Here ya go boys,

Should I go with the Babe Bee or the Black Widow with my new "Lil Wizard" kit, first control line effort in 34 years.

Thanks in advance.

Bob

The BW, depending on vintage, puts out more power than the Bee. Secondly, again depending on vintage, the filler tubes on the BW are set up for inverted flight -- the Babe Bee will drain out if run inverted for any length of time. The run time of the BW is also longer. The original Babe Bee had a tiny tank and flight times were quite limited. Since you can always add less fuel until you get your legs back under you, the BW's tank offers more flexibility.

It seems apparent that COX is probably getting out of the engine business and that they are selling off a good portion of their engine stock (many made up from existing parts inventory). Prices are high and replacement glowheads, when you can find them, are in the $8 to $9 range. [link=http://www.coxmodels.com]COX [/link] no longer lists the BW on their site.

There remains a good buy -- the COX Sure Start engine -- available from COX at $6.99. It does require an external tank and most need to have the piston/rod ball socket reset plus each should be disassembled and checked for manufacturing swarf. Think of it as a good deal on a glowhead with an engine added for free. Once cleaned up, these little engines run surprisingly well and have been used by many in the 1/2A forum.

Another option is to look at other manufacturers -- the NORVEL Big Mig Startup is a good candidate. There have been some manufacturing shortages due to the plant being moved to another location, but SIG continues to assure people that production will resume shortly. [link=http://www.pennvalleyhobbycenter.com/engines/glow/norvel.htm]Penn Valley Hobby [/link] still has the Startup in stock -- comes with a tank mount and spring starter.

Thanks Andrew, great help, I may get a Black Widow and a Norvel!

Later,
Bob

Also, thanks for the link.