armalite_ar50

Hello all....! this is my 1st post here (I've been lurking for a while) haven't done the CL in a long time (I'm 38 now) I have a few control line planes. I have a few questions..

1: I read somewhere on this forum that people are using ronsonal lighter fliud as a substitute,,, but a substitute for what? the fuel or the castor?

2: my crusader stunt plane is so gummed up I'm going to have to tear it down and go through it, will it be hard to do? I'm very mechanical so I would think not? am I right?

3: the crusader has a foam wing, are there replacement wings for it? And what type of .049 engine does it have incase I have to order parts?

4: my testors fighter with a Mcoy .049 will run on a prime but not with fuel in the tank I'm assuming it's the reed ring between te tank and the motor.?

5: I only have about 2 oz. of fuel left and can't find any COX fuel I know they went under, So where do I find fuel for these that has the natural castor or can I buy synth. fuel and just add castor to it? (see question 1 about the lighter fluid)

I found these planes in a box last july and my gal told me she didn't know I built model planes. I explained they wern't model but acual flyers. Her two boys went nutz. So I wanna get them ready for the spring so I can teach them to fly them. last time I can remember flying was summer of 2000 since then I went through a devorce and moved about every 6 months until 04 when I bought a house. met this gal I'm with in 07 and found the planes when we moved in together las July. Thanks any help is greatly welcome and apriciated later Rich

Jim Thomerson

People talk about priming with lighter fluid in cold weather. Various fuel suppliers have 1/2A fuel. Sig, Powermaster, etc. On your engine which won't suck fuel, probably the needlevalve is gummed up, and the reed is stuck so it can't suck fuel. Take it apart and clean it up with carburetor cleaner.

icerinkdad

1: I read somewhere on this forum that people are using ronsonal lighter fliud as a substitute,,, but a substitute for what? the fuel or the castor?

Maybe for a prime to help start an engine but I would never run a tank thru as these engines are designed for glow fuel with alcohol, nitomethane and castor oil.

2: my crusader stunt plane is so gummed up I'm going to have to tear it down and go through it, will it be hard to do? I'm very mechanical so I would think not? am I right?

Try cleaning it with rubbing alcohol... what is probably on it is probably dried fuel residue and rubbing alcohol with a soft cotton cloth will remove most of that without damaging the plane or requiring you take it all the way apart.

3: the crusader has a foam wing, are there replacement wings for it? And what type of .049 engine does it have incase I have to order parts?

As far as I know replacement wings are not available... that said if you really had to you could cut a new wing from foam yourself although the original was probably molded (or was it the thin shell of foam?). Try a google search on "foam wing cutting" you will even find a short segment my son posted of a video I did that he now sells for me online. The 049 is probably a Cox and there is a new Canadian company called Cox International that sells the engines and replacement parts for those both thru a website and thru ebay. They have been very good to work with.

4: my testors fighter with a Mcoy .049 will run on a prime but not with fuel in the tank I'm assuming it's the reed ring between te tank and the motor.?

Depends on the motor... most of these had motors that were hard to take apart and get back together right... again I would assume it is dried fuel residue in the engine... try flushing it with rubbing alcohol several times and then use fresh fuel and try to start it. If the reed is stuck often flushing with fresh fuel will clear that. If it is the needle valve back that out all the way and use a small syringe to push fuel into the engine thru the needle valve seat... that should help flush that too. On the McCoy engines they are totally out of production so I wouldnt take them apart if you can avoid it as parts just are not available. Depending on which of the Testors planes it is I honestly put my kids on about 8 foot of line and flew them as "whip" models... do a google search using the words "control line whip model" and take a look at how that works... makes for a great trainer that kids can fly all day.

5: I only have about 2 oz. of fuel left and can't find any COX fuel I know they went under, So where do I find fuel for these that has the natural castor or can I buy synth. fuel and just add castor to it? (see question 1 about the lighter fluid)

Great fuel can be gotten from Sig Manufacturing in Iowa or Tower Hobbies or Brodak (a control line specialty manufacturer) All have websites. On the Sig site you can look up dealers near you to avoid the shipping charges.

Let me know if you have other questions.
Bob Furr
icerinkdad at aol dot com (typed funny to avoid some of the spam...)

gcb

As a quick fix on the McCoy, remove the needle and fuel line, then squirt fuel through the spraybar to get out any congealed oil. Put the needle back in and close it...open 3-4 turns. Connect the fuel line. With fuel in the tank and a finger over the air intake, flip the prop and check that the engine pulls fuel from the tank. If it does not, open the needle some more until it does.

George

armalite_ar50

Thanks for all the help.
Igot the testors running and got the crusader un-gummed and running. the other plane Ihave was fine a relitivly new sure-start naboo fighter from 1998.
Now I'm out of fuel LOL!!
found a hobby shop about 35 miles from here that says they carry the sig fuel. so I'll call them tomorrow and hopefully they will have some in stock.

They don't show a inventory on their website but it was linked from the sig site. And Ialso want to see what else they stock since they have a air field that is leased to the AMA.
Ineed new lines and some other stuff.
once again thak you all.
later
Rich

Hossfly

armalite, you will hear many thoughts on fuel for small .049 engine and about that size.

You will NOT hear this very often. Small engines like a lot of oil. I keep several .049 size original "Designed" ??? - like cut up some balsa and glued it together - CL models for kids, grandkids or whoever wishes to play with them in the backyard. They may get gummed up in the open to the air garage, but a little wood alcohol or even rubbing alcohol fixes that in a few minutes. I use anything I have, either 10%nitro or 15% NITRO and it works fine as long as it has adequate castor oil to get at least 23% total oil.

Many folks swear that an .049 will need high nitro to run well. OK for Competition FF or CL speed events. For easy fun flying with family, friends, kids, etc. just be sure you have 20%++ oil and a big slug of that is castor.

Now I learned that after many years believing the Hi-Nitro BS, and fighting unreliable 1/2 A. Then one day, for reasons unknown, I filled one with 10% nitro, 23% castor oil fuel from my Ducted Fan supply and Behold, 1/2A sport has been so simple every since.

Good Luck.

icerinkdad

You may not find many control line supplies at local hobby shops anymore. If you have problems with that have Sig drop ship a 1/2a starter kit... it has new lines, a handle, a pint of fuel, a battery clip and maybe a few other things I dont remember. Also spiderwire "fusion" from a larger fishing supply store or even Walmart makes good low streach flyingline. Dont use monofiliment as that is toooooo streachy for good control. Only real problem with spiderwire is that it is green and disappears in grass... oh and is so strong it can give you a cut if you get in the way of a flying plane!
Bob

PS A friend of mine runs Good To Go Models a small CL shop here in Nebraska and will ship almost anywhere. He works out of his home so is sometimes hard to reach but drop me a note if you want his phone number. He stocks a full line of Sig and Brodak items.

jbsmpop

Armalite ar50 Here are a couple sites that might help they are in Pa. The first is for your fuel, the second might help with supplies.

The third is also in Pa. Hummelstown. You might want to get in fast combat or build one of his kits Mr. Cartier has a lot of knowledge in C/L
If I can help you my email is [email protected] Hummelstown Pa


http://www.s-whobby.com/

http://www.thehiddenhangar.com/

http://home.earthlink.net/~philcarti...t/catalog.html

armalite_ar50

OKall... thanks for the replies.
Ibought 2 quarts of 25 %nitro from a hobby shop 35 miles away (all they had)Iam going to have to add the castor since it is all synth.

I'm finding all kinds of stuff Ididn't know Ihad. (Anew black widow)I new Ibought it, just didn't know where it was. and more testor planes.
UN-PACKINGISFUN!!!!

YESIwould like to get into combat. and back into stunt.
Isent a e-mail to that "foamwings ATAYEOHHEL . COM but haven't heard back from them ( over a week)got the link from the stickie suppliers page here.

I'm thinking the black widow that's still in the box would make a good stunt plane..
Ijust have to find a good stunt plane to build. Any recomendations? Profile would be alright since Iknow it's going to take a few dirt naps.
Ireally won't need a trainer since Ihave the cox crusader to crash with.

Ialso bought the spider wire from wally mart. bought the 50 lbs test. in hind sight what's a good tinsel strength?

1: whats the least/most LBS. strength to buy?

2: what's a good line length for the the .049 testors (13 inch)and cox (20 inch)? all .o49 engines.

3: Iknow these things weigh next to nothing. What can Iget away with as far as distance and reliability? with spider wire. 20 ft.? 40 ft.? 60 ft?
Iremember my stunt plane having the longest leads.

4: Unless Istart posting pix of my collection/flyers this thread is USELESS!!!!

Once again Thanks
Rich
armalite50 AT gmail.com (straight to my phone)

BtnFlyGuy

Why don't you design your own stunter for the Widow like I did, It's not hard and costs a lot less than a kit. Another good idea would be to scale up the Baby Ringmaster plans available here to about a 24" span and put the Widow on that. Maybe add an extra bay or two in the wing.

icerinkdad

Go to www.brodak.com and take a look at the control line stuff there. Below are your questions... with a few answers.

I also bought the spider wire from wally mart. bought the 50 lbs test. in hind sight what's a good tinsel strength?

1: whats the least/most LBS. strength to buy? Honestly 50lbs is overkill... the old cloth lines that we grew up on were only good for 5 or 10 pounds. Although not legal at a contest the 50lb stuff would fly a big 50 inch span stunter if you had good ends on the lines... the biggest problem with spiderwire (I hope you got the fusion stuff as they also make monofilament that is tooooo streachy) is that you need a good fishing knot to connect (look up polomar knot on the web). A regular knot cuts the strength at the point of the knot by about 50%.

2: what's a good line length for the the .049 testors (13 inch) and cox (20 inch)? all .o49 engines.
The testors engines were never powerhouses... so about 25 feet of line or maybe a bit less. The Cox engines if running well could be flown on 30 feet of line. Line drag is a big factor (and other reason to use 10 lb spiderwire).

3: I know these things weigh next to nothing. What can I get away with as far as distance and reliability? with spider wire. 20 ft.? 40 ft.? 60 ft?
See above...

I remember my stunt plane having the longest leads.

Welcome back to the wonderful world of control line. BTW if you are interested in cutting your own foam wings my son has a website selling a video at www.foamwingcutting.com. A friend and I made the video about 10 years ago and Roy offered to market it on the web. Have fun!

armalite_ar50

OKwent to brodak.com they sent me to corehouse corehouse set me straight and filled me in with this.

Lil' hacker will run the blackwidow or a surestart. Surestart better with a balloon tank and even faster if Iuse the blackwidow piston and glow head with a surestart. engine

Nice thing is the lil hacker kit is two planes for 34 bux.
Asked about the fuel Ihad and Iwas told to add 60 cc (2 oz )castor to it ( Idid today)
corehouse also makes custom foam wings. That's nice for me.Crash and burn,,,,,, Repair and seldom build from scratch.
Don't get me wrong... Ihave cutting tourches (comercial) mig welder and stick welder. two buildings full of power and hand tools.
Imake and build alot of stuff (just restored jeep wrangler over the summer) But Iknow nothing about ARROW-DIE-NAM-ICS....
and don't want to. I just wanna burn fuel and fix them when they break. ( I have 4 kids ) so my alone time is 'nill.

Corehouse also said 30 lbs test spider wire and 30 feet of it for the lil' hacker. said it's the same diameter as the old cloth line Iused as a kid. So Iguess I'll be tacking back the 50 lbs test. ANDYESIGOTTHEFUSIONwire from the start. I'm a avid PA native trout fisherman, Even though Iuse regular mono 4 lbs for the natives Ido know about spiderwire.

Also told me the best prop for my rigs would be 5/3 or 5/4. WHATIS THAT? Ifound some on some web sites and E-pay. but like Isaid, Ibuy and fly. so this is all new to me.
and haven't flown in 10 years. Gonna go out tomorrow if Ican find a parking lot plowed (it's still snowing here right now as of 2225 hundred.)

He was suprised to find out Ionly flew out of the box .049's
Iwas suprised ther were so many customs out there!
later
Rich

Andrew

I use 10lb test Spiderwire Fusion braid - 28' to 32' is about right.

5x3 describes the prop specs. 5" in diameter; 3" pitch. The pitch is how far forward the prop moves in 1 revolution in a perfect world. However, there is always slippage, so you can figure observed pitch at about 65% to 70% of listed. 5x4 is too much prop for a COX reedie - 5x3, 5.5x3 or 6x3 is a more common size. 6" is the max diameter you should consider. 5x3 is a nice C/L size.

Two other companies to check out are SIG Manufacturing (www.sigmfg.com) and Penn Valley Hobby Center (www.pennvalleyhobbycenter.com). Penn Valley is located in Lansdale, PA.

I also buy hand grip winders from [link=http://www.goodwinds.com/merch/list.shtml?cat=windersstraps]Good Winds Kites[/link] and drill the horns to make 1/2A controlline handles. At $1.59 ea. for 6, they are hard to beat in functionality and price.

andrew

Jim Thomerson

I've seen a Lil Hacker fly on a Black Widow. It flew quite well.