Its Official I Have Moved To The Dark Side

Javiester

Elite member
I have a BF109 of 1mts of width and an Idol of HK both finished and I am finishing another one for a little motor .049 COX that they have given me
but I have not released them yet, they give me a lot of respect
I will try this spring
 

speedbirdted

Legendary member
I have a BF109 of 1mts of width and an Idol of HK both finished and I am finishing another one for a little motor .049 COX that they have given me
but I have not released them yet, they give me a lot of respect
I will try this spring
What kind of 049? If we're talking Cox they made tons of different models and they can vary in power output a lot depending on what production run it is...
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
I have a BF109 of 1mts of width and an Idol of HK both finished and I am finishing another one for a little motor .049 COX that they have given me
but I have not released them yet, they give me a lot of respect
I will try this spring
That is exactly where I plan to go. Get into the balsa then on to engines. Nothing beats the sound of burning fuel
 

Javiester

Elite member
the engine comes from a circular flight Stuka that they gave me last year, a few days ago I decided to take it out and see if it would start
The virus is driving me crazy, I can't go out to destroy planes and to stretch the time until I can, I found some plans for 049 engines since they are slower to build
The fuel was given to me by another friend who had an rc car and has also been saved for a couple of years
the boat has a sticker that says 16% nitro,
I do not know if it is the correct one for these engines but it helped me to see if it worked
I hope some guru will help me get started on these engines
 

speedbirdted

Legendary member
the engine comes from a circular flight Stuka that they gave me last year, a few days ago I decided to take it out and see if it would start
The virus is driving me crazy, I can't go out to destroy planes and to stretch the time until I can, I found some plans for 049 engines since they are slower to build
The fuel was given to me by another friend who had an rc car and has also been saved for a couple of years
the boat has a sticker that says 16% nitro,
I do not know if it is the correct one for these engines but it helped me to see if it worked
I hope some guru will help me get started on these engines
Well, at least you got it to run, so that's a start. Does sound a tad rich though. :p

Looks like a Cox Baby Bee. Not quite the same performance as the TD and Medallions but they'll still move a plane fine. I would say aim for an AUW of 12 ounces or less for anything you install it in, +/- maybe 2 or 3 ounces depending on the performance you hope to have. I believe these put out about 55 watts, so you can take that into account doing the math for what airplane you want to build for it. A really funny quirk about these engines is they have reed valve induction and so they will run perfectly happily regardless of the direction you start it in. This is useful as if you want to install the engine in a pusher application you don't have to buy special propellers - just put the prop on backwards and flip it the other way.

The fuel you are using is probably fine for it nitro wise. A lot of people say you have to run like 25% nitro in these to get good performance but really nitro in my opinion does less for more RPM and more for better tuning across a wider range of RPM like in a throttled engine. I have run Cox engines on FAI fuel (0% nitro) and they seem to do it just fine, but for ease of tuning I would still run maybe 10% nitro as the needle can become very sensitive with a complete absence of it. The difference in top end power is maybe a couple hundred RPM between 10 and 25%.

The thing you need to be careful of in these is the choice of oil. Cox engines really like castor oil - I sometimes blend my own fuel for them using only Klotz castor oil (though finding nitromethane that's not diluted here is not easy, so I have not done this in quite a long time) 20% oil content is the absolute minimum I would do - I usually mix or add some to about 22%. Most fuels branded for 1/2A use will have some component of synthetic oil blended in, and you want to avoid this. Often, fuel sold for larger control line engines contains the requisite amount of castor and can be used. Personally my favorite fuel to use is actually the Cox branded stuff - I don't think it's manufactured anymore so it's a little hard to find it NOS, but not only does it have 100% castor but it's sold in metal bottles so as long as they were never opened they can be old as hell and engines will still drink it down perfectly happily. I would shy away from running the car fuel you have right now, or at least check the oil content. Car fuel tends to have less oil in it.
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
the engine comes from a circular flight Stuka that they gave me last year, a few days ago I decided to take it out and see if it would start
The virus is driving me crazy, I can't go out to destroy planes and to stretch the time until I can, I found some plans for 049 engines since they are slower to build
The fuel was given to me by another friend who had an rc car and has also been saved for a couple of years
the boat has a sticker that says 16% nitro,
I do not know if it is the correct one for these engines but it helped me to see if it worked
I hope some guru will help me get started on these engines
I imagine thats how I will get into it as well. even if there is an estate sale or an auction for a bunch of stuff. I will just collect the collateral parts and franken-plane something together. I ahve watched enough vids on the subject, all thats left to do is the doing
 

Javiester

Elite member
Well, at least you got it to run, so that's a start. Does sound a tad rich though. :p

Looks like a Cox Baby Bee. Not quite the same performance as the TD and Medallions but they'll still move a plane fine. I would say aim for an AUW of 12 ounces or less for anything you install it in, +/- maybe 2 or 3 ounces depending on the performance you hope to have. I believe these put out about 55 watts, so you can take that into account doing the math for what airplane you want to build for it. A really funny quirk about these engines is they have reed valve induction and so they will run perfectly happily regardless of the direction you start it in. This is useful as if you want to install the engine in a pusher application you don't have to buy special propellers - just put the prop on backwards and flip it the other way.

The fuel you are using is probably fine for it nitro wise. A lot of people say you have to run like 25% nitro in these to get good performance but really nitro in my opinion does less for more RPM and more for better tuning across a wider range of RPM like in a throttled engine. I have run Cox engines on FAI fuel (0% nitro) and they seem to do it just fine, but for ease of tuning I would still run maybe 10% nitro as the needle can become very sensitive with a complete absence of it. The difference in top end power is maybe a couple hundred RPM between 10 and 25%.

The thing you need to be careful of in these is the choice of oil. Cox engines really like castor oil - I sometimes blend my own fuel for them using only Klotz castor oil (though finding nitromethane that's not diluted here is not easy, so I have not done this in quite a long time) 20% oil content is the absolute minimum I would do - I usually mix or add some to about 22%. Most fuels branded for 1/2A use will have some component of synthetic oil blended in, and you want to avoid this. Often, fuel sold for larger control line engines contains the requisite amount of castor and can be used. Personally my favorite fuel to use is actually the Cox branded stuff - I don't think it's manufactured anymore so it's a little hard to find it NOS, but not only does it have 100% castor but it's sold in metal bottles so as long as they were never opened they can be old as hell and engines will still drink it down perfectly happily. I would shy away from running the car fuel you have right now, or at least check the oil content. Car fuel tends to have less oil in it.

this is the only thing i found about the motor
Nueva imagen de mapa de bits.jpg

I'll ask my local store for fuel
the manager is older and sure he will help me
Thanks for your information
I removed the screen and bought a throttle ring
 

Javiester

Elite member
I have the throttle ring.
Is there any risk of testing the ring with the fuel I have in the bank?
 
Last edited:

speedbirdted

Legendary member
Balsa is my new favorite medium to build with
Building with balsa is unique, as no matter hard you try, it is the only addiction that is impossible to kick. But why would you want to? :p Good choice using the ball links. They've been pretty much standard fare in the RC car world for many, many years but I've never seen them in widespread use on airplanes. I find that weird; both the amount of play and level of binding from a not-exactly-square connection are much lower than with Z-bends or clevises.
 

OliverW

Legendary member
Building with balsa is unique, as no matter hard you try, it is the only addiction that is impossible to kick. But why would you want to? :p Good choice using the ball links. They've been pretty much standard fare in the RC car world for many, many years but I've never seen them in widespread use on airplanes. I find that weird; both the amount of play and level of binding from a not-exactly-square connection are much lower than with Z-bends or clevises.
On the giant scale stuff its ball joints or no linkages 😂
 

bracesport

Legendary member
@BATTLEAXE - a very nice fuse and even in balsa it is up to you exacting standards - I have been looking for a balsa supplier locally as the model shops here charge an arm and a leg for balsa - it is on my bucket list and me being me I am drawing up a balsa glider to build in 2021, so I am keen to follow all the balsa builds! :)