Sharkface build, Big bandit

Hi Lee,

 

The Merlin would be a good choice to power one of these, I have about 3 of them.

 

In saying that dependent on age the Merlin does tend to suffer from Contra piston problems with them locking so that they can't be adjusted. I just take the cylinder off and tap the piston back, after doing this a couple of times the thing loosens up and they run sweet. On the other hand if the contra piston is too loose it makes starting quite hard so I drift the thing out of the top of the cylinder and put it on a piece of hard wood on the anvil of my vice, then use a suitable sized ball bearing to "ping it". Just put the bearing in the open end and one tap with a four oz hammer, not to hard usually does the job. Squeeze it back into the bore gently in the vice with a piece of hardwood at each end. I do this with any diesel I own that has a loose contra piston, it works every time.

 

Once sorted they are a delight to operate compared to some other motors.

 

Hopefully my Sharkface will be trimmed up and fuel proofed today and the motor run up in the garage, just a couple of tank fulls while the fuel proofer dries.

 

Can't wait to get my Matador started now, I've been following you blog with interest and forming up my idea's, the motors going to be a Mk2 ED Bee if that doesn't provide enough urge I'll change it to a PAW 149 both good motors. What I'm trying not to do is over power it at the same time I don't wont the motor to be screaming to maintain height.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris.

Thanks Steve,

 

They are so easy to put together, and quite enjoyable in a simple sort of way, and what with the balsa cement, dope thinners, tissue, diesel, acetone it's like going back to basics again.

 

Looking forward to seeing your Sharky taking shape.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris.

Hi Chris, now thats a good dodge with the contra piston I thought I'd have to make a new one. Just for info there's a note I came across on the modelenginenews.org site which says

Lee

Hi Chris forgot to say thought about putting my PAW 1.5 in but its an old non throttle job and I did'nt fancy an un throttled PAW the ED Bee should be much more sedate and with the standard rigging angles should be fine unless you're doing a full solartex covering.

 

Lee

You could 'enjoy' the full single channel experience with the Sharkface if you get one of PhilG's single channel emulation encoders. Put it in a plastic case, feeding a FrSky (or other make) 2.4gHz module, with a push button on the front. The encoder is configurable for sequentual or compound opperation. It can even be configured to give kick up elevator and quick blip throttle. The Rx and servos are as used for propo. The big plus is its reliable using a 2.4gHz RF link .

Check out the link to his site and go to the '2.4gHz Conversions' and 'Archive' pages:

 

 

Thats a great site Gonzo....I see they are planning a kind of fly in sometime.....would be great for RCM&E to cover it...I'm sure Mr Whittaker wouldn't mind crossing into Yorkshire for such a meeting......

 

How 'bout it Mr Ashby???

Yes, he'll be there if, as and when

 

 

Hi Lee,

 

I've been "pinging contra pistons for years", save turning up new ones. I think it dates back to when quality control hadn't been heard of and some of the stuff coming out of the DC factory wasn't that good. I worked in a model shop back in the early seventies for a short time.

 

When customers brought a motor back, you could tell when the contra piston was leaking by the bubbles passing the comp screw. Just pinged it and ran it up so they could hear it running in the back room (leave the door open), tell em not to adjust the settings till they were familiar with starting the thing and give em a free can of nitrated diesel as a sweetener .

 

Some of the older motors have a tread tapped into the open end to facilitate drifting the piston back into the bore.

 

The fibre washer you mention are a problem if the barrel has been over tightened into the crankcase. Old fashioned hardware shops some times stock them as sealing washes for older kitchen sink taps in a range of sizes, I always buy a few when I'm shopping for plumbing supplies, just in case.

 

If you haven't already thrown it away, the card board rolls that Christmas wrapping paper is sold on, these days they've gone for a stiff but thin card rather than a tube, save it it's brilliant for gaskets on small engines. Just soak it in after run oil after cutting, it'll out last the original.

 

I'm enjoying this mucking about with old motors malarkey again too much, and will have to get a grip and pull some finger with the Super 60 .

 

Cheers,

 

Chris.

Hi Lee it's me again,

 

As for the PAW 149, their not too expensive these days, so I might invest in a new one with throttle and silencer, I'm not too keen on running motors without a silencer these days, even diesels.

 

With the older Bees and ED variants along with the Mills motors, I've used a cork bung on the end of a length of piano wire, slapped into the air intake as a crude form of throttle. Just whittle away a bit of cork so when it's rammed into the air intake the motor just keeps running. Some motors had an air bleed so they could be used to stop the motor at will, two of my Mills are good examples.

 

For the Matador I'll use a bung as a throttle stop rather than a fuel cut off or buy a new motor.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris.

Hey Gonzo,

 

I've looked at the site, in fact Chris Bott has already gone down the S/C on 2.4 gig route with his Matador. It's very tempting and the lads from Phil and Shaun's Single channel and Vintage R/C page were at the Nats. For me I need more work space ie the garage when it has a new roof ( been in there today and the floors wet from yesterdays rain), but will give it a try sometime soon, particularly if I can get hold of an authentic S/C TX case just for the job. I'm quite happy building my own RC gear so it'd be a dodle, but it would have to be safe.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris.

Hey Steve,

 

It would be great if there was a flyin for Vintage including S/C , any road up I've done a bit in the shed today, first off I've sorted out my tissue boxes, just to see what I have.

 

Blimy Chris are they 51/2x4 props? did'nt know they made um. Only used 5x3 and 6x4 on the cox 's currently using cox 6x4 on Sharkey

Lee

Hi Lee, they were a snip on Ebay, I have a 5 x3 KK prop and some 6 x 4 Cox props, just need to try em to see what gives the best results. I found this on the site that you mentioned.

 

modelenginenews

 

Brilliant site, there's also a link to a cox site that's a fantastic source of information if you have a collection of the things.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris.

Thanks for the info Chris

Lee

Hi Lee,

 

This is the Cox link absolutely fascinating I spent a long time on it.

 

Cox motors

 

Cheers,

 

Chris.

Good link on Cox motors.

Got quite a few links on various topics, ie special parts, increasing performance etc.

Got a number of Cox engines of all capacities/types as well.

A couple of links to be getting on with for now, although you may already know of them:

 

 

 

Great links guys, the engines and parts uk is Dens Models where my Sure Start came from Gonzo. Now I know why the surestart has the R/C throttle its one of the few that does'nt have SPI, I don't think you can throttle back as far with SPI.

Forget throttle on an engine with a SPI liner - no good at all. As a matter of interest I have a genuine NIB Cox TD 051 RC. Came from the factory with silencer and RC carb but they didn't fit the TD SPI liner. Sorry, taking the thread to far off topic

Hi Gonzo, great sites I have them bookmarked already, and just won another 020 on Ebay, that'll be four now. The Cox Box. There's a couple more in the garage or mounted on one of my neezers for the Mayfly at Old Warden.

 

Back to the Sharky, my mate rang this afternoon to see if I wanted to go flying, but I've got nothing charged up so I did a bit to the Super 60 and mounted the new motor on the Sharky.

 

Looking very happy with this one.