propbuster

My Feedback: (1)

Yup, it's true, I just can't stand it any more. [:@] I'm over spending more time getting Cox engines to run than flying and am going to end it all. The first victim was my Cox Cessa 182. I finally got the engine to run and proceeded to fly it like it hated it (at the time I did). I got it in a nice spiral dive and put it about 6" in the dirt, pictures to follow! (got to remember to replace that divot in the runway)! I thought I did my best to kill that TD .051 in the front, but to my dismay, It still runs.? ? [X(] I put it in the nose of my ME 109 that Rog gave me, and tommorow, I will proceed to fly it like I hate it once again, and at the end of my furious stick slamming, I will plant it in the ground where it belongs. Hopefully this will be the end of the airframe carnage.[>:] As soon as I've resolved this anger problem, I'll be offering ALL my Cox Crap to the LOWEST bidder. PM me if you want a bunch of Cox crap for what it's worth (not much). Going, going, gone from Cox powered 1/2a, Tim

treedog

Glad to see ur anger management course worked so well
Td

BobHH

My Feedback: (18)

Well, can I be the lowest bidder? I feel your pain but at Norvels!!! Norvels hate me!! Never had one that would run as well as my Coxes!! At least you can run yours into the ground. The only way to bury a norvel is in a dead stick dive!!!!

Bob Harris

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

Great!..I give a plane to a Kamikaze pilot, and buy a plane from a Norvel hater with a Norvel on it!! wait a minute!! That means if I put a Cox TeeDee on it , it should run fine!! naw if it runs fine I'll crash it [&o]...maybe I'll just hang it from the ceiling and admire it, at least it'll be safe there and it'll be in the air.....Rog

tangerine-jack

Right, that's all well and good, but how do you REALLY feel about Cox 1/2A?

treedog

R O F L O L

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

PB, I understand completely. No matter how hard you rub, you can't polish a COX! We all only have so much time for play and it really sucks when you have to devote so much of it to tearing down engines and tending to all the nit picky things that happen to 1/2A engines in general. I think one of the secrets to my good luck with 1/2A engines is the large filter that I almost never clean or disturb in my fuel jug, as well as using medical syringes for fueling. The filter that is in my fuel jug is 20 years old and has been cleaned maybe 2 times,[only when it gets hard to fill a syringe].
If you want to take a step back and look at model aviation and look at where 1/2A fits in, I only see a couple of niche occupations where it excells past the other scales of modeldom. First and foremost is combat. Lowest impact, low maintenance, best action. All you need is a couple of BigMigs or APs and have a ball. Too bad almost nobody has ever done it. Second might be racing, but actually .40 sized is where it's at. Thirdly, it would be the wonderment of just flying a little screamer, little floater....but the novelty wears off after you've just spent 2 hours in the garage to support 2 hours of air time keeping a COX engine airworthy. If you have access to a flying site where noise is a non issue, get one of those high performance 1/2A engines.....they are nothing but solid fun and action. Otherwise, there is a whole universe of ways to spend your free time, make the most of it! I almost forgot to include as a 4th category where 1/2A planes excell is with execution of design concepts. You can go from the sketch to the field in a week.

Half-A-Hec

Propbuster,

You are at the stage I was a couple of years ago. I spent more time and Money$ getting those finicky Cox engines to run. For what, 90 seconds of flying. That's when I decided to go to lectric side and its been heaven ever since. Less weight, more power, throttle, no fuss no muss. I will never go back to glow for the small stuff again!

Hec

Here is a couple of pics of two successfull 20 inch ws planes that were 4 channel.

dennis

My Feedback: (90)

I'm always a little amused and amazed when I read about having a hard time starting and running a Cox 049. Having been in the hobby just before Cox entered the market and running Anderson Spitzys and OK Cubs and Atwood Wasps, the Cox was a breath of fresh air. For as many of us that used them it was not uncommon to go out in the morning and fly all day with these motors. Of course we flew over grass and at 10 years old I could dis-assemble and clean that sucker including devarnishing the cylinder in about 10 minutes or less.
So to the point, all motors if you don't understand the idiosyncracies cam be problimatical. once understood thay are a pleasure to run. Cox motors don't require much except to be absolutely clean inside. assembled with no leaks, so if you don't have that tiny little O ring that goes between the tank and backplate, your in trouble. Finally don't run the motor on cheap. low oil bargain basement fuels. Cruel Power is not the brand for this motor. 20% nitro or better and 25% oil will keep it running steadily for a long time.
The TD is a no brainer, Just make sure that you use a small inside diameter fuel line to fit on the fuel nipple, A KK NVA would be nice and of course pressure or bladder is the best. Keep the revs under 23K and it won't blow up on you.
Have fun,
Dennis

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Dennis, I need a new metal backplate for one of my reedies, a couple of O-rings, a couple of tapered bore and correct hardness P/L sets, a couple of new, properly treated cranks, a couple of carb housings, thrust washers and a few TD venturis. COX isn't returning any of my calls. [] What now? Go FORA!! GO AP!! More time flying, less time cussing and rummaging for non existent parts.

dennis

My Feedback: (90)

Combat pig,
Your too hard on stuff for me to supply parts. Heck I don't even run Cox anymore. I just install them on some old planes and use them as conversation pieces. But the point of it all is that I said that I didn't have so much trouble running them and I was a kid. Could it be that we had more intuitiveness then the current crop, probably not just more time to dope out the problems and arrive at the fix.
Yes to Foras and Cyclones, real motors that can run with the best and make enough noise to make your ears bleed. Gotta love em. Just that Cyclons are $190.00 and Foras are 150.00 not your average $3.95 Baby Bee and don't forget the wrench for the Cyclon is $17.95. However, one good flight on any of these motors will make you an instant convert no matter what the price. Just keep the bladder filled with the good stuff.
dennis

NorfolkSouthern

Like many others on this board, I cannot understand why a Cox engine is so difficult for most people. I have had many of them, and never ran into any problem. For obvious reasons, the proper fuel is necessary for the most part. And back in the day, Cox never had a problem supplying the stuff. What can be so hard about squirting a little fuel into the cylinder and flipping it a couple times? Was reading the directions on how to start, run, and care for these engines really that difficult?

The problem I have with Cox and Norvel now stems from the availablilty of engines and parts. But we still have Brodak, AP, and Fora with possibly a few others. I've seen many smaller electric park flyers. They're everywhere, and I assume that's where the .049 market went. I've seen them fly too. I've seen electric 3Ds hover, I've seen 1/2A electrics doing loops and dives and all kinds of wing-dings and thingamajigs. Been there, done that. It gets boring after a while. I could get just as much fun out of a stunt kite, at less than half the price of a 1/2A sized electric, but that's my opinion. To each is own. Meanwhile, I hope the availability of those other glow-powered engines will continue, because I've been enjoying this hobby and would like it to stay affordable. It really gets to be a pain stuffing a wing that's longer than my height into a space that's not designed for something that big!

NorfolkSouthern

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

If or when sport type 1/2A becomes a skeleton hunt [as my main focus in the sport], .15 sized planes are where I'm headed. The engines run way more reliably, are just as cheap, don't need rod reset tools, and the planes aren't that much bigger or differently built than 1/2A. The down side is when you crash a .15 sized plane, you have better than a 50/50 chance that the carburetor got messed up, with 1/2A, the odds are more like one in 50 that damage will happen. Unless of course you got that 1/2A engine bolted to some 24 oz flying sled. The plus side might be that at 16,000 rpm a .15 sized sport plane will see less trouble with vibration related failures.

mylamo

My Feedback: (1)

I must agree with CP that .15s are easier for us scatch
builders and also agree with Denis about the Cox engines .
They sure changed the way we loked at 1/2 A. I kind of
split the difference ,with my favorite engine size being .09s.
We ran space bugs on home mixed fuel with no nitro and
drug store castor and flew and crashed as if we had good
sense . But we didn't.
Ralph

digital_trucker

The only Cox engines I ever had were all reedies, but they all started and ran reliably. The only time I ever had trouble starting one was with my very first. It was the middle of February in Michigan, so the cold weather probably had something to do with it....they gotta be airtight though. Small as they are, if there's any leaks in the crankcase or whatnot they don't cope with it well. I second the advice on fuels, too...I always used Cox fuel in 'em. The fuel was comparatively expensive, but given the consumption rate and the reliability it wasn't really a problem. Seems they don't care much for all-synthetic oil fuels either. MMMMMM...castor fumes! [&:]

BMatthews

My reedies typically start in 1/2 a dozen flips or less. Of course they may not start the RIGHT way. But that's what the rag is for. TeeDees always gave me a hassle. For them I use an old ferrite Speed 600 motor setup as a TeeDee starter. That does the trick pronto...

I have yet to try running my Norvel. But Bipe and the boyz out Mission way seem to be happy enough with 'em.

aeomaster32

I don't have your long history with Cox because my early free flights had A.M. diesels. It was 1/2A Texaco that brought me to them. For those not familiar with radio assisted "Old Timer" events, this one is a contest to see who can stay airborne the longest on one fill of the 5cc small tank. This requires slowing the engine to conserve fuel (7x4 to 7x5 prop), and using less nitro. I use (you will cringe no doubt) 10% nitro and 20% synthetic. My engine runs vary from 2:30 to 3:30, depending on weather and how lean I dare make it, knowing they lean out later. So far I have had no trouble, but then I do try to keep my fuel clean. American rules are different from ours, so I have two machines. American rules for the international postal contest, require my plane to weigh 17 1/2 oz. We have no weight restriction, and my light model is 11 1/2 oz. I was surprised that the heavy model did so well.

Boomerang1

Pleeeeeese! If I could start & tune one of these things when I was 10 years old, when I didn't know my ***** from my elbow, why is it such a problem for so many people now? - John.

tangerine-jack

Perhaps our minds are now too highly trained and we think too much about starting the Cox engines? I don't have that problem, I still have the mind of a child so I guess I'm OK

BobHH

My Feedback: (18)

Yea, REAL MEN run Cox!!!


Bob Harris

MJD

My Feedback: (1)

Yup, I use exactly the same type of starter. But, rarely on my Coxes as I've had no real need to. Other 1/2A's, I do use it there. I am one of the "what's the big deal running Cox 1/2A's?" set...

Mind you, an .010 with a broken spring starter is a bit of a challenge, but can be done. A little bump with the starter and off they go.. but easy does it, light touch only!

MJD

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

All I can say is try to get a group of guys together with COX engines and hold an all day long racing or combat event. See how many DNFs and DNSs' you come up with. NOW run the same event with .061s or .15s and see which group gets in the most fully contested heats. Switched to Norvel .061s and the amount of farting around and wasting time went way down compared to running COX..

treedog

Did i tell u all about the time i started my cox and it wouldn't run forward so i'd throw a rag in the prop and 1 time i reach back and grabbed the wrong rag a paper towel and blewy, confetty.