Will circular runways ever take off?

On Sunday, March 19, 2017 at 6:07:48 AM UTC+3, OHM Ω http://aviation.derosaweb.net wrote:
On Friday, March 17, 2017 at 11:32:16 AM UTC-5, wrote:
Just like with U-line control airplanes! Mine was a P-51D with a Cox 0.049...

Sure made this pilot (more of a crasher) dizzy!

Cox 0.049. Piffle! Flew CL in the 60's with a Fox 0.35. He-man stuff. I cannot tell you how many mixture adjustment screws I broke moving the control the wrong way while inverted. Oops.

I have no idea what it was that I had as a 10 or 11 year old in '73 or '74. But the story is maybe interesting :-)

I went to school in a small village (Hikurangi). For some reason I was in the newsagent near the school when I noticed a boxed but clearly opened model plane on the shelf. I asked about it and was told that it had been sold twice, but neither buyer had been able to make it run, and it had been returned. I said "I bet I can make it go" and was told "If you can make it go you can have it -- take the engine now and bring it back tomorrow".

Challenge accepted.

I don't remember anything about the plane except it was control line and the engine was a "diesel" (i.e. pure compression ignition, no glow plug to start it) and rather incongruously called a "Merlin" which I knew even then was the name of the engine in a Spitfire.

So a quick google turns up:

http://www.modelenginenews.org/cardfile/merlin.html
http://www.modelenginenews.org/cardf...es/merlins.jpg

And that's definitely it. Mine must have been the "Super Merlin" as it had the plastic fuel tank bolted to the back of the engine.

0.75 cc. I didn't know that then. I guess that's 0.046 in the lingo you guys are talking.

I don't know what the previous customers had been doing, because it took me less than five minutes to get it running, even starting from absolutely zero knowledge about model aircraft engines (though I was already experienced with 2 stroke lawnmowers and chainsaws and motorcycles).

Got to love the modern internet...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WykvN6vYEiU

I reckon I got it going easier than this guy does! And I didn't have any bench mount .. I just held it by the fuel tank with my spare hand.

So, I took it back to the shop, demonstrated that I could get it going, and the owner gave me the model plane that went with it.

My brother and I had a few hours fun playing with it with nothing serious happening. Until our father asked to try it. "I did a couple of hours in a Harvard when I was in Cadets in 57". Right. Well .. he got about two turns around the circle, then it was straight up, straight down at full power (no choice about that), and a plane smashed to smithereens.

And that was the end of that.

On Sun, 19 Mar 2017 04:28:57 -0700, Bruce Hoult wrote:

And that's definitely it. Mine must have been the "Super Merlin" as it
had the plastic fuel tank bolted to the back of the engine.

Nice one. When I wur a lad most of the engines we had were diesels, but
were the older Mills 0.75 and the Milles 1.3 (ccs of course) and mostlyt
went on the front Keilkraft Phantom Mites and Phantoms respectively, easy
to fly and made from sheet balsa.

0.75 cc. I didn't know that then. I guess that's 0.046 in the lingo you
guys are talking.

An .049 engine is just under 0.8cc. Americans have innumerable
competition classes. all based around engine capacity in both 'U-
control' (control line) and free flight, so just as the most popular
engines were the Cox PeeWee and TeeDee .049s, there was also a Cox
TeeDee .051 so you could fly a model in one class with a TD 049 on it,
then replace that with a TD 051 and fly it in the next class up.

TeeDees were the motors to have until Leroy Cox lost his shirt when the
slot car craze imploded, his fantastic machine tools wore out and the
engines got progressively worse. TeeDes were machined from bar stock to
such good tolerances that breaking a new motor in involved bolting it
onto the model, giving it 30 seconds of rich 4-stroke running and then
leaning it out and letting it scream.

I don't know what the previous customers had been doing, because it took
me less than five minutes to get it running, even starting from
absolutely zero knowledge about model aircraft engines (though I was
already experienced with 2 stroke lawnmowers and chainsaws and
motorcycles).

Got to love the modern internet...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WykvN6vYEiU

Easiest engine to start I ever had was an ED Racer (2.46cc diesel). I
bolted it to the bench, filled the tank, quick squirt in the ports and
flicked it over slowly to get some lube on the bearings - and it started
with that first flick.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

On Sunday, March 19, 2017 at 4:49:07 PM UTC+3, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Sun, 19 Mar 2017 04:28:57 -0700, Bruce Hoult wrote:

And that's definitely it. Mine must have been the "Super Merlin" as it
had the plastic fuel tank bolted to the back of the engine.

Nice one. When I wur a lad most of the engines we had were diesels, but
were the older Mills 0.75 and the Milles 1.3 (ccs of course) and mostlyt
went on the front Keilkraft Phantom Mites and Phantoms respectively, easy
to fly and made from sheet balsa.

0.75 cc. I didn't know that then. I guess that's 0.046 in the lingo you
guys are talking.

An .049 engine is just under 0.8cc. Americans have innumerable
competition classes. all based around engine capacity in both 'U-
control' (control line) and free flight, so just as the most popular
engines were the Cox PeeWee and TeeDee .049s, there was also a Cox
TeeDee .051 so you could fly a model in one class with a TD 049 on it,
then replace that with a TD 051 and fly it in the next class up.

TeeDees were the motors to have until Leroy Cox lost his shirt when the
slot car craze imploded, his fantastic machine tools wore out and the
engines got progressively worse. TeeDes were machined from bar stock to
such good tolerances that breaking a new motor in involved bolting it
onto the model, giving it 30 seconds of rich 4-stroke running and then
leaning it out and letting it scream.

I don't know what the previous customers had been doing, because it took
me less than five minutes to get it running, even starting from
absolutely zero knowledge about model aircraft engines (though I was
already experienced with 2 stroke lawnmowers and chainsaws and
motorcycles).

Got to love the modern internet...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WykvN6vYEiU

Easiest engine to start I ever had was an ED Racer (2.46cc diesel). I
bolted it to the bench, filled the tank, quick squirt in the ports and
flicked it over slowly to get some lube on the bearings - and it started
with that first flick.

Young folks now with their LIPOs and ESCs and digital proportional control and digital response curves and control mixing and trim and and and ... don't know what they're missing.

Oh to be a kid now! Well, a kid with money, anyway. I never had that either.

I don't think being a kid these days would equip one with the rich
experiences we had. Imagine carrying a knife to school! When I was a
kid, every boy had a jack knife in his pocket. Some days, at recess, it
would be fun to just whittle on a stick. Funny thing, nobody ever got
stabbed or cut. Imagine having easy access to mercury. What fun it was
to play with! Did you ever run with scissors? Ride a bicycle or horse
without a helmet? Drive 120 mph with no seat belts in the car? Kids
these days have no idea how much they missed! But they do get trophies
just for showing up... My Dad taught me to shoot when I was 8 or 10
years old. Now that I'm 69, I still haven't shot any body. Imagine
that. Maybe I could even now get a world record with or without an
engine (a motor is electric)...

On 3/19/2017 8:11 AM, Bruce Hoult wrote:
On Sunday, March 19, 2017 at 4:49:07 PM UTC+3, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Sun, 19 Mar 2017 04:28:57 -0700, Bruce Hoult wrote:

And that's definitely it. Mine must have been the "Super Merlin" as it
had the plastic fuel tank bolted to the back of the engine.

Nice one. When I wur a lad most of the engines we had were diesels, but
were the older Mills 0.75 and the Milles 1.3 (ccs of course) and mostlyt
went on the front Keilkraft Phantom Mites and Phantoms respectively, easy
to fly and made from sheet balsa.

0.75 cc. I didn't know that then. I guess that's 0.046 in the lingo you
guys are talking.

An .049 engine is just under 0.8cc. Americans have innumerable
competition classes. all based around engine capacity in both 'U-
control' (control line) and free flight, so just as the most popular
engines were the Cox PeeWee and TeeDee .049s, there was also a Cox
TeeDee .051 so you could fly a model in one class with a TD 049 on it,
then replace that with a TD 051 and fly it in the next class up.

TeeDees were the motors to have until Leroy Cox lost his shirt when the
slot car craze imploded, his fantastic machine tools wore out and the
engines got progressively worse. TeeDes were machined from bar stock to
such good tolerances that breaking a new motor in involved bolting it
onto the model, giving it 30 seconds of rich 4-stroke running and then
leaning it out and letting it scream.

I don't know what the previous customers had been doing, because it took
me less than five minutes to get it running, even starting from
absolutely zero knowledge about model aircraft engines (though I was
already experienced with 2 stroke lawnmowers and chainsaws and
motorcycles).

Got to love the modern internet...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WykvN6vYEiU

Easiest engine to start I ever had was an ED Racer (2.46cc diesel). I
bolted it to the bench, filled the tank, quick squirt in the ports and
flicked it over slowly to get some lube on the bearings - and it started
with that first flick.
Young folks now with their LIPOs and ESCs and digital proportional control and digital response curves and control mixing and trim and and and ... don't know what they're missing.

Oh to be a kid now! Well, a kid with money, anyway. I never had that either.

--
Dan, 5J

I can still remember how mercury feels in the

Bruce,

Your story made me smile, especially the full power vertical "landing".
Been there, done that...

Cheers,
Dan

On 3/19/2017 5:28 AM, Bruce Hoult wrote:
On Sunday, March 19, 2017 at 6:07:48 AM UTC+3, OHM Ω http://aviation.derosaweb.net wrote:
On Friday, March 17, 2017 at 11:32:16 AM UTC-5, wrote:
Just like with U-line control airplanes! Mine was a P-51D with a Cox 0.049...

Sure made this pilot (more of a crasher) dizzy!
Cox 0.049. Piffle! Flew CL in the 60's with a Fox 0.35. He-man stuff. I cannot tell you how many mixture adjustment screws I broke moving the control the wrong way while inverted. Oops.
I have no idea what it was that I had as a 10 or 11 year old in '73 or '74. But the story is maybe interesting :-)

I went to school in a small village (Hikurangi). For some reason I was in the newsagent near the school when I noticed a boxed but clearly opened model plane on the shelf. I asked about it and was told that it had been sold twice, but neither buyer had been able to make it run, and it had been returned. I said "I bet I can make it go" and was told "If you can make it go you can have it -- take the engine now and bring it back tomorrow".

Challenge accepted.

I don't remember anything about the plane except it was control line and the engine was a "diesel" (i.e. pure compression ignition, no glow plug to start it) and rather incongruously called a "Merlin" which I knew even then was the name of the engine in a Spitfire.

So a quick google turns up:

http://www.modelenginenews.org/cardfile/merlin.html
http://www.modelenginenews.org/cardf...es/merlins.jpg

And that's definitely it. Mine must have been the "Super Merlin" as it had the plastic fuel tank bolted to the back of the engine.

0.75 cc. I didn't know that then. I guess that's 0.046 in the lingo you guys are talking.

I don't know what the previous customers had been doing, because it took me less than five minutes to get it running, even starting from absolutely zero knowledge about model aircraft engines (though I was already experienced with 2 stroke lawnmowers and chainsaws and motorcycles).

Got to love the modern internet...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WykvN6vYEiU

I reckon I got it going easier than this guy does! And I didn't have any bench mount .. I just held it by the fuel tank with my spare hand.

So, I took it back to the shop, demonstrated that I could get it going, and the owner gave me the model plane that went with it.

My brother and I had a few hours fun playing with it with nothing serious happening. Until our father asked to try it. "I did a couple of hours in a Harvard when I was in Cadets in 57". Right. Well .. he got about two turns around the circle, then it was straight up, straight down at full power (no choice about that), and a plane smashed to smithereens.

And that was the end of that.

--
Dan, 5J