A.J. Firebaby

OK AJ experts, I've got a question. I have a (wooden fuse) Firebaby Bipe NIB that originally came with the Firecracker engine. Unfortunately somewhere over the years the engine was removed. The question is this, I have since purchased an AJ .065 and there is no way to mount this engine on the aluminum firewall. Was there some special mounting adaptor or do I have the wrong engine?

Do you have the firewall plate for it, or just the two fuselage mounted metal supports?

I've got everything and there is no way this engine will mount up without modification or an adaptor. It looks like maybe a ring might go between the case and cover that would allow radial mounting,

>OK AJ experts, I've got a question. I have a (wooden fuse)
>Firebaby Bipe NIB that originally came with the Firecracker
>engine. Unfortunately somewhere over the years the engine
>was removed. The question is this, I have since purchased an
>AJ .065 and there is no way to mount this engine on the
>aluminum firewall. Was there some special mounting adaptor
>or do I have the wrong engine?
>
>Randy Ryan
>AMA 8500
>SAM 36
>I fly 'em all and love it!

No there was no adaptor. I have mine in hand and the .065 isn't close. My CUB fits. Good question WHY NOT? I'll ask Frank Macy in the Morning.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-17-04 AT 09:20 AM (CDT)
 
Thanks Scott,

I haven't lost it, that's a relief.

I've actually been real tempted to assemble this thing and fly it, they were SO much but my brother and I never had the bipe. I still might even knowing how much I'll diminish the value. What the heck, they're not much good in the box.

Randy Ryan
AMA 8500
SAM 36
I fly 'em all and love it!

Here's a shot of the engine, firewall, fuse and the engine instruction sheet that came out of the accesory bag in the kit. Sure looks the same to me, but no indication at all as to how this engine mounts up.

Randy, fly it. The Firebaby is being reproduced by Frank Macy soon.

>Randy, fly it. The Firebaby is being reproduced by Frank
>Macy soon.
>

There already out!
Frank I sone of our club members and what a good guy. You can buy parts or the whole thing.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-17-04 AT 09:28 AM (CDT)
 
All of my Firebaby's past and present only had .035 to .049 engines. The .065 was for the FireBee (the one with the throttle and looked like the T28 Trojan). My firebaby planes had the Spitfire, Spitzy, OK Cub .049, and one has a Baby Bee .049. That is more than enough engine for the Fire Baby.
PS This early ARF is OTS eligible.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-17-04 AT 09:58 AM (CDT)
 
So the "Firecracker" engine was "supercharged"? Where's the blower? Wouldn't this be false advertising? (So many questions...)--every Firebaby I ever saw (I learned to fly on one when the World was young) used radial mount engines; never saw beam-mount used.
And, OTS legal??!!??! Would this plane even do a loop? We scraped one out once in awhile, from the top of the cirlce to inches-off-the-ground if we were lucky. Let's try to stay within shouting distance of reality, shall we? (OTS indeed, grumble, grumble...)

Ray(M-Modeler)

All true, but think of how impressed the judges would be if you did get maneuvers out of it.

Actually, I had a chance to fly a Cub powered one on metal lines some years ago and it was far more agile. I think that taped elevator hinge gave the controls more stiffness than the dacrons can handle. The guy that owned it claimed to have gotten it inverted and held it there but couldn't figure a way out. With 35-40' of metal lines and something like an RR-1 on the front, you just MIGHT do it.

I had a batch with the K&B Infant Torpedo .049 on them.

"SAVE ALL THE PIECES"-Phil Brown

>So the "Firecracker" engine was "supercharged"? Where's the
>blower? Wouldn't this be false advertising? (So many
>questions...)--every Firebaby I ever saw (I learned to fly
>on one when the World was young) used radial mount engines;
>never saw beam-mount used.
>And, OTS legal??!!??! Would this plane even do a loop? We
>scraped one out once in awhile, from the top of the cirlce
>to inches-off-the-ground if we were lucky. Let's try to stay
>within shouting distance of reality, shall we? (OTS indeed,
>grumble, grumble...)

I've done the OTS pattern with the Firebaby. Takes two runs....lol

>
>I've done the OTS pattern with the Firebaby. Takes two
>runs....lol

Hi Scott,
I believe it... I had two Firebabys in the early 1950's. Flown
with Baby Spitfires and an OK Cub .039x. I did my first inverted
and lazy eights with them. the engines ran great with the baloon
tanks. What is Frank Macy's address? So I can order a Firebaby
Repro.....I've got a Baby Spitfire or two around here somewhere...
Tony

Yes, it is OTS legal. BUT, that doesn't mean it will do the OTS pattern. Lots of OTS legal plans exist for models from that era and very few of them fly all that well. It was an era of experimentation, not unlike the 20's in aviation. But fun. I could do loops with mine, but not much else. Inverted, but that was right after takeoff and not really intentional. Being legal doesn't mean capable.

>Yes, it is OTS legal. BUT, that doesn't mean it will do the
>OTS pattern. Lots of OTS legal plans exist for models from
>that era and very few of them fly all that well. It was an
>era of experimentation, not unlike the 20's in aviation.
>But fun. I could do loops with mine, but not much else.
>Inverted, but that was right after takeoff and not really
>intentional. Being legal doesn't mean capable.

SO TRUE TY

LAST EDITED ON Jul-17-04 AT 11:42 AM (CDT)
 
Ty,

The Firebaby that came with engine came with the .065 Fircracker which is pictured. The instruction sheet is from the kit itself. So this engine was used with this model, I just can't figure out how it was mounted.

Here is a picture of the Firecracker nested in its place in the box.
A picture of the box end identifying it as a Biplane with engine.
A picture of the Firebaby on the back of the engine instructions clearly showing the Firecracker on it, probably not so clear in the photo. You can see the mounts on the engine, but not how the engine is actually attached. (There is also a picture of the FireBee with the Firecracker on it as well)

This engine IS supposed to be on this airplane, how does it mount up?

Randy,
See if it might take a couple of "J" bolts from the rear lug holes to the firewall.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-17-04 AT 06:47 PM (CDT)
 
AHH, I'm sure it mounted by using the back plate center bolt not unlike the Hornet engine. Not very much fun to mount, but this is how it was done. I have seen this on a few other older models. It took a while for my memory to kick in. My friend back home in Nevada had the bipe version, but we used that top wing as a spare. Flew them to oil soaked never never land. Then went on to a few Scentific kits and then the Barnstormer and Brave. Oh to go back with what I now know.

ken d.
If I remember correctly, (it's been about 50 years),
my firebaby engine had a threaded hole in the back
plate and was held to the firewall by that single screw.
the tab on the firewall held one of the engine mounts
to keep the engine from rotating. that's the hok up I
remember.
Ken:

LAST EDITED ON Jul-17-04 AT 06:05 PM (CDT)
 
The Firebaby came with several engine mounting firewalls. The .065 used the one with the u shaped tab that kept the engine from rotating. The engine was mounted with a single screw to the center of the rear cover. The engine's beam mounting lug sat in the middle of the u shaped tab. Looks too weak to me. I made some copies of the original assembly plan if anyone is interested.

"SAVE ALL THE PIECES"-Phil Brown
[photo not recovered: firebaby.jpg]

There you go. I think one of the OK Cub engines mounted very much like that. I may have that back plate. Let me look for it in the morning.

Thanks guys,

After looking very carefully I came to the conclusion you've all born out. The diagram shows it well and oddly enough the assembly instructions I have don't picture the Firecracker, but all the others are there. The tab actually fits over the lug to keep the engine from rotating. I think I'm gonna' put this puppy together and play with it.

If I were going to fly a firebaby with an 065 or any other beam mounted engine, I would use a plastic "R/C" type mount.

"SAVE ALL THE PIECES"-Phil Brown