My late father-in-law (Bob) left behind a fairly decent collection of kits and engines. One of these engines is a McCoy 60. Apparently a McCoy with a pedigree, as it has papers. I think the photos tell most of what you need to know, but I'm not sure. I'm a motor guy, and I'm nothing like an expert with engines like Bob was, but I will try to answer any questions.

There is no serial number. Apparently it was removed when the engine lugs were shaved.

I will note one of the photos shows the name Bob Holman. That Bob was good friends with my late father-in-law (also a Bob), and the engine I believe traded hands between them. I know Mr. Holman personally, and worked his booth at the AMA show a few years ago.

I'm trying to establish the value of this engine with the intent to sell. Normally I just use ebay for such a sale, as in the past I got burned in a sale here on rcgroups. Recent communications with some fine and helpful members here made me think I should give this place a try again.

EDIT

This engine is now up on ebay.

EDIT

being far from a mccoy guru it looks to me like one of the later engines but then i don't think those came with any points for spark ignition....so maybe it's a mix of parts?

either way, the shaved exhaust and lugs make it worth pretty much nothing in the engine collectors world unless maybe it belonged to some well known speed hero from way back.

to get a feeling of what modeling was all about way back when just mount it to a post and fire it up! that's what i do with mine every once in a while. as a kid i even used to fly with it at mile square park once in a while, usually in something like a hots or holy smoke. lots of guys would get their panties in a wad whenever i did it....don't know if it was the noise or that i dared to actually fly what was a pretty pristine engine at the time.

Hay Zagnut. It is older. Used primarily for competition, not for show. From what I understand a very competitive engine for free flight.

IMO it is a free flight engine. The second piece of paper talks about "timers". Free flight use timers. Spark ignition is cool. A little more history if you can find some would be cool also. History can dramatically change the selling price so I'll make no guess on a price..... even if I had a clue

Ken

Well the engines seem to sell for around $100 to $250 US depending on the exact engine model, version, engine condition (new versus well used for example), et cetera. I don't see them so much for free flight but I saw more of them in use as tether car engines or tether boat engines. If it is complete with all the accesories, box and everything you might get more for it too. Your engine looks new so it may be worth the high end amount then.

It's a series 20 and came out in '48. Anderson's has it at $325 but they go for a lot more in good condition. It definitely wasn't a free flight engine. These were used in C/L speed and were THE engine to use for years. The type 20 was a C/L speed engine for class "C" speed. They were made by Duro-matic and were excellent engines. Not like the crap Testors put out.

It's likely a 48 but without serial #'s price is way down for collectors. Also no box or paperwork.

Would be a good one to run.

Bill




Bill

Originally Posted by williame3590

It's likely a 48 but without serial #'s price is way down for collectors. Also no box or paperwork.

Would be a good one to run.

Bill




Bill

For those interested this is the metal Mc Coy box the engines were packed in. It is blue crackle painted. The only one I've got and no paperwork. Did they have a sort of cardboard insert ? I would like to have some repro insert.
I possibly do have repro paperwork, I used to correspond with Dick for some time, in his first letter he sent me a picture of himself. Nice memories. Carefull when starting a 60 they can bite !

Originally Posted by Reginald

Carefull when starting a 60 they can bite !

yep, i learned really quickly to use a chicken stick with mine....and then after it threw the chicken stick a couple of times i decided a starter might just be a good idea. scariest was when it threw both prop blades in a ground strike, i'm assuming the prop was a bit weak after being bored out for the fat prop nut.

and i just remembered, not all of the series 20 had serial numbers, they stopped stamping them somewhere in the middle of production.

and maybe later in its life it was used for free flight but the shaved exhaust and lugs is pretty much a C/L speed thing.

Originally Posted by ZAGNUT

and i just remembered, not all of the series 20 had serial numbers, they stopped stamping them somewhere in the middle of production.

and maybe later in its life it was used for free flight but the shaved exhaust and lugs is pretty much a C/L speed thing.

Yes, I do'nt think they shaved off the lugs for a free flight airplane. In some CL cars yes. I do have a Mc Coy Invader controlline car with a black case red head 60 and the alu body is cast such that the lugs are in shape with the body.
Have another 6O in a Dooling Frog cl car, for sale, by the way. Highly polished aluminium.

For this to be a free flight engine, the plane would have had to have been HUGE. My dad gave us an old Goldberg Sailplane he made as a kid. It was a BIG airplane. It used a Brown Jr. and then an Ohlsson 60. He never ran the engine for than 10 seconds for fear of loosing it. We didn't know any better and mounted a K&B 35 series 61 on it with a 4 ounce tank and fired it up. It was trimmed perfectly (as luck would have it) and we let it go. It went straight up for 4 minutes. Out of sight in 45 seconds. Never saw it again. A McCoy 60 would have put it into orbit if it didn't break the wing in two first. I went to loads of free flight contests as a kid in the 50's and 60's and never saw a Mac 60 on a free flight. Always on C/L speed planes. They made the engines in limited quantities well into the 60's.

In comparison, a Goldberg Viking had a 4 foot span and was powered by an 049/051.

Well, yes the Free Flight planes were very big. But with the gas engines of the time, they weren't too big though. It looks like many had ten feet or more for wing spans too.
The Goldberg Valkerie is one of my favorites from way back then. But it is a complicated plane to build too.

ref http://www.frannybrodigan.com/Valkyrie.asp

Not too complicated for Franny Earl......a work of art!! Here's another 10' span model originally flown on a Brown Jr 60 ign.
That's me getting ready to light the fire over at my field, great place to fly!

Bill

Yup and you used a relatively unpowerful Brown Jr. They were rated at around 1/5 HP. A McCoy 60 was well over 1.5 HP. Same displacement over 8 times the power. A McCoy would have put it into orbit.