Hey guys, Im new to the RC area. A couple friends and I are building a couple RC hovercrafts then gonna build a real one.

My friend had this little helicopter from a jc pennys catolog from about 5 years ago, came with a cox .049 engine on it, the one with a squair block with rounded edges on 4 sides, it came with a propeller and some other stuff.

The problem is that we cannot get it to start, It could be old fuel. It also could have been the little white thing We left 3hrs away.... it was on what looked like the intake of the engine.


On this engine, theres a tiny gas tank, ist just one of those things that flys up and glides down, some sort of appachee helicopter.

anyway, the end(mounting end) looks different than the engines you buy, it also has a back plate thats probably suposed to go on there.

I was thinking that little white peice could be some sort of valve, I was not thinking when I left it there, It just was stuck down and I just pushed it off no problem.

The engine was really sticky(still is) should I clean it with gas or anything?

I have some more questions that I have to remember.

It would be great if you guys could help me.
Thanx,
Jon

I've no idea what the white thing was but maybe it was just some sort of protective cover over the intake in the centre at the back of the tank? These are reed valve engines which means they're quite happy to run in either direction although it's not a good idea to run them backwards with a normal prop on them. It's best to use the Cox fuel in them because they need a fair bit of nitro plus a lot of castor oil. Never run them on normal RC fuel. The glow plug is the entire cylinder head which just screws in and you should have a special spanner which is used to dismantle the whole engine (I don't recommend doing it though ). Also, the plug is strictly 1.5 volts so be careful not to burn it out.

You should be able to free it up by flooding it with fuel and turning it over carefully until it gets a bit looser then flicking it over. When the prop starts to oscillate it'll be ready to run. A drop or two of fuel straight in the exhaust port usually gets them going but make sure the needle valve hasn't got any muck in it. If you look in the exhaust when the plug's connected then you should see an orange glow reflecting off the top of the piston.

thanx a ton! thats mostly what I needed to know for now,

and about that needle valve, I was wondering about that, how do I calibrate that? and clean it if necessary?


thanx
Jon

downunder: you don't suppose that white thing was the reed valve ? Nah he wouldn't do that would he? MAX H.

I dont know if it was or not, thats what I was wondering.

If it is, I still have it over there in his pile of junk, I can get it.

Im debating, weather to go electric or gas at the moment, its just a temporary hovercraft Im thinking, then I think Im gonna build a full blown one

Jon