newbie flyer

I just joined this board and hopefully will be here for a long time!

I have a 20-30+ year old plane that my Uncle built. Here are some stats of it:

Length: 25”
Width: 2 ¼”
Width of Back Wing: 16”
Wing Span: 35”
Wing Width: 6 ¼”
Engine: I was told it was an OLD Cox .049 Nitro Engine. But I’m not sure, he looked at it and came to that conclusion very fast so I guess he was sure.

I know nothing about it, or anything! If I do get it running I will need to replace a lot of things. The guy who looked at the engine is very sure that it will run after I put a glow plug into it.

My questions are:

1) The engine does not have a any throttle control as it is very old, so what are some modifications I can do to make throttle control on it? Or is it even possible?

2) The plane was only for going in circles (there is no up and down rudder). It looks like I can make one, but how would I go about this? There is about ½” to ¾” wide of solid wood where I would make the rudder, but I’m not sure how much that will hurt the strength of the plane. If it won’t do much, do would I do it? As it has the thin layer of β€˜paper’ over it.

3) What type of Glow Plug should I get for this engine? It is a Cox .049 or what I was told it is. Or are all of the Glow Plugs the same?

4) Since the plane has only rudder control for making 1 way turns, I will need to buy a controller and servos (as the servos are shot any ways). I’m thinking about going with Hitech, is that I good brand for an old plane?

That is all of the questions I can think of now, I will try to get some pictures of the plane when I find someone with a digital camera, hopefully next week. I’ll do some searches on the Internet for an engine that looks like the one I have in the plane right now.

Thank you for any and all help!

Lynn S

Post a picture and we can tell a lot more about what type of plane this is.
Does it have an elevator? that is on the horizontal fin on the back that is hinged.

newbie flyer

I will try to find someone with a digital camera very soon to take some pictures. I am searching the internet right now for pictures of the engine on the plane.

It does not have an elevator, from what a guy told me it was only going to come down by running out of fuel. It does have the rudder which will make it turn left and right. I checked which way the rudder will go (it will only go one way as it was designed for that) toward the left hand side.

Please let me know if you need more information.

Thanks!

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

1 a cox needs a glow head ,not a plug , but if someone saw it and said glow head/plug then they probably did recognize it....

you said servo's (plural) it sounds like it is an old rudder only plane, the elevator (up and down) would be fixed with a slight upward pitch, but if the rudder only goes left then it sounds like a free flight model, either way you would only need one servo?, you can use a throttle ring on a cox .049 that would be the 3rd servo
1. for elevator (up and down)
2. for rudder (left and right)
3. for throttle, although usually with a cox , you need full throttle all the time anyway, hence them not included a functional throttle, is this a high wing plane. ie wing on top of plane, or wing on bottom of plane.......what do the (servo's) hook to now?

Length: 25” fuse length 25"
Width: 2 ¼” Width 2 .25"
Width of Back Wing: 16” elevator 16"
Wing Span: 35” wingspan 35"
Wing Width: 6 ¼” wing chord 6.25"
Hitec is a fine brand, but find your local flying club and see what they use,, surely ssomeone there will have a used radio and electronics (reciever and servos) for sale they will probably haev stuff you can use in this plane and be able to help you fly it......Rog

Lynn S

You can take a look at some cox engines at

www.quantummodels.com select Engines .00-.10

Notice that cox makes a TD which has an air intake and needle adjustment just behind the prop in front of the cylinder. and the Babe Bee or Black Widow which has no intake on the front(just a small hole on the back plate) and a needle adjustment on the back plate of the engine.
At least you can tell if it is a Cox or not.

newbie flyer

flyinrog, When I said "Servo's", I was asking about what brand to get as I was thinking of doing some modifications to the plane so I can have more fun with it, IE: Make a elevator and maybe do a modification to the engine for throttle control. The wing sits on top of the plane.

Lynn S, Thanks for the link. I'll go and check it out and see if I can find the engine. I'm in the middle of taking the engine off of the plane for better expection.


Thanks for all the help!

newbie flyer

I went searching and fount this engine, it looks just like the engine I have. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=34055 But my engine is a little more rough at the gas tank. How long do you think the plane will run with that small of a tank?

Thanks again!

fritzke

My Feedback: (1)

Newbie
That is a Cox Golden Bee .049 (with the larger tank.)
It'll run a good 4 minutes (maybe 5) flat out on that.
Dave

BMatthews

Closer to 3 1/2 actually. I only got more than 4 by setting them up for the big Texaco event props.

Newbie, you've obviously got yourself a rudder only model. These were very popular and common back in the 60's and well into the 70's. The radio gear in that thing may even be worth a few bucks to a model airplane radio equipment collector. Not enough to buy a new radio but enough to take the pain out of the new set for sure depending on what it is. Post up some pics. If it's more recent ACE pulse equipment some of the guys here may be interested. If it's the older full travel type servos or escapements then it's vintage for sure.

More than a few of us here in the 1/2A section fly rudder only as a bit of a challenge in this "more controls than you can ever use" type of new world order. But I have to agree that you would be best off by modifyingthe model to accept a second servo for the elevator. Depending on the model it may be easy or just a little complicated to add an elevator surface to the existing model with a minimum of modifications. A few pics of your new toy will tell us what we need to know to help you.

It's common even today to fly with no throttle control on 1/2A engines. There's no reason you can't do it as well. Selecting suitable fuel and props to hold the engine back a little for your first flights is easy to do. In any event it's always abvisable to seek out a local club and join them. This will give you access to the club's instructor pool and ensure you get to keep your Uncle's model in one piece for a long time.

Welcome to the Best Board on the 'Net and the Best Hobby in the Universe.... [8D]