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Draco Goes Flying, but Misses the Eclipse

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Apr 13, 2024 @ 05:31 AM | 2,548 Views
So, sometimes a Red Neck just gets overwhelmed.

I'd planned on flying Draco during the totality of last week's solar eclipse. Got everything set up (I thought), with some drones, videos cameras and Draco locked and loaded with 4 GoPros.

BUT, I fooled around way too long with my big video camera, and blew through my 4 minutes of darkness, watching the whole thing like a neanderthal staring at fire. By the time I got Draco cranked up, the backside of the eclipse had burst the Hill into sunlight, but I figured to just go ahead and have a flying day in the somewhat calm air that hadn't been around in the past few weeks.

So, here's Draco, playing over the hill. The sun is still partially blocked, but is so bright that the GoPros couldn't discern it with the settings I'd chosen.

Hope all my buds made it safely through the event with functioning retinas!


Draco Goes Flying, But Missed the Eclipse (3 min 34 sec)

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Test Running an O.S. Max III .15

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Mar 14, 2024 @ 05:04 AM | 5,771 Views
March 13th, 2024

An old O.S. .15 gets a turn on the stand. I don't have as good a reference source for the history of Japanese engines as American products, but sort of figure this to be a mid-1960's example.

Prop is an M.A. 8x4.
Fuel is .15% Wildcat.

I also ran a couple early O.S. .10's, no video, but photos included.

O. S. Max III .15 Engine Test (1 min 42 sec)
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Fox .15 R/C Test Run

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Mar 11, 2024 @ 06:30 PM | 6,381 Views
March 11th, 2024

The Fox .15 R/C (throttled) gets a test run on the stand. According to my Dannels book, this version (rotating exhaust restrictor) came out in 1969, though the base engine goes back to 1962 or so.

After the to-be-expected de-gooping/flushing of the spray bar, the Fox actually fired up and ran quite well. Its idle was totally acceptable, though the tiny stop screw is missing, and it was easy to close the throttle all the way and kill the engine. The RPM's ranged from a rich running 11K+ top end, down to a high 4k idle.

I made a quick video of the run, including a close-up of the rotating exhaust restrictor, and some tach numbers. The tach runs are poorly lit because its an optical tach, so I had to turn off the shop lights and let it get some natural sunlight to work.

Really a nice little engine, but does need a good cleaning.

1960's Fox .15 R/C Test Run (2 min 12 sec)

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First Swap Meet of the Year (for me).

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Mar 03, 2024 @ 09:11 AM | 4,720 Views
I made a run to Belleville, Illinois for the Belleville Flyers' Swap Meet. It had a pretty light turn-out, but was still a good time.


Belleville Swap Meet (3 min 34 sec)
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Micro Draco's First Flights

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Feb 29, 2024 @ 12:57 PM | 6,413 Views

February 29th, 2024

My little Micro Draco gets it first flights from my front yard on a cold February morning.

Lots of fun in the works with this cool little plane!

My Micro Draco's 1st Flight 2 29 24 (2 min 51 sec)

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Flying the AR Wing in the Cow Pasture on Ground Hog Day, 2024

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Feb 05, 2024 @ 10:23 AM | 7,184 Views
Another short flying video, this time of my AR Wing, cruising around on a 70°F day in February.

The little flying wing will be my intro to F.P.V. flying, once I decide to lay out the cash for a system.

Right now, it's getting some flight time, just blasting around around the sky. Flying wings are notoriously difficult to get some good quality, in-flight videos, and I'll probably try putting the key fob cameras on balsa "selfie sticks" to get them out from the airframe, and at a better angle, along with the center and wingtip mountings.


Flying the AR Wing in the Cow Pasture on Ground Hog Day, 2024 (3 min 7 sec)

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An Evening Flight of my 2-Meter Bird of Time back in 2017

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Feb 03, 2024 @ 08:21 AM | 5,595 Views
While going through some old drives, I found video of a series of flights I'd made with my little Bird of Time sailplane back on July 8th, 2017. It's some pretty nice footage, so I loaded it up for my channel.

Packing a GoPro on its wingtip, the glider makes a sunset trip, powered by a Cox Tee Dee .049 on a pylon, with fuel measured to give it about a two minute run.

The video is a full flight, and is mostly unedited, with just a few captions added.

My 2-Meter B.o.T. gets some Evening Air Time back in July, 2017. (3 min 18 sec)


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The Second Video from Breezy Hill's "Frozen Fingers Fun-Fly"

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Jan 09, 2024 @ 07:30 PM | 3,809 Views
Here's some more Frozen Fingers Flying Fun from this past Saturday. I didn't want to monopolize the Breezy Hill video, so made a separate one of the stuff I was flying.

The ME-163 and AR-Wing were both having their first flights, and everything went OK.

The Piet snap-rolled into the ground on its first takeoff, but came away undamaged, save for knocking Billy's scale Model A engine off its cowl. This FINALLY made me sit down and work on the control throws for it, which turned it into the friendly little flying machine it’s meant to be.
Again, thanks to Kevin Barks for the footage he shot of Big Blue and the ME-163.

What Great Times!




Flying at Breezy Hill's "Frozen Finger Fun-Fly" January 6th, 2024. (8 min 35 sec)

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The Breezy Hill Flyers' "Frozen Fingers Fun-Fly"

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Jan 08, 2024 @ 01:07 PM | 4,462 Views
The Breezy Hill Flyers held their "Frozen Finger Fun-Fly" on a cold and foggy Saturday near Chester, Illinois.

We got a really good turn-out, especially considering the weather, and had a big time running out to fly planes, then running back to our tarped-off pavilion to warm up.

Added to that was a hot dinner of chili and soup, along with some special cider, made up by Billy Lang. The snow (that was supposed to already be gone) gradually melted through the morning, and we kept flying and thawing 'till mid-afternoon.

Another great time and another batch of great memories.

I didn't want to monopolize the video with my flying stuff, so will have another video and set of photos.

The Breezy Hill R/C Flyers' "Frozen Fingers Fun Fly" (11 min 37 sec)

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The Sig Senior Kadet Flys!!!

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Jan 04, 2024 @ 10:15 AM | 4,408 Views
January 4th, 2024

Got the shop heated up early yesterday, with the intent of getting Mark's Kadet ,"Big Blue", totally up and ready for this coming Saturday's "Frozen Fingers Fun Fly" at Breezy Hill.

I settled in for the tedious work of running wires and installing aileron servos, and getting all the gadgets to talk to each other. I'd decided to use a "Y" harness for the ailerons to free up a port on the receiver, so set up their servos with some mechanical differential that high wing trainers like to have.

As my hero, Al Painton often says, "When an airplane looks like it's 95% ready, it's REALLY more like 60% ready", and this is gospel truth.

Things went pretty quickly though, and I had all of it working by early afternoon. The wind had calmed with a cold front moving through (though it picked up quite a bit later), giving me a sunny, 47° day. So, the radio and three of my GoPros were charged up for Big Blue's first flight.

The grass in the cow lot and pasture was pretty workable, but I decided to do the takeoff's from the front yard 'cause I'm lazy, and figured to just walk out to the pasture for landings.

The O.S. engine was cold-soaked and didn't want to fire, so a dose of lighter fluid was shot down its throat, and off we went.

The first takeoff was shallow, and I was ready to put it in the pasture across the road if the O.S. croaked. The battered .60 kept running though, and I brought the trainer around...Continue Reading
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The Kadet's Fuel Tank Overhaul

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Dec 26, 2023 @ 04:18 PM | 4,204 Views
Well, so I lied!

I had some unexpected problems, so here's ONE MORE Kadet shop video:

The Kadet's Fuel Tank Overhaul (5 min 22 sec)

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One more "Shop Video" about my Sig Kadet Senior

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Dec 24, 2023 @ 05:42 PM | 4,093 Views
Got the Kadet Senior totally assembled for its Full Dress Rehearsal and Center of Gravity check.

The reason for all the talk about "center of gravity" is because that balance point has a drastic affect on how the plane flies. Plenty of model airplanes (and full scale aircraft for that matter) have met their fates from pilots neglecting to make sure their planes were properly loaded and balanced.

You get to this balance by, preferably, moving internal equipment around in the plane's fuselage or, as a last resort, by adding lead ballast where it's needed to get things right.

The vintage O.S. .60 H is much heavier than the Kadet's original O.S. .40 LA, so, unlike lead bars, it's "Working Ballast".

I got to run some wires and set up some throws, but that's about all that's left.

Its next video will be its test flights, including some on-board camera footage to catch all the fun.





One more "Shop Video" about the Kadet Senior. (4 min 10 sec)

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Another Afternoon out in the Shop

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Dec 23, 2023 @ 04:30 PM | 4,982 Views
A little pre-Christmas work out in the shop:

Mark's Kadet gets some radio gear, and an O.S. .15 LA engine get a test run before going in the Lazy Bee.

Another Afternoon out in the Shop (4 min 1 sec)

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Stanzel "Electromic Flash"

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Dec 05, 2023 @ 05:43 PM | 6,167 Views
My first "control Line" model airplane was a Stanzel "Electromic Flash".

Two D-Cell batteries power a motor in the flashlight-like handle, spinning a tiny wire in a plastic sleeve that leads out to the plane and spins its propeller. By "blipping" the push button switch, the Flash could perform touch and go landings, and even taxi for takeoff.


Stanzel 'Electromic Flash' (0 min 50 sec)

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The Breezy Hill Flyers' "Black Fly-Day Fun-Fly"

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Nov 25, 2023 @ 10:00 AM | 7,377 Views
The Breezy Hill Flyers held their annual "Black Fly-Day Fun-Fly" yesterday, and we had a pretty big turnout, especially considering the cold, windy conditions.

The Flyers closed in the north side of the pavilion, and President Brian brought out his high-powered heater, which made the place pretty habitable. He and Becky also brought us pizza...which was REALLY appreciated!

I've got a bunch of photos and video to be worked through, which will appear here in a bit.

Meanwhile, here's a video of the little two-channel, Babe Bee-powered "Bee-Tween", built by Flyer Billy Lang and gifted to me a couple months ago.

It had been hanging in my shop, waiting for some radio gear, when I decided to fight off my "turkey coma" Thanksgiving evening, and actually got everything ready for the next day.

This is the first (I think) time I've had cameras on a plane for its very first flights, but everything went great...I just had to wait 'till later in the day for the winds to back down. They STILL bounced the Bee-Tween around, but the little plane handled it. Now, for a little work on its cranky Babe Bee.



The Bee-Tween's First Flights (3 min 9 sec)
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More RR-1 Stuff

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Nov 16, 2023 @ 08:58 AM | 7,461 Views
So, it HAD to be done, and with the Folgers working its magic this morning, my newly acquired RR-1 .049 got pulled apart to receive a needed new gasket on its venturi tube.

While at it, I made up a small album showing the drive pin for the rotary valve in detail, and its relationship with the venturi tube.

I also brought in my "original stock" RR-1 for comparison, and it and its parts are on the right in the photos. And, to answer a question, its cylinder is a dual port thin wall of the period...I THINK...so don't nerd-assault me if it's NOT how the original came equipped.

Nerd Disclaimer: I'm not responsible the boredom quotient this may inflict on regular people!
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Cox RR-1 Ebay Purchase

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Nov 15, 2023 @ 06:17 PM | 6,611 Views
"Ebay Strikes Again!!!"

"I threw a half-hearted bid at this beautiful Cox RR-1 .049, and was surprised to win it.

RR-1's are the prettiest of the Cox Engines (So Says Kim!), and were an early attempt by Cox Mfg. to create a hot-rod version of their sensational "Bee" line of engines...only to be upstaged by the REALLY Hot-Rod Tee Dee series.

Though they appear very similar to Baby Bees, their guts are different. Cox replaced the familiar reed valve with a rotary valve, which complicated their manufacture (translation: More $$) and maintenance. The rotary valve didn't provide a big enough increase in performance against this added expense.

RR-1's were STILL produced for a good while---from 1957 to 1965---so they're fairly rare, but not as much as some other shorter production runs.

This one's cylinder and needle valve are not period-correct, but I can always scrounge through the junk drawer, and put them right if I decide to keep the Engine Nerds from jumping on me. A lot of them are already aggravated enough with me even running these little jewels.😁

Speaking of running...I put this on on a stand and cranked it up this morning. Prop was a gray 5x3, fuel was 25% Sig.

It started easy enough, but would only take fuel for about a 30 second run. It ran great, but only for half-a-minute. I REALLY didn't want to take this dog apart, but a run that short wouldn't take a plane far enough to outrun a thrown rock.

So, a...Continue Reading
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2023 Fall S.M.A.L.L. Part 2

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Oct 25, 2023 @ 09:58 AM | 4,802 Views
With three weekends in a row of great toy airplane events, I got a bit behind in sorting through the photos and videos, and getting them organized.

Here is the second from this year's Fall S.M.A.L.L. at Plumerville, near Little Rock, Arkansas.

October 12th-15th.




Fall S M A L L 2023 Part 2 (5 min 10 sec)

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The first video from this year's Fall S.M.A.L.L.

Posted by Cox PT-19 | Oct 16, 2023 @ 08:42 AM | 8,788 Views
Got some more footage and photos I'm working through...just slow going with the World-Wide Ringmaster Fly-a-Thon and Fall S.M.A.L.L. happening so close together.


Fall S M A L L 2023 Part One. (11 min 11 sec)

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