McCoy Red Heads.

Got my display stand finished today for my Red Heads. I use the crock pot and antifreeze method to clean them up. I soak the heads in paint remover/stripper to get them back down to the bare metal, then paint them with automotive heat proof paint, Dupli-color DE 1605
Ford Red. It's nearly a perfect match to the original color. There are 3) 19s, 3) 29s, 5) 35s and 3) 40s. I'm still looking for the earliest 19 and 40.

Also talked with Gary Barnes from http://www.tethercar.com/ the other evening. He said that he talked wtih Dick McCoy a couple of weeks ago. Dick is 96 and is doing well, but loosing his eyesite. Said he still has a high level of interest in model engines. Gary site is geared towards model cars, but he has a bunch of neat old decals McCoy, Ohlsson, Dooling, K&B and even an old style AMA decal.

Cheers,

Very, very nice display. Great way to make your collection more fun for everyone. I too got the Mac bug (to a lesser degree) after learning a lot of McCoy lore here from Kiwi and Currell. One of the pieces from my collection that gets the most comments is a display box from the late 1950's that I bought from Vic Cunningham Jr. By the way, for those interested, Burniss Ray may still have most of the parts necessary to assemble a new .29. Great job on the stand!!

http://classicmodelengines.homestead.com/McCoyBox.html

Bill Groman

Glad to see all of those McCoy's. I'll post mine sometime.

Thanks Guy's

Hi Bill,

That's a neat web site and a beautiful 29! I have a new 1961 29, but don't have the box or anything. I've gotten a few parts from Burnis Ray, mostly gaskets sets. I bought I brand new 19 back in the sixties for, I think it was $4.95. About a year ago, I decided I wanted one like that one and got one off ebay. then, just decided to try to get one of each of the Red Heads.

I thought and thought how to make a stand and happened to come up with the idea of using long 3/32" cotter pins. I just drilled the holes the right depth and used CA to secure them in the wood. The hole at the end of the cotter pins is a nice fit for the 4-40 mounting screws. The pins hardly show once the engine is mounted and it seems to be pretty sturdy.

Very sharp display.

All of my engines either are on planes, or in their original boxes, wrong boxes, cookie tins (great for the oil oozing out, but they don't revert back to the kitchen), or are laying out in the open, awaiting a fix of some sort. That's about the closest I come to a display. I'm just happy if they are not spilling off the shelving.

I'll have to confess that same-brand engine displays kind of throw me, at least visually. They all "look alike", at least to me, irrespective of displacement and model differences! And this is someone who obsesses over minute Fox Stunt case variations.

Not a criticism at all, John, just a general observation. I envy your collection, and will keep an eye open for that elusive "no flats" .35 for you.

Still, I think it is better to take, say, a single displacement, like .35 or something, and show all (some?) of the different brands that fall into that category. At least they don't blend together as much. Very few engine collectors attempt this.

Think of an old car collection as an analogy. They are much more interesting if brands, colors, body styles vary.

Hi Currell,

No need to look any further for the no flats 35. I got one from Bob Jones from here on the forum and then low and behold, one that I thought was a later one (flats, but no knock out pin marks) that I got off ebay turned out to be another of the no flats ones. It was so dirty, I couldn't tell that it had no flats from the picture. It cleaned right up with the crock pot treatment. Sent a question to the seller, asking about the pin marks, thought it was the later one....anyway, looking for the early 40 with the recessed exhaust web and the early 19 with no knock out pin marks.

I think you are right...kind of mono-tone, and you can't see the difference on a few. However...once I got started, I wanted a McCoy collection. One nice thing about them as runners, the 29, 35 and 40 all have the same bolt pattern. Ha! if one don't run good, put another one in. Really...I've got a couple of really nice running 35s and I have plane ideas for one of the runner 19s and one of the runner 40s that I've got.

I do have a few other brands: K&B Stallion, Johnson SS, Green Head Torpedo and a few Fox combat engines...don't know why I got the Fox
combat enignes other than I think they look neat. Got one I think is the first 1957 plain bearing Fox combat Special in excellent condition. I am far from rich, but sometimes I feel like the proverbial fool and his money. Hey...What better way to spend it?

>I think you are right...kind of mono-tone, and you can't see
>the difference on a few. However...once I got started, I
>wanted a McCoy collection. One nice thing about them as
>runners, the 29, 35 and 40 all have the same bolt pattern.
>Ha! if one don't run good, put another one in.

John;
The way to break up the mono-tone nature is to add the BLUE head McCoys to your collection. Don't forget they also came in RC. What about the smaller engines like the .049, .09, and diesel variants of these? Seems like you'll need a second shelf.

Nice display even if it is monochrome.

The old Mac's look great. You might detail each variation and it's displacement...is there a 60 in the bunch?

I recently ran my Mac 19...several months back...first time since
Summer of 1965...started pretty quick!

It did blubber fuel like crazy out the end of the crank...tempted to have it rebushed just for nostalgia's sake.

Would love to get one of the rear rotor intake 29's or the Mac 60...the beautifully finished McCoy 60 will always be the quintessential...!...model engine in my mind.

Great collection!

Pete

Hi Pete,

No, I don't have one of the 60s. I think one of those would probably be worth darn near what I've got invested in all of them so far. I have a lightning bolt 35 that does that same thing, running oil out the front bearing. Seems to run fine, but would like to fix it.

I thought I would have room to get little plaques to identify each one, but....what was that about measure twice and cut once. Did you notice the old Super M props mounted behind the engines?

I am in agreement with you on the rear-rotor redhead McCoy 60. Dick Perry presented one nib (with the presentation tin they originally came in) as a prize this year for the overall high point winner in Nostalgia Navy Carrier at the Nats this year. What a wonderful trophy! I am glad I just got to see one in these later years.

Here are the AMA Decals, courtsey of Bob Parker, from the book Flying Model Collectibles. I did take one group of Red Heads that included about 15 engines, like a heard of Red heads but did not use it in the book. The painting of the head Red has got to be one of the all time great maketing gimicks in the history of model airplanes. We still can't resist these engines. I have about 20 and seem to be buying more when I see them. Jim J

Guys,

There are several folks making replica's of many neat older engines, but I have yet to see a replica of the McCoy 60...too many still available?... (albeit at a price ! )...or the beautifull Doolings engine either.

Does Dick McCoy still own the rights to the 60, if not the smaller 35's that went to Testors?...I understand GMA tried to buy the tooling for the 35, but it had been destroyed.

I wish someone with an ounce of ethics had overseen production of the Testors line...a great design, the 35, 29 at least...with low quality control, as I understand it!)

Someday I hope to blunder onto a Mac 60 for a "steal"...but e-bay is a great venue for sellers to get a fair-to-over the top price...oh, well...at this time it's a sellers market for the special model engines...!

Anyone...interesting info on the Testors company ? and where Dick McCoy fits in ?...hope he got a good return for his work...even if Testors dropped the ball sometimes.

That said...I LOVE my old Mac 19!

John,
Nice looking collection. Did you know McCoy had wooden props with their name printed on them too?
Bill P.

Yeah, I tried to *win* some of the ones that had McCoy 19, and some others with McCoy "9". Pockets weren't deep enough.
Kinda look like top flites.
Bill <><

Hi John,
NICE!!
I think I need to send you some OEM (gold) glow plugs to finish out the "look"!
Bill <><

LAST EDITED ON Nov-10-03 AT 12:08 PM (CST)
 
BillP,

No I didn't know McCoy made some props. That would be really cool. They don't show up too good, but if you look closely at the display, I put a couple of Top Flite Super M props behind the engines.

Hey Bill Little,

Hey yeah, if you got any of the gold plugs, I'll be glad to take them off your hands. Let me know by email. Thanks.

John

Use the gold plugs in the gold Fox engines, too. Currell

Hi Currell,

I tried to use a gold plug in a McCoy 19 a while back on the test stand and it would start and run for only a short period of time after I took the battery off. No real change when the battery was removed, but would only run for about 30 seconds. Switched to an OS #8 and it did the same thing. Then tried a Fox Miracle plug and it seemed to run fine. Was using Fox Super Fuel, 5% nitro and 29% oil. Got any ideas????