Thimbledrome 049 on a Plastic piper cub back in 1959 ,that name later changed to the Cox brand name. That engine never did run *LOL* Even the pro at the LHS couldnt get it to run for over a few secs at a time.
Unlike ED my second was a wen mac and it ran flawless on a corsair .But like many others have stated it wasn't until I got into the all wood CL planes that I learned what a real CL plane was supposed to fly like.

------------


The Corsair was made for many, many years. Over a decade. As a result, I'll bet it had nearly every variation of Wen-Mac in it. I never did have much luck with the Wen-Mac engines until the Mk. IV series. This is not to say that previous engines did not run, they did, upon occasion.

Looking back on it, I think that a large part of the problems we kids had in my area was due to our local hobbyshop not cycling enough 1.5 VDC carbon zinc ignition batteries through the store to keep us in fresh batteries. I also noticed that some glow engines did not need a particularly hot ignition battery, while others absolutely required it.

Keep in mind too that this was my very first personally owned engine. Who knows what I might have been doing wrong? But it is strange that while I couldn't get my own Wen-Mac to start worth a hoot, I was the pit crew for modelers that owned other makes of engines and I was their preferred starting man. Go figure.


Ed Cregger

In the early 1940's i got a new GHQ . It came with a 14/3 metal prop. It ran but very poorly.

My first C/L engine was the Cox black widow back in 1982 when I was a kid and the first R/C engine was purchased 1995 Super Tigre GS40 together with a ARF trainer.

Wen-Mac .049 in the light blue SBD Dauntless. Around 1959 or so.

I can't really remember which came first. I was given a Berkeley "Boot-straps" with a McCoy .098. A cousin had built it and it flew great as a Free-flight in the area behind Mather AFB S/E of Sacramento Ca. Miles of open space then. early 50's.
About the same time I had a Cox Babe Bee on a Jim Walker Firebaby. My finger was all scar tissue from this little beast......went on to Fox 29-35 on Ringmasters, etc, big scars then.
All I have now is RC.......

When I saw the title of the post I immediately thought Thunder Tiger GP 42 and then I saw Cox and went back to my real origins in model airplanes.
My first engine was a Testors .049 and I never did get it to run.
Then there were several Cox .049 engines. Some were in planes and there were two free running cars, an orange Baja Bug and a purple dune buggy.
Great times playing with these when we were kids.

continental 65 horse in aeronca champ...1962

My first engine was a Cox Babe Bee in a Tee Dee 3 Flying Circus I got for Christmas Ca. 1957. I still have the same engine in perfect running order as well as a somewhat beat Flying circus a friend gave me as a gift to put it back in. Actually, I have every engine I've ever owned and flew back to those days. All are in perfect condition and ready to fire up.

bob

Early 1950s Drone 29 diesel of course no electric starter then, at Least commerical ones, and Whats a chicken stick?? thus a few bruised and bloody fingers till I fiqured it out martin home made c/l not really copied from anything but flew fine martin

Mine was an OS Pet .099 control line engine in about 1974. Used it until I wore it out. Still have it - I get it out of its storage box occasionally to reminisce

1950, an OK Cub .049.

My first glow engine was a Cox .049 that came on a plastic P-39.

My first RC engine was a Fox 40BB Deluxe. I learned a considerable amount about what does and does not matter to me when it comes to engines from that experience. I've still got it sitting in a box here somewhere. If I ever have a lot of time on my hands and feel like playing with needle valves I'll dig it out.

First was a .049 Thimble Drome around 1963, I had a K&Boom Torpedo 35 Greenhead that was hard to get running, first easy starting reliable engine was a OS 29 CL steel fin nice runner.

GHQ in 1942 never could get it to run. An Uncle took pity on me and got me an O & R 23 ignition model.

K&B Infant .020 about 1951 or 52. Lost it on a little Berkley free flight.

Denis

Hello; I had a few Cox control liners when my kids were little (80-84), but my first RC engine was a Webra silverline 40. There were 4 of them in our club, and none of them ran very well, mine always seemed the worst of the bunch. It would usually start, but no one could tune it so that I'd get a complete flight in. I struggled on with that Webra until I got diggusted with it and traded it to a guy for a Saito 45 that had a hole in the piston and a gouged out liner, where the guy forgot to put the teflon pads back in the piston pin holes. One trip to baxter's hobby shop in Seattle got me all the parts I needed for under $20. I flew that Saito 45 for years in one plane or another, and eventually replaced most of the remaining parts. I still have that engine, though I haven't used it for awhile.
The first "good" engine I had was an OS FP 40. It was a huge improvement on the Webra, it always started and never dead sticked on me. I didn't use it for too long that first year, and after the Saito was running well, I used that mostly.

Since then I have owned every OS four stroke, every Saito engine available, and a bunch of diesels. I electrifly mostly these days.

My first engine was a McCoy 29, broke it in bolted to the back steps of the house. Ran like champ but never got my Ring Master finished. Sold the engine to neighbor and it turned out to be the best engine on the field. I loved the smell of Castor Oil. It was 1954, the next year I started driving cars and that was the end of models unitl 1998. A lot had changed, wow, and for the better too.

Cheers,

Chip

Boy, this is a trip down memory lane! What I find interesting is that so many of us have shared memories. For example, I also learned to fly in an Aeronca Champ and had a Jim Walker Firebaby for a first "real flying model." It had a Wasp .049, though, and it did fly (so long as there wasn't much wind). It featured a bladder tank (which people are now rediscovering). After that, a Fox .29 Stunt, and an O&R 60 (converted to glow) from which I still have the scars on my finger! I did own a GHQ when AHC sold them out for paperweight prices, but mine didn't run either....

As another post said I was going to say a Tower .46, but after reading other posts and going down memory lane, on a cold Christmas morning in '71 I recall getting a orange Baha Bug with a Cox .049 in it. I also remember several Cox planes with the .049 in them also C/L trainers , bi- planes and old war birds. It brings back fond childhood memories. And some not so fond. That cold morning in '71 my bug slung a rod at about 6:30 a.m. I think it was. Cox made it good but I was without a bug for a couple of weeks[&o]

Cox .049 circa 1968 in a hovercraft

Mine was a Cox .049 that came with a red and blue control line bi-plane...Fokker? I think or something like that. Scared me to death the first time I started it. As a kid I was not expecting anything that loud or turn that many rpm's. Memories I was a kid of about 11 or 12. I'm using G62's and DA100 now, but they were fun times back then!

Along about '48' or '49' my then girl friend gave me the little K&B .020 for my birthday. I put it on a little profile free-flight from I think Berkley. It was (I think) a copy of the full size Korda powerhouse. Anyway, a friend and I took it out to the local airport, fired it up and away it went. It was OOS by the time it ran out of fuel, but we caught sight of it as it descended. It then caught a thermal and we chased it about three miles in a car till it flew over an Associated pump station with a lot of trees around it. That broke up the thermal and the plane finally landed in fine shape. It's first and last flight as I soon joined the Navy to see the world ........RJ

Well I wanted a Davies Charlton Bambi { A really tiny diesel which would have been difficult for a 10 year old to start. }
The model shop persuaded my dad that it was a bad idea so I got a Frog 1.49 Vibromatic instead.

It was an easy starter once I mastered the compresion screw and it flew control liners and the odd free flighters for years.

Ahhhhh the smell of ether and amyl nitrate in the morning.

My first engine was a Cox Pee Wee .020 on a Gillows Piper Cherokee.

It never did fly right but it got neighbor's attention.

He showed me his R/C airplanes and sent me home with an OS Max-S .35, plans and a wing for a Sterling Fledgling.

Thanks Sweede!