Cox Super Sport II

duaneh Sun Apr 30, 2023 11:06 pm

The Super Sport II was the last re-issue of the Super Sport trainer, molded in yellow. I picked this one up last week. The canopy is cracked, and it was missing the vertical tail. This served to lower the price to a point I was willing to take a chance on it.

It didn't take long to encounter the first issue as I sat down, screwdriver in hand, to take it apart for cleaning. What the heck - no screws anywhere?? Fortunately, the manual is available here. I discovered the landing gear is the key that holds the whole thing together. Once that popped loose, it fell apart in my lap. Everything was in good shape inside. The engine was free, and the cleanest I've seen. Not even any gunk around the reed. I don't think it has ever been run.

I tried to remove the canopy, to see what could be done about the crack, only to discover it had been glued in place. I decided to let sleeping dogs lie, and moved on to the fin. I found photos online, and drew one up as close as I could. Traced it on 1/16 ply and cut it out.

The hardest part was capturing the elevator hinge, and making the fin removable, but I got it. Taking every possible shortcut, I skipped covering altogether, just sanded and sprayed with rustoleum.

It came out pretty well.

Whether or not it will fly is another question entirely. This is the porkiest Cox plane I have seen, at a staggering 15 ounces. I plan to take it to the SIRS club Vintage Model Aviation day, where we will find out.

balogh Mon May 01, 2023 12:19 am

Hi, nice plane and refurbishment. I have the 1st generation in purple. The vertical stab - as I remember but will check tonight when hit home - has the rudder bent slightly to the right to keep the nose of the plane pointed slightly out of the circle. Is so, you may need to slightly readjust the plywood replacement vertical stab before you fly it.

The engine mount has a bracket that grabs the backplate and the engine cannot be shimmed for a slight offset, unfortunately.

GallopingGhostler Mon May 01, 2023 12:30 am

balogh Mon May 01, 2023 12:42 am

George indeed the stock engine is the more powerful horseshoe backplate reedie with a No.1 cylinder i.e. dual port and SPI..the glow head is standard compression though..at least in the earlier purple version that I have, that I bought on ebay at a very good price a few years ago.

The Super Sport Trainer was the only COX plane I ever had in the 1970-s that taught me the basics of CL flying. Its engine survived the decades since then only to hijack later a balsa RC Lil Roughneck I flew with it, that had a electric failure in its Receiver power supply mid-air and disappeared in a wooden area, never to see again...one of my most painful engine and plane losses ever..

GallopingGhostler Mon May 01, 2023 1:41 am

balogh Mon May 01, 2023 1:55 am

Too bad George, I also lost a few more COX powered planes by dumbly flying them over the treeline and losing sight..my hours of search in the swamp behind the trees earned me only itching weed rush and bleeding scratches on my feet and arms and some lessons learnt. No planes recovered though..

Good thing is we all learn from our painful experience...I nowadays use rubber bands or fishing line wrapped around the Receiver where the servos and power supply plug in, to make sure no vibration should leave the controls paralised by a loose electric connection..and always keep my planes in sight, away from treetops...

getback Mon May 01, 2023 6:31 am

Nice looking airplane and the repair came out Great duaneh , Looks like the real deal . Don't know what to say about the off set but at 15 ozs. it not going to fly fast for sure , keeping it in the air may bee an issue . tongue

rsv1cox Mon May 01, 2023 7:26 am

"dumbly flying"

I captured that Andras and have shortened it to Dumb Flying! My new watchword when doing something really stupid. Smile

Bob

balogh Mon May 01, 2023 7:35 am

Thanks Bob, another addition to my Americanisms vocabulary!

GallopingGhostler Mon May 01, 2023 9:23 am

(deleted)

Kim Mon May 01, 2023 9:43 am

duaneh wrote:The Super Sport II was the last re-issue of the Super Sport trainer, molded in yellow. I picked this one up last week. The canopy is cracked, and it was missing the vertical tail. This served to lower the price to a point I was willing to take a chance on it.

It didn't take long to encounter the first issue as I sat down, screwdriver in hand, to take it apart for cleaning. What the heck - no screws anywhere?? Fortunately, the manual is available here. I discovered the landing gear is the key that holds the whole thing together. Once that popped loose, it fell apart in my lap. Everything was in good shape inside. The engine was free, and the cleanest I've seen. Not even any gunk around the reed. I don't think it has ever been run.

I tried to remove the canopy, to see what could be done about the crack, only to discover it had been glued in place. I decided to let sleeping dogs lie, and moved on to the fin. I found photos online, and drew one up as close as I could. Traced it on 1/16 ply and cut it out.

The hardest part was capturing the elevator hinge, and making the fin removable, but I got it. Taking every possible shortcut, I skipped covering altogether, just sanded and sprayed with rustoleum.

It came out pretty well.

Whether or not it will fly is another question entirely. This is the porkiest Cox plane I have seen, at a staggering 15 ounces. I plan to take it to the SIRS club Vintage Model Aviation day, where we will find out.

Good Score and Fin Resto! I snagged its table mate foam saucer, and intend to do "UFO Battles" with Kevin at S.MA.L.L. !!!

duaneh Mon May 01, 2023 11:22 am

Balogh wrote:Hi, nice plane and refurbishment. I have the 1st generation in purple. The vertical stab - as I remember but will check tonight when hit home - has the rudder bent slightly to the right to keep the nose of the plane pointed slightly out of the circle. Is so, you may need to slightly readjust the plywood replacement vertical stab before you fly it.

The engine mount has a bracket that grabs the backplate and the engine cannot be shimmed for a slight offset, unfortunately.

Andras, can I trouble you to post pictures showing the rudder size and amount of offset? It would be easy enough to score and crack the fin to replicate the offset.

As for engine offset, I noticed that this is already done by the factory. If you look closely from the top, you can see it.

balogh Mon May 01, 2023 2:06 pm

Sure, here is the stock rudder angle...the rudder width is about 17mm, the angle is
about 16°

roddie Mon May 01, 2023 2:39 pm

Duane! Nice work on the vertical stab./fin. Thumbs Up

My

.... leave the vert. stab./fin where it is.. (without any offset) and test-fly on a "short-tank".

Ken Cook Mon May 01, 2023 3:24 pm

Many times the wings are drooped on these models. I suspect it's stress in the wing panel from injection molding. I've seen some totally droop a 1/2". I personally would forego any rudder offset because this plane is a tank and anything that can help it is better. If line tension is a concern, add more tip weight. A drooped outboard wing panel could certainly make the plane fly tip high which would seriously offer less line tension. Mine has been hanging since 74. Best place for it.

duaneh Mon May 01, 2023 3:35 pm

Andras, thanks for the information. With that, I can replicate the stock configuration.

Kim, I would like to go to SMALL, but Plumerville is a solid 8 hours from Bloomington.

Roddie, I know the current thinking in CL is to not use rudder offset, Ken Cook has told us this many times. Still, it was used by Cox, so they must have had a reason.

I see Ken posted while I was writing this. Thanks for weighing in, Ken. Fortunately, the wings on this one are straight. The left stab tip was drooped, but with a little heat and pressure, it straightened up. I want to fly it, if only to satisfy my own curiosity. If it gets damaged, that's OK with me.

Iceberg Mon May 01, 2023 11:20 pm

I have one of the super sport models. Not the yellow on but the other one. The motor is a nice cylinder and actually really spins well. Fuel tank a bit small. It flies a bit "heavy" but flies much better than I would have expected. Of course my balsa models are fantastic for all acrobatics but the cox plastics are a bit.....clunky for that. But flies better than I would have thought the super sport.
Ice

HalfaDave Tue May 02, 2023 7:07 am

Hi duaneh,
Thanks for sharing...
Why I joined CEF here... Cool

Not one I have ever seen here near Toronto,Canada
Nice resto job on it. Cool

It may seem 'heavy' but it has some wing area to it...
Good luck on the test flight.
Avoid running out of fuel on the cloverleafs... Laughing

Take care,
Have fun,
Dave

balogh Tue May 02, 2023 7:50 am

HalfaDave wrote:Hi duaneh,
Thanks for sharing...
Why I joined CEF here...
Not one I have ever seen here near Toronto,Canada
Nice resto job on it.
It may seem 'heavy' but it has some wing area to it...
Good luck on the test flight.
Avoid running out of fuel on the cloverleafs...
Take care,
Have fun,
Dave

my first ever experience in the early 1970-s with CL flying was with the Super Sport trainer. (Hence my avatar photo, despite I fly RC with COX engines exclusively today...) I flew it without any pre-occupation or bias and found it a good plane to fly..not having seen any other COX CL plane before - and not having seen too many original COX RTF CL planes even after, either - I did not have any base for comparison...heavy or not, maneuvers easy or with hardship, I did not know.....unlike RC planes you needed to start with tail wind so that by the time it accelerated up enough to lift, it would run into the headwind, that it did quite well...I never tried any loops or more sophisticated maneuvers with it, simply enjoyed the flight and the noise and smell of my COX engine...I remember the asphalt surface of the open-air basket ball field in my high school kept the castor patches on its edge for a long time, and whenever the teams complained of slippery spots during matches, I pretended to not be there nor hear the complaints at all... Very Happy

HalfaDave Tue May 02, 2023 9:06 am

Hi balogh,
To sort of quote you:
" left a big patch of castor oil on the basketball field" Smile

"sophiscitated manouvers"...
It is like I was there...
Thanks CEF,
Somehow, time and place means something. Laughing

Take care,
Have fun,
Dave

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