Webra
 

It has been just about a year now since Webra posted they were shutting down. I'm sad to say I
found out about their closure much much later. As I use their old engines a lot ( the Blackhead 40
not Silverline version) I wasn't plugged into their latest product line that much. Still it was very sad to
find that this fine old firm went under.

Was there ever any efforts to save Webra? What became of their production facilities, inventory??
Has anyone saved their website content? At one time they even had exploded views of their old engines such as the Blackheads I use. I'm sorry I never saved it. I've tried finding history snapshots of their site but so far nothing.

It's unfortunate that they could not compete in today's cutthroat must_have_it_cheaper way of doing
business.

Jerry

RE: Webra
 

http://web.archive.org/web/200609230...r=AERO&lang=EN

RE: Webra
 

It's been my experience that spares are almost impossible to come by. Unless you find somebody who is hording.... I mean saving up parts for some reason.

Ken

RE: Webra
 

I have set aside more than a few spare parts for the 40 blackheads, so I'm guilty. The application I use them in
( http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_75...tm.htm#7540302 )
isn't easily changed so I'm rather locked in. I may try machining parts if I can't find what I need.

I'm lucky as the 40 Blackhead has proven itself pretty tough.

Still it is sad to have seen the end of Webra as a company. Generations to come will likely never know how great their products were. Given the ever increasing I_wanna_take_it_outta_da_box_n_use_it view if things it probably won't matter.

I'm beginning to sense how my late dad must have felt; he was an old time HAM and while he embraced the solid state
age as much as he was able; I think he really missed the days of plentiful parts and camaraderie of the DIY days of amateur radio. Winding coils, grinding crystals, making the entire chassis for most of his own equipment was just normal.

Jerry

RE: Webra
 

Ihav e most of a Webra 36 Iccan part with. Needs a piston. Iput the carb on my MVVS 25. Now Ihave a kinda crappy MVVS 25 carb to sell. LOL

RE: Webra
 

I believe that the closest your going to come to buying a new Webra is through Weston UK. It seems as though they purchased a bunch of parts for their line of engines which are Webra based.

http://www.westonuk.co.uk/westonuk2_020.htm

RE: Webra
 

Webra engine thread with all the goodies, Tanque.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_79..._1/key_/tm.htm[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7948113/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm]click here[/link]

RE: Webra
 

I can't answer any of your questions with accuracy, so I won't even try. I love Webra engines too and it saddens me that Webra is gone.

Folks have always wanted things at the lowest possible price. This isn't anything new or sinister. It is a tribute to Webra's high quality that they could charge premium prices for a premium product for so long. As most folks know, most model engine companies are dependent upon government contracts to keep their shops busy and the coffers full of cash. Or, at least full enough. I wonder if that played a part in Webra's finances?

Like it or not, the radio control hobby has changed from being exotic and technically challenging for its participants, to being relegated to nearly total toy status because of the admittedly excellent RTF products that are available today. Radio systems were expensive at one time. Now they are nearly throw away products. Does anyone still sell complete R/C systems? It looks like most of them are hawking transmitters, receivers and servos separately. Yes, it has been nearly half a decade since I bought my last non-2.4 GHz R/C system.

Anyway, many of we older R/C participants get discouraged at the way our hobby has gone. Me too - sometimes. But then I remember that the hobby is really in our heads, not in a store, and I get busy designing my latest model from the ground up. Of course, it never gets built. I just grab the RTF electric and head out of the door.

Webra! Oh yeah. I have a couple of them left in my collection. One is a "brand new" .50 GT. I plan on holding on to it. I wish I had bought the .32 when I had the chance, but I always thought that Webra would be there. Silly me.


Ed Cregger

RE: Webra
 

Nicely put Ed.

I just bought my first electric plug'n'play foamie from *obbyk*ng. My first electric aircraft. I feel like I have sold out. At least it is "scale" [:o].

RE: Webra
 

Two of my fave engines are Webra .91s, one is an old ABN and the other an old ringed engine. About three years ago I bought a new piston, liner and ring set for the ringed engine. The ring never took a set so yesterday I installed a Frank bowman ring in the .91 and even unrun there is a huge difference. I also installed a FB ring in my ancient SuperTigre 4500.

RE: Webra
 

Don't worry about it Fiery. After a few flights you'll realize it is making you lazy, too easy to just pick up and take to the field. You will get bored with it and just park it. I am now building a little 300 sqin mustang that had been intended for a pylon racing class that never materialized. It will get my Webra 36 with a Jett tuned muffler. Good for sport flying and fun laps on our pylon course.

Denis

RE: Webra
 

Ed, it's all different now. Hams homebrewed equipment way back when. I got into home computers in 1982 and hardly anybody didn't write programs even when buying games, etc. The market for various BASICs, FORTRANs, C, C++, and assembly languages was bursting at the seams.

Hope I didn't start a war here....

RE: Webra
 

I contacted RJL (Model Engine Co. of America) and asked if they were interested in picking up the Webra rights and tooling.
Randy's reply to me implied that they would be, IF someone could help them get in contact with a person "over there" who could talk to them.

Jim

RE: Webra
 

Iflew one in a Modeltech Extra for several seasons. Great engine. Still have the plane and engine, but they're not flying. A couple of us were playing around trying to see how high we could make our planes bounce on landing. Not sure why we were doing this, but I finally tore the landing gear out of mine. The covering was pretty ragged by then, so I put the plane aside for rebuilding sometime later. Anyway, the engine's still in great shape and it'll either go back in the Extra when Irebuild it or I'll put it in something else. I've also got a NIB .36 tucked away to put in something. The most likely candidates are a Sig Kobra or the Pilot Suprafly kit I bought years ago.

RE: Webra
 

You didn't start a war with me, Barry.

I too was writing programs in BASIC back in the very early eighties, although my forte was modifying programs that had been written by someone else, to do what I wanted them to do.


Ed Cregger

RE: Webra
 

Chuck- the Kobra would be a nice choice.

Ed- I know. I learned machine language for the same reasons. I admit that most was hacking and cracking copy protection.

RE: Webra
 

Heck their HP line is very similar. In fact I think the .60 was the same person who designed the Webra. The name doesn't come to mind now.

RE: Webra
 

Sport_Pilot is correct. Peter Biles designed the HP 61 and then the Webra Speed (1024). Both are wonderful engines. There is not enough difference in performance to matter. I 'm not sure about other engines in the series. I am still bummed about Webra's demise.

RE: Webra
 

I loved my 1024 (Webra .61 Dykes ringed) and wish that I still had it today. What a wonderful, easy-going, screamer of an engine.


Ed Cregger

RE: Webra
 

Well let me see. I love my Webra .03ci D, .09ciD, .15ciD, .10ci speed .32ci .36ci .40ci pylon, both .40ci Q500s, .40ci GT, both .50ci GTs. .91 speed, all three 1.2 speeds. I think that's it. I don't have any more webras to love.

I have used all of these engines to fly airplanes except for the .10, .32, .36 one .51 and one 1.2. All that I have used were great motors but the little .03D was hard to hand start. Loved it anyway.

Denis

RE: Webra
 

I think you're right. Build it with the Webra .36 and a tuned pipe and it'd be a little rocket.

RE: Webra
 

I didn't have as many Webra engines as you, but I did have a Hyper Viper .40 pylon racing engine, a .50 GT of the original version, then another .50 GT of the later version (still have the latter), a 1024 .61 Speed, as mentioned before and a couple of .32 Speed and GT versions, of which I sold. Dang it! Never had a .90 or 1.20. I used to wish that they would make a .15 R/C engine. There were a few Blackhead and Silverlines sprinkled in there too.


Ed Cregger

RE: Webra
 

Has anyone played with the P5 series Webra came out with just before they closed down?

turbo

RE: Webra
 

Not me but I sure wish I had bought the one I was holding while standing in a hobby shop in Koblenz Germany. But I said I don't need it now and I can get latter any time. Oh well!!

Denis

RE: Webra
 

TB, I had a P5-.91 for a while and it did exactly as it was designed, it would turn an APC 14x12 at exactly 9,000 rpm. Some who bought it tried a 14x6 like standard .91s and they were disappointed. All you had to do was read the prop range to know a 14x6 was not going get it. The prop range was 14x12 to 16x8. As the old saying goes, you can't make it what it ain't.