Hello,
I bought 4 of the made in China PT-19s back in 2000, and flew one right away.
Found several things that needed attention prior to flying it:

Pushrod from bellcrank to elevator was under, instead of on top of, the bell crank causing a bind. Easy fix, remove bell crank, and install pushrod correctly

Flash on fuselage clamshell hinge for elevator caused it to bind. Sanded off flash and fixed that.

Took engine apart, lapped the back of the crankcase to remove burrs on the four threaded holes which cut the gasket, replaced case gasket and re-assembled engine. Ran engine twice to break it in, used a 5-3 grey, ran it a bit rich.

Rotated fuel tank to orient pickup to outside of the flying circle, replaced fuel line with a longer one to do this.

Balanced 6x3 nylon prop. Dead stick the prop so it comes to rest horizontally.


Use "Spider wire" Spectra fishing line to make up 42 foot lines; much lighter and less drag than Dacron lines supplied with plane.

Bent tips of gear axles up to prevent the smashed axle ends from boring into the plastic wheels.

Results: Plane does slower laps on 42 foot lines, and in calm conditions it is much better than the original version. Has good line tension, with very little line sag, wingtip weight does help when there is some wind. You can get a loop out of it if you move the pushrod to the hole on the control horn closer to the elevator. Like all Cox PT-19s, it takes very little down to dive, and a ton of up plus a prayer to pull out! The engine run is well over 3 minutes on the tank, especially after you re-orient the pick-up.

I taught my 7 year old twin sons to fly it a couple years ago, after a couple crashes they had decent control. I ran the engine a bit rich until they had the feel, mainly just to slow the plane down a bit.

The plastic wings are more flexible, but the fuselage will split in a good dig, even on grass....mine did! BTW, we found that acrylic monomer ester acts as a solvent on the fuselage and wing plastic and used it to weld the plastic back together, it works great. Available from Plastex USA.com. The paint on the pilots comes right off, I re-painted the pilots and used some polyurethane clear to protect them.
The choke tube on the sure start is a great feature, but I replaced the Snap Starter with an old style spring starter off a 1960s .049. The twin bypass cylinder adds noticeably more power as compared to my 1964 PT-19.


Like all Cox planes, you need to take a couple steps backwards when taking off to keep line tension, or you will get into trouble sooner than later. Could not quite get it inverted, but did not try too hard. This version is definitely an improvement over the earlier models, and brings back the painted pilots and windscreens that never fog! It is true that it takes an experience pilot to fly one, so you have your student stand with you in the circle, just like at the Tomorrowland Flight Circle, and hold on with them.

I must admit that I worked in customer service at Cox, doing radio and engine repairs, and so that gives me a bit of an edge when it comes to having success with Cox products.

I have a Cox made in China J3 Cub, never have flown it. Is this a good trainer?