Show and Tell

Details on your experience with K&B Torpedo .049, pray tell. I've got one from an E bay buy with medium poor compression-- loss at piston-cylinder fit it seems. As I recall, on a test run a few years back, it got about 10.5k on a Cox black 5-3 prop and homebrew fuel (11% +11% oil) , 15-20 nitro or thereabouts. Then overheating with further compression loss sagged in and I had to let it cool off completely before another run.

My engines are GRRRREAT! 15,200 rpm on one, and the other is 14,600 rpm on 5x3 props. 25% nitro. Smooth running, tank size perfect for free flight planes.

Well don't lose them in some cornfield.

The Valkyrie was also offered as a control line model. It's that particular model that you show. There was a kit offered by a manufacturer and all I can remember was that it was in a green box. The Valkyrie just always had the cool factor for me. If you ever get to see it in person, it's just amazing.

Hmmm. This is the plan that I used to build the VALKYRIE Free Flight model. The plan does not show any configuration to build it as a control line model. This plane is 37" in length.

Bob i have always envied the way you display your engines , have you every ran one those WenMac with the spark plug type glow on it

Gus, the plans I had and I would have to check with my buddy Dan to see was in both versions. You could do either or. I came across the control line kit at a swap meet and regretfully passed on it due to other invites. I would really like to build it via control line. While it probably wouldn't be a impressive stunt plane, it certainly does offer the coolness. I have many like it, they're different, and they just are too darn neat. One of our senior members built a Space Shuttle, .020 pusher freeflight. It was just comical to see it fly and I just enjoy watching this stuff.

The B-70 looks like an "appropriate conversion" type to a foam board model.

No i meant the pic i put up with that timmer engine in it Wen Mac / MCcoy Non Cox engine (champion Plug )

Ah cabinets, something, no matter what you collect, as a collector, you’re always looking for another one.

Bob and Bill, your cabinet displays are beautiful and well set out. I am aspiring to get there.

I  always seem to be behind the eight ball, the one I’ve just got can be filled immediately with stuff still leftover, so I’m already keeping an eye out for another one.

Unless one makes a firm commitment to stop collecting, you never seem to catch up.

A few years back my brother, who is always on the lookout for a deal, was walking past a jeweller and noticed a closing down sign in the window.
He entered, and after inquiring if any of the display cabinets might be for sale, was told to come back on Saturday afternoon.
We both went back on the Saturday and were offered three wall hanging display cabinets for $90 each (about US$60.00).
My brother and I both bought one each (oh how I have kicked myself for not buying the third one).

Mine sat under a blanket in the garage for about six months until I got the time and the urge to mount it on the wall.
Even empty, it has a fair bit of weight to it, so as well as making sure I could attach the back of the cabinet across a couple of studs, I fitted a wooden rail to the wall for it to rest on and take most of the weight.
So, having taken careful measurements, double checking said measurements, mounting the rail to the wall ensuring it was perfectly level and then finding the holes I had drilled in the back of the cabinet lined up with the stud’s dead in the centre (that normally doesn’t happen), I screwed the cabinet to the wall. Placing the level on the top of the cabinet I must have looked like the cat that got the cream as the bubble sat squarely in the middle between the lines.

I made myself a coffee and sat down at the table to look across the room at my crowning glory and my mouth nearly hit the floor in disbelief at the sight that greeted me.



There is no need to give a quote here of the words I uttered (they wouldn’t be permitted anyway) but I imagine most will be able to get close.

Once the red haze had cleared, I started to think how am I going to fix this. The wall is bowed and re-doing the wall was not an option for me.

I live in what used to be a furniture warehouse and the wall is part of what was an office (now a spare bedroom which is now occupied by my 22yr old son who is in-between flats).
That particular section of wall lining is mdf sheet which is probably why it has bowed.  
Anyway, I didn’t think gap filler would hide it that well so I settled on using some beading across the top and down the sides.
I thought most people won’t even notice it and no one has yet either or, if they have, they haven’t said anything.



Of course, the neat and tidy display of a dozen or so engines I had envisaged quickly became the overflowing jumble that is stacked in the cabinet now, which is  about two thirds of the non Cox engines I currently have.



 
Before my son arrived earlier this year, one of my daughters came to stay while her new house was being built. Not having a wardrobe in the spare room, I hastily converted my linen cupboard into one by removing some of the shelves and fitting a coat hanger rail.
Shortly after my daughter left, my son arrived so my linen cupboard is still a wardrobe and the larger cabinet I had purchased for the engines is still mostly full of bedding.




Now I’m also looking for a linen cupboard.

Davenz13 wrote:
I made myself a coffee and sat down at the table to look across the room at my crowning glory and my mouth nearly hit the floor in disbelief at the sight that greeted me.



............. The wall is bowed and re-doing the wall was not an option for me.

Well Dave, what I first saw, when you announced a fault, was not the uneven gap around the cabinet.  What I saw was a door that was going to swing open to smash the glass front of the cabinet.  Having said that, as well as your explanation of the bowed wall, I now see that the angle of the picture doesn't show that there must be enough room for the door on the other side of the cabinet, but it had me going for a minute there.
                                                                                                             

Hi Rod
Looking at that photo I can see why you would think that. It's the old hold the fish out at arms length to make it look bigger trick.
I took another photo just now to show how much room is actually there.

The hot wheels cars etc that are on the floor are my 7yr old grandsons who is spending the week with me (school holidays).
A holiday time I  look forward to very much.

Davenz13 wrote:Hi Rod
Looking at that photo I can see why you would think that. It's the old hold the fish out at arms length to make it look bigger trick.
I took another photo just now to show how much room is actually there.

The hot wheels cars etc that are on the floor are my 7yr old grandsons who is spending the week with me (school holidays).
A holiday time I  look forward to very much.

Well that clears it up Dave.  Plenty of room there, but hard to tell from the original angle.

Hey, off track a bit, but glad you had time with your grandson.  Our Cooper is 2 1/2 years old and comes to visit every second Sunday thanks to a mediator.  His mother (who is not with our son, Cooper's dad) has been a little resistant and suffers separation anxiety pretty bad, but has generally held up her end of the deal.  Out of the blue, she offers to let him stay with us overnight.  The reality was, she had a boozy party to go to, but no complaints from us.
The little guy gets to do all the things at our place that freak out his mother.  He loves to spend all day outside regardless of the weather, playing in the barn, riding his bike, driving my Fergy around the paddock and this time, building a cubby house in the wood pile.  Precious moments.
Took him home worn out, well fed and happy. (Grandpa was a little worn out as well )

Nice looking display cabinet Dave , i hear you on the wish you would have bought two of them, I live in hindsight it seems What's the story on the bow saw on the wall next to it ? I get the 22 year old thing mines 20 and has a girlfriend that is taking most his time now so he comes when he needs something

So do you mostly collect engines or empty engine boxes?

Hi Rod
Yes, time with grandkids is precious all right.

Hi Eric
The saw came from a country store where a local artist had several on display for sale. All but the motorcycle one, were of country scenes. The motorcycle one I just had to have.
The saws themselves are repro. 20yrs ago 2nd hand shops down here were full of them but artists and collectors have long since snapped them up. See a few in cafes and pub bars too.

Hi Ticomareado
The boxes are all full and about 90% contain unrun engines. Those that haven't already been revealed will be as the thread progresses

Hi Bob
I know you’ll do a masterful restoration on that cabinet, I’m not so good with wood, more of a metal man.

The train was part of a large collection of Hornby Dublo three rail dated from 1949 to 1953 that my late father had. The manufacturing dates are on the box ends.
I remember seeing some of it set up on a huge table back when I was a kid.

The train is a Sir Nigel Gresley 4-6-4 manufactured in 1951 and has never been run.

I don’t think it or its tender had ever been taken out of their boxes before I did. All of the paperwork and tags for them, including the tissue paper, are in the boxes. The blue boxes behind the train belong to the train and accessories you see. All new, now out of the box. The little round white box contains a Hornby Dublo pin, I guess you’d call it the equivalent of the Cox Wings  

My brother and I kept one loco on a piece of track each and a pin in memory of our father and sold the rest to a collector, probably over half of which was still new in the box.  
The small boxes on the left are locomotives and carriage’s, behind them are stations, platforms and accessories. The center is mainly track and transformers and the larger boxes on the right are complete train sets.



When I spoke with the guy on the phone, he said he wasn’t interested in buying anymore but would be happy to give me a valuation on it. When he arrived, I think he was a bit stunned about how much there was, and the condition of it. He told me what he thought it was worth retail and I told him we didn’t want that much for it. I gave him a price and he said” I’ll have to talk to the wife”. He came back an hour later with the cash and we loaded it all in his car boot.

I would have to say, use it or share it!!! However To Each Their Own. Must admit I'm kinda jealous!! Mark

Bob-- I never really got into trains (other than being involved in selling them in family toy/hobby business). There are some major serious model railroaders in my area though.