1/2a engines

I was wondering if a Norvel .061 is too much engine as a replacement for a RSM Pinto with a black widow Cox .049? Would it be better with a norvel .049? What type of fuel do the Norvel engines use. Is it 15/28? I would love to find an engine that uses the same fuel as my other CL engines!! What is the power difference between the Norvel .049 and the cox? What is the power difference between the Norvel .049 and the .061? I am sure that someone has experience with these little engines. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!! Thanks in advance!

The Norvel 049 definitely has more power than the Cox Black Widow. Mine turns a trimmed down Tornado Magnum 5x3 (to 4.73x3) at greater than 22krpm on 15% Sig Champion. My Norvel 0.61 turns a Tornado Magnum 5x4 also at ~23krpm on 15% Sig. The 061 has always seemed less sensitive than the 049, but around here, we have "true" 1/2a contests where it has to be 049. My "Rengerfied" Cox Surestart 049 (the one that comes in the HyperViper) turns the Tornado 5x3 at ~18krpm. I think this is equivalent to a good BlackWidow.

If I understand your fuel nomenclature, the 28% castor is high for the Norvel--I would recommend the 20% 50-50 castor-synthetic blend. Even the Cox's run well on this blend.

>I was wondering if a Norvel .061 is too much engine as a
>replacement for a RSM Pinto with a black widow Cox .049?
>Would it be better with a norvel .049? What type of fuel do
>the Norvel engines use. Is it 15/28? I would love to
>find an engine that uses the same fuel as my other CL
>engines!! What is the power difference between the Norvel
>.049 and the cox? What is the power difference between the
>Norvel .049 and the .061? I am sure that someone has
>experience with these little engines. Any help would be
>greatly appreciated!!!! Thanks in advance!

Ron B.
F4Fguy

I have a bunch of experience with the Norvels,as we used them (about 50 of them per year)for several years in our "Young Aviator's Academy" summer program.They will run well on almost any fuel from 0% to 30%.We used 5% nitro:22%50/50 oil:balance methanol.If you use higher nitro you'll have to add some shims.As far as power goes,I'd say the .049 on 5% is a little better than the BW on C*x fuel.The .061 is considerably stronger.Either is a good replacement for the C*x because you have such a wide tuning range available.You get pretty much any power you want by juggling fuel,props,head shims,and needle adjustment.Yet another advantage: I've never seen a worn out Norvel;I'm sure they exist,but I've never seen one,and some of the ones I've seen have really been abused.

How big's the Pinto?

The Norvel is a little longer, and weighs more, but puts out a great deal more power. If you find the plane flying too fast, switch to longer lines.

Get the Norvel BigMig .061 StartUp kit. Really good value for money.

I think Norvel is having a close out sale on the CL .061 (not start-up) at something like $32.00. Great bargain.
I have not gotten one, just read a post on a forum.
My guess is that they are only going to stock the RC version in the future...again, just a GUESS.

George

Edit: Well, I looked it up on the NORVEL site. The closeout sale is on the AME .061 CL. You may have to run pressure with this one. I believe it has a larger intake than the BigMig. I do not have the AME version so this is just from what I've read.
In addition to the BigMig start-up for $36.99, they also have a control line version CLX for the same price. More speculation: The Start Up tank comes (came?) with two pickup tubes. The alternate one is for CL. My guess is that the CL version already has the pickup tube for CL installed. Anyone have one of these?

My Son had a cox .049 on a Brodak 1/2a trainer. We switched to a Norvel .049 engine with a 6x3 prop. I timed it on a wrist watch at about 75 mph on 35 ft lines. The speed has doubled from what it was with the cox engine. I tried a 3 blade prop 5x3 and it slowed the airplane down about 5 mph.

Hey guys, just wanted to put a shot in here of the new 1/2A stunter I have been working on. As of yet, it is unflown. The plane has a Norvel .061 with a 5X3 prop. Now I just ran the engine for the first time last night and I have to tell you it seems it will have gobs of power on this plane. Test flights will be coming.

Hi, was going to tell you I read the original post here, if you have one of those radial type mounts right now on the plane, I think Brodak is making a new mount or has one that will mount a Norvel engine on there with a beam type mount as a replacement, I am going to order one from them to see how it looks, or you could go with the Big Mig startup like someone else suggested as they have the same holes in the tank that will match up with any reed valve cox engine, I would say I would go with a .061, I have owned several of the Norvel engines and the .061 is good, the startup will have a spring starter with it to help you get that engine started as when they are new it is almost impossible to flip start them as when they hit TDC they seem to be quite tight. too much power? uhmm I think not I would just run the .061 on the rich side is all, course at the elevation I am at here it seems just about right for me to run these front rotary intake engines in place of reed type engines, but I think you will love the performance difference. I bought Norvel fuel when I bought my engines I first had bought a R/C engine from them and used their fuel, I would go with though at least 15% nitro, it gets harder to start small engines with less nitro than that. The whole problem with Cox now is the quality is downhill and the price of a TD is out of this world if you ask me, I favor the TD as when you start them a correct amount of prime in the ports and they will fire up, the Norvel starts good I noticed it kind of depends on the fuel with them also, but I would say go with a Norvel if you want to get good performance and check your options on how you would want to mount it, may as well buy the start up though as you can always pull the engine and use it on a beam mount after if you want to.

BTW, a TD will fit on a Norvel tank.
But, if you replace a TD with a Norvel (BigMig, AME, .049, .061) you may have to widen the mount at the crankcase location a bit because it is a little wider.
One more thought. If building new and want to install a Norvel tank instead of a Cox, you might want to shorten the nose a half inch or so. The Norvel tank is longer.