several others. (I know of this one because I've flown there). They are in Hanover. Here's their url http://users.i-c.net/~hanoverrc/ They even have something on there about an expo and swapshop in Richmond in March.