millertym2000

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Hey guys... Does anyone know much about fox engines?? There is a fox factory within 10 mins from me.. Just wondering If anyone knows anything about them.. Are they a good engine??

D.L.R.

Turned 21 in 2000 right ?? Just remember they can make it a lot faster than you can drink it.
Ok, 'nuff of that. Can't really say anything about today's Fox engines, I know 30 years ago they were pretty good. I also know that if they were not around at the low price you paid for them, many RC'ers wouldn't be flying today. Believe it or not, back then the high dollar Pattern ship type engine was Supertigre. Fox was low $$ and fairly reliable.
Good luck, hope you get a BETTER answer to your question.
Dan Rickerd[8D]

skoda450

Fox is still very much in business but they have not kept up with the technology. They do not offer any ABC or exotic combinations. Nor do they offer any four cycle engines. They do have a line of gasoline powered engines in addition to the older technology nitro powered engines. You can do much better for the same money with OS engnies.

aerowoof

to answer your question,yes,they do what they are designed to do.see if you can take a tour of the plant.

horace315

My Feedback: (15)

my first u control engines were fox,and i have several 25's and 35 rc fox engines.they are very reliable.i use a higher% of oil in the fuel mix for them.

downunder

Their new 60 and 35 have ceramic liners, that's fairly exotic . Not cheap though.

GmanBill

My Feedback: (10)

They are in Ft Smith Ar. which isn't that far from you.
Fox Manufacturing
Address: 5305 Towson Ave.
Fort Smith, AR. 72901
Country: United States of America
Phone:479-646-1656
Fax: 479-646-1757

Hope that helps, and you might want to read this just to know a little about the contributions Duke Fox made to this hobby.
http://www.modelaircraft.org/museum/bio/Fox.pdf
If it were not for him where would this hobby be?

PipeMajor

My Feedback: (1)

The venerable Fox 35 Stunt engine (for control line) has been in continuous production for nearly 60 years. Yes, it's old technology with steel cylinder and iron piston (although various ABC and now ceramic piston/liner sets have been available).

Run a stock Fox 35 on RC fuel and you'll kill it. Need castor and lots of it. One of my favorite ever (and best flying) combos was a C/L Ringmaster with Fox 35. Nothing quite like the sound of a 35 stunt burbling along in it's throaty 4 cycle setting then changing to a 2 cycle when pulled into a maneuver. They call that the 4-2-4 break but you need suitable fuel, plug and prop to do it.

I've had a few RC engines. The 40-50 sized engines appear to be very robust and quite heavy. They produce pretty good power though... Their 15 BB engine is wonderful.

No one will offer you the level of customer support Fox does. I sent them the remains of a 35 stunt I drove straight into the asphalt and got a new replacement motor for 50% of the new motor price.

millertym2000

My Feedback: (4)

thats Gmanbill, I know where they are in ft. smith, I even stopped by there one saturday but they were closed.... I have'nt herd much said about them on here and was just wondering if they were worth looking into. The LHS dont have much to say about them either, but that could be them tring to not lose any sales....

Hossfly

May I suggest you check out the Fox Website. http://www.foxmanufacturing.com/ Fox has had ABC engines for many years.

Duke Fox was of a personality totally about himself although a good-hearted person. He refused to accept new technology early on in the '70s and could not understand why HS dealers were not selling his engines rather than the imports. I spent several long times trying to get him to accept that the new RC fliers wanted plug-and-Play, not 2 hours of break-in. However he did start making changes but rather late.
Somewhere around the late '70s or abouts, Duke was involved in some harsh charges for which he did some time. I still think he was framed however the model trades people dropped FOX like a hot potato.
Duke passed on and his wife ran the business but later passed on also. Fox just never accepted the hard-core small margin trade of models and engines that came to be in the business. Their engines are so very overpriced that I don't know how they move any. They still live in the 40-20-40 hobby market world which no longer exists. If they supply you with an engine at 1/2 list price that is still 10% of the retail price above the price they sell to distributors which is 40% of the advertised retail price.

Back in my CL stunt days, I flew a number of Fox .29, .35, and .40. After about 4 hours of in air brak-in that .40 was as good as my George Aldrich expensively modified Super Tigre.

Now back on topic: Fox engines are really specialty engines and they are very good engines, but not for the plug-&-play operator. It takes some time to get them going.
I have a retired GB Eaglet 50 with a Fox .25, over 20 yearas old, that must have 150 hours of flying time. I have no doubt that engine would today start right up and fly and fly with no problem although it has not been started for over 2 years. I just need to be sure it has a good slug of castor in the fuel.

OkieTrucker

I actually just did that here last friday. They are some wonderful people over there at fox. EVERYTHING they make engine wise is all done by hand, no robots! I would recommend you go over to fox and take a look around. Thier engines are quite pricey, but now i see why. I have never run one, but I will be in the future. FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT LIVE NEAR HERE, FOX WILL GIVE YOU 50% OFF THE PRICE OF A NEW ENGINE WITH ANY TRADE IN, RUNNING OR NOT. HAPPY FLYING!!!!

Woody 51

Amongst several well known brands of 2 stroke, I have several Fox's, but as Hossfly says, they are not for the "Plug and Play" man.

I got a heap of good info from the guys at: http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/fliteline/

Once you have learnt about setting them up (and the rules are different for Fox's) they are o.k.

My favourites- the .45 Ring, (never had a dead stick from that engine) the .46 ABC (who said they don't do ABC technology- I also have a .40 ABC) and the .50 Ring.

The latter is a real stump puller.

I tune them all rich 2 stroke (they lean out once airborne) and use a mixture of synthetic and degummed castor oil in my fuel mix (total 20 % oil and 5 % nitro)

One other thing Fox will do for you. They will rebuild your Fox engine if it needs an overhaul, or rebuild it after a crash. And the cost is quite reasonable.

GmanBill

My Feedback: (10)

I have been sitting on the sidelines because my opinion is very bias. I have been flying Fox for years and they sponsor me with the gas engines for my giant scale planes. Like I posted in my other note "if it weren't for Duke where would this hobby be" he developed nitro fuels, the glow plug for the motors and many other innovations that the made in China companies have copied. Fox motors are made by hand here in the united states keeping Americans employed, you cant say that about the other companies, even the big gas everything but the reeds and the carb are American made. If you are close to the plant stop in and also know they still mix fuel there and some of the Fox fuel blends that the motors like so much are still made there at the plant, in other words yes you can get fuel there too.

I have one of every motor Fox manufacturing has made, and the .46 and .50 are stump pullers, I fly them on my profiles that I practice 3D with and think they have better transition than a 4 stroke in my opinion. Yes the motors are not plug and play, but if you have ever seen someone trying to set up a pumped 4 stroke the fox is much easier, lol. I also have the .74 Eagle on a profile and once I got it where I wanted it I do not think even a big 4 stroke can compare, maybe I should build a 40 size war bird and prop it for speed with the .74 and see what it will do on the radar gun, it wouldn't be any different that the guys putting a 140 or 160 supercharged pumped 4 stroke on one, and it would be lighter than the big 4 banger. Like all the racers have said over the years, weight is horsepower, I even fly the .15 & .25bb in my pylon planes because I am lower in displacement but still win because I am turning the same prop 200 more rpm's than the competitors .35 but like stated earlier, I use the Fox fuel and run my motors rich except my pylon motors and they still are a little wet.

Now one thing that everyone overlooks, Fox dose GAS. They build everything from a awesome 50cc to a 150cc and beyond, I love my Fox gas because I have won a lot of bets, cc for cc and prop for prop I turn 200 or more rpm's over all the competitors. My planes come out of a hover like a rocket, and I own all of the competitors motors and fly them to compare them to what Fox has. The 150 in my 42% plane swings the same prop as the competitors 170 and 200 and people make comments like "that can't be the 150, it must be the 200 you guys had in the 50% Lazar" all the time. But no it is the 150, and my 50cc runs like a 3.7 ci instead of a 3.2 (52.33 cc) and it loves a 24X8 but I keep a 22X10 on it because it spools up a little faster for 3D. But that is enough said.

AlexAshley

Hello, i have a lanier 87 inch extra 330, i was looking at the 3.2 fox... was wondering what you think about that plane with that setup? will it have plenty of hovering power and will it pull out quickly?

Thanks Alex Ashley

GmanBill

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If you can get your hands on a Fox 3.2 (I don't know what is in stock right now) they are extremely powerful and hover my 87in extra 260 at under 1/4 throttle. The motor is actually remarkably lite but I have been known to throw on a 24x10 just to show how strong it really is and it still turns the same as a DA with a 22x10 in rpm's, also the motors I fly from Fox are not specially done for me, they are the same thing you would buy off the shelf, no mods, you don't have to buy a bunch of up sale mods to have a motor that is as strong as the sponsored peoples motors, they came off the same shelve that the one you buy from them will.

I get to fly all the manufacturers motors to compare them to what we have at Fox, the motor that surprised me the most (If you cant get a Fox) was the DL USA motor out of china, it was strong, very strong after break in, and the price at under $400 is a wow too. If you cant get a Fox go for a DL.

Setup was basic on the one we built at Joe Nall last year (87in lanier Yak) 100oz servos on all the surfaces except the rudder which was a 150oz, balanced on the center of the wing tube and fly it like we stole it. The only thing that needs to be addressed was the cowl, lock tight the crud out of it, other than that the plane was great.

Phlip

Pet peeve: A "four banger" is a four-cylinder engine, not a four-stroke cycle engine!

fujiman

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this is a pretty old post but one i just came upon. my experiance with fox goes back to 60's my first was a fox .15 u-control engine had no help w/it and could not get it to run except once in a while!!! later by some years i bougt a .45 r/c ran like a scalded dog had some probs. with fox carb thuo. went w/perry cured that little prob. later fox actually came out w/.60 eagle with perry carb. in their adapter and it was a sweet 60 not the most powerful thou. the only draw back in my opinion was that fox engines are built tight and need a long patient break in. if you don't rush it they will outlast a family pet pariot. i spent a little more $ and uped for a fox '61 hawk r/c eng. put a perry carb on it too. what a sweet POWERFUL eng that was. crashed it in a ez 190 fulkwolf w/retrats broke out the case, almost cryed over losing that eng. i wish now i had bought a couple of them afterwords put it off, money was tight, still is, fox discont. the hawk what a shame!!! if they had the parts still i'd have them build me 1 or more. are you there fox????. i currantly have 2 eagleII .74 R/C ENGINES very powerful went thru some twwthing probs. with them tho. head buttons mostly. i have on a world models dago red .46 going to do some racing with it. i do wish that fox would wash out the old castol oil that they prerun their engs. with my 74s sat for some time in the boxes and cordroided and froze up the brgs had to replace them and the ring etc. my fault for not catching it some i guess. over all i really like fox old but good solid tec friendly helpful folks, like sig and many other people that have been around for a long time!!!! and alot can be said for that there are and have been a lot of flash in the pan companys that have come gone!!!

OkieTrucker

I know Harold and Charlie from Fox, they are both great people and they both love this hobby deeply, they are also the 2 most knowledgable people about engines I have ever met, not just fox but all engines. If they can't get it running right, it wont run right!!

jeffie8696

Hey Okie cool quote.
I have several Fox engines as well as many other manufacturers. Yes Fox is rather pricey but they also make a quality product. My old slant plug .15s make as much power as my new ABC engines(I have several different ones). And my old .45 ring is a good runner, not as heavy as I would have thought too.

fujiman

My Feedback: (133)

jeffie, would you happen to have a .61 hawk? busted mine up a few years ago and would like to get another. no more parts for these so i'm looking for 1 unused if possible

Tom Nied

I don't like them, probably wouldn't buy another. Wrestled with too many 35 stunts. Truly think your money can be spent better elsewhere.

jeffie8696

Sorry but no Hawks. I have a .40BB and a .45BB and 2 angle plug .15s. I am thinking of trading in the .40 for a new one if I can get a good deal.

fujiman

My Feedback: (133)

well tom opinions are like noses, everyone has one!!! my experance with fox has been good. i do think their carbs are not as good as say os, or perry but their engines if properly broken in and the proper fuel used are great engines. my exper. with the .61 hawk was great, easy starts one or two flips hot or cold!!! super power, great tick, tick, idle and more. would stack THAT engine up against an os any day and really like os engines. enya was another good glow eng. take a lot of care to break in but once broken in they will last a very long time. sweet runners too. i have an enya 1.55 4 strker. tough to break in took a long time and a lot of fuel to but it was worth it. a real stump puller and super reliable. at least that's been my exper. (50 years or so now) NOBODY'S GETTN' OFF THIS ROCK ALIVE!!!![:@]

fujiman

My Feedback: (133)

thanks for info jeff. i sure i could find a nib hawk. one fellow has 2 tired ones, and would buy them both but i don't think i can get pary to rebuild them, crank brgs. i can get, rings, and possibly cyls. probly not.

bassfisher

My Feedback: (21)

My 2 cents- having visited the factory many times (every time I get by Ft. Smith, I make it a point to swing by and get Fox glow plugs) all I can say is take a serious look at the engines. I ran Fox .40s in my pylon planes using Omaga 15%. These were the plain jane bushed 40 -but they were Powerhouses - I was lucky and had ones that always ran well at full throttle. In fact, I sold my last pylon racer with .40 on it a couple of months ago. The engine had not been started in three years, the buyer and I cleaned the carb, put fuel in the tank and started it. A couple of days later, he was flying it at the field and it still hauls butt. As said before, they are not plug and play, but they are reliable engines once broken in correctly.