Jim Walker Firebaby

Thanks for chiming in Kim.

My take-away from that ad is that the control handle costs three times as much as the airplane. Quite a step up from the enclosed .25 wood or plastic handle normally enclosed with the kit.

Trimmed the enclosure. Maybe I can split and use the cut-off to fill the void in the back and taper sand.

Firebaby Flies

About two minutes of line tension and the poles flashing by.....dizzying just watching. How did you fill the baloon and how much fuel did you load?

Hi Bob, I was putting 8 cc’s in the tank and it would run the engine for about 3-1/2 minutes….. Plenty of time to set the needle and not have to hurry to the handle to get about two min flying time….. Yes, I got very dizzy…. Has been a long time since I last flew CL….Those lap times are way too fast for this 66 yo….. The prop was a Cox 6-3 cut down to 5-1/2 for ground clearance…. If I were to try it again I’d look for a 2” pitch prop….

I filled the tank with a large syringe…. The balloon is a 7” party balloon so it’s big enough that it never goes under pressure…..First pulled the 8 cc’s into the syringe then hook up to the tank…. Then collapse and pull all the air out of the tank…. Then point the nose of the plane down and inject the fuel…. Then retract the syringe to pull out any remaining air from the back end of the tank…. Reconnect fuel line and go…..

I got to fly it three times and really enjoyed the experience even thru the dizzy’s…. .I had originally thought about building a clone but glad I had a chance to fly an original….Felt pretty awesome….Your rebuilds of old beat up models and engines was a big inspiration for this project….
Thanks

Robert

I enjoyed the flying video,love period engines and planes,wow that wasp is super clean and sounds healthy,now you got me wanting to pull out my wasp and put it on something

Robert, That vid was thoroughly enjoyable! Thanks also for sharing the info. on fueling the balloon tank.

Thanks 049kid!…. The Wasp turned into a nice handling engine after it was ran several times… Really easy to start….Also the lightest of the bunch of early .049’s….

Thanks Roddie…. The balloon tank and filling it was sorta based on the original Firebaby tank….Andras (@balough) has come up with a more refined version that has two lines and super efficient on getting the air out…. I use them on a couple of other planes and they work great …. Maybe he will share a little more on those ….. Would be perfect for your race boat

rsv1cox wrote:Thanks for chiming in Kim.

My take-away from that ad is that the control handle costs three times as much as the airplane.  Quite a step up from the enclosed .25 wood or plastic handle normally enclosed with the kit.  

Trimmed the enclosure.  Maybe I can split and use the cut-off to fill the void in the back and taper sand.

She was really flying great..!
Too bad the RTF model companies moved from wood to plastic.
My first SATISFYING CL model experience was the Goldberg Lil Whizard on 26 foot dacron string.
Before that I had a Cox plastic P40 that flew on 15 feet of string [if I recall correctly] and that wasn't nearly as satisfying as flying the Goldberg balsa wood model with a Cox Black Widow .049.
Of course building the model with Sigment glue was part of what made that experience all the more satisfying.
Sigment was pretty good stuff, I would use it instead of CA if I could find it.

Oh oh........did you have to post that picture.............. I put that idea on the back burner.....way on the back burner. I just can't make it work to anything worthwhile.

Thanks TD…. I had forgotten how much fun CL could be….The recommended line length was 25 ft…. I fudged them to 27.5…. I think it would do 30 just fine on a calm day….

I’m going to send you you a soap bottle canopy Bob when I get caught up with a small parts project I am working on

Thanks Robert.

Contrails........That's one powerful Flybaby.

Roberts gifted and personally hand crafted Palmolive bottled canopy arrived yesterday. A perfect fit.



I appreciate it Robert. I know that it took a lot of time and fiddling to get it that way, a big improvement over what I had in mind for it.

Beautiful old bird Bob…. It wears its time gracefully….. One last thing to do (IMO )….
Is to shine up the metal fin/rudder to match that nice shiny Bee on the front….I think with a Bee on it, 35’ lines on a very calm day would bee pretty sweet

Thats cool you got some flights in on the old bird , the wasp seem to pull it pretty good and sounded good to

Thanks Eric, It was a treat to fly the 71 year old plane…..After the flights I took it apart and gave it a detailed cleaning and pickled the engine….. Before I put it back together I’ll trace it and make a drawing so that it could be replicated if one wanted to…

rdw777 wrote:Thanks Eric, It was a treat to fly the 71 year old plane…..After the flights I took it apart and gave it a detailed cleaning and pickled the engine

What a great job you did..!
How do you pickle the engine...?

Thanks TD!…. I don’t think it will be flying again any time soon so I removed the glow plug and rinsed the engine out with alcohol…. Dried good then a liberal application of air tool oil inside and out….

rdw777 wrote:Thanks TD!…. I don’t think it will be flying again any time soon so I removed the glow plug and rinsed the engine out with alcohol…. Dried good then a liberal application of air tool oil inside and out….

My after-run SOP Robert, only I flush with RemOil, blow it out with compressed air then the ATO.  The reward when flipping the prop to distribute the oil is listening to that nice Cox engine compression pop.

Either way works best and is a whole lot better than just letting the engine sit.

rdw777 wrote:Thanks TD!…. I don’t think it will be flying again any time soon so I removed the glow plug and rinsed the engine out with alcohol…. Dried good then a liberal application of air tool oil inside and out….

Yeah..you might as well put it away until a new generation of boys come along that don't have neon pink hair and don't think that they are cats. ....

RemOil is one of things that has been on my “to get” list for a long time Bob…. I know it’s done some wonderful work for you…. To the front of the list now!!!….

LOL TD!!!….I remember with fondness when common department stores had gas powered flying models on the shelves…. Along with fuel and ignition source….. I’m glad we had that life experience to learn from…

rdw777 wrote:Beautiful old bird Bob…. It wears its time gracefully….. One last thing to do (IMO )….
Is to shine up the metal fin/rudder to match that nice shiny Bee on the front….I think with a Bee on it, 35’ lines on a very calm day would bee pretty sweet

You shamed me into it Robert.  .........but I get a Z for effort.  Seems I don't have your knack for this.

Before......




During.......

Kitchen sink cleaner didn't do much, got the Mothers from the Garage, not much better.




After........

Fixed with a dot of Formular 560.  I figure 4 circles and I will be looking for it in the grass.

rdw777 wrote:RemOil is one of things that has been on my “to get” list for a long time Bob…. I know it’s done some wonderful work for you…. To the front of the list now!!!….

LOL TD!!!….I remember with fondness when common department stores had gas powered flying models on the shelves…. Along with fuel and ignition source….. I’m glad we had that life experience to learn from…

It's good stuff Robert.  I keep a can in all my workspaces.  Hand chainsaws were covered in mud and grass from cutting off roots.  Major clean and lube this afternoon with new chains installed.

Love it!…. Gotta take the bling wherever we can get it!!…. That’s akin to polishing the mirrors on a 56 Chevy