MERCO Talk

Glad to see some Merco information exchange. I noticed the topic on the .61 so here's another one. I have some experience with the modern Merco .40 and it seems to be a fine engine but what about the older ones? Going through my “stuff”, I came across a few of them that may be quite old. I have a .29 and .35 with one-piece crankcases and red heads, about the size of a Fox .35. Some others, .35 and .40 appear to have a separate case and cylinder fins. Some are black, others are dull aluminum. Both RC and CL versions. What about the .49, single or dual plug?
Having been out of the hobby from 1969 to 1992, I suspect that some of the engines I mentioned came out in that period.
So, someone out there tell me: What’s good, what isn’t it? Shall I “eBay” them? Melt them down for outboard weight or what?
Looking forward to some replies.
Bob Z

Here's a good place to start!

http://www.iroquois.free-online.co.uk/merco/index.htm

I've two 'cast in' venturi Merco 35's - one still shows vestiges of red paint on the head, a later (I think) Red head (converted from R/C) and a black head with separate venturi (not the plastic trumpet type).

I too would like a 'collectors guide' to all the different models.

I intend to put the Red head on my ARF Flite Streak for next year!

Here is part of an email I received from Derek Pickard regarding Merco history:

The engine originally came out around 1959 and in the then red/orange and red head form was very good.

Some years later when the company hit trouble manufacture was cheapened with the black head not being as good nor the plain head.

By the time the thing was revived in the 1990s the mistake was made of
having too little taper in the liner for the contemporary metalurgy used for the replica and only some of them were good (same goes for the 40version).........even though they used the same materials as the OS.

Hereis a link to Derek's original doc - (excluding picture)

http://www.the.elmores.btinternet.co.uk/Merco_35.htm

Anybody around here tried that new Merco 61 ABC Picard wrote about in the last year or so?

I test ran a RSM Merco that Derick Pickard reviewed. My conclusions pretty much dovetail his completely. It seemed to be a nice motor, but it lacked the "grunt" that I would expect to see of a .60. It seemed to have the power of a strong .50. It weighed 14 oz. exactly without muffler. Started relatively quickly. Decent fuel draw; definitely a 2-4 breaker as described in his article.

Hi Z man...Missed you and Banjock at the Musciano. Wanted to see what you could do with me in Speed this year. Anyway...

I have four Mercos of .29 to .35 persuasion. Ran one, on a Shoestring. This is the one with the big fat black plastic venturi.

Ran OK, but I was told these motors were Fox-like. Not this one; it wanted to go in a Wet Two.

Maybe the others are different.

When you go to London Ontario on a Swap, you understandably see more Brit motors. At reasonable prices. So I try to scarf up one or two. Our friends to the north (actually south of the Motor City for some, and go grab a Rand McNally or mapquest.com to check me out) are easy to bargain with. And some will exchange Yankee $ at last May's exchange rate, which indeed is neighborly, eh?

I was just thinking with all this talk on past Mercos I should plug the latest! Probably the last (and best!) run of stunt engines on the old 1960 Merco c/case. True ABC and stunt timing. When formulating this motor we went for excellent stunt characteristics, not power. This seemed the most important priority to me. Once you have the characteristics, then assess the power and size your model to suit.
As regards Bob's thoughts on the various models, I have to say Mercos have had various producers over the years and the quality has varied according to the producer's priorities. There have been times when it seems the policy was to "pile it high sell it cheap"! The earliest Mercos were wonderful, built by Ron Checksfield. Remember in '64 was it? Merco 61's powered half the entries in the world r/c champs and the winner. Some pedigree.
Whatever, the ABC Rustler-Merco mentioned above still available from me, £78.75 ($130), and original Merco silencer £10.50 ($17.50) if bought with engine. Prices include International Recorded Airpost.
Best wishes to all:)

Hi, Ian. I must say that your new .40 is a fine engine, with a most unique exhaust system. As you may recall, I did some evaluation on it a few years ago for you. We played some games with the venturi and I wound up making a new one so as not to modify the original. I had it on "The Plane" for a while - the only 2S to ever reside there.
Bob Z

Hi Bob. Yes indeed, I recall sweating a while, while waiting for your verdict! What a complement, the only 2S to go in THE PLANE!
Now, can I interest you in e.g. a nice 12.5oz. 1946 Rustler "Sparey" 3-port diesel? Just the job for your next F2B!!

Also look here and see how many times Merco won the Gold Trophy....

http://www.the.elmores.btinternet.co.uk/Merco_35.htm

Bob,
Being the generous person that I am, I'm gonna help you out on this one - just post those old red head merco 35's to me! The pre (about) '64 red heads (the red was kinda orange) are IMHO the finest stunt 35's ever built. It is difficult to find a worn out 35, they just keeep going - I'm still using 2 that i bought in the 60's.

Seriously, if anyone wants to sell one or more in good condition, please let me know. They are by far my favourite 35 - Bob Gialdini won the US nats with one, and they were the dominant stunt engine in Australia for many years - followed by the Merco 49, up to the introduction of the ST46.

Rustler, thanks for keeping the Merco tradition going, there is a lot of history there - not all of it great, but things are looking up with your involvement! Question: are the original 35 style mufflers still available - they are kinda streamlined, have "merco" and some stripes cast in, and came with a seperate extension piece?

Ian R sells these - they're the same as for th 49/61.

6 originals nip went on Ebay for the other day and I lost

Who won I wonder....

Hi, Dave - What a guy!! Offering to accept those old Mercos! You can't believe how many similar offers I've had.
I explained to one gent that my original plan was to break the two redheads in (.29 & .35) as they've never been run and then build planes for them, preferably designs from the late 50's. BUT, plans can change!
Besides Bob G's designs, what other planes were of note with the Merco? Seems I once read about Jim Kostecky experimenting with one (?)
Bob Z

I got my Merco red head in a swap with a correspondamt in G.B in or around 1960. I forget what he wanted, I believe some Fox motor but, I really came out ahead on the deal. This is the nicest motor that you will ever get your hands on. Run this and your Fox really does go back in the box. It spent a fair amount of time on a veco Smoothie,still my favorite Palmer design. Haven't run it since 1968 but wouldn't part with it for any amount of money . Only thing is mine has the British standard thread prop nut so I always made sure that my prop was on tight. It was impossible to find one of those around here in those days. Did finally get a spare for it from Carlson Motors a few years ago.

Really authentic would be a Mercury Crusader designed specifically for the Merco.

Another model specifically designed for the Merco was Warburton's Fairey Firefly as was Jim Mannal's Nimrod - there must be many others.

Tony - any idea where I can get more information on the planes you mentioned?
Bob Z

I will post a copy of the Firefly article on my articles page over the weekend - I'll also sort out some Crusader pics as well.

The plan for the Crusader is available from Tom Dixon:

CRUSADER - Mercury kit plan (England), 56" span, 630 sq. in. area for a "solid" 35. A .40 or .46 suggested. Looks like a cross between a Nobler and a Thunderbird for you non-Europeans. From 1961. $10.00

Designed for Merco35......
I built 2 of them and powered them with K&B Stallion 35's......
Builds up into a good looking plane, but does need more engine than Merco35 ( Stallion was not powerful enough either....guess how I know this... )
If I were to build another.. I would try
ST46, maybe a good STC35 ( the baffle-top piston one ), one of the last K&B40's (ABC type )
For modern engines maybe an OS40LA....
I am NOT an expert, these are just suggestions

The editted bit.... Tony, you say it was 630 sq ins.... I seem to remember it was 656 sq ins.... not a big deal, we can still stay friends..?????

The late Roy Lovell had one at Rotax - his had an OS 35 in - don't know which model!

LIke everything else it needs to be built light.

I bought a kit many years ago -never built it - the kit got ruined when our understairs cupboard flooded - it had HORRIBLE die-crushed wood in it....

I built two of these models kitted by Mercury back in the late 60's and powered them with a Merco 35's, they were both so underpowered it was ridiculous,I was very sparing on paint etc., and covered them with the heavywieght modelspan tissue supplied with the kit

There is nothing like flying overhead eight,s and having the model start to fall out the sky forcing a very fast run down field to get line tension back to save the model

I am not wanting to get into an arguement but kind of recall 630 sq in area, but could be wrong so please don't hang me

I ended up having to fly on 55' lines to maintain line tension and didnt dare fly in any wind, of course I am sure that others didn't have this problem!!!!!!!! OR DID THEY?????

!!!!!!Talking about older model kits does anyone have plans for a KeilKraft Firebird???????

Hi Rich!

Phil Hansson has this plan (and many other UK kitplans) available:

PD (Phil) Hansson, 15 Southmead Gdns, Allerton, Liverpool, Merseyside, L19 5NJ, UK

Thanks Elmore,
I believe you dont live too awful far from where I used to live close tho Northolt airfield it was just a quick trip up the A41to Aylesbury, I had friends living there when I left England but not flyers

Thanks for the information I will drop Phill a line and maybe get a list of him of what he has

Was you flying stunt in the early 1970's at all, as I was wondering if you also knew Doug Blake, he flew stunt and was at one time controline chairman for the S.M.A.E. and arranged the controline section of the nats of that year (which year I forget), but if you were and seems like you like takeing photos of flyers and models, I was wondering if you had any of him ( they named the Doug Blake memorial trophy stunt contest after him)I personally wasn't much into pictures then and would love to get some pictures of him and or his models his wife and I were very close friends and I have lost touch with his wife Cynthia since moving to the U.S. Doug drowned tragically on a boating holiday with his wife, new daughter & another couple we knew at the time

Len my apologies if this is inappropriate to discuss on the forum and please let me know if I should not do so

Bob, it's you again! Bear in mind a lot of these models were designed for unsilenced motors, and if you muffle them and keep the original size and type of motor you may find power a bit marginal, especially if built from an original kit. I believe Dave Platt qualified for the Brit. team one year with unsilenced Merco 35 in a Mercury Crusader which weighed a ton.
Mention of the hard wearing qualities of the original Merco 35 reminds us, they were the greatest if run in properly from the beginning. If you did this they would last for ever. Sadly, although the Merco manufacturers knew what was best they had to bow to (impatient) customer pressure, customers who could not be bothered to take the necessary time. Later motors were put out with softer metallurgy which ran in quicker, and ran out quicker! Quality of motor still depended on the philosophy of the owner at the time. S.T. G15's went through a similar process, and some of the early ones are so much better than the later ones.

Hi, Ian - yes, it's me again! Thanks for the advice on the Mercos. Since they are indeed brand new, I will break them in very carefully. I'm used to long break-in procedures - in the mid-60's, I flew ENYAs almost exclusively.
Bob Z

Hi Bob,
Well, I was just trying to help out a little....

Models for the Merco? Any of the Warburton semi-scales from the '60's published in Aeromodeller - my favourite was the Stampe Monitor had at least one of those. The U2 was a great flyer too. Likewise the Mercury Crusader. Probably the best of the lot was/is Ken Taylors Kismet, which shows a merco on the plan from memory. My Merco 35 powered efforts include about 5 green box Noblers, 3 Nakkes, including the one I've just retired for a rebuild, Super Master, Angelique (another Aussie design) and about a dozen O/D's. Now that I think about it, probably most of my flying has been with Merco's!, in the 60's at least.

Ian R did raise a point though - the Merco does seem to be a little sensitive to back pressure I've used many types of mufflers, the best seems to be the original (gut the baffle though) or homemade tongue types - either way the engine likes to be loud. The other thing I've found is that the 35 at least will take a lot of Nitro - As my last Nakke got heavier with use/repairs over 5-6 years, I gradually went to 25% - handled it fine, ran very well, the 2-4 was even better.
Hope this helps,
Cheers, Dave.

Hi Dave. Yes, do have the old original style silencers/mufflers. £11.50, or £10.50 with engine. Can take cards.
Thanks for the kind words. Ian R.

Thanks, all, for the really informative feedback. The one about sensitivity to back pressure is especially interesting as we must use mufflers on ALL planes (except Mikes electric!) at out field.
I will defintely investigate some of the British designs for the Merco.
Bob Z
Speaking of British designs, I found plans for a really neat OTS bird called the - oh, what the heck, I'll start a new topic for that one.

Look forward to the new thread with interest. THE classic model for the Merco 29/35 in my opinion is the Aeromodeller Thunderbolt. I think at 48" and built light it should easily take a muffled 29 or 35. Or maybe one of the Premier/Merco Engines 40's on the same case, if you can find a nice one. For me this is a "must build" one day.

Hi Ian - currently on my site are the Skiffler (another candidate for the 29) - the Scimitar (I knew at least one with a 29) - the Thunderbolt was on my site last week!

Tony

PS Got John Dixon's email address?

I've run out of time to load many more articles at the moment - all of Frank Warburton's designs are in the PAMPA page plans book - one design very much in the Warburton style is HC Quek's Yak 9.

Here however are some Crusader bits:

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Check out the cool colour scheme! This one is Dave Platt's - July 61.

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An ad from March 61.

Appearance in Aeromodeller 'Trade Notes' May 61.