First ever engine

LAST EDITED ON Dec-04-04 AT 08:48 AM (CST)
 
Anyone else still lucky enough to have his first ever engine from when he was a kid?
I bought this engine off my older brother when I was 12. He was 29.
Made me pay $8 in 1956. (Yup...I'm 60.)
It's supposed to be a Bullet.29 but I don't see the .29 anywhere but it's about the right size.
Gotta love the tear-drop exhaust.
I haven't tried to clean it up and it sits in my oldies collection in a place of honor.
When I try to add the pic, the forum isn't responding. I'll toss in the pic in a reply.

Here it is. I had to shut down my pop-up blocker to get it to work.

It looks fast with that custom high temp black paint job. (smiles)
Regards,
John Jolley

LAST EDITED ON Dec-02-04 AT 11:49 PM (CST)
 
Mine was a Black Widow. Don't have it any more. I still have my SECOND engine - an OS Max III .15.

McCoy 19 Sportsman.....Good running engine. Have it on my GLO-BUG 1962 $4

You lucky guy!

My dad gave away all of my model airplane stuff, while I was away at college back in the 70's.

My fox-25 powered Stuka Stunt, Golden-Fox powered Aries, my Scrapper, jr Nobler, 1/2A stunt Masters, Whipsaw, Flite Streaks, two file drawers full of mags and all of my tools.

He gave them to some cousins, who can only remember "Tearing them up and throwing the engines away."

Sigh...

What I wouldnt give!

BIGS

" What constitutes the dignity of a craft is that it creates a fellowship, that it binds men together and fashions for them a common language. For there is but one problem - the problem of human relations."

Yea mine was a golden bee that I got off a guy from school Still have it around with all my cox stuff.

how about a K&B 020 infant next one fox 29 still have the engines & they still run

The remains of my first big engine, a Fox 25 with the bolt on carb, weren't much to look at. It had started life as an RC engine that I had to order a muffler for it. Flying an RC airplane and meeting with the ground changed it a bit too. Then in 84 I built a Ringmaster for it, got it covered and painted and mounted and moved from one side of Wichita to another. Upon opening the van I found the Ringmaster under a rather large box of books, flatter than when it came out of the kit box. Sold it all after I got layed off from Cessna.

I've got another one or two of the same engine. They are in better shape, but they're not the original. Oh well, it was worn out anyways and I still have the memories.

Yes, Christmas 1969, I was 13 years old, a new Fox 36X. Still have it, but the box is long gone.

>Anyone else still lucky enough to have his first ever engine
>from when he was a kid?

Yep. An Atwood Wasp .049 from an RTF "Aeromite". It was a red plastic sort-of F-86ish looking thing that never actually flew, for me at least. The engine worked fine on Scientific "hollow logs", however.

This thread is going to go on for ever......
But.. fascinating.
My first engine was a Cox fitted to a Cox P40, taught my Brother and me to fly.
Trashed it by hitting his dog... dog was OK plane went into the bin...
Next was a Taipan Tyro 1.9cc diesel... Oh how I wish I had kept it...
Traded it for a 2.5cc PAW wish I had kept that also......
Next was a K&B Stallion, bought in 1975 or so, still have it, it still runs.
Next an OS25 1977 or so for a Jr. Nobler........
Beautiful flyer.....
Now I have a very small collection... ( don't tell my Wife I said that... )

2 of old OS Max25
5 of K&B Stallion 35's
1 of Fox36
1 of MVVS40
1 of MVVS49
1 of ST C35 Flat-top piston
3 of ST C35 Baffle piston
2 of ST G21-46 Very bad condition......
1 of ST G21-40
1 of Merco40RC good condititon

Like Mr. Moffitt, my first engine was also a BabyBee hung on a Cox P40. Actually, it was my brother's - he got it for his birthday. We were 11 and 12 at the time. Spent a great summer flying the snot out of that thing. Yes, it did fly... our crowning achievement, which we worked endlessly on (at least I did), was to fly straight and level, without wandering or bobbling. No stunts at all, ever. I do NOT still have that engine. Or the plane (obviously!)

Sometime later that year or the next, I acquired an OK Cub .099, and a McCoy 35. The McCoy looked impossibly big... I couldn't imagine how big a plane it would fly on, or how much it would pull. I imagined it would be pretty much unmanageable. The OK was more my speed. I remember running it a few times in the basement, clamped in my dad's vise (!!!). Those two engines floated around in my "junk drawer" all during my high school career, I never did fly them. Eventually they got put in a trunk, and every few years I'd dig them out and think of maybe building a model. A few years ago I dug them out, and the OK was all siezed up. Sadly, I went ahead and tried to remove the head and sleeve... I was successful (it was a small engine), but in doing so, I twisted the conrod into nothingness. Scratch one engine...(I still have the remains, tho...)

The McCoy met a different, but no less interesting fate. In 2001 (I think, if I remember), I mounted it on a Skyray I'd built, and flew it successfully for a while, but one day, it suddenly quit in mid-flight. When I got the plane landed, I saw why... the entire head and sleeve had departed in mid-flight. I managed to find them (no mean feat), and sent them to Currell, who determined that the engine was toast, but felt sorry for me and sent me a replacement. I do still have THAT engine, and it still runs great!

Now, of course, it does seem I've begun to collect the things. I now have:

2 or 3 Fox 35's (one is an L&J)
3 or 4 McCoy 35's
2 McCoy 19's (one of which runs)
1 OS 25 FP
1 OS 35 FP

Those are my "working engines". Then I have, for no particular reason:

1 OS .099 (OLD!)
1 Fox .09 (OLD!)
Various parts
Various BabyBees and parts, which I no longer even look at.

A very small collection indeed, especially compared with most folks here, but hey, I'm just getting started! (this after doing this for 4 years already)

Tim

OK Cub (.049, old case) in a Scientific Little Bipe. Traded a Daisy "Defender" BB gun for it. Still have the engine, not the plane.

I am the same age as Norm, but mine was an OS Max II .15. I still have it and even plan to use it again. It still screams like a banshee with good compression just like new.

This is it.

Ralph - look familiar? My first model airplane, from 1951 as I recall. This one has a Wasp .049. That engine also found its way into some hollow logs. I have the original instructions and accessory kit and I will donate all to the control line museum.

I still have my first big engine - A Fox silver-head Combat Special that my Dad bought for me when they first came out (1955???). I gave it away in 1961 and it made the rounds to a number of different owners. I got it back in 1972. Someone stripped the head and replaced it with a black one - it still runs well.

One of the fellows I fly with still has the OK Super .60 that he got as his first engine in 1948. And, he still flys it.

Hi Bob,
That's it. Your's ever fly?

>Ralph - look familiar? My first model airplane, from 1951 as
>I recall. This one has a Wasp .049. That engine also found
>its way into some hollow logs. I have the original
>instructions and accessory kit and I will donate all to the
>control line museum.

Hi, Ralph.
The first one flew - well, at one point, you could see light between the wheels and the pavement. Then I learned what the term "high-impact" plastic meant.
This one is new - a bit dusty but new.
Bob

>Hi Bob,
>That's it. Your's ever fly?
>
>
>
>>Ralph - look familiar? My first model airplane, from 1951 as
>>I recall. This one has a Wasp .049. That engine also found
>>its way into some hollow logs. I have the original
>>instructions and accessory kit and I will donate all to the
>>control line museum.

Hi Ralph and Bob, My first engine was also an Aeromite with a
Baby Spitfire..1949. mine did fly...but it flew better dead stick
(engine not running...more power!). that .045 Spitfire ended up
in many models..Lessee...Oh yes..a Monogram Speedi-Bilt Boeing
Kaydet, Berkeley Mini-Zilch,Demeco Infant Wagon, AJ 74 10cent glider,
AJ Firebaby and a Midwest Sniffer. plus a few FF Failures..
my next engine was an Atwood Champion converted to Glow.
Tony

I had one that looked just like this...I think mine had a Wen-Mac engine...I was learning to fly in the cul-de-sac on payment....I turned it to dust....

Tnx, Mike, the "Old Harley Man" [email protected]

I am lucky enough to still have, basically, all my old engines:
The Cox from a red P-51, my first engine; the RH 19 from my first "big plane" (Goldberg Shoestring); and my first Fox 35, first "big engine", that I used in a Nobler.
Also have a Veco 35 I bought in '63 in an already built Smoothie.
All still run excellently! I'm lucky that way.
Bill <><

Mine was a K&B .29. I painted a prop on one side once as a kid and that managed to trash the bushing. I had no idea that you were supposed to balance the things! I also broke it in by running it in a nice 2 cycle until it quit freezing up. Sigh the things that you do not know, I was going to say when you are young but realised that it is still true.

I do not have my first engine, do not even remember what it was. I do have one of my dad's engines, an Anderson Spitfire Ign. He had two that were converted to glow, my brother has the other one. I have put both of them back to original ignition, and they sit in glass cabinets where they will stay. I remember like it was yesterday, not 1965, when it last flew, plane floating to the ground in a thousand pieces after contact with a bird. Bird did not fair so well either!
Merry Christmas to all! Dale McCord ( spitfire )

I really remember my first engine. It was a christmas present from my older brother. Of course while dinner was being fixed we had to mount it an fire it up. He did all the work with it, said I was too young yet. It was a "COX SPACE BUG .049". Was talked into trading for an O&R 29. The next was an OK Cub .049A. I literally wore it out. Still have some where in the basement, as I keep running across it once in awhile. Memeories, still wish I had the Space Bug. -DOC

My first engine was a Cox Black Widow on a Baby Flight Streak. I've got that engine, but is no longer a reliable runner. We had really good luck this set up on .35 foot lines. At one time my brothers and I all had this same set up (I scratch built two more planes for them as they were younger then I was).

My first real engine was a Enya .15 III on a Midwest Mustang. I still have both, but the mustang would needs recovered to fly. The engine is currently on a flight streak trainer that my son is now flying. I think that I finally have it broken in! I've also used this engine on a Aldrich Peacemaker with good success.

Jim A.

Hi Dale,
Was your father Bob McCord?
regards
Dave Owen

Anderson Spitzy .045, on a FireBaby. I've still f=got it.

LAST EDITED ON Dec-03-04 AT 09:43 AM (CST)
 
My first engine was actually three engines. My father gave me all his stuff when I started flying in the 70’s. Two Fox 35 Stunts and one K+B (Knuckle Buster) 35 Torpedo Green head. I still use them today. They all have good compression and run great. I was fortunate enough to have my father caution me against running them too lean so they would last. He just never told me about the right fuels and castor content. I don’t know how my motors survived some of the stuff I put through them way back then. Straight SIG Champion with 25%nitro. WOW.

Yep! A Wen Mac .049 from a plastic UC "Night Fighter". I bevelled the venturi, not knowing anything about resonances. What I remember is that it flew my Scientific "Atomic" about half a lap before leaning out to a stop. 'had to change engines to stay airborne.

I still have most of my others, although my Cub .024, a "Space Bug", a McCoy .19 RRV, and perhaps a couple others disappeared (with my now several thousand dollars worth of tin Agajanian "98" race car toy) from my dad's garage. I still have the O&R "Midget .049", a Cub .074 from a "Belond Spl. plastic race car, my $5.98 McCoy RH .35, which ran very well and dependably in my Yak-9, K&B series-61(?) .40 rat race engine, Cox .010, OS .099, a couple TD's, an Olympic .15, and...

I NEVER seem able to part with anything - even the Rice Field dirt in the McCoy .35 from it's last subterranean encounter at the bottom of a lazy vertical eight in about 1961.

SK

OK Cub 14. Horrible motor. Paid for it by selling those stupid greeting cards door to door. Got my Fox 35 for Christmas in 1955 and that overcame the troubles I had with the Cub 14. Still have the Fox-all cleaned up by Phil Dunlap, motorman extraordinaire. That Fox 35 was an even better gift than a "Red Ryder 250 shot repeater carbine with a compass in the stock and this "thing" which tells time"! Happy Christmas to all ya'll on SSW. And Thanks, Leonard. Dale Gleason

"Red Ryder 250 shot repeater carbine with
>a compass in the stock and this .
>Dale Gleason

"I'll shoot your eye out"

Don't worry about the spinning prop

I liked the basement invective best...blue, my favorite color! I always wondered how that related to "Fu-uh-dge!" 'probably sounded a lot like my Fox .35 induced monologue at the empty field the day I "forgot" about the spinning prop...No "major award", that!

SK

LAST EDITED ON Dec-03-04 AT 10:42 AM (CST)
 
My wife states that she is not surprised at how many of us still have or fondly remember our first engines , as most of us will also still have our first pair of "gaunch"!..she's observant as well as cynical.Sorry , no pics.

The year was 1954.....the engine was an older model O.K. Cub .049 mounted on a Scientific Little Ace ( an early hollow log model Scientific discontinued around 1955). It later moved up to power a nice little Guillows Baby Barnstormer. The engine was stolen out of my garage in 1967 by my neighbor across the street. When I confronted him about it, he said that he could not return it because he had thrown it in the city dump. Bad enough to steal my Cub .049, but he also got my sandcast Fox .29 and my Cub .074 in the caper. Don't leave hobby items lying around in an open garage. There are people out there with sticky fingers. I have not lost any model equipment to thieves since.....maybe it was a good lesson on security. By the way, the thief was an old man in his 70's who lived in a nice house across the steet.........why he wanted to steal my meager model engine collection is beyond me.

Cox Baby Bee in a Goldberg Swordsman 18 . You can see the engine in action, in another Swordsman at:

http://www.clstunt.com/htdocs/dcforum/DCForumID1/10343.html

The main bearing on this little snooker is loose as a goose, but it still runs perfectly.

Andy

Cox baby bees of course.

But the one I treasure is the engine my dad had as a kid, a K&B 29S.

I don't still have my first FF or CL motor from the late 40's but I do have my first RC motor from 1955-56 a cub .14 It was to weak to pull the plane so I changed it for a Olson .23 and soon after lost that first RC plane in the river. Last seen heading for Elmira. I just sold a lot of my 50's FF motors, K&B .15's to .23's. I still have my second CL motor a Cub .099
Ed

Have no idea what happened to the Cub .049 that was my first engine in 1950 on a Scientific "Little Devil". But, I still have the Fox .19 (with the blank in the venturi for a second needle valve). I bought it at the Lackland AFB BX in 1956. It starts easily and runs well. I suspect the cylinder is probably a .20 bore and the piston an .18 by now. A really dependable engine!

Bill

Still have it,Christmas 1952, a McCoy 19 duramatic with two rings, and a McCoy 19 Jr. airplane, my brothers cocker spaniel ate my airplane,the engine has never been in the air.

First engine was a Cox Baby Bee that came in a PT-19 trainer, long gone. However, I still have my first "big" engine, a McCoy Redhead .35 purchased in about 1962 for $9.95, which went on a Sterling Navion my dad and I built together. I built a replica of the Navion a few years ago, same paint job, etc., with a "new" redhead .35. I flew it once and it now hangs in my shop as a nostalgia piece. The original redhead is in my engine cabinet. It still runs, if you prime it with castor oil to get enough compression to start.
--jt

John Thompson

More meories - - First ever engine; O&R 23 Sideport ignition, 1949. Couldn't get anything but intermittant pops until switching to glow, then Vroooom. The glow fuel melted the plastic tank! Engine long gone but I have its twin, which will go into a re-creation of my first C/L model, a Berkeley Cessna 195. Deja vu, all over again!

Gotta love it! - - Mild Bill

Vivell 35, I was about 12. Took me about a month to get it started. Primed it with lighter fluid. After that I had many flying hours with it but sold it in a Ameco trainer (solid balsa profile, upright engine mount, solid balsa wing, glide like a rock but indestructable). I don't know how many people learned to fly with it. I still have my second engine, a Super Cyclone and am planning to use it in an OTS scheduled to be built this winter.

Wen Mac .049, in a Little Bonanza plastic RTF. About 1960? I sold "all occasion greeting cards" for several weeks to get the thing. We never did get it to make more than one lap.

[photo not recovered: 3e69bb3870f12ad5.jpg]

"The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all." -Jawaharlal Nehru

Sky Fury .049 from America's Hobby Center mail order about 1956, next was an OK Cub .049B Kit engine bought from the local drug store!

The first was the ubiquitous Babe Bee from a Cox J-3 Cub. I don't really count it as my brother and his buddies filched it. I still have the RH McCoy 19 ($3.95!) that my dad bought for me from a newly opened hobby shop, along with a Guillow Trainer II. I have a replica of it nearly restored, an eBay buy.

First engine was a 1949 or 1950 Cub 099, which I bought with an Enterprise Air Racer kit. Didn't really get the engine running till about 1957 or 8 in an Enterrprise P51. Good straight line speed, but would always quit running in any kind of loop or wingover.
Used the Cub in a Sterling Jr. Fledgling when I got back into R/C about 1977. Staggered around the air, but got a few flights in till I replaced it with a Golden Bee 049. Plane became aerobatic. Still have the Cub, along with two more newer ones. A couple 074s and 049s as well.

Golden Bee, in about 1956. Cost $6.95 of my Canadian $ at the time. I still have it but haven't tried runnning it in a long time. Flew it in a Scientific hollow log Bird Dog. Lots of fun but no glide at all.

Best, Hoovie

I still got the first one that I got to start and learned to fly on. An Ohlson & Rice ignition, rear side port 60. It still has good compression. It was my third engine. Brown was the first Never got it to start. Next was a Phantom p-30 Goit it to start on the bench, but never in a plane. Good ole O & R got me really started.

Bigiron

Surprized you couldn't get the Brown running Marvin, but I bet I know why. The drive washer/cam would go on in 4 different positions, I've seen guys crank for hours never realizing they put the cam back in the wrong position after replacing a prop.

We lived out in the country six miles from town (pop 7000 or so) and no hobby shop nor assistance. Dad didn't have much time to help, so my brother and I just messed around and finally gave it to a friend of mine who lived in town. I don't know if he got it running or not. I am now currently married to his sister (have been for 52 years).

Bigiron

My first engine was a second hand ETA 29 (one of the earlier versions, I can't remember the Mk) that went into a solid wing trainer..a design I still use for teaching people to fly. My second engine was an MS 29 (Marden Stevenson) that was an Aussie copy of the Dooling 29. I got that one by swapping a microscope for it, complete with a B class team racer

My first was a Cub 049 which I got to run once. My second was a ringed Cameron 19, with which I eventually learned to fly contol line in the summer of 1953.

Bought this engine through differed payments,from money earned running errands, It was 1947 and I was 12 years old. The engine an ED Competition Special was considered to be the best for stunt control line and in 1948 powered the winner of the Gold Trophy, Pete Cock with his "Kan Doo". I learned to fly a control line model with this engine and it spent many hours just flying round and round before I ventured into my first loop. The box has long gone and also the meagre documentation that came with it.

Mom bought me a K&B Torpedo .35 Greenhead for my 13th birthday in '55.
Had it all my life, until some hahniak stole it from my shop in '85.
A wonderful MECA member sold me an identical one in '90, but I wish I still had the original. It powered:
1) S1 Ringmaster
2) Super Ringmaster
3) Half Fast lll
4) New Flite Streak
5) Sterling Mustang
All these were built in '55-'57, and I could always be assured the engine would run. GREAT post, by the way. (sniff)

This OK Cub 049B was on a Firebaby in 1956. I flew it many times until I thought it would be fun to make it a free flight model. I balanced it with bobby pins on the inboard wing and let it go. A figure 9 was the result and finished my flying for that day.
The next morning I cleaned the engine and tried to start it. It popped once and the prop fell off, with the front half of the crankshaft, which caused this 12 year old great concern. My dad told me not to fret - he would take care of it. The next day he returned from his work with a new crankshaft which he had machined, and told me to install it and test run the motor. It ran perfectly! My dad was my hero!! I put the engine away and have never run it since.

>Anyone else still lucky enough to have his first ever engine
>from when he was a kid?
>I bought this engine off my older brother when I was 12. He
>was 29.
>Made me pay $8 in 1956. (Yup...I'm 60.)
>It's supposed to be a Bullet.29 but I don't see the .29
>anywhere but it's about the right size.
>Gotta love the tear-drop exhaust.
>I haven't tried to clean it up and it sits in my oldies
>collection in a place of honor.
>When I try to add the pic, the forum isn't responding. I'll
>toss in the pic in a reply.

HEY!!!! I've got one of those

I'm not sure if mine is older or newer than your Bullet but mine is still on ignition. It has a square exhaust port, was not painted and says "Bullet" on the side.

Here's a pic of it running. It's a very good running motor and starts very easily. One or two flips. I'm using a modern transitorized ignition.

Later,
Mike

>I'm not sure if mine is older or newer than your Bullet but
>mine is still on ignition. It has a square exhaust port, was
>not painted and says "Bullet" on the side.
Great photo of the Bullet running! On Ignition! Wonderful.
I think the tear-drop exhaust is older than the rectangular. I used to have your engine but sold it in a moment of extreme stupidity.
The black "custom" paint on mine is Factory. I guess I should clean it up.
Thanks for the great shot.

my 074 skyfury with its double exaust my dad gave me with a lil jumpin bean I never managed to finish but I still have the engine since 1963 ...enrique

My first engine was an OK Cub .049 that came in a Comet P-51 in about 1955, a Christmas present. That plane lasted about 3/4 of a lap. I don't recall what happened to the engine. My second engine was a 1957 Fox Combat Special. I bought a Nobler with it in it. The Nobler lasted a half lap as it caught on a weed, did a wingover and splatted on its first takeoff. The engine migrated into a T-Square. I still have the engine.
Bare

Still have my Cub .049 from 1950.

My first (1963) was a Wen Mac 049 in a RAF Dayfighter (white Kingcobra) which I still have. The Cox Babe Bee (1965) from my PT-19 went on a flight with a full tank in a pretty free flight model my brother traded a rat racer for, we saw it looping as the engine came out and that was the end. It was never found. The big engines were a McCoy 19 (1967)for my PDQ Flying Clown and a new Stallion 35 (1969)for a Magician made to look like Fast Richard's Cherokee. I finally learned the pattern with this model in the early eighties and Whitely gave me a Super Tigre X-45 powered Derringer out of pity. (I had to give it back though). I bought a C/L Super Tigre 46 from Hobby Shack in Fountain Valley for the sale price of 40.00 in 1983. Still have that one, with stock venturi and sprinkler it runs very nicely.

LAST EDITED ON Dec-06-04 AT 03:39 AM (CST)
 
My first motor was a New Zealand made 1.5cc diesel "Katipo". A most frustrating motor for a youngster, very hard to start, but would never wear out as it didn't make enough power to
I got it for my(I think) tenth birthday around 1967 with an Airsail Sportsman kit. With help from a local modeller I learnt to fly with it, but soon replaced the Katipo with an OS pet. I gave the Katipo to my brother in law, he's got it somewhere, so I suppose it's still in the family. I have recently built another Sportsman (kit still in production.. http://airsailmodels.co.nz/control.htm ) But this time put a Cox Golden Bee on it, hope to teach my daughters to fly with it....

Phil.
edit for spelling

Yes, I still have my first engine, bought new in December 1949. It is still flying in a Beebug that I built in 2001.

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