In My Opinion (IMO) the older black widows were made much better than the later Estes ones. The earlier ones have the aluminum tank vented for stunt flying (inverted short term without draining fuel out of the tank) and a metal packplate. The newer ones had the backplate replaced with a cheap plastic one first, then the tank was non vented and the vents were on the backplate as a babe bee, then to make things worse they went to a plastic tank too. That and the cyl/piston fits are no where near as reliable (hit or miss) as with the earlier higher quality Black Widows.
The newer plastic reeds however seem to run and hold up as good as the old metal ones. Just wish they left the rest of the engine alone...
Good thing is that there are millions of good old used Cox widows and other engines out there for $10 or less
Thats what the Toledo show is for me, a chance to stock up on more parts engines!!!
AJC