Cox .020 Skycopter fuel tank replacement

Wow. Sorry, my bad on my previous post. I took a look again, and now see the fuel tank location. Originally I thought it was below the engine, the silver colored piece below it. Please disregard what I had said earlier. I think I gotta study pictures better before opening my mouth......

I can see how that grey part could be mistaken for the tank. Unfortunately the original tank is beyond repair, that was my original plan but when I tried drilling out the holes for tubing I found that the plastic was very brittle throughout.

I'm not all that concerned about keeping the originality of this one I tact because I plan to fly it as often as I can. Just need to hope that nothing else breaks or that it flies away and gets lost. I do have another one that just needs cleaned up a bit and that will be my collection piece.

Nice looking repair , one of those tanks may not bee that hard to find ( most people take the engine off and use the .020 engine )) I have an engine tank in very good shape round here somewhere lol .

That is a very good handmade replacement tank. Great idea I may have to use in the future. I have a small handfull of the 020 SkyCopter engines, most without the tanks. I did purchase a NIP tank from Cox International when Bernie came upon a stash of cox parts. Somewhere I read that the earlier SkyCopter came with a metal tank, but have never seen one. Here’s one one eBay that is priced higehr than gold.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cox-7148-Sky-Copter-Plastic-Gas-Fuel-Tank-for-Gas-Powered-Helicopter-7148/362454261080?epid=2295711409&hash=item5463f51d58:g:43wAAOSwaG1bvUFiUSPSFirstClass!49544!US!-1

I don’t think I’d pay that much for a small plastic tank, just to watch it fly away on a newly refurbished SkyCopter!!  

That's a nice job on the replacement tank. I've never seen one of these fly. What happens when they run out of fuel? Do they autorotate and come back down slowly, or just drop out of the sky?
Could a fishing line or kite string tether be used on them to keep from losing them?

Having played with model rocketry, I'd think that on a very calm day, with a set of binoculars, once out of fuel, the blade pitch changes, they fall in auto-rotation fast enough that one could get it without it going OOS (out-of-sight).

Back in high school in the early 1970's, I had an Estes rocket called "Gyroc". It had flaps on the ends of its tail fins that were kept straight by the engine in place. Once ejection charge popped the engine out, the flaps would deploy, rocket would helicopter back to earth nose first.

It worked fine with the smaller rocket engines up to "B" size. Then I made the mistake of putting a C-6-7 engine into it. Take off impulse was so strong, it stripped one set of fins off during take off blast. It didn't helicopter recover. It sort of flit on the way down, hitting the ground hard enough to buckle the body tube.
Thus ended my beautiful Gyroc. Otherwise,

getback wrote:Nice looking repair , one of those tanks may not bee that hard to find ( most people take the engine off and use the .020 engine ))  I have an engine tank in very good shape round here somewhere lol .

Hi,

I hope you’re well.

Do you still have one of those tanks and willing to sell?

Thanks,

David

getback wrote:Nice looking repair , one of those tanks may not bee that hard to find ( most people take the engine off and use the .020 engine ))  I have an engine tank in very good shape round here somewhere lol .

Tru dat my brother, but have you seen what they go for on the bay(when they come up)?
Waaaay back, I sent one off to a fairly active member for zilch. I bought an engine plate
assembly for the piston/cylinder, and didn't need it. What was his name? I only remember
he was from Ireland.
On the other hand, there's this.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cox-Fuel-Tank-Reproduction-020-Sky-Copter/223977252591?hash=item342615a6ef&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3AAQAFAAADMCYkb9b%252B2DDdm8y
Bob

I'm going to order one today and see if the tank works out.
Sparky

Keep us informed , hopefully it will work out . Looks like he is in the reproduction business .

I got the 3D printed tank and it works a treat! I put in about a dozen flights on it last fall. Flight heights were between less than 10' and up to maybe 200' when the engine ran properly. I can't get a consistent running engine! I will pull it apart and clean it with attention to the reed. Running 30% nitro 1/2A fuel.
The canopy just crumbled in my hand so I am flying a convertible. If I could get a replacement canopy maybe 3D printed I would be interested.
Sparky