Fox 35 Stunt or Rocket

I have a chance to buy a NEW in the BOX Fox 35 Rocket. I have never heard of the Rocket. What is the difference between the FOX STUNT engine and the FOX ROCKET?

Gary

That question *was* previously asked and answered at:

(http://bigwig.geology.indiana.edu/scripts/cl-messages/messages2/35392.cfm)

But when I used my regular on-site choice of "CTRL-F," no old message threads turned up (at least, none with the word ROCKET in the title).

Additionally, if you re-vent a fuel tank for the Rocket in the manner shown in this photograph,

[photo not recovered: twister2.jpg]

You are asking for extra problems from the over-long line of soft fuel tubing waving in the wind. The fuel pickup point of the old Perfect tanks was indeed at the rear end of the tank, but the brass or copper tube carried forward toward the front end of the tank before exiting out the top center (more or less center, it was angled inward); that helps eliminate any need for extra long lines from tank to engine.

The major portion of a tank discussion message that was answering a query of Gary's about poor running was re-edited after looking at the photo above:

http://bigwig.geology.indiana.edu/scripts/cl-messages/messages2/35422.cfm

(Added in edit later: I just weighed the largest and heaviest of the aluminum safety prop nuts I have on hand. It looks roughly a third part as large as the one on the engine above, and it has a weight of 3/4 ounce. Therefore, the giant size one *MUST* weigh a couple of ounces, if not more! This sure might be an explanation for some odd things we've been hearing about!)

Back to the Rocket, though. One particular difference between Fox 35 Stunt model engines and the Rockets, other than the Rocket was intended to be "cheap" was the vibration level. The stunt engines do vibrate a great deal, but the "sport" Fox 35's and 36's vibrated even more, and that included the Rockets.

The K.

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>I believe several "cheap" Fox .35's and .36's were called "Rockets".

My recollection is marred by having been semi-inactive on the modelling scene when the Rockets came out. The first Fox 35 with a four bolt backplate had a silver head and is now referred to as either a "Series I" Combat Special or as the "Silver Head Combat Special." It was released in 1955. According to GMA, it wasn't a success. The Black Head CS ("Series II") came out in 1957 and vibrated enough that GMA shortened the noses of his prototype Flite Streaks to reduce the harmonic effects.

>The earliest known to me was based on the old Black Head Combat Special case casting (this being the first Fox CS, a sleeve bearing engine),

Actually, the Black Head came second, as outlined above, but that's OK, I had never heard of that first one until recently, either. I never owned any of the earliest Fox 4-bolt engines when they were new, myself.

> and it had a red (painted) cylinder head.

The Rocket that I have now does have a Red Head, but I've run across some that are essentially the same engine (there were two sub-varieties of Rocket 35's), just not all had the red paint. AFAIK, all of them did have cast-in graphics on the bypass of tiny rockets. I was busy in college, not in hobby stores, when Rockets were being sold. I think the first one came out in about 1958, for $9.95. The last Rocket was made before the 35X's came out, roughly 1962.

The two main varieties I am now aware of are the pre-Series 3, and the post-Series 3 cases. Halfway through the run of the Rocket, the Black Head Fox was replaced by the Series 3 Combat Special, with the two piece case, and twin needle bearing front end. After the first run(s) of those sold out fairly rapidly, the last version of the Series 3 shared part of its case with the Rocket 35.

Each one had the front lugs cast on where the front end bolted up, but those were like the nipples on male animals, serving no purpose, on the actual Rockets. The Series 3's were made from the same parts, just having the Rocket's front bushing portion chopped off in front of the lugs. So the last of the Series 3 engines also had the rockets on the bypass.

> One of my high school flying buddies, Jerry Painter, had one. I don't recall the vibration level, but it went fairly well. I'd rather have a nice Fox .201, tho. I foolishly sold mine many years ago.

That's another one that I never had. But each time Fox built a bushing shaft engine similar to the Rocket, it was a vibrating monster. The Sport 36's of the 1970's and 1980's, with the odd shaped fins on the heads, were related to 36X's, and the internal parts could be swapped around. But those particular 36's vibrated worse than any Fox before or since!

Kiwi

LAST EDITED ON Sep-26-01 AT 09:42 PM (CDT)

I believe several "cheap" Fox .35's and .36's were called "Rockets". The earliest known to me was based on the old Black Head Combat Special case casting (this being the first Fox CS, a sleeve bearing engine), and it had a red (painted) cylinder head. One of my high school flying buddies, Jerry Painter, had one. I don't recall the vibration level, but it went fairly well. Jerry's "Rocket" had the venturi restricton (cast in restrictor) drilled out and generally was brought back to Fox CS specs. Alas, Jerry seldom had a model to fly it on. I wonder if he still has it? Hmmmm. One of my other HS flying buddies is my dentist, and he still has his "Bathtub" Fox .29R, which was run but not on an airplane AFAIK. Have not been able to talk him out of it... yet. My recollection of the "Rocket" was that at least some of them had a little graphic rocket cast onto the bypass, but it could have been the .36X Rocket. Man, that was a long time ago...40 years! One of the guys over in Pullman, WA had a new Fox CS in '58 or '59...Bob Snyder. He had it on a Sterling "Flying Fool" first, which was almost unflyable with so much power. I'm not sure what the problem was, pushrod, controls, alignment, flutter or ? I think he put a .35 stunt in that and built a "ComBat" for the .35CS. I remember seeing his, and remember the magazine article. Bare has plans, I'm sure. Another guy, Jim Fanning, had a Veco Tomtom with a McCoy .29 R and a Walker pressure tank. It was loud inside the Field House on 50' lines! Has anybody tried putting a couple of tungsten inserts into the counterweight of a Fox? Why not?! Steve