Cox in Argentina

Two years ago, I came across an Argentine magazine PDF archive from a special website in New Zealand. Now, I don't remember how I came across it, but was elated that it existed. Someone had scanned and stored there, many issues of the monthly magazine: 49 issues of El Piloto Lúpin, 22 issues of the related publication Pinlu (Historias e ideas prácticas - Stories and practical ideas, June 2007 to April 2009), and various technical supplements on model building and engine care, flying, electronics, astronomy, and etc. I had never seen these before. Since I have been learning Spanish for the past couple years, I was elated.

These publications from Buenos Aires, Argentina were geared toward the youth, mostly a form of comic book with various stories, but centered around technology, especially airplanes. It was distributed in various major cities throughout South, Central America and Mexico. I don't know if it ever made it to the United States and Canada.

Like nearly all our written modeling publications, it finally ceased, most likely due to declining sales. We have already seen that with our great US publications, Flying Models, American Aircraft Modeler, Radio Control Modeler, and etc. I gather that Europe too, has experienced similar. Just look at how all the great aircraft engine manufacturers we once had, K&B, Fox, Veco, OK, Holland, McCoy, Johnson, and Cox are all gone. What remains are remnants of these great manufacturers.

OK, on to Cox being promoted in our southernmost Latin American country, Argentina.

Pinlu 22nd issue shows on front, En el año cincuentenario de Lúpin - in the 50th anniversary year of Lúpin. (Pinlu is Lúpin - from English, Looping, backwards.) This means that the magazine series was in production from 1960 to 2009.

This time, one issue, caught my attention.

suplemento REVISTA LÚPIN, AEROMODELISMO - Supplement to Lúpin Magazine - Aeromodelling

In it, I found this article on Cox engines, especially the .049 Babe Bee. I have added engine part names in English, marked in blue. I have done a translation of the page's paragraphs. Initially I used a machine translator, then went over the text to clean it up. One thing I found is that Spanish uses more words to express the same thought in English. The upside of Spanish is that they have many different ways to express thoughts through verbal conjugations. In English, you have to know the context in which spoken, to understand the thought behind it. The machine translator (i.e., computer A.I.) is not perfect, although they have gotten better at it, so I look over the text at what I know, plus do dictionary checks, to try to convey what it is really saying. Also I have found out that the magazine writers aren't perfect in their writing either.

Muy bien, lo aquí está. Anyway OK, here it is:

Page 54 - El motorcito .049 - The Small Engine .049

Párrafo 1 - haga clic para mostrar:

Translation: This little engine, which is the favorite of those who are just starting out as well as veterans, is the best in its displacement, the COX BABE BEE .049 engine is easy to start, something very important for those who go from using rubber powered models and find yourself with a real miniature internal combustion engine, in reality there is no engine more suitable than this for small models, the magazine published some time ago how to start this type of engine and in this case everything will be done in a simpler way since the factory has achieved an improvement in this model so that a beginner can use it without having problems that are always annoying when we are in the airfield. The engine is suitable for both free flight, RC and UC models.

Párrafo 2 - haga clic para mostrar:

Translation: The propeller used should be in good condition, so we recommend carrying out an inspection every time we take it to fly. Never try to force one of the blades to modify its pitch, discard the propeller if one of its tips is chipped by a strike, the same if one of the blades has suffered modifications (by damage). It is best to use propellers approved for this tiny engine, 5 to 6 inch propellers with a 3" pitch are ideal. FIG. 1 shows an exploded view with all its parts, never try to remove the glow head or disassemble unless needed or if lacking sufficient experience. The tank's inside fuel pick up tubing shown in the drawing is for U-control flight. If we plan to carry out free flight, we must relocate it so that it reaches the bottom of the tank. If this little tubing in the wrong position, it will not be able to use the last of the fuel and the engine will stop much earlier than expected.

Párrafo 3 - haga clic para mostrar:

Translation: When we are done with its use, let it run until there is no fuel left in the tank, if we leave fuel it would lubricate the engine and exposure to air would make the parts stick, to lubricate it we use SAE-10 3 in 1 oil or sewing machine oil, then we will wrap it in a plastic bag to protect it from dirt.

The distributor of these engines is AERO-SUR, 166 Talcahuano Street, [Buenos Aires], as well as the entire COX line.