C/L planes for young beginning flyers

My younger son has just started flying with me and is really having a lot of fun with first a Goldburg- Lil Wizard with a .049 Black Widow and now a Sig "Shoestring". I have to take my hat off to Goldburg in that they say the Wizard is really durable . Thats an understatement. It gave him the confidence to go onto a larger plane now. He is doing well with the Shoestring also a great plane for a beginner.

I built my youngest a Bee Eater from the diagrams that were published in Stunt News a few years back. Lovely little model, flies a treat and bounces with all the aplomb of a soccer ball. It's a buzz. When Matt gets bored, I loop it and figure 8 it, though it free flights all the way around the manoevres.

The small, all sheet, 049 models are good pre-trainers. They bounce well and little kids feel comfortable - my youngest has just turned five and is a very small five (bottom one percentile). However, young Matt isn't really learning much, just having fun. Dean, his older brother, had an 049 model from four but didn't really learn anything or develop any real interest until I built him a 2.5cc trainer at eight - he's now solo (YAY!!!!!!). Perhaps it's an age thing. But perhaps it's the fact that the bigger models actually do fly and respond.

The 049 engines are a pain in the *&^%$# (non-PC anglo-saxon terminology deleted). Castor gums up the reed valve so unless you are using synthetic, you spend fifteen minutes trying to get it to run on anything other than prime. How do you get after run oil into a reed valve 049? Using synthetic oil (with 5% castor) helped that problem hugely. The other issue is this business of starting backwards - the brute in Matt's model will start backwards regardless of how you flick it and how wet it is or how hot the glow is or whether I swear or the colour of the bird flying overhead. Perhaps I should refit the spring starter (if I can find it). Little kids are NOT tolerant of tempramental engines and quickly go play leaving you with a fuelled up, lined up model that you don't really enjoy flying.

But get the kids started early. Both my boys started at four. Matt is so little, I used to hold him in my arms and let him hold the handle while I had a death grip on it - his first flight was spent telling me to let go of the handle without watching the model at all. Neither boys were real interested at that age and one flight a session was plenty. However, once I got Dean the bigger model (a kit so he could do a lot of the building), he progressed rapidly. Now he's gone solo, he wants me to build him a model that will loop.

Richard, Estes corp still can furnish the spring starters. They are not pricey. If you can't find them, let me know and I will get you one.
Bigiron

Thanks for the reply Richard- I have been using a 20% lubricant which is 50/50 synthetic / castor blend in all the cox .049 motors without any problems. regarding the starting backwards-have you tried just flipping the prop clockwise to start it. A friend does this all the time.

Don't flip the Cox engines; 049, 09 or 15. Give one a good head prime, turn the prop backwards to vertical and whack it with your gloved finger. Right-way starts with the reeds 99% of the times. A really hot battery is a real help. I use a 2-volt and light the plugs like a flashlight. Doesn't seem to hurt them.

Be careful which starter spring you get, Cox has changed the design and a spring for a current motor won't work on an older motor. I'm not sure that all models have been changed, but some have a hexagonal drive washer and a plastic thing that fits over it. The spring engages the plastic thing, not the prop, as it did in years gone by.

If you prime the engine by putting your finger over the tank overflow and putting fuel in the tank until it runs out the air intake, you won't have a problem with the reed sticking, and it will start right up.