ajcoholic

My Feedback: (10)

CP, I have a Testors P40 in excellent shape - just burnt out the glow plug recently. If you want it, I will send it to you for free

For me, it was Christmas 1977. I was 7 yrs old, and got a Cox blue angels RTF plane with of course a cox 049 and a starting kit. I ran that engine all the time down in the basement of the house But eventually I took it outside and wrecked it on the first try. But I carefully removed the engine and started building balsa planes a few years after.

Its funny, I had no help from anyone and managed to run and tune that engine... my dad sure wasnt interested in model planes. But he did get me supplies when I needed them

AJC

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

AJ, that's great of you to offer me that! To be honest, the first model I bought back in about 1984 was the very same P-40. That re-lit the spark. I'd like to see you hang on to your plane and fly it with a Grandchild some day, or else something along those lines....to share it some how with a youngster.

After getting in the air with the P-40, I immediately built the Goldberg Lil Whizard and that thing was my first "real" model .....what a thrill that was to fly something that I built & with a screamin' Black Widow [:-]! I remember the anticipation, doubts, worries, etc., while building it and the thrill of victory after the first flight...[8D].

Remby

My Feedback: (3)

First CL was a Testors Zero purchased in the late 60's, never had much luck with that engine, the plane was kinda neat.

The first real good luck came with a "Red Baron" Cox .020 powered bipe. Not really 1/2a, but that little plane was flown enough to get the needed basic skill. The Cox Stuka was a favorite, along with the later Bf-109 Super Stunter.

I think those old Cox 1/2a CL/RTF models gave a quick introduction that is missing today, without those, how many of the flyers here would have got that 1/2a interest going?

controlliner

For me, 1974.....A CG Li'l Wizzard and a 1959 Golden Bee. It has the wierd "W" element glow plug. I still have the engine and it is still pretty. I would post pics but I don't have a digital camera. "technologically challenged". I did Loops and Lazy eights except flying upside down with the clarke "Y" airfoil on the plane. I might order another one from Brodak. It flew well on 40' lines on the Cox Skylon handel.

gcb

My guess is that it was probably a Thermal Hopper and a 1/2A Hell Razor.

Grish made EXCELLENT props. My first ones were the Tornado "Plasticote" props which were wood with a thick finish on them. Tornado made the first nylon props also.

George

LouisB

Mine started as F/F with a Comet 4-in-1 build-n-fly kit from my dad. I never completed the last kit in the box. It was called a Cloud Buster and was supposedly to be the mean mama of them all. My interest was recently rekindled and fortunately Guillows are making these kits again, albeit it is now four separate kits. The old Cloud Buster is now called a Fly Boy.

This was followed by a Testors Cosmic Wind. Our town was high above sea level and this aircraft therefore flew like a dog. You had to put a bit of a swing in your arm in order to keep it airborne. But it still was fun for a kid. Eventually the McCoy's built-in starter spring broke but by then I got the hang of it. I still have this engine and the Cosmic manual but the aircraft is long gone, unfortunately.

A friend-of-a-friend gave me a crash leftover solid balsa wing from a C/L balsa kit. I used this and made my own profile fuse and 1/16 tail feathers. This machine actually flew very well and I was hooked.

grawyl

It would have been the late 70s for me. It was standard Cox 049 on a free flight plane. I really wanted to get into RC planes but my father thought it would be better to start with free flight and learn the basics to building planes first. I learned a lot from him and the 049 lasted many years and through many planes and experiments. The key was to know exactly how much fuel to run to get the right run time. Too little and they wouldn't get enough height to catch thermals and too much usually meant a long walk to find it...I think I actually still have that motor somewhere here in a box.

My first RC plane was a Gentle Lady with a Tee Dee 049 mounted to a custom wing mounted pod and fuel tank. I know I still have the Tee Dee somewhere, I just wish I knew where it was...

M. Boesen

Hello,

I'm wondering if it might of been a Comet P-40? They were not very common compared to Cox airplanes and would of been that time period, early sixties. Wen-Mac/AMF/Testors didn't make a P-40 until the 'Fly'em Series.

Mark

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/049Collectors/

P.S. opps! Went back to post some photos and forgot about the 'giant' Wen-Mac P-40!!!!

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Mark, I'm not sure now what it was. I remember that the engine was not designed to be mounted with screws, it was wedged into plastic slots in the fuselage. I do remember getting a Testors P-40 20 years later as my "gateway" back into the hobby.

mtntopgeo

My Feedback: (12)

lfinney

My Feedback: (44)

my first 1/2a experience was with a wen-mac powered p-39.. 1960-61 we lived on a cul de sac and we flew it there many many times, i was informed by the guy who mentored me, that i was now ok to own a real u/c plane with a cox sportsman .15, no more flying in the cul de sac for me.., hobby shop owners let me know that wen-mac was crap etc etc, funny i bet i had 200 plus flights on that airplane i would love one just for nostalgia sake....the one i really jones for is the p-38 wen mac powered plane, just for display purposes....

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Yes siree, there was a P-38 or 2 sold on ebay in the last couple years. For the price range they were in...someone else can have them though....[:-]

ajcoholic

My Feedback: (10)

My Testors P40 has 1970 imprinted on the wing underside... not sure if they made them before that but I know they made them after as I actually had two of these. I traded the other one for a Daisy BB gun when I was about 12 yrs old

AJC

Tee Bee

Back in the 70s, I saved my yard mowing money and ordered a Cox Shrike rc car from the JC Penney Christmas catalog. It was black and had a single channel radio with proportional steering and a Babe Bee .049 pusher. My dad tried to talk me out of wasting my money on such a contraption. On the 2nd or 3rd run, I broke the plastic snap starter and couldn't get the engine to fire again. There were no local hobby shops and I didn't realize how simple and cheap it would have been to replace the snap starter ring. We boxed it back up, took it back to JC Penney and my dad said, "I hope you learned a lesson from all this. You should spend your hard-earned money more wisely.".

I can honestly say that all these years later, I still haven't learned my lesson. On the bright side, I've got my dad playing with his first Cox engine now. We just built a pair of Dumas Lil Swamp Buggies with Surestart .049s and he admitted to having a lot of fun running his completed boat for the first time. Funny how life works out.

colingw

February 1981, Cox Babe Bee .049 on Aeroflyte "Hummbug" profile control line trainer - a birthday present from my late grandfather. 30 foot dacron lines, plywood handle. My dad launched. The plane went up in an uncontrolled wing-over, came down the other side, and "snap!". The outboard wing came off.

After repairs, the following weekend I tried again with similar results. Repaired again, and tried again after school with a friend launching. The 3rd attempt was successful.

I still have the engine, although I'm not sure exactly which of my Cox .049s it is. Another school friend of mine learned to fly the same time, also with a Babe Bee .049 and an Aeroflyte "Von Baron" profile biplane. We flew our .049s together for all of 1981, before graduating to bigger engines - a PAW 249 in his case, and I got a PAW 19, both Christmas presents at the end of 1981. After we started flying the diesels, the 049s didn't get nearly as much use. We still fly control line together today - re-started together around the same time, after about a 20 year lay-off. During that 20 year interval, the only control line plane I kept operational was a little profile trainer with a Babe Bee .049, which I occasionally flew.

I still keep at least one Cox reedie powered model flyable. Current one is the 2nd version of an own design triplane, powered by a Black Widow .049.

cheers,
Colin

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

Nice story TEE

andrewmac

In the early eighties I saved enough paper route money to buy a Goldberg Lil Wizard and a used Baby Bee .049. Soon after that bought a pair of Combat Kittens with a Cox Black Widow .049 with a tee dee .051 piston and cylinder. That .051 would really scream. This was where I first fell in love with the smell of that nitro. Those were the good old days....

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

I suddenly see how many people lurk around this forum. There are guys I have never seen before with some great stories.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

I came so close to buying those Combat Kittens, but never did. I looked at that box every trip to the LHS. Your post is the first time I have heard about them being flown. I went with the Lil Satan and it turned out tail heavy with a Black Widow, but just controllable enough to keep from crashing. For the time, that was as much adrenaline as I could want for $15.

sledge_78

My Feedback: (24)

For me, my first 1/2A experience was memorable. It was the early 1960's I think around 1961 I was about 15 years old. I had already become a learned controline flyer in much larger arplanes and happened to have a Cox .049 in my possesion. I don't know where I got the .049 from but I had it for a long time. We frequently used to see a Father and son arrive at our local flying field carrying the all familiar big box with the plastic airplane inside. The out come was always the same, a long time starting , dad at the controls , and a large wingover into the ground. It was pack up clean up time and a trip home. We knew those plastic planes were hard to fly so we had all stayed away from them. In my spare time I had bought a 1/2A balsa kit and put it together using the Cox .049 I had. It looked good when finished, after all I was a builder & modeler. I painted it bright yellow and with that Cox on the front it looked good. My buddy and I cycled down to a nearby make shift flying site, we didn't need much room, it was only a 1/2A . I had left the wheels off cause hand launch was the way we flew everything. It fired right up, I ran to the controls, and my buddy launched it. It actually flew very well. It took a few seconds for me to adjust but I was already doing loops, wing overs, and 8's. After a few moments the engine quit and it landed. A few seconds later I heard a round of applause from two much older teenagers who yelled out "that was great, you're the first person I ever saw that could really fly one of those". I had guessed they were with their dads and the big box at one time. When I read this thread , I remembered that day and my first 1/2A

scalphunter

My Feedback: (5)

My fondest memory of the 1/2A 60's was a profile staggerwing Beech withe the AWESOME Cox Babe Bee and of course Red Can Cox fuel. On maiden flite day one of the peopleI really looked up to, my Dad's buddy Leslie, who was a REAL pilot, showed up. Flew an old Bell 47 for the oil fields in Lousiana. High lite of the day was after several full tank flights on the Beech, Leslie decided he'd turn a few circlesand a few it was, took the Beech home in a grocery bag. Sorry I slipped off topic a little, but my 1st flites were with OK Cubs and Wen-Macs donated to me. Later progressed up to the Cox engines and can't even remember how many years we flew with Cox as our patron Saint of Flite!! First big plane was a Veco Renegade with an Old Red Head McCoy .35 .Flew on 75 foot wire and lost it to an air to air battle with a mockingbird who swore we were violating her airspace!! Later found her nest as she attacked us while looking for the pieces of the Renegade. Stuck with the
Cox engines right thruour drop out mid 60's forthe Army. Started backwith RC in the mid 70's and built the old Heath Kit / Kraft 8 channel set.. Had 2 super 1/2A's we flew. Cox's Q-Tee and a1/2A SST, with TD .051, pressurized tanks, 6/4 props and kids 16 Inch bike upside downfor an electric starter!Those little hopped up TD's sure ran sweet on 40& nitro, but boy were they ever hardon the knuckles. Also had an old Bird Dog with about a 45 inck span and an Enya .09. Sure would love to find one of those again. Any how , took a break after retiring from the Army. My 45 year old son and I are getting back intoit right now. Currently have a scratch built Das Splat and a hanger rashed Q-tee on the bench. Couple more weekends and we'll be sniffing that lovely 30% nitro buring again. Looked for 2 months and couldn't find 40% with castor oil blend so we settled for 30. This is one of the best threads i've spent time on in a while!! But, enough of my rambling. I'll be back!!!

cfircav8r

My Feedback: (1)

My first was a little foam kit pacer by I think it was CCMI back in 84. It was designed for an .020 but I threw a Cox Texaco .049 and standard radio gear (new Futaba) in it. I was used to 2M gliders so I had the rudder throws set way to high and snap rolled it into the ground on the first throw. No damage so I turned the rates down and flew six tanks that day. It went like a bat out of hell for four minutes then landed like a trainer. Nothing like the smell of cox glow fuel. It was my first true park flier.

Tee Bee

It's neat to know that there's another Das Splat Jr out there. I've had a blast with mine.

BobHH

My Feedback: (18)

Well, I'll chime in with my first remembrance. Of course Dad flew RC when I was born so I remember those days quite well. When I was 5 or 6 Dad built a Goldberg Stuntman 23 and put a Pee Wee .020 on the nose with I would say 15 foot lines. He showed my brother and I how to start it and flew in the back yard. the next day we tried and tried until we both could fly a tank of fuel out nice and level. This was in the fall and it got dark early so Dad would not make it home until it was dark. We were so eager to show off our feat we flew with the help of a flashlight that very night. I can remember the only thing I could see at the end of the lines was the glow of the little Pee Wee whining away!!! From that day forth there have been a gazillion flights with 1/2A engines.

Bob Harris

gcb

Here are a couple of Thermal Hoppers. They were THE 1/2A speed engine in the early fifties:

George