Testors Fly'em Props Wanted

I have a spare 4 blade P-51 prop & yellow spinner. What did the Spit use? My P-40 has the 3 blader & I'm keeping that. I nearly scored another partial P-40 on Ebay overnight, but it slipped just past my bid as I slept. Was missing the tail but the rest looked ok. I was mainly looking for the main gear and tailwheel, which this one had. Only went for around 15 bucks, good fuse, canopy, wing, gear & engine in place. Wasn't getting up at 4am to see how I was doing.

Rod.

Just had a look at Mark's 049 Collectors photo album and the props are different. Spit has nicely tapering blades, while the Mustang has squared-off ends.

The (originally) four bladed prop is for the Spitfire. It is the one with the long hub and is the problem child. The three bladed is for the P-40. It does NOT have the long cowling, so I could use a modified Cox (the shaft is bigger on the Testors). I cant find my ruler, but they are both about 3.5" diameter. Pitch?? who knows, but it is small. No markings on either one.

I think an acceptable replacement for the P40 would be Bernie's .020 three blade 3.125 x 2.5. I could go bigger. Testors did have a "Speed and Stunt Kit" that included a bigger prop and longer lines. But I think I want to keep it on the short lines: sometimes in the city finding a "field" bigger than 25 feet is tough.

I might have a few of these somewhere....just gotta find the box the are in and that could take some time.

Opinions are like elbows...everybody's gonna have a couple...I'd look at using a spacer, 2-3 washers, maybe aluminum, or a nylon spacer like the ones sold in hardware stores, and use a cox prop 5x3 three blade or a 5x3 and 20' lines
Years ago, I had some correspondence with "Wild" Bill Netzeband, who had done some design work on the Fly 'em series. He said props were made to "detune" the performance, i.e., slow it down. Why they just didn't suggest longer lines I don't know, possibly less chance of loss of control.
p.s.
I thought I had photos of the performance props on my computer, but can't find them, I did upload them to the 049Collectors site under Testors Fly'em file

Here's one of your pictures Mark.

I'm guessing the narrow prop is the speed version and the wider blades for stunt??

Rod.

Mark Boesen wrote:Opinions are like elbows...everybody's gonna have a couple...I'd look at using a spacer, 2-3 washers, maybe aluminum, or a nylon spacer like the ones sold in hardware stores, and use a cox prop 5x3 three blade or a 5x3 and 20' lines
Years ago, I had some correspondence with "Wild" Bill Netzeband, who had done some design work on the Fly 'em series. He said props were made to "detune" the performance, i.e., slow it down. Why they just didn't suggest longer lines I don't know, possibly less chance of loss of control.
p.s.
I thought I had photos of the performance props on my computer, but can't find them, I did upload them to the 049Collectors site under Testors Fly'em file

I thought about using a spacer, but the prop shaft isn't long enough. It is hard to see, but if you look at my last photo you may see that the hub is hollowed out. The hollowed out area gives just enough shaft to get the nut to bite. When tightened, the nut is fully inside the hub, and the end of the shaft is flush. Can the threaded shaft be removed and replaced with a longer one???

I'm sure the props detune the engines. An 049 with a decent prop on ten foot lines would turn sub-second laps! I want to keep one of the birds stockish so it can be flown on short lines. In my neighborhood, finding a place to fly can be tough especially on the weekdays. On short lines, half a basket ball court will do.... or if it is raining, a parking garage

Jason_WI wrote:I might have a few of these somewhere....just gotta find the box the are in and that could take some time.

If you have spares, I'd love to buy them from you. And take your time: the longer it takes, the longer the old gals stay clean

Oldenginerod wrote:I have a spare 4 blade P-51 prop & yellow spinner.  What did the Spit use?  My P-40 has the 3 blader & I'm keeping that.  I nearly scored another partial P-40 on Ebay overnight, but it slipped just past my bid as I slept.  Was missing the tail but the rest looked ok.  I was mainly looking for the main gear and tailwheel, which this one had.  Only went for around 15 bucks, good fuse, canopy, wing, gear & engine in place.  Wasn't getting up at 4am to see how I was doing.

Rod.

That sounds just like the one that I bid on and lost out too. I was bidding for the same reasons, I need the main gear and tail wheel for mine. Yes, it was missing the tail section and I agree, the rest looked good. I think my bid was in the low $30's.



That P-40 has been chasing those Zero's for weeks now, but as he has no landing gear I can't bring him in.

I apologize for stepping on your thread John

rsv1cox wrote:
That sounds just like the one that I bid on and lost out too.  I was bidding for the same reasons, I need the main gear and tail wheel for mine.  Yes, it was missing the tail section and I agree, the rest looked good.   I think my bid was in the low $30's.  

Probably not.  I put in an opening bid of $14.99 with 5 hours to go.  I would have gone higher but I always need to carefully consider the shipping cost to Australia and although this was quoted fairly cheap, I don't want to find myself inadvertently blowing the budget.  I then went to bed hoping that no-one else was watching it, but unfortunately I woke to one more bid only, selling for $15.49.  Add another bid or 2, $16 shipping & a sleepless night watching it and although disappointed, I'm not too worried.
I think the landing gear was the first thing on these to break and finding parts is really hard.  Engines are plebtiful, but the majority of airframe parts didn't survive.
Rod.

flyjsh wrote:

Jason_WI wrote:I might have a few of these somewhere....just gotta find the box the are in and that could take some time.

If you have spares, I'd love to buy them from you.  And take your time:  the longer it takes, the longer the old gals stay clean

Looked through my box of props and all the 3 blade props I have are Cox. Nothing with the tabs left on the hub as shown in the pics above.