I think I have a problem...

Jim, you've mentioned time and time again that your goal is to fly maneuvers. One thing I see is the directions you've mentioned. If that truly is your goal, you need to concentrate on that goal. Personally, I would stay away from vintage engines. Beating your head on the wall might just be more relaxing. You now have two Fox .35's. The important thing is insuring they're broken in and my guess is that they're not. In addition, purchasing the proper items to continue they're use. If you want to fly maneuvers, your going to break stuff. This means props, plugs, needle valves. If it were me, I  would concentrate on the smalls and not so much the desired planes you would like to build. I did a needle valve mod on here to avoid the broken needles on Fox .35's. If you leave the needle stock, take a close look at it right now and then kiss it goodbye because it will snap off. Broken needle means fun is over until you get another. This means refinancing your home to buy from MECOA or go another route and source a better needle such as the Enya which will land you two for one when compared to the MECOA bandits.


           Having a lot of stuff is neat I suppose, it doesn't do any good if it's not being used and certainly doesn't improve your flying skills. Learn to throw out what's broken. Repairing is a total waste of time unless minor. Creaming a plane and putting it back together does very little to learn. It burns up valuable time and it will never fly the same afterwards. I have 40 + years of evidence to support my statement.

I can vouch for owning a lot of stuff. Years back I parted with the majority of my kits. They were sold and I earned enough to take a family vacation to Disney which was nice. Do I miss them? NO!!! I have enough engines to last a lifetime and I will never use them. The nice thing about engines is the size as they can be neatly stored. Planes are a royal pain in the !@#$. They can't be sold as no one wants them, they take up tons of room and when they sit, they go to pot and are useless . I've given so many planes away and never see them back at the field. Control line mentality I suppose.

While my post may sound negative in regards to this stuff, I've been around long enough to know what works. I always found many magazine articles to be subjective to the positive side when in reality the bad outweighs the good. Take Scepter flight tests as an example. Just because Peter Chinn tested and says great things about it, it doesn't really mean it is. He was getting paid to exemplify what he was testing.

I attend the New Jersey Vintage Combat annually, the old Fox's, Super Tiger's and Johnson engines are real cool. WHEN THEY WORK!!!!!!!!! Some of the veteran pilots won't touch the old stuff, because they know better. It was a pain in the rear to start the stuff in the 60's and nothing has changed. They fly modern engines so they can enjoy themselves. This is terrific advice for someone trying to learn maneuvers. You build simple planes that fly well, not examples that look neat.

Fred for example made mention many times of the Phil Cartier RST ( Rugged Stunt Trainer) Stunt Plane. This is a good example. Phil's instructions leave a lot to be desired and contacting him might be easier to walk to his residence but no one is more pleasant to talk to. A plane like Phil's RST withstands serious gravity surges. If the wing breaks, slide it out and install another. Phil sells wings in quantity which is nice. You can tape the wing in which allows it to pop out and when your confidence level excells, glue the wing in. A proven design that works with simple engines and nothing complicated. Probably won't win any beauty contests but it works which is important.