Are there still any line contorl model pilots?

[high time cub]

Pop Quiz: Roy Cox was a pilot and flew a 1950 Navion. Name the modified aerobatic biplane that he also owned.


HT & V

[champ driver]

He owned a 1927 Fleet biplane and his red and white checkerboard TD-3 Navion.
I cheated, I looked it up on the web, although I think the date on the Fleet is incorrect. The Fleet biplane first flew in 1928.

https://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Cox.htm

[Mayhemxpc]

I also had a Cox Stuka. Neat looking plane. It had THREE control wires (strings). The third was was to drop the bomb from the belly. Also had a silver Mustang...until I ran it into a lightpost. Obviously I wasn't maintaining position as I turned round and round. My brother had a Pitts, which my Dad flew for him (actually, they were all really Dad's toys.) I remember my Dad trying to loop it or something and it coming back and diving right on top of him. I am sure it hurt and was a serious thing, but it was funny to watch. Yes, more time spent trying to get those engines to start than actually flying them.

[high time cub]

He owned a 1927 Fleet biplane and his red and white checkerboard TD-3 Navion.
I cheated, I looked it up on the web, although I think the date on the Fleet is incorrect. The Fleet biplane first flew in 1928.

https://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Cox.htm

Ah, well done! Yes, it was a 1930 Fleet model 1 - Extra points if you can name the engine and prop that was used to modify the Fleet.


HT & V

[stinsoner]

Boy, this thread brought back some memories. For many of us, plastic model airplanes and line control/U-control airplanes are what ignited the flame. I remember getting started in a group when I was in junior high school--we were mentored by some local adults who brought us along into the hobby. I ended up building and flying many of the same models previously mentioned-- a Baby Ringmaster/with Babe Bee .049; a Baby Flitestreak with the Golden Bee; Junior Ringmaster and Jr. Flitestreak with Fox .15; and a Yak 9 powered with a Fox .35. I also had one of those Cox plastic models, a yellow and blue Tri-Pacer. I don't ever remember ever getting it to fly. For me like a lot of you this was the beginning of a life long love affair with airplanes and aviation. I moved on to private pilot, degreed in Aerospace engineering; Navy pilot; corporate pilot; and now, R-E-T-I-R-E-D!, and a Stinson pilot for the past 25 years. Yes, my wife knows it; I have a one track mind!

[proplock]

When I was a kid there were a lot of flying model planes and some were a lot of fun.There were a few soaring gliders, a few free flight models, but most were line control or U contrtol where the pilot stands in the mddle of the area and the plane which is on the end of a fine line flys a circle around the pilot , perhaps 100 ft radius. The line is connected to a U shaped device so that as pilot tilits it up you get up elevator and tilt down for the opposite. Some of these are pretty sensitive especially the fast ones, and they can make you really dizzy quickly. They sound like a real airplane, not an electric one.
I have 2 brand new planes fully assembled, still in the original boxes, never opened, just a little dusty, and I am not sure where is a good home for them. They have some sentimental value to me, I dont want to see them just wrecked, They are COX .049, one is a Spitfire and one a P-51, I think the Red Baron maybe. Im told they are fast , espcially the 51 and therefore need an expert pilot. I have flown a little line control with a basic traineer , but a long time ago and I m not up to these though it woud be fun.
Any offers to buy or otherwise good suggestions? Does EAA still fly the model behind the museum at Pioneer Airport during EAA? These are probably too fast for kids, but might be fun for demos?

Show up at EAA, bring your stuff, I'm sure someone will answer your questions. Control line is alive and well at EAA, working with the kids.

[dclaxon]

The best place for a Cox RTF .049 powered, molded plastic airplane models is in the original box on a collector's display shelf. Not something that you'd want to fly.

I just recently found a Cox .049 powered P-40 on the top shelf of a closet I was cleaning out that I had forgotten was there. I barely remember buying it at a local discount department store that was going out of business, probably sometime in the early '80s. I know I have never started the engine and flown it, and I can't remember if I've even opened the box and taken it out.
Dave

[dclaxon]

It was amazing what you could make fly with a Cox 049, as long as it was light enough.

Ron Wanttaja

Back in high school, (in the 60's) I had a Cox .049 powered Ford GT40 control line model. As I recall, it didn't fly very well,but it did get airborne pretty quick on its first "taxi."
Dave

[Stearmanbob]

Ah, well done! Yes, it was a 1930 Fleet model 1 - Extra points if you can name the engine and prop that was used to modify the Fleet.


HT & V

Probably a Continual 0-300 or 125 hp with an aeromatic prop would be my guess.

[Bill Greenwood]

I never had any starting problems with the Cox .049 engines, back when I used to fly them . They are so simple and reliable. You need fuel, just make sure iti is fresh and hasn't been siting around open, if I recall the fuel is nitromethane with and oli base, ,maybe castor oil, the nitro is the flammable part and can evaporate out if left open. The you just need a fresh battery and a working glow plug, its that simple. You fuel up the little tank and open the needle valve 3 turns, and squirt a few drops of fuel in the exhaust port with your rubber bulb and crank. You should be able to hear the fuel sizziling on the glow plug, but if not and no start, use the little wrench to remove the glow plug and when you connect the leads from the battery you can see the glow plug light up and get hot, or if not replace it with a fresh one. If it fires and dies, open the needle valve another half turn to 3 and 1/2. Wish big airplane engines were this cheap and easy. And wash your hands after , the nitro is bad for skin. And that little mass produced simple engine will turn 18,000 rpm. I had a few larger engines like FOX but found them harder to start.
And for cranking with you hand be carful, that little 049 will pop your finger hard enough to bleed, but a big FOX .35 might take a finger off, the safest way is to use a starting stick or electric starter.