Stunt Engines From a Nostalgic Era

Let’s reminisce! Back in the 50’s, it seems like most people flew .35 sized planes in stunt, and the engine of choice was the Fox .35 – just look at the contest results through the fifties and mid sixties – you’ll see what I mean.
But, forgetting that, what .35 did YOU use???? What was your engine of choice? Tell us the engine AND model.
As I recall, there were the domestics – Fox, McCoy, Veco, K&B and Johnson
And, the imports – OS, ENYA, Merco and Super Tigre.
Did I miss any? Were there any ex-communist block engines in the .35 size that wound up here in the states?
So, if you flew stunt in the 50’s and 60’s – low-key or serious competition, what plane did you fly and what was in the nose? Let’s keep it to .35 cid glow only!
If I may start the discussion, I had a Pollywog Chief with a mid fifties die cast Fox .35 and a G/B Nobler with an Enya .35, model 5224.
Bob Z

Barnstormer McCoy .35
Smoothie - Fox .35
Ruffy - Fox .35
Skylark - Johnson Stunt Supreme
Magicians - Mostly Fox .35's (Nose looked like a tuning fork!)
Numerous Ringmasters and Flightstreaks - K&B Stallions and McCoys mostly

My first full blown stunt ship was a slightly modified Skylark with an OS 35S. Didn't get started until the 70's and never entered a contest with a Fox 35, does this count

LAST EDITED ON Nov-18-03 AT 09:53 AM (CST)
 
Time: 1955 through 1965.

Veco Smoothie - Fox .35

Veco Thunderbird - Johnson .35 small case

Ringmaster - K&B Torpedo .29 greenhead

Ringmaster - K&B Torpedo GloTorp .32

Super Clown - Forster .29

Sassy Saucer - K&B Torpedo .35 greenhead

Flying Clown - K&B Torpedo .35 greenhead (No Kidding!)
This one was sure fast, but it was a real dog in maneuvers.
I was too young to know why. Used it in combat.

Those were the days!.................................TD

man a flash back from the past must of been all that airplane dope. i rember that plane what ever happened to it?

It was turned into toothpicks at the school yard just up the street from the house. Remember it vividly, I was practicing on a Thursday evening before a contest weekend and decided to fly several consecutive reverse wingovers. Things were going well until I started wondering how much fuel I had left, pulled into a wingover and couldn't decide if I wanted to pull out inverted or upright. Didn't do either and it went straight in. Hard lesson learned...

I'm cheating as these weren't mine but I remember all my buddies models from 1965-1970's.

Roy Lovell:

APS U-2 - Merco 35
Mercury Crusader - OS 35

John Salmon:

Scaled up APS Princess - OS 35

Harry Timms:

Thunderbird (II?) - Merco 35

Martin King:

APS Thunderbolt - Merco 35

Mick Frawley:

Mercury Cobra - McCoy 35

Melvin King:

Mercury Cobra - K&B Stallion

Wilf ?:

Mercury Cobra - Merco 35

Tony

In the early '60s my first "big" full fuselage plane was a Smoothie with a Veco 35. Still have it, and it's flyable.

Next was (of course) a Green Box Nobler with , yep you guessed it, a Fox 35. That same Fox (which still runs great) went through a Veco Mustang and a Midwest PT-19 back then.

My favorite was the Veco 35s but the Foxes cost less, and they were available "locally". Had a few RH McCoys, too.

As for crazy combos, I put a 36X in a Circus Prince...... glad it had a small tank!! LOL!! Still have that plane, too.

My "old reliable" was a Ringmaster (complete with metal shelf bracket to hold on the outboard wing!) which saw a BUNCH of different engines
Bill <><

Yaks, Ringmaster, Fancy Pants, Smoothie, T-Bird, Magician and many others...Fox 29 or 35 Stunt.

Johnson S: Super Ring

Johnson Sport Special: Firecat

K & B 29S: Buster

TF Hurricane, Buster: McCoy 35

Cougar: McCoy 40

Skylark: Enya 29

Magician, scratch job, OS 35-S

More later...Currell

Sabre Stunt -- Merco 35
Sabre Stunt -- McCoy 40
Magician -- OS35S
Goldberg Cosmic Wind -- McCoy 35RH
All the Sterling profiles (Yak, Mustang, etc) -- McCoy & Fox 35's

LAST EDITED ON Nov-18-03 AT 12:35 PM (CST)
 
Gosh, O.K. Here goes!

1957 to 1963

1st plane: Cox PT .19 with a good old Babe bee .049

2nd plane: Sterling Yak-9 with Fox .29

3rd plane: Green box Nobler with the same Fox .29

4th Plane: Smoothie with a McCoy .35 Red Head

5th Plane: Veco Chief with a K&B .35 Green head

6th Plane: Sterling Ruffy with the K&B Green head .35

7th Plane: Pegasus with Veco .19

8th Plane: Ambroid Ares with K&B Green head .35

Skipped 1963 to 1968 then

9th Plane: Pegasus with OS .35S

10th Plane: Thunderbird with OS .35S (Good Flying Plane!)

11th Plane: Scratch Built Spinks Akkromaster with OS .35S

Out from 1973 until 1996 then

12th Plane: Tutor with OS FP .35

13th Plane: Sig Magnum with ST .51

14th Plane: OTS All American Sr. with OS FP .35

15th Plane: 1966 Gypsy with OS FP .40 (Crashed on 3rd trim flight. Totaled)

16th Plane: Intrepid X/L with OS .46VF RE then a PA .51 RE + Pipe

17th Plane: Shark .45 with ST .51

18th Plane: Next in line is a "Pollockized" Twister.

19th Plane: Then: Scratch build OD "Excelsior" Power: Saito .56????

20th Plane: Will be a slightly modified Brodak Viking.

LAST EDITED ON Nov-18-03 AT 10:47 PM (CST)
 
OK brain, git in gear, think, think!!
1952 AJ Firebaby Spitzy .049
1953 Guillows Trixter Barnstormer McCoy .29
1954 samo, samo, new scratch Barnstormer.
1955 Baby Barnstormer OK Cub .049 B.
cars, girls, college, Navy.
1964 Barnstormer #3, McCoy .29
1965 Thunderbird (upright engine) Fox .35
1965/66 Half Fast O&R .29 blue head ( I don't know why, but probably only thing I had.
1966 Sterling iron wood kit of Neiuport 28 O&R .29
1967 Magician Fox .35 it later became an F4U sorta.
1967 Flight Streak ST .35 combat (actually 6 of these planes)
1967 Sterling Super Ringmaster Fox .25
1967 Ambroid Stuka Stunt Fox .25
1969 Ares (Ambroid) Fox .35
1969 Nobler Fox .35, Nobler Fox .35, Nobler Fox .35 (same engine, new kits.
1970 Smoothie Fox .29
1971 Magician 35 with K&B .35. It burned to the ground, hate that up exhaust. Next Magician had a Fox .35.
1972 Sig CL3 Chipmunk with "new" Fox .40 stunt.
1974/5 Started Genesis with OS .35III
1970 through 79 mostly free flight, rubber, TD, K&B etc.
From 1964 through 1975 I did some combat, mostly ST .35, Fox.36 X and .36 XBB on Demons, Splinters, Bosta, Sneekers, Super Satan, and a few others. I have a scrapbook somewhere just full of all this stuff. Hundreds of photos. Such memories.

Well, I do have a number of McCoy RedHead 35's and a couple of Fox 35's, not to mention several Cox .049's, but here's my "old time" flying history:

1956 - Mother's milk, soother, baby bottle
1959 - the occasional balsa glider, otherwise a tricycle
1961 - rubber-launched parachute soldiers
1962 - Whirligig, balsa gliders, red wagon
1963 - Schwinn bike, various kites
1965 - water-pressure rockets, kites
1968 - FIRST PLANE! Cox P-51, BabyBee .049
1969 - Ringmaster Jr., OK Cub .099 (never flew)

Sorry, that's pretty much it...

Tim

Panther with K&B.35

Lieutenant (Nice elliptical wing thing without flaps) with K&B29s

Twin Flight Streak (copied from one at the 62 nats and built in the motel room. 2 K&B .35 WAY nose heavy. Flew it on 70' .018 and it would drag you out of the circle.

Finally a Nobler with a Fox .35, but with Olympic rudders.

All sorts of combat planes with K&B35 and small case Johnson 35 later moved up to Fox35X (with bolt on front end) then to Johnson CS and BB36. Then came the dreaded stop building interlude.

First "big" airplane was PDQ Circus King with McCoy .36SS

Veco Warrior with same McCoy

Ringmaster with Fox 35

Kenhi Panther with OS Max I 35.

Half Fast with same OS 35

Greenbox Nobler with Fox 35

Hundreds of combat airplanes with OS Max, Johnson BB 36, and K&B Series 61/64 35's.

Then came a long break for daughter, work, slot cars, etc.

Back now after a long lay-off and too many projects for time. Started with a Goldberg Buster with Max S 35 then built an old Ringmaster kit for a Fox 35.

Next real project is a Barnstormer to be powered by either a K&B Greenhead 35, a Max I 35, or a small case Johnson 35.

Steve

I wasnt around in the 50's but when I started to fly in the late 70's this is what I had........

Several Cox and Testers (store bought platic .049 powered planes)

The big step up in performance was my first kit. A Sterling sheet
balsa Zero with Baby Bee Cox .049.

From there through my teenage years......

Lil Satan x2 with Cox .049
Junior Satan x2 with Fox 15 and 19
VooDoo with Fox 36
Flite Streaks x5 or 6 with Fox 19, Fox 25 and one with a Fox 36.
Magician with Fox 35
Junior Nobler with Fox 19
Green Box Nobler x3 all with Fox 35's
Super Ringmaster with Fox 35
Sig Mustang with OS 35S
G Nobler with Fox 35
Chipmunk with Como 40

Got out of it for a while but then came back.....

Chipmunk with Merco 40 (crashed)
Chipmunk with OS 40 (crashed)
Sig Mustang with Merco 40
38 Special with OS LA 46
Cardinal with OS LA 46
Muncie Heat with Super Tigre 60
Flite Steak with Fox 35
Flite Streak ARF with OS LA 25
Nobler ARF with OS 30/35S
Skyray 35 with Fox 35

and several 1/2 A's

Working on this winter.....

Dreadnought with Len's ASP 53
Time Machine with Big Jim ST 60

Rick Henry
Muncie, In.

Late 1940s (I was around 12 years old): Some "older" guys showed up at our field and they wowed us with a profile plane with built up nose and no landing gear (took off from a dolly): called "Secret Weapon", powered with a Drone Diesel 29. Was as quiet as a modern plane with muffler.
Early 1950s: A Local boy friend of mine makes good and made the Nats being held in Willow Grove, PA. He flew a Squaw with (I kid you not) a Mohawk Chief 29. It 4-2-4 cycled, and was perfect for the Squaw. In that same period I built a Chief with Fox 35. I was only around 13 years old at the time, and when I think back, that was a fair accomplishment. After that the whole neighborhood built Ringmasters with Fox 35s.
BTW: The Squaw and Chief had "tadpole" airfoil, so we applied the silkspan to the wings wet, put ambroid glue on all the ribs to force the silkspan to follow the rib's shape. Otherwise it would have shrunk and not followed the contour....we were sure the contour was something very important.
Thanks for this piece of nostalgia
Dave G in South Jersey:)

Hi Bob.
Keeping to the fifties with .35 CID on glow went something like this. Nobler from MAN plans, Ringmasters full size and cut down, Kenhi Bobcat and both versions of the Cougar, Berkley P-40 Black Tiger, deBolt All American and Sportwing, Half Fast from MAN plans, Detroit style I Beam stunters and profile I beam combat planes, Barnstormer and Trixter C-D profile, Veco Smoothie, T-Bird and Mustang and some that I don't recall. All of these were Fox 35 powered.
Circus King and Kenhi Panther had a Green Head K&B 35.
Flying Fool and Stunt Champ from AT plans had Green Head K&B 32 (sorry about that, almost a 35!).
There are others but not 35 powered. Still have the engines but most of the airplanes are just fond memories. Thanks for asking.

Don Boka.

What I did was rattle off what I am using now, baffle wise. Didn't read the instructions...

OK, young Currell...

Teardrop Enya 19 on a Sterling P-40

Ditto on a Flying Clown

OS Max 35 (1?) on a Ringmaster

McCoy 35 and 40 on ditto and a Magician

My experience closely follows our Canadian friend Tim's. !/2A's for a few years as a young lad. Finally got a Ringmaster and a K&B Stallion 35 for my 13th Birthday. Flew the darn wings off that plane, (I must have because I still have the fuselage!) A Flying Fool, a Voodoo and a few others came through my bedroom workshop using that same motor before Girls, Cars and Motorcycles distracted me.

Back at it now with a 9 year old son. Not enough time to get good enough to fly a pattern, but just being out there with him and a handle in your hand is the best. Got me a bunch of Fox motors, 35 stunts, Rockets, 36X, 15,19,25,29, another K&B .35 ( thanks Currel) and a garage full of finished, 1/2 done, and started planes,.

We are gonna burn some castor /nitro and recycle some balsa using FOX power.

Filtering out all the poopy from age 4 to 22, I started building an Excalibur not long after I got married (WAY too young) in '67. I had already acquired the OS .35S, hardware and balsa for a Mathis Excalibur. Looking back on it, I have no idea if I had the right fuel or not, K&B 100 seems likely, but not sure. I had been mixing speed fuel, so may have mixed up some 5% with UCON oil. It did a nice "wind up", with a Tornado 10-6 nylon. Nobody I knew around Seattle flew stunt. I wasn't that impressed with the engine. In the late '80's, I built a CG Buster for NW Sport Race, Fox .35S being required, I ran some of them, two or three. Not good racing engines. I don't have any good nostalgia regarding OS .35S or Fox .35S. I did have a Veco Warrior with a Fox .201 that was a good combination, tho a .25 would have been better. The Fox .19-.201-.25 were much better than the .35, IMHO. Steve

PS: The .201 was a .19 with .201 stamped on the case. It was not stroked or bored oversize. Duke was a trickster.

My plane and engine of choice, baxk in '57, was thethen new "Green Box Nobler". It was powered by my one and only engine, at the time, an absolutly perfect running McCoy RH .35, bought from my paper route earnings.

The Nobler was actually beyond my budget, but a friend had orifinally bought the kit, started it, and found it to be beyond his skills to build. He sold it to me for $5.00. he had just barely gotten the wing framed up.

I flew that plane until I went into the Navy in '62.

I had other planes at the time, and eventually aquired another engine, a K@B .35 GH, but the Nobler remained my stunt ship of choice.

Unril recently, I have always considered this Nobler as my best ever stunter.

I'm wondering why everything is spinning around?

I sort of missed the nostalgic period by being born in 1968. Flying career started in 1975…..

Cox P-51, first plane, totalled on 1st flight. (cried)
Cox F-15, first successful flight, wore out (abused plane to death)
Sterling beginners Zero, babe bee .049, wore this one out
Sterling Ringmaster Jr, Cox 15 medallion, crashed numerous times, gave up on.
Sterling Ringmaster, Fox 35, survived through college, learned inverted, etc on.
Dumas Tomahawk, Enya 29, sold
TF Baby Flite Streak, golden bee, flew the heck out of this job. Don’t know what happened to it (I think my brother did it in when I went to college
Framed up Sterling Super Ringmaster but didn’t finish

College, etc

Ringmaster jr, Fox 15 crashed broken leadout
Ringmaster, McCoy 29, flew like a dog, crashed
Finished the Super Ringmaster, totalled flight number 5, handle upside down
Sig Skyray 35/Fox 35. Learned the pattern with this job, retired due to too many minor crashes
Sig Banshee/Fox 35 crashed
TF Tutor/Fox 35 crashed
Sig CL-19 Chipmunk/FP 40 crashed after 120 flights
Sig CL-19 Chipmunk/FP 40 crashed after 30 flights
Brodak P-51 B warbird/FP 40 crashed after 115 flights
RSM P-40 /Fox 35 1st contest win Brodaks Intermediate pampa, retired after 100 flights
Brodak profile Cardinal/K&B 40 crashed 35 flights
Sig Akrobat/ FP 35 got me booted to advanced, retired after 150 flights
Sig CL-3 Chipmunk. First scratchbuilt, crashed after 37 flights
Dixon Time machine /FP 40 crashed 120 flights
Brodak Hurricane warbird-still active
Scratch built Gieseke Nobler/Fox 35 –still active, best plane I have!
Dixon Time machine 40/ FP 35 still active
Brodak Mauler warbird/ Fox 35 still active used to test the super secret Fox 35-WS
Dixon Time machine 50/ LA-46 still flight testing, four flights

Looking back I’ve broken an awful lot of stuff……..

Try this!
Dooling 29 with flexible needle valve
Sterling ringmaster
wheels- metal; procured from little brothers toy truck
fuel tank - perfect 1 1/4 ,oz
prop. veco 9-6
lines .014 solid
Power was adequate oh yeah!
Long shaft allowed plane to lawn dart into the ground simply pulling
the wing apart(never hitting the ground)
Learned how to fly inverted with it before it became too heavy
Why a dooling?
5 bucks. It was a good one.
All in all, a real adventure for a 13 year old kid.. with big glasses

1959, photo 1, FOX 35,
Trike gear Nobler, black and florecent pink, Torp 35 green head with green insert.

DICK BYRON
3325 GALAWAY BAY DR.
GRAND PRAIRIE, TX 75052
972-336-0445