New TD .010 and Pee Wee .020 Planes

getback wrote:What is that a Violet ?? I like it !! i like colors anyway as i can see you do , Nice job on the wings . And smaller is a pain to work with most time

I like that purple color too! Where'd you get the matching spinner? Did you anodize it yourself?

The cool purple spinner was on the engine when I bought it on ebay years ago.  It was the inspiration for the color choice on that plane.  I wish I could anodize my own parts or knew someone who could do it affordably.  I'd love to customize some of my other Cox engine parts.  Here's some of my favorite anodized engines, Mangusta DR 049s built by Tim Wiltse about 10yrs ago.  They are performance-modded reedies with lightened crank, piston, Turbo Plug adapter head, etc.  Last year, OS came out with some gold plated Turbo Plugs and I just had to have one to accent the blue engine.  It hasn't been run yet.  The purple one was run for years and now needs a new piston/cylinder.  Those little reedies run and awesome and the anodizing really makes them stand out in a crowded line of ordinary stock 1/2A engines at the local flying field.

Those are some cool-looking engines Troy! The engraved slots on the nose of the cases' are interesting. A trade-mark of Tim Wiltses' perhaps? The cylinders look like they were turned-down to save some weight. Were the horseshoe-backplates modified? The long needles suggest that they're of the coarse-threaded type... but I would think; with all the other HP mods, that they'd be fine-threaded.. (?)

Cool engines for sure! Is Tim Wiltse still in the business of building custom Cox engines?

Thanks. Tim was a bit of an artist when it came to his Cox engines. He made his own prop drivers, spinners, and adapter Turbo Plug heads. He did indeed machine the cylinders a bit and they look really nice. He lightened the cranks and pistons by shortening the skirt a bit to achieve SPI and removing some material from the ID of the skirt as well. He modded the backplates for more flow before it was cool and hip to do so. I think that the needle valves were stock SS units, though. They run just fine, believe me. The anodizing was also done in his shop. He was an active Cox hobbyist, machinist, flyer, and businessman with a real passion for this stuff. I also have one of the few rear rotary induction engines he made before Ronald Valentine more or less copied the design and flooded ebay with them. Tim was active on the 1/2A forums for years and attended events in the Carolina area. His life seemed to fall apart in a short period of time following a bad car wreck in which he was hit by a drunk driver. Financial problems followed and were worsened with fallout of a failed marriage. His online business was set up to take payment for engines and parts during this time but his head injuries and lack of access to his workshop tools prevented many of the orders from being filled. When it was all over, lots of people had lost money and Tim's reputation was in the crapper. It was a sad thing to watch. I was a huge fan of his work and wish I had purchased more of his creations during the good times. He seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth, at least our little corner of it without much of a trace. All that's left of it is a handful of these beautiful little engines and a list of disgruntled people who were relieved of their money. I remember how passionate he used to be. I never met him in person, but we interacted a lot online and he always followed up to see how his engines were performing before things went south. The blue reedie hotrod is destined for a build project in the near future. It's time to finally let it breathe. It's one of those engines I've considered to unique and valuable to run but now realize that no one would appreciate seeing it fly around more than me.

Back on topic. I've been balancing my work session time between these 2 planes and my Sliver TD .020 project. All 3 are ready for hinging, so there has been a lot of hinge slot cutting going on, not to mention a couple of fingers. Making the hinges from an old mylar floppy disc and will attach them with thin CA. I've had good luck with this style of hinge in the past in small airplanes of the .010 and .020 size.

Another midnight mockup.  All hinges glued on all 3 planes!  The Tee Stiks span 15" and the Sliver spans 24".  Those little ones look like they're gonna be feisty.

After watching batjac's great tutorial on applying Monokote graphics with the Glad Press n Seal method, I tried it out on one of the Tee Stiks. It works pretty well!

That Looks great Troy , i like the way you can make them out of difft. colors and dont have to use what ever you can find . Have not tried doing it yet but is on my list ! Plane are looking great !! too !

Friend, cutting the letters by hand is a great challenge! ... you've done a good job!

Thanks guys. Mauricio, this one turned out pretty good but the next one did not. The next graphic I tried had smaller letters and was much more tedious to cut out. I was using white monokote and it didn't adhere to the mirror as well and sometimes shifted as I attemped to cut small radius curves. I used fresh Xacto blades but to no avail. The tiny letters kept moving, tearing, etc. Everything has it's limits. I ended up scrapping it after about an hour of frustration and mistakes. Maybe it would have worked better if I had let it adhere to the mirror overnight before cutting the small letters, maybe not. The yellow one turned out okay so i guess that's about as small as I care to try now. It's still a neat method to play with and I will probably use it a lot from now on. The straight lines used for the checkerboard were very easy to cut. Transferring the completed graphic is the funnest part for me.

This is the TD .010-powered bird. Got a 10cc homemade tank from 1/2A Nut. It's gonna be a tight squeeze to get it all in there. It's gonna take some trimming and grunting, but I think i can make it work. Should have about a 5 minute endurance with this setup which will be mucho fun!

Tee Bee wrote:Thanks guys.  Mauricio, this one turned out pretty good but the next one did not.  The next graphic I tried had smaller letters and was much more tedious to cut out.  I was using white monokote and it didn't adhere to the mirror as well and sometimes shifted as I attemped to cut small radius curves.  I used fresh Xacto blades but to no avail.  The tiny letters kept moving, tearing, etc.  Everything has it's limits.  I ended up scrapping it after about an hour of frustration and mistakes.  Maybe it would have worked better if I had let it adhere to the mirror overnight before cutting the small letters, maybe not.  The yellow one turned out okay so i guess that's about as small as I care to try now.  It's still a neat method to play with and I will probably use it a lot from now on.  The straight lines used for the checkerboard were very easy to cut.  Transferring the completed graphic is the funnest part for me.

I understand, mostly round parts are the most complicated.
When I cut my pieces myself on vinyl or Monokote, I always choose that they have no curves, so that I can achieve an acceptable cut by hand.
The only thing I cut in round are figures where I can use my compass of cut, by hand, in the curves, it makes me very complicated that it is well.

Tee Bee wrote:This is the TD .010-powered bird.  Got a 10cc homemade tank from 1/2A Nut.  It's gonna be a tight squeeze to get it all in there.  It's gonna take some trimming and grunting, but I think i can make it work.  Should have about a 5 minute endurance with this setup which will be mucho fun!

Very good tank that has recommended 1 / 2A Nut !, I agree that to locate everything inside the model, many times it is somewhat cumbersome, but, with patience it is achieved, when the patience is finished, I leave everything there and I have a beer .. ..after is another story, hahaha

The mail came in faster than I would have thought, I am glad they made it all safe to
their new home.

Could move the dowel, although I have had designs where the dowel was removable
to install the tank and used to hold the tank it place.

What is the Mah capacity of that RX pack?

The pack is 170mah NiMH. I think I have a couple of smaller ones around bere somewhere.

Soooo, yes these projects are still on! Pushrod sleeves installed. Fuses covered. I hogged out enough wood to squeeze the 1/3oz tank and battery up front in the blue one. The green one will utilize the stock Cox Pee Wee tank.

Tee Bee wrote:Soooo, yes these projects are still on!  Pushrod sleeves installed.  Fuses covered.  I hogged out enough wood to squeeze the 1/3oz tank and battery up front in the blue one.  The green one will utilize the stock Cox Pee Wee tank.  

Al Pee Wee you can make an acceleration ring and ... you'll have fun friend!

Nice idea but no throttle on this one. I intend to keep these planes very simple with 2 channels. They are very small and span only 15". The fuselages have very limited space inside and I don't want to overcomplicate them or make them too heavy.

Bravo bravo yesssah throttle ring works very well, great power and idle
with best peak 20,880!!!

I like the colors Troy great inspiration!

Ha! Thanks.

As for the throttle, you know I'm already fighting that battle on the Sliver project. Now, as for the .010 with that endurance tank you made, I'd love to have a carb or throttle sleeve for that!

1/2A Nut wrote:Bravo bravo yesssah throttle ring works very well, great power and idle
with best peak 20,880!!!

   Thanks friend!

Nice colors there i like the Neon Green best , man those are some small planes ! i understand the frustration when all you want to do is fly and have fun !! Two channels can bee a lot of fun and pretty easy to fly with some WS . Mauricio your engine runs like a little Buzz saw !!

Thanks, getback.

Nice engine run Mauricio!