RE: LIL WIZARD
 

Not to worry if you know what you're doing.

Got a balancer? NO? Then don't do it.

Yes, and not to worry.
You can make a very, VERY cheap and accurate tool to help get the blades equal in length. Find a wood dowel or machine bolt that's the size of the engine's prop shaft. Drill a hole in a piece of plywood or any flat piece of wood the size of the prop shaft. Stick the dowel/bolt/whatever into the hole. Place the prop over that dowel/bolt/whatever and mark the short blade length on the plywood. Rotate the prop so the long blade comes around to the mark. Mark the long prop blade. Now you can trim that back to equal the other blade and you got a better prop. Now balance the sucker.

Expect the shorter prop to turn higher rpm.

Very often, I run props on my airplanes that better suit the airplane/engine combination but aren't sold in any hobby shop. They are made from bigger props with the pitch I'm looking for but too much diameter. And I change that diameter to suit. Works like gangbusters.

Got a couple of 46AX engines that love the 11.5x5 props I cut from 12x5s. Got enought surface area and not too much diameter and the right pitch. The pitch isn't exactly what would be on the blades had they been designed to the shorter lengths, but you know what...... neither I nor the engines care one bit. I get a better match to the airplane/engine by adjusting the diameter. 11.75x5s didn't quite get it. 11.25x5s didn't either.

RE: LIL WIZARD
 

Quote by da Rock:
"Expect the shorter prop to turn higher rpm."

This is a really good thing for the Cox engines and the main reason I asked the question about prop size in the first place.
Cox engines fare very well with High nitro and high RPMs. The more the merrier! The one exception is the Texaco version but you need not concern yourself about that.

Making the blade lengths exactly equal IS important but not nearly as important as the balance. If the prop is balanced and you wind up with one blade length 1/32" longer than the other, you will be just fine. This is more likely to happen with wood props where the wood will vary with density along its length but with the modern molded props is nearly non-existant.

You want your Cox turning up really high RPMs to get the performance you need. I always fine tune the needle valve to get the highest possible RPMs on the ground, then richen the mixture about an eighth of a turn so that when the plane becomes airborne, the prop will be able to unload and turn up fast but not starve to death from being too lean.

Robert

RE: LIL WIZARD
 

I made some "perfect circle" bits of plywood with that dowel type fixture.

Roughed the circle on my band saw, drilled a 1/4" hole in a board and put the blank on the edge of it, eased it into a belt sander until I got the diameter I wanted, then clamped the fixture to the belt sander table, then just slowly rotated the blank around.

Perfect circles every time. The same scheme with a belt sander/fixture should work for cutting down props evenly on both sides.

RE: LIL WIZARD
 

It does, depending on the pivot. The dowel in the board needs to be a snug fit into the hole in the prop and a tight fit into the board.

But keep in mind that the tip that results will be a very large radius (whatever the radius of the prop is), round tip if the prop is rotated completely past the sanding surface. Not a big deal unless you're looking for square tips, or want something like Top Flites Power Tips. If you want only the LE of the tip to be round, then bring the blade into the sanding surface with the LE leading and stop it when it's perpendicular to the sandpaper.

RE: LIL WIZARD
 

Would anyone have a scan of the Carl Goldberg Lil' Wizard decal sheet that they'd be prepared to post here, or email to me?
I'm looking mainly for the tail flash with the CG logo, so the Brodack decals are no use, since they replace it with their own name.

Any help would be MUCH appreciated

Wilf

RE: LIL WIZARD
 

I know nothing about control wire flying or the model I have, but I bought a seemingly pretty old Li'l Wizard model kit today for a price I couldn't refuse. It looks mostly complete, possibly the rod that runs to the tail is missing, but all the other parts still appear to be in plastic bags or attached to wood. It also has a never ran engine in it that I don't even know how to crank! lol. I run r/c nitro trucks but have never played with a plane. Anyway, I noticed someone wanted a scan of the decals, so here are the ones I got with the kit. If you need a higher resolution or different format just let me know.
R/T

RE: LIL WIZARD
 

Wow, that's pretty cool. Some guys are probably looking for that. neat.

RE: LIL WIZARD
 

I've also got the original instruction sheet if it's needed, including the "How to get your pilots license" instructions

RE: LIL WIZARD
 

Many thanks for this. Much appreciated

RE: LIL WIZARD
 

You are most welcome!

Lil Wizard - Fail Safe - flying model kit G5
 

Have a kit in an opened box for sale. Never put together, but someone carefully started removing pieces. Bag of small parts unopened.
Please reply if any interest in purchasing.

Old thread but heres a picture of my Lil Wizzard my grandson flies.....Gene
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...c6f77fa024.jpg

Very nice and I like the thread hinges. I'm thinking of using that method for my Brodak Buster.

I cringe at the $53 price, but it sure is a great design for a Trainer/Sport plane. Great to learn the basics of Controline.

Looping a Lil Wizard
 

I had a Lil Wizard with a Cox Golden Bee .049 engine. To loop it, I used 35 ft lines and flew on a hill side where the slope of the hill allowed me an additional 10 feet of altitude to pull out.

Lil Wizard
 

I wanted to build a Lil Wizard to teach my son to fly 30 years ago but could not find a kit in the days before the internet. I still had the instructions from one I built in the 60's so I tried to duplicate it as best as I could without actual plans. The solid balsa airfoil wing is easy enough to make if a razor blade planer is available. It flies better with the TD 051 than it does with the Golden Bee. Good for circles and pseudo wingovers, but not mush else. Too heavy and too stable. I learned to stunt with a Sterling Baby Ringmaster.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...10c87c6411.jpg