Cermark Javelin
 

Hey!
I am very seriously considering picking up one of those Cermark Javelin II's with the new sale price. I have a bunch of .46's laying around the house, but I don't quite know that that'll be enough for those really nice long uplines. My question is this, do you all think it would be better to pick up a .60 of some kind, or to use a piped Magnum .46?

Also any good/bad comments on the Javelin would be great!
Thanks all,
---Steve---

RE: Cermark Javelin
 

I'd put a 60 in it without another thought.

After watching one at our airfield with a 46 it wants more power.

My Venus 40 with a 61sf in it wants for nothing.

RE: Cermark Javelin
 

thats all I had to hear.. Thanks, I think I might try one of those Tower .60's for 89 dollars. Theres a .46, 2 .60's, and a .75 from tower at our field and all of them are running Great...

RE: Cermark Javelin
 

My pattern coach flew his Javelin to overall second place Intermediate in district for the season a couple years ago, powered with an OS 70 Surpass II. I've seen him fly this plane on Intermediate and Master schedules, and can say the plane is fully capable in the right hands. He says the OS 70 is "adequate power". I am putting a Javelin together for next season, using YS 63 for power. If you're planning to fly this as a patternship, I'd think you'd want a high torque (long stroke) rather than a high rpm two-stroke. But certainly a 60 size two-stroke should have power to spare for this model.

I haven't checked the specs lately, but it seems to me the Tower .75 is a bored out Tower .60, same mounting dimensions but more power at less weight for very little more $. I flew a Tower .75 on a modified 60 size Easysport this summer and I had unlimited vertical on a fairly heavy pig--certainly a pound or two heavier than the Javelin would finish up at. I pretty much agree with the view that there's no point to buying a Tower .60 when you can have a Tower .75. You'd probably never use full throttle except maybe on upline snaps if you are still flying the Javelin when you get to Masters level, or if you were flying in 40 mph winds like at this year's Nats.

RE: Cermark Javelin
 

Yep, the tower .75 is .8 ounces lighter, and I agree, why have a heavier engine for less power... Plus the tower .75 is only 10 dollars more than the .60. I think thats what it'll be then. Javelin with a tower .75.

Thanks for all of the input!

RE: Cermark Javelin
 

My only complaint on the Tower .75 is the muffler mounting, which requires you to grind down the short arm of an Allen wrench to squeeze it behind the muffler barrel. Taking the muffler off & on is about a 30 minute tedium. Get yourself some Ultrathrust Copper hi-temp sealant in the auto parts store and smear a bit on the muffler joint, put a drop of threadlock down the screw-hole and use a split lock washer on muffler mounting screws.

Also, when I was breaking in the Tower .75 the muffler blew apart on me, made a mighty roar and woke me up good. I found the end bell about 50 yards away, gathered the other pieces and put it back together. The rod that holds the end bell on is threaded at the front end and turns into a tapped hole on the inside of the front bell, which is aluminum. The steel rod just stripped the threads right out of the aluminum piece. When I put it back together I drilled out the front bell with a hole clean through, substituted a 6-32 threaded rod from the hardware store, slightly longer length, and put nylon lock washers at front & back. That held up just fine for the rest of the season. Use the Ultrathrust sealant on the muffler joints too.

Aside from these petty annoyances, the engine is great value. Tunes up nicely, runs well at top, bottom & middle. I think mine liked a K&B 1L plug.

Please don't fly your Javelin at full throttle all over the place. With this engine, probably half throttle for straight & level, three quarters for up-lines and full maybe for up-line snaps. The nice thing about this kind of "over-power" is you'll be able to get the same performance with 10-15% nitro that others get only with 30% nitro (at maybe twice the cost per gallon). Saves a lot of fuel money over the course of a season.