User Panel
Quoted: The trainer with the metal gas tank on the back of the engine must have been the only good design Cox had. Your post reminds me the P51 tank was part of the body with 2 nips, one for fueling and one to vent. Those planes leaked and broke up way to easy. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: My dad got me a P51 Mustang The nipple shirred off the fuel tank For the rest of my childhood I attempted to fix the fuel tank The trainer with the metal gas tank on the back of the engine must have been the only good design Cox had. Your post reminds me the P51 tank was part of the body with 2 nips, one for fueling and one to vent. Those planes leaked and broke up way to easy. The metal tank in the back was the "Baby Bee" design and a good bit more power than the cheaper "SureStart" that was on most of the plastic rtf planes. They were rear reed induction. The Tee Dee engines were front induction and quite a bit more power. |
|
I had a Cox P-51 and flew it successfully a few times with my Dad. Then my uncle bought me a wood kit and I lovingly built and painted that thing. I was very proud of it. First flight it went right into the ground. I had put the vertical stabilizer, the tail, on backwards so instead of flying away from me, maintaining the outward pull, it came in towards me. Totally wrecked. That was the end of that.
|
|
I used to fly Cox planes when I was a kid.
Never crashed one- they were a blast. Just bought this kit and a Fox 40 motor - going to build it this winter and fly again. Attached File Wingspan49 in1245 mm Wing Area510 sq in32.9 dm² Engines.29-.40 cu. in. (4.8 - 6.5 cc) (not included) And this with a Cox .049 motor. Attached File |
|
I remember trying for weeks to get the engine to run. When we finally did there was no take off. It would buzz around in circles until it would run out of gas. We made a ramp out of plywood and finally got it in the air. I think it lasted for 2 whole rounds before it crashed.
Such high expectations and low returns. |
|
Quoted: Still got a scar on my knuckle from the prop from 50 years ago. I doubt we got the damn thing to work more than a couple of times and when it did work, it ended up badly. View Quote This, I would crank and crank, clipping the prop and winding it up, well after cranking and cranking for an eternity the damn thing actually cranked, I had already started to wind it up again and stuck my finger in it. |
|
I must be the only person here who had the (weirdly prop powered) F-15 version. Lots of plastic and a snarly propeller to keep you in fear of being maimed.
Got some flight time, just could never do much for control, and keeping it running sucked. I think the weighted small plane that you just spun around at the end of a line was about as successful of a flying machine. Except it had no engine at all, just kept aloft by you spinning around rapidly. |
|
Quoted: I remember trying for weeks to get the engine to run. When we finally did there was no take off. It would buzz around in circles until it would run out of gas. We made a ramp out of plywood and finally got it in the air. I think it lasted for 2 whole rounds before it crashed. Such high expectations and low returns. View Quote at least you didn't cut your finger off trying to start it... |
|
The more I read this thread the more I remember. There were older kids in the neighborhood who could do loops and other tricks with their planes. It was sort of a thing in our neighborhood growing up.
|
|
|
Quoted: I still got one of my old .049 engines. Do they make R/C models that use .049? I'd like an R/C version of the lil' Satan. View Quote There are a number of balsa kits out there still that you can power with 049 But I don’t believe there is any current production of the little 049 or 020 engines. And here’s a link to a company that makes the model you wanted. You could make it RC with a little work I’m sure https://brodak.com/control-line-kits/brodak/1-2-a-series/1-2a-lil-satan-kit.html There is a new company that makes laser cut kits or reduced sized RC sport models from the 70s and 80s. Willy Nillies. They have become very popular in a short time. And most of the models are sized to fall below the current FAA UAV registration weight Mostly they are built as electric power, but they have options for Cox 020 and maybe 049 power. https://willynillies.com/ I have a couple of their kits to build . One of these days. |
|
Quoted: My son likes airplane stuff. Some dudes on YT that some absolutely loves, Flite Test. A couple of their friends are around here as well. The quadcopter/drone arena is decidedly more popular. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Do young boys still play with stuff like this? Or do they just sit in their rooms with their cell phones watching trannies on YouTube while plucking their eyebrows? My son likes airplane stuff. Some dudes on YT that some absolutely loves, Flite Test. A couple of their friends are around here as well. The quadcopter/drone arena is decidedly more popular. Flite test has lots of young, and older fans. You can’t outright blame the kids. The parents probably are lazy and/or don’t care to be involved with kid stuff. Or they keep nagging “what are you doing wasting you time and money with those models?!!!” Yeah. Not like there was anyone else around for miles. My Dad was mostly indifferent about those things for a lot of years. Flite test has events and they try to get the whole family, or even just one parent involved too. It’s a big part of their mission. |
|
The AMA nationals were near me once and I went to watch. iirc I watched some control line ram jets. The free flight gliders were the most fun for me at the time.
We had 3 control line planes at one time or another. 2 cox, one testor's. I don't think we ever got the testor's motor to run right. Then we went to RC. My brother's did a lot of flying with TD .049 200 class race plane called a Quickie 200. My father built a GLH (another race plane, not sure if it was 200 class or not) - our instructor flew it, my father watched - and afterwards gave it to him. Too damn fast for us. My favorite plane to fly was a 500 class race plane. It was a kit mash between a Quickie 500 and a Half-fast 500 iirc. It could do anything we asked it too and flew like it was on rails. The one thing it could do that my brothers 500 class race plane could not was land slow enough to not rip itself apart each landing (his was not Quickie class - it was unlimited I think). We flew off a grass field, and it was designed such that it could only land on a real asphalt or concrete runway. I bet it had a landing speed of about 50mph. Trying to get it to slow down enough to land in a grass field was an exercise in futility. It would stall long before it would slow down. |
|
Quoted: Was that alcohol and castor oil? ETA: The fuel used to power the engine is called Model Engine Fuel, a mixture of methanol (70–40%), castor oil (20%) and nitromethane (10–40%). View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: iirc the quart sized metal can of fuel at toys r us Was that alcohol and castor oil? ETA: The fuel used to power the engine is called Model Engine Fuel, a mixture of methanol (70–40%), castor oil (20%) and nitromethane (10–40%). Good stuff. The little motors required quite a bit of nitro and oil to run well. I think the stock Cox stuff was 25%. Nitro has gotten stupid expensive. It is $40-$45 a gallon now. When I was flying helis I would get 8 flights out of a gallon on a .90 size, IIRC. More expensive than sex, but more fun too. A little 049 would run forever on the little pints. Even Walmart sold it. |
|
Quoted: My brother got a brand new Stuka and Dad hooked the controls up backwards. Of course Dad had to fly it first and it went down when it was supposed to go up. Nose dive straight into the dirt and exploded all the plastic pieces, my brother was crushed. View Quote My dad destroyed mine too. He started it and let it go but forgot to hold on to the string and it flew across the street into some pine trees and disintegrated. |
|
Quoted: This is the one I had. Everything was rubber banded together so when it crashed, it wouldn't break. https://www.ebay.com/itm/224539718600?hash=item34479c33c8:g:riEAAOSwX2Ng9PHB View Quote I wanted one of those SO much when I was a kid. |
|
|
|
Quoted: The AMA nationals were near me once and I went to watch. iirc I watched some control line ram jets. The free flight gliders were the most fun for me at the time. We had 3 control line planes at one time or another. 2 cox, one testor's. I don't think we ever got the testor's motor to run right. Then we went to RC. My brother's did a lot of flying with TD .049 200 class race plane called a Quickie 200. My father built a GLH (another race plane, not sure if it was 200 class or not) - our instructor flew it, my father watched - and afterwards gave it to him. Too damn fast for us. My favorite plane to fly was a 500 class race plane. It was a kit mash between a Quickie 500 and a Half-fast 500 iirc. It could do anything we asked it too and flew like it was on rails. The one thing it could do that my brothers 500 class race plane could not was land slow enough to not rip itself apart each landing (his was not Quickie class - it was unlimited I think). We flew off a grass field, and it was designed such that it could only land on a real asphalt or concrete runway. I bet it had a landing speed of about 50mph. Trying to get it to slow down enough to land in a grass field was an exercise in futility. It would stall long before it would slow down. View Quote The GLH (Goes Like Hell) was kitted by Ace and designed to run on a TD 051. They would scoot pretty good. You can still pick up a kit and plans online. It would be a whole lot faster on electric these days. http://www.balsaworkbench.com/?page_id=1293 https://willynillies.com/buy-here/ols/products/glh-250 If anyone wants a 1/2A control line kit: https://willynillies.com/buy-here/ols/products/jr-skylark-250-beta-kit-pre-order-now-limited-quantities-available-shipping-3rd-week-of-december |
|
Quoted: The GLH (Goes Like Hell) was kitted by Ace and designed to run on a TD 051. They would scoot pretty good. You can still pick up a kit and plans online. It would be a whole lot faster on electric these days. http://www.balsaworkbench.com/?page_id=1293 https://willynillies.com/buy-here/ols/products/glh-250 If anyone wants a 1/2A control line kit: https://willynillies.com/buy-here/ols/products/jr-skylark-250-beta-kit-pre-order-now-limited-quantities-available-shipping-3rd-week-of-december View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: The AMA nationals were near me once and I went to watch. iirc I watched some control line ram jets. The free flight gliders were the most fun for me at the time. We had 3 control line planes at one time or another. 2 cox, one testor's. I don't think we ever got the testor's motor to run right. Then we went to RC. My brother's did a lot of flying with TD .049 200 class race plane called a Quickie 200. My father built a GLH (another race plane, not sure if it was 200 class or not) - our instructor flew it, my father watched - and afterwards gave it to him. Too damn fast for us. My favorite plane to fly was a 500 class race plane. It was a kit mash between a Quickie 500 and a Half-fast 500 iirc. It could do anything we asked it too and flew like it was on rails. The one thing it could do that my brothers 500 class race plane could not was land slow enough to not rip itself apart each landing (his was not Quickie class - it was unlimited I think). We flew off a grass field, and it was designed such that it could only land on a real asphalt or concrete runway. I bet it had a landing speed of about 50mph. Trying to get it to slow down enough to land in a grass field was an exercise in futility. It would stall long before it would slow down. The GLH (Goes Like Hell) was kitted by Ace and designed to run on a TD 051. They would scoot pretty good. You can still pick up a kit and plans online. It would be a whole lot faster on electric these days. http://www.balsaworkbench.com/?page_id=1293 https://willynillies.com/buy-here/ols/products/glh-250 If anyone wants a 1/2A control line kit: https://willynillies.com/buy-here/ols/products/jr-skylark-250-beta-kit-pre-order-now-limited-quantities-available-shipping-3rd-week-of-december I always wanted one of those as a kid. Maybe I should build an electric version someday... ETA: Hey, that guy is in my neck of the woods! I almost bought one of those Twinsharks years ago. Really want a couple of those but zero interest in building Attached File |
|
Quoted: I had the Corsair. I wonder if it's still at my parents house. View Quote My dad got me the gas powered Corsair when I was 8 or so, and he helped me put it together. Fucker burst into flames about 30 seconds into it's first flight. String broke, and it went flying off into the playground of the local park we were at. |
|
Holy cow I wanted one of those in the worst way as a kid… but reading the thread, I think I’m OK with not having gotten one.
Also, my stomach hurts from laughing… Not at you, but envisioning how it looked plus I’d have done the exact same thing. |
|
Still got a COX Piper Comanche from 1982, NIB. Plus a pair of .020 engines that’s never had fuel in them, just a couple of drops of oil. Not sure of the model, but they have anodized red fuel tanks with the rear air intake screen. Were $5 each from a hobby shop, no box or papers, in 1980.
Also have five or six .049 survivor engines from planes long deceased. There was a R/C field and go-cart complex in Jacksonville with a control line field. Had a center pivot post to hold on to so the flyer wouldn’t get dizzy and fall down. Much bigger than .049 models flown there. |
|
|
When I was a little kid in the 60's my Dad had a P-38 Lightning that him & my older brother would fly around. That Cox engine/motor oil smell is something I'll never forget, just like pot, bacon, DOA's, shit like that.
|
|
Quoted: I used to fly Cox planes when I was a kid. Never crashed one- they were a blast. Just bought this kit and a Fox 40 motor - going to build it this winter and fly again.https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/157453/FD0493CE-4AD1-4686-8EFA-A3A58BEB6E5B_jpe-2025707.JPG Wingspan49 in1245 mm Wing Area510 sq in32.9 dm² Engines.29-.40 cu. in. (4.8 - 6.5 cc) (not included) And this with a Cox .049 motor. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/157453/B7ACFE07-F722-457F-847E-DBC25C70B1BA_jpe-2025711.JPG View Quote Where'd you buy them from? @BoomerMike |
|
Quoted: There are a number of balsa kits out there still that you can power with 049 But I don’t believe there is any current production of the little 049 or 020 engines. And here’s a link to a company that makes the model you wanted. You could make it RC with a little work I’m sure https://brodak.com/control-line-kits/brodak/1-2-a-series/1-2a-lil-satan-kit.html There is a new company that makes laser cut kits or reduced sized RC sport models from the 70s and 80s. Willy Nillies. They have become very popular in a short time. And most of the models are sized to fall below the current FAA UAV registration weight Mostly they are built as electric power, but they have options for Cox 020 and maybe 049 power. https://willynillies.com/ I have a couple of their kits to build . One of these days. View Quote That's awesome! Thanks! |
|
|
Quoted: My brother got a brand new Stuka and Dad hooked the controls up backwards. Of course Dad had to fly it first and it went down when it was supposed to go up. Nose dive straight into the dirt and exploded all the plastic pieces, my brother was crushed. View Quote Very familiar. Only it was me that got the cool Cox Stuka dive bomber. While mom and I went to get fuel and a big battery my two older brothers flew and crashed it hard. Mom had my brothers replace it, with a P-51 |
|
Quoted: Quoted: I used to fly Cox planes when I was a kid. Never crashed one- they were a blast. Just bought this kit and a Fox 40 motor - going to build it this winter and fly again.https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/157453/FD0493CE-4AD1-4686-8EFA-A3A58BEB6E5B_jpe-2025707.JPG Wingspan49 in1245 mm Wing Area510 sq in32.9 dm² Engines.29-.40 cu. in. (4.8 - 6.5 cc) (not included) And this with a Cox .049 motor. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/157453/B7ACFE07-F722-457F-847E-DBC25C70B1BA_jpe-2025711.JPG Where'd you buy them from? @BoomerMike Sig Manufacturing I bought a few Fox 40 motors on ebay along with a newly manufactured.049 motor. |
|
I got a P51 for Christmas and on the first flight the string broke and that was that.
|
|
Quoted: I still got one of my old .049 engines. Do they make R/C models that use .049? I'd like an R/C version of the lil' Satan. View Quote People almost never choose that powerplant for any RC work, because it is so unreliable and hard to start. Everybody I know flies electric powered planes now. A 3s airplane will take a scale warbird and make it do amazing things. A 4s will make it have something like 7x the scale power of a full-size. You can fly ducted fan jets on those that will go like hell. |
|
Quoted: I had one of those airboat cars and a "Sprite" control line Indy car. https://sgwmscdnimages.azureedge.net/13/11-27-2019/68370927124057lwon.jpg View Quote I had a Sprite car too. Got it free after collecting the liners from bottle caps, I scrounged for those damn things everywhere. I hit every soda machine I could drive to on my bicycle and dug caps out of them, my uncle would bring me caps from the machine at his work. No telling how many hours I put into collecting all that I needed. It was way more time than I ever got to enjoy playing with the car. I wish I had never cranked it, I saw a similar one on one of the antiques shows that they had a big price tag on. |
|
We would fire them up with no string, take the wings off, and let them go screaming down the street. It was a game of "dodgeplane".
|
|
View Quote One can now witness by the appearance and actions of the Aussie guys, how easy it was just to mandate an experimental national mask up/ jab in policy on the whole group of these obedient pansies. |
|
I don't know why they went by the wayside. I can only suspect kids and computers and phones assisted, but probably the government declared them unsafe and polluting.
Funny, last month I tried to buy a plane and motor only to find they no longer exist in a new form. I wish they would come back because I was very good at flying them in all directions. |
|
Buncha non-aviating folks up in here. I can see why aviation threads go like they do.
Modern r/c stuff is lightyears ahead of where it was 20 years ago. The Eflite UMX planes are probably the modern equivalent, except they actually fly pretty good. |
|
|
I got the P51 Mustang one for Christmas one year when I was a kid. I asked my brother to hold onto the plane while I got ready with the line he let it go and I watched my brand-new Cox P-51 Mustang airplane fly off into the woods.
Never saw it again |
|
I got a set that had a Fokker DVII and a Sopwith Camel. We actually got them to fly as my brother had some practice. It was boring and we ended up using the engines to make a series of boats.
|
|
P-51 Mustang I bought with my own money (did odd jobs and saved every penny).
And I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who experienced the soul-crushing experience of having a helpful father who insisted on the first flight (to make sure it was safe). It was very safe once he nosedived it into the turf and spread plastic shards across the yard. She never flew again. |
|
Quoted: I still have mine somewhere. My bro has the P-51. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/48680/20201206_172052_jpg-2025267.JPG View Quote I had one of those! Great fun! |
|
My Dad bought one of those for me as a Christmas gift. He bought one for my brother that was electric. The electric one was kind of funny because you had to charge the airplane battery holding the plane on top of an old lantern battery with the little springy things that came off of it.
The electric plane never really had full power for more than 30 seconds so that didn’t fly. The gas motor one could never start outside for some reason my father would bring it in mess with it it would get started but by the time we got up to our front yard the gas had run out. Both pieces of crap that went into the garbage. I’m sure my Dad paid a fair price for both of them back in the day. |
|
All my friends and I had them. If I remember correctly, I had a Cox Golden Bee and a Black Widow engine. Most all of our planes were balsa 'flying wing' styles; when they crashed they could be glued back together quickly.
We would have dogfight matches, with each plane pulling a long colored paper streamer. The object was to use your prop to cut the opponent's streamer off: whoever left the other guys with the shortest one, won. Sometimes while dogfighting we would get our lines tangled a bit and end up having to be very careful as we turned circles at Mach 10 while gingerly working to separate our control lines. I got the bright idea to bust up a couple of old coke bottles, grind up the glass, and glue it to my control lines just about where they contacted the other guy's lines during an entanglement. During a kerfluffle of lines one day, as we started doing our round-de-round, I started sawing back and forth......I did feel kind of bad when my pal Kelly's plane, cut loose from his tether, flew out and then crashed, hard, in old man McCoy's cow pasture. I really thought that as soon as one of the two control lines was cut the plane would just spin down, still connected by the one surviving line. Who knew that the pair of fouled lines compress down and act as one, for purposes of sawing. I wonder if Kelly is still mad. |
|
My Stuka lasted about half a circle before the crash and burn. It was fun for the 6 seconds that it lasted.
|
|
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.