Re: WEN-MAC STORY

batjac Thu Aug 27, 2020 12:05 am

a betancourt wrote:Does anybody have information on the Wen-Mac stick control like the one on the bottom right of the ad?

I actually managed to find and purchase one of these a few years ago. I just pulled it off the shelf to look at again. Unfortunately, it's such an intricate piece of machinery that you'd need a full machine shop to replicate. I'll try to make time tomorrow to take pictures of the assembly and the operating instructions.

The Remote Mark

aspeed Thu Aug 27, 2020 8:19 am

I like that remote stick idea. Always thought it would be good for flying speed models that I had trouble keeping up with. There was another attempts at making one. One was called Revolution that was about $200 not too long ago. It seems to have vanished, or is not being advertised any more. There was an older version many years ago that was well made, and likely expensive in the day. https://www.facebook.com/PhillyFliersCL/photos/a.513142608755878.1073741825.513140418756097/731890976881039/?type=1&theater The yellow part of it was pretty much the handle.

Amclaussen Sat Nov 07, 2020 8:17 pm

rsv1cox wrote:First flip starting? 15 second start from mount to fuel? I once cranked on one of the little darlings for a half hour becoming so frustrated that I almost did a Wen hurl even before I knew of a Fox hurl.

Seriously, immediately thereafter I found a Cox Babe Bee which thankfully started right off renewing my faith in glow engines.

Bob

ABSOLUTELY! A dear uncle bought me a Wen-Mac 049 powered control-line, kind of "Jet" when I was seven years old, a beautiful plane that had swept back wingswith wing-tip tanks and a triangular shaped stabilizer, tricycle landing gear and a canopy. (BTW:Someone knows it's name?). One day my dear father decided it was time to "Break-in the engine", so he took a good reading at the instruction sheet... Perhaps too good, as the damn little engine refused to start for a good full couple of hours of futile attempts! As it happened; at our high altitude of 7,350 ft asl here in Mexico City, resulted in a wrong needle valve setting (I don't remember exactly, as I was under 7 years old and it was around 1962!), but probably the instructions dictated something like "three and a half turns open", but at that "golden" setting the engine was too rich and never started. some days latter, my father took me to a local Hobby Shop (that was like being in Heaven!), where an experienced gentleman was able to get it perfectly running in less than three minutes... it happened that the "instructions sheet, like most printed materials of that era, in a probable attempt to show "how easy" it was, lacked any indications about both a flooded engine or a too lean one... and the needle setting was quite critical and had to be adjusted between two and two and a quarter turns only, and VERY carefully adjusted to max the RPMs.

In a sharp contrast, my neighbor received a Cox olive green P-51B model with a Cox product engine, and even in our too inexpert hands, we were able to get it running after less than half an hour without any help from our older relatives. As it seems, the Reed Valve of the Cox engines was easier to start than any Wen-Mac or rotary valve Tee Dees or Medallions ever were!

rsv1cox Sun Nov 08, 2020 7:57 am

Amclaussen wrote:
rsv1cox wrote:First flip starting? 15 second start from mount to fuel? I once cranked on one of the little darlings for a half hour becoming so frustrated that I almost did a Wen hurl even before I knew of a Fox hurl.

Seriously, immediately thereafter I found a Cox Babe Bee which thankfully started right off renewing my faith in glow engines.

Bob

ABSOLUTELY! A dear uncle bought me a Wen-Mac 049 powered control-line, kind of "Jet" when I was seven years old, a beautiful plane that had swept back wingswith wing-tip tanks and a triangular shaped stabilizer, tricycle landing gear and a canopy. (BTW:Someone knows it's name?). One day my dear father decided it was time to "Break-in the engine", so he took a good reading at the instruction sheet... Perhaps too good, as the damn little engine refused to start for a good full couple of hours of futile attempts! As it happened; at our high altitude of 7,350 ft asl here in Mexico City, resulted in a wrong needle valve setting (I don't remember exactly, as I was under 7 years old and it was around 1962!), but probably the instructions dictated something like "three and a half turns open", but at that "golden" setting the engine was too rich and never started. some days latter, my father took me to a local Hobby Shop (that was like being in Heaven!), where an experienced gentleman was able to get it perfectly running in less than three minutes... it happened that the "instructions sheet, like most printed materials of that era, in a probable attempt to show "how easy" it was, lacked any indications about both a flooded engine or a too lean one... and the needle setting was quite critical and had to be adjusted between two and two and a quarter turns only, and VERY carefully adjusted to max the RPMs.

In a sharp contrast, my neighbor received a Cox olive green P-51B model with a Cox product engine, and even in our too inexpert hands, we were able to get it running after less than half an hour without any help from our older relatives. As it seems, the Reed Valve of the Cox engines was easier to start than any Wen-Mac or rotary valve Tee Dees or Medallions ever were!

Hey amc, I don't know whether to welcome you, or ask - where ya been. Join 2017 with 2 posts. Smile

Funny, I have rotary valve engines that start right off Testors etc. yet some that never will, same compressions and NV settings.

7,350 feet is up there, we are at a mere 1400 feet here in West Virginia.

Don't stay away so long.

roddie Mon Nov 09, 2020 8:13 pm

rsv1cox wrote:
Amclaussen wrote:
rsv1cox wrote:First flip starting? 15 second start from mount to fuel? I once cranked on one of the little darlings for a half hour becoming so frustrated that I almost did a Wen hurl even before I knew of a Fox hurl.

Seriously, immediately thereafter I found a Cox Babe Bee which thankfully started right off renewing my faith in glow engines.

Bob

ABSOLUTELY! A dear uncle bought me a Wen-Mac 049 powered control-line, kind of "Jet" when I was seven years old, a beautiful plane that had swept back wingswith wing-tip tanks and a triangular shaped stabilizer, tricycle landing gear and a canopy. (BTW:Someone knows it's name?). One day my dear father decided it was time to "Break-in the engine", so he took a good reading at the instruction sheet... Perhaps too good, as the damn little engine refused to start for a good full couple of hours of futile attempts! As it happened; at our high altitude of 7,350 ft asl here in Mexico City, resulted in a wrong needle valve setting (I don't remember exactly, as I was under 7 years old and it was around 1962!), but probably the instructions dictated something like "three and a half turns open", but at that "golden" setting the engine was too rich and never started. some days latter, my father took me to a local Hobby Shop (that was like being in Heaven!), where an experienced gentleman was able to get it perfectly running in less than three minutes... it happened that the "instructions sheet, like most printed materials of that era, in a probable attempt to show "how easy" it was, lacked any indications about both a flooded engine or a too lean one... and the needle setting was quite critical and had to be adjusted between two and two and a quarter turns only, and VERY carefully adjusted to max the RPMs.

In a sharp contrast, my neighbor received a Cox olive green P-51B model with a Cox product engine, and even in our too inexpert hands, we were able to get it running after less than half an hour without any help from our older relatives. As it seems, the Reed Valve of the Cox engines was easier to start than any Wen-Mac or rotary valve Tee Dees or Medallions ever were!

Hey amc, I don't know whether to welcome you, or ask - where ya been. Join 2017 with 2 posts.

Funny, I have rotary valve engines that start right off Testors etc. yet some that never will, same compressions and NV settings.

7,350 feet is up there, we are at a mere 1400 feet here in West Virginia.

Don't stay away so long.

Hey Robert, Smile

I couldn't find the 1st quote.. (First flip starting?) in this thread.. but wanted to reply to that. The Hurl thing made me chuckle.. although I'm sorry that you've had some bad luck. I probably have one of those engines. You sent me several for-parts engines in box a few years ago. I've since come into a few more.

I tried (also unsuccessfully..) to start a later model Testors/McCoy variant (FRV). I can't blame the "engine"... I didn't give it much of a chance. I honestly think that new-condition head-gaskets would make a difference. The Cox .049/.051 engines can utilize that awesome Tee Dee Aluminum spinner for quick-blips with an electric starter. It gets an engine that's down on compression; going again. Tougher to get a strong-enough spinner, for attachment with a prop-nut.. like the Wen-Mac/McCoy-Testors. They have a 6-32 externally-threaded crankshaft. A 6-32 threaded spinner-nut would be slick.. and probably aid in starting these engines by spinning-over with a 1/2A electric starter.

roddie Tue Nov 10, 2020 7:30 pm

I don't hear much talk about propellers when it comes to these particular .049 glow-engines. I have a good supply of 5 and 6 inch diameter propellers.

I currently have a 6"d. X 3"p. Zinger-brand woody, mounted on an early Testors/McCoy FRV engine.

Most all of my 1/2A propellers have a 1/8" diameter hub-hole, sized for a 5-40 threaded prop-screw (ala Cox/OK Cub.. and probably others). This engine's crankshaft OD is .160" and the nearest "commonly available" drill-bit size is 11/64" (.173") which is a little over-size so I had to enlarge the hub-hole. A #20 (Machinist) drill-bit has a .161" diameter. That's probably what I used to enlarge the hub-hole in the Zinger prop. I think that it's well-worth having a set of #1-60 (Machinist-size) drills.. if you spend a good amount of time in this hobby.

If the engine is capable of running well.. is that propeller "too much" for it?

getback Wed Nov 11, 2020 6:05 am

Look in here AMC i think i found ur plane . https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk01lrzPpYU3gn2j5nbRTTLLXDaCrEg:1605095975554&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=wen-mac+049+powered+control-line&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjM2s-7uPrsAhULr1kKHbIrDioQjJkEegQIDRAB&biw=1493&bih=776&dpr=1.13#imgrc=2tLZKb09Ep2tWM Mark IV Vintage Very Happy

Willi_S Tue Oct 01, 2024 7:42 am

Hello.
On Saturday I got a Wen-Mac 'Aeromite' cum 'Super-Trainer'. Attached to a 'normal' prop is an aluminium 'piece' on which is stamped 'VARI-SPEED'. (see pictures)

In an old advert I found that with this device one can fly with 3 different speeds.
Is here anybody who knows how this works???

Regards,
Willi

rsv1cox Tue Oct 01, 2024 1:19 pm

It has been discussed here before, maybe once or twice. It must be rare. I know little about it and have never seen one. Quite a find.

Bob

Willi_S Wed Oct 02, 2024 2:43 am

Hi Bob.

Thanks for your reply.

I used the 'Search' with many words, but to no availe. Can you give me a hint for finding the thread concerning the 'vari-speed'-prop?

Regards
Willi

GallopingGhostler Wed Oct 02, 2024 6:46 am

Willi_S wrote:I used the 'Search' with many words, but to no availe. Can you give me a hint for finding the thread concerning the 'vari-speed'-prop?

Click on this forum's Google search instead of the Inside. With multiple word searches, Google inserts the operative OR. Replace OR with AND in Google search results and search again.

The AND will include all posts that have all the words. This will help nail it down.

You can look at the searched images, which sometimes will help locate the thread wanted. Don't use a lot of words, which then confuses the search. I would use "vari-speed" and "prop". If that doesn't do it, then "vari" and "speed" and "prop". You may also want to try "Wen" and "Mac" and "prop" or "propeller", etc.

Google automatically puts OR between the words. Change OR to AND and search again, and it will narrow search results.

rsv1cox Wed Oct 02, 2024 6:27 pm

I just went through 8 1960's W/M catalogs and can't find a thing on it. Maybe not a W/M item.

GallopingGhostler Wed Oct 02, 2024 10:09 pm

I recall somewhere that metal props came with a few early half-A engines, and then there was a voluntary ban on them due to the ability to slice fingers like a knife. I think this was in the early 1950's. I think it was a recommendation from the then young Academy of Aeronautics (AMA).

Regarding a vari-prop with sheet metal blades, I'm only speculating but with the metal as flexible as it is, perhaps one could bend the blades to whatever pitch was desired. A set of cardboard or sheet balsa triangles with the proper angle to ensure the right pitch setting could have been used to bend to the desired pitch.

Again speculation, but I can't imagine how else it would be vari-pitched.

Back in the 1940's and 1950's, there were a lot of interesting engineering discussions in model airplane how to books. This really fascinates me. Even in the earlier forums in the earlier days of computers, there was a good number of different discussion groups on engineering theory and practice.

Seems much of this has changed, as a certain wokeness which I believe has been promoted by academia to the extent that such discussions is considered the practice of engineering, and one cannot discuss in open forums lest he be accused of practicing engineering without a license. Sh*t Hit The Fan

Oops! I better get off the pot. Reading

I think I would have enjoyed doing model airplanes in the 1940's and 1950's. Except in some locales, it was considered healthy noise. Very Happy

Oldenginerod Wed Oct 02, 2024 11:44 pm

It says vari-speed, not vari-pitch. It appears to mount in front of a regular prop, so I'm guessing that it interrupts the airflow over the main prop. Not sure how you'd get three speeds because the blade has a tag locating it in a particular position. If it wasn't sitting hard against the edge of the prop it may have the chance to work loose. Maybe one of the settings was with the blade behind the prop, again interrupting the airflow only in a different way. We've seen a round disc mounted with the prop on other models which is used to slow the plane down for a beginner. Maybe it uses the same principle??

GallopingGhostler Thu Oct 03, 2024 12:37 am

Rod, it is interesting you mention of a disk mounted say behind the prop, to create additional drag to slow flight down. I never heard of that before, but could see the merit where one could reduce flight speed through drag.

I was referring to the pitch of the prop to vary the speed of the plane in flight. Again, this was pure speculation. The metal props were short lived, I gather and discontinued early on, perhaps why we hear little of them today or know much on their history. Fact that some of our half-A enthusiasts have them in their collection means they have a bit of little known history in their possession.

rsv1cox Thu Oct 03, 2024 7:25 am

rsv1cox wrote:I just went through 8 1960's W/M catalogs and can't find a thing on it. Maybe not a W/M item.

Must be a Wen Mac offering. #13 in the diagram above.

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