AndyW

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Gosh Mike, thanks, and you're welcome,

I fell in love with the Norvels long ago and was particularly intrigued with their Revlite technology. A first, apparently, for model aircraft engines. After some years of fiddling, I found that they also made great diesel engines. Check out my other videos on YouTube.

I understand that Oz is Big Airplane Country and that there's not much 1/2A happening down under. Can you give us some background in that regard? Brisbane,, big club? More than one (you) 1/2A flyer?

Myself, I'm trying to dieselize a 26cc "gasser" taken from a powered drill made by Tanaka. Worked for about six revolutions till the case broke. I know what I done wrong, [X(] will try again in the spring.

Luna_Rendezvous

1/2A club in Brisbane...lol not likely, at a guess I would say there would be 5 people in the whole city who would own a 1/2A airframe. As you said most here run .40 and up, big 4 strokes and ignition engines rule the roost, if I brought a 1/2A along to one of the major RC clubs, people would wince and complain about that noisy idiot with toy cox motor but hey I'm only just getting back into the hobby and no doubt will find a few more like minded flyers. I'm happy in the knowledge that I can build big or small and still have a light and strong airframe.

Strykaas

Andy,

Is it definitely "over" for Norvel engines ? Are they really out of business ?

thx

AndyW

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Strykass,

As far as I know, yes, Norvel is not going to be making any more engines. I've been in touch with Justin at Sig all along and the word is pretty final. Only if someone came along and bought the rights, tooling etc. The Chinese might do that but till then,,,

However, I was lucky enough to snap up a good selection of old and new inventory that I plan to offer for sale this winter. The intent is to make up diesel heads for the entire line. I have threaded head blanks of the right size for all the Norvels from the .15 to the .40 and finally, I'll be able to make proper heads. Early designs used a contra-plate instead of contra-piston. It worked OK and allowed some experimentation but eventually caused problems.

My entire year has been spent with personal/health issues that are coming to a close. I hope to be back up to full speed by the New Year and by next spring, a few Norvels of all sizes will be available,, at least for those that want one. The problem of plugs for 1/2A, including Norvel, has been solved with my article on RCU last year on how to make and adapt to take, turbo plugs. Unlike stock plugs, turbos give you back all the original power that you got with the original plug be it Cox or Norvel. I'll be making a small batch of these units, again, for those that need REAL engines for their small planes.

DeviousDave

Wonder how long it will be before RJL gets the rights and starts making Norvels?

I wish it were as simple as calling up the factory and getting more engines for a supplier. When a factory closes like this, talent moves on with their lives and go on to greener pastures just like we do when we get laid off here in the states. With Russia, you never know.... it could have been the Mafia that closed them down, or maybe they had a hard time getting paid in a timely manner? Dunno, it's not important now. We can just hope that the ChiComs get their poop in a group and improve the CS/Brodak engines.

That said, Brodak had a really nice Russian made 1/2A at the Toledo show. Don't know what the story is there.

http://www.brodak.com/shop_productde...ProductID=8151

AndyW

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Dave,

Thanks for the tip. I took the original Brodak steel/iron .049 and installed an AAC .06 set made from Wasp components and got 19.8K on a Tornado 6 X 3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHQhD1PpJUQ

This is with a muffler and effective throttle.

Well, the Revlite version throttled better but for a loss of 1000 rpm at the top. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYITm-hTggM

So it's good to see that Brodak has gone to modern materials. We have hope. It looks though, that they've retained using a standard pug. It was found that using a Norvel .074 glow insert or converting to a turbo plug could give you an additional 1000 or more rpm with no other changes. Slotting the case and crank ports produced another 500 RPM. Ought to be easy to do with the new Brodak.

I sure hope that if they make another RC version, they make it .06 and include an adjustable airbleed.

But look, the new one has a proper nut and washer to hold the prop on. Neat.

BQuartucy

Anyone know of a source for glow plugs for the .074 Norvel engine. I'm down to my last one. Also is there an insert available to allow the use of a standard plug. I plan to take one of the burned out plug drill it out and tap it for the 1/4-32 std. plug. Any thoughts will be appreciated.

SGC

Unless you can find a hobby shop with some sitting on a dark shelf , norvel plugs are non existing. That said do a search for Turbo Plugs here in the 1/2A forum, AndyW did a thread showing how to. Useing turbo plugs in a Norvel head button will maintain power wereas useing std plugs you will lose power.
Stewart

BQuartucy

has anyone any experience with converting a burned out plug? Or where is a source of the standard button heads that will take a turbo plug?

SGC

a Norvel "glow plug" is a head button, if you did as I said you would find - http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.a...y=turbo%2Cplug

DeviousDave

If you absolutely have to have stock Norvel .074 heads, they do pop up on "That Great Auction Site" now and again...... For $30+ a piece!

If you don't mind a long wait, order a Hypercolor Turbo Head from Tim Wiltse. They are really nice IMO.

billym8228

Hey Ive recently started messing with the little norvel engines,big change from the old 049 cox,these little dudes are neet now that they are radio controlled,I have 2 going on a A-10 warthog that Ive scrach built from balsa,forget what plans but its really sharp and easy to build.My question is, Is there anyway to convert the head or purchase a head that will use a standard glo plug?

Andrew

NORVEL sold an adapter that allowed the use of a standard plug, but the performance was poor. Many of the folks here use a combination Galbreath head and NELSON plug. In most cases, the engines run better than with the original NORVEL Freedom plug.

Heads and plugs are available from Larry Driskill at [link=http://www.kittingittogether.com/]Kitting It Together[/link].

gascoyne01

I have just aquired a big mig sport .061 and have found somewhere that still has some Norvel glow plugs in stock
Does anyone know which Norvel glow plug this engine takes?

Steve

wisher

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Anyone know where I can get a starter spring for a 061?

RJCadet

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Norvel's starter spring is an exact fit to an AP .061 Wasp. I have the Norvel .061 with a spring and a Wasp that didn't have one. Unfortunately a spring is not available for that engine. I emailed Global Hobby to see if one is forthcoming.
Here is their reply.
---
I'm sorry, but we do not have a spring starter for the AP .061 engine. I will forward your email to our product manager, though, regarding your interest.

Regards,
Todd
---

I tried to find a prewound spring that I could modify at hardware stores but had no success. So, I took a length of .047" music wire and with a few hand tools, wound a pretty reasonable functioning spring. It doesn't look as good as the real thing and I had to make three springs to get one with the coils (6 winds) tight enough together to work well with enough prop clearance.

Maybe if others made the request of Global for the AP .061 spring they make it available.

PlaneKrazee

My Feedback: (14)

If you don't need max power out of these engines you can run them on 5% nitro and save your plugs.

billym8228

hey I have a question and I sure hope someone out there can help.Im back on the a-10 project agian,but i think im fixing to hit a snag,the wingspan is 54 1/2 inches,the lenght of the fuselage is 45 inches,the center where the back of the canopy touches the top of the fuselage is almost 6 inches tall and tapers to 1 1/2 at rear and 2 inches at frount and in center width is 3 1/4 inches wide and also tapers toward the ft and rear,it is suppose to be powered with 2 .049 engines with 3x5 3 blade props,with 2 liter pop bottles cut down as housings like ducted fan units.it only uses rear elevator and alerons for control,im using hitec hs 55 servos for aleron control ,one on each aleron,and one for the elevator,and im probly going to have to use one on each engine for throttle.im afraid my problem is going to be weight,will these .049s be enough power or will i need to go bigger on engines and if i go bigger on engines what will this effect.the fuselage is glassed and the tail feathers are monocote covered,the wing center section is sheeted with 1/16 inch balsa,and i intended to epoxyglass the entire center section for strenght.as it is with the engines and everything except radio gear{no servos,no batt,no reciever etc} it weighs just a tad over 2lbs?will the .049s be enough to make this thing fly? and if not what size should i use? hope someone can help.thanks Billy

vertical grimmace

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A couple for sale right here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=110239495780

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=110239495780

PlaneKrazee

My Feedback: (14)

Those are both pre revlite.

martenson

Just got my ebay Norvel 049 NIB.
Heated the cylinder to get it to turn over, used a tornado 6x3 and 15% nitro with 20% castoroil.
Fired right up, after 15 min runtime I got 15500 rpm.

Must be good or what do you guy's say.

AndyW

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Most of my Norvel work has been with the .06. On the 6 X 3 Tornado, on 25% fuel, I typically get 18,000 RPM. Yours seems a bit low, even with the 15% fuel. I think that with a bit more time on the engine, you should get a good 16,500 or even 17,000. Try 25% nitro and let us know how that works.

BTW, pull the piston out and check to see that the pin hasn't drifted. This can happen. If it does, it'll score your cylinder giving you a permanent bad day. If the crimps that hold the pin in place look suspect, just re-do them using some 1/8" piano wire. Lay the piston on a hard, flat surface, apply the wire to the edge of the piston hole, roll it forward a bit and whack it with a small hammer. Go easy, give it a good tap and check. Roll over to the other crimp edge and do the same. Do that to the other side and now, you should never have to worry about it. I've worked on a dozen or so Norvels that had this issue.

sulhobby

jentzsch

So what Norvel type engine is the best? Big Mig Sport .074 or AME MkIV .061

AndyW

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The Norvel .074 has one of the best power to weight ratios of any small engine. For just a bit more weight you get a great deal more power over an .06,,,,, IF you need it. Also, the .074 has very good throttling right out of the box. It has no adjustable airbleed and is one of those rare engines that doesn't need it. The main needle has a broad range and you take advantage of that to get a reliable idle. Tweak in the main needle at idle to get the lowest, most reliable idle. Then throttle up to make sure you're not too lean at the top. If so, just back off a bit and re-check the idle. It helps to use 25% fuel but isn't strictly necessary. I just like the extra power.