Need your help with new product suggestions

JPvelo wrote:

cribbs74 wrote:I'll second Rusty's thrust wedge suggestion.

I concur. Also, good quality 5x3 props. White nylon like tornados or the old top flites.

Jim

We already stock 4 different versions of Cox 5x3 props, all good quality

I started to suggest you could sell display "clubs"...Short, non-functional props for display purposes. But they are so easy to make from damaged props that I doubt there is a market for bought ones. Yet most of the glamour shots on this board show the engine "naked". I started a thread on the topic: https://www.coxengineforum.com/t5074-use-your-damaged-props-to-make-storage-display-clubs#65050

The issue is that display props would cost the same ($1.95) as "real" props. It's the machine time that costs; the material is only pennies per prop.

Cox International wrote:The issue is that display props would cost the same ($1.95) as "real" props. It's the machine time that costs; the material is only pennies per prop.

Yup. What might sell to the fellows who like the fancy "showcase" engines would not be plastic anyway. It would be be either exotic woods (teak, mahogany, birds-eye maple, etc) or maybe two-tone laminate like these gunstocks: https://www.google.com/search?q=laminated+stock&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.47534661,d.dmg&biw=1920&bih=971&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=ocewUZ6nC9LF4AO6-4GYBQ

Sorry if you feel this is a hijack. I know it is not a practical idea for a product, but maybe my musing gets someone else's mental wheels turning and they come up with a winner.

Cox International wrote:

We already stock 4 different versions of Cox 5x3 props, all good quality

seems like all the props I 've bought from you broke real easy. The tornado I put on the other day has taken a real pounding and still looks new. I see the yellow ones on your web page, are the better? And the 4.5x4, are they good for mouse racing?

I wish these were still available.

Steve- a fuel pinch device can easily be made of a line clip. I use a medium clip an solder the slide on one side, then bend the side of the clip that I don't run the fuel line through. Don't look at the rest of he old plane, please.

Cox International wrote:Due to customer demand we have added many non-Cox products to our product line over the years, such as:

RC throttle - 010 Reset tools - Teflon reeds - Diesel heads - Head conversions - TD starter springs - Various fuel tanks - Nitro & diesel fuel lines - Fuel filters - Bulb fuel pumps - SPI pistons - Engine mounting screws - After-run oil - Control horns – Bellcranks - Control line handles - Control line clips - Test stands - Battery boxes – Glues, etc.

Today, we are asking what you, our customers, would like to see added to our product selection or what you think might sell well.

We are targeting small, relatively inexpensive items with a sub 250gr (9oz) packed shipping weight.

Please give us your input so that we may research the viability of such products.

I propose bladder tanks. I make mines from rubber balloons that are used on birthday parties. I run two silicon line through a plastic cork that I fashion from the corks of bottled wine. Then fit the cork into the throat of the balloon and tighten with a plastic band.

One silicon tube extends only to the inside end of the cork and serves as filling line. The other silicone tube extends to the bottom of the deflated balloon.

The ballon tank lends itself for acrobatics (inverted flying) and continuous fuel pressure that helps avoid leaning the engine and kill the piston/cylinder fit.
A normal size ballon will accommodate 50-60cc fuel (2 oz.) sufficient for a 10-12 minutes full throtthe run on a TD 051.

Cheap thing, anyone can make it at home, but some professional, nitro-safe plug instead of the cork, with lasting silicon fule line crossing through the plug can certainly be made by specialists better then I do on the kitchen table while my wife is worried over the mess I make with my hobby.

duke.johnson wrote:

Cox International wrote:

We already stock 4 different versions of Cox 5x3 props, all good quality

seems like all the props I 've bought from you broke real easy. The tornado I put on the other day has taken a real pounding and still looks new. I see the yellow ones on your web page, are the better? And the 4.5x4, are they good for mouse racing?

On the yellow ones, you can bend the blades back 180 degrees and they will not snap.

The 4.5x4 might work well for mouse racing. Higher pitch, lesser diameter and super-high RPM.

Cox International wrote:
On the yellow ones, you can bend the blades back 180 degrees and they will not snap.

The 4.5x4 might work well for mouse racing. Higher pitch, lesser diameter and super-high RPM.

Great. I'll be making an order soon and will have to try them. Thanks

How about an expanded range of props. More variety, especially 3 bladers, both pushers and tractors.

Any prop, for which does not already exist a mould, is out of question. A mould costs around $6,000 and would add $1.20 to the cost of a prop on a 5,000 pcs run. Together with the material and moulding cost, we are looking at a $4 - $5 retail cost. To sell 5,000 props at that price could take over a decade.

Right now we are fortunate in that we have free access to some OEM Cox prop moulds.

We do have a 3-blade tractor prop, which doubles as a pusher prop:

http://coxengines.ca/cox-.049-propeller-left-hand-pusher-5-x-3.5.html

Another I'd like to see should be easy and cheap to do.  How 'bout offering sets of socket head (allen head) screws for various engines.  I mean put together a full set of socket head screws for for each engine.  Outside the USofA (and probably Canada) non-metric stuff is commonly available in larger sizes, such as for automotive purposes, but sourcing the tiny ones we require for model engines is a bit problematic.  In fact, without Googling it I don't even know what 4-40 or 2-56 and so on means.  I assume the second number is the TPI.

Cox International wrote:
We do have a 3-blade tractor prop, which doubles as a pusher prop:

Bernie, don't I have to run the engine in reverse to use it as a pusher prop?  OK for reedies, but not so for other engines.

No, you run the engine "normal" as in Right Hand. So, yes, they will work for Tee Dee /Medallion.

i dont know if anybody has suggested this, but fueling syringes would be nice

How 'bout complete sets of socket (allen) head screws for each engine model - including washers where necessary.  In black preferably.
eg  a complete replacement screw set for a Surestart (would be the back plate screws, choke tube screws, prop screw and washer and mount screws, washers and nyloc nuts)

How about replacement wheels, tires, wheel retainer clips / nuts, gears and maybe flywheels for all of the cars? Especially the spur gears for the old steel chassis cars. Those are usually the most needed and hardest to find parts as there is no source for new / reproduction replacements.

looperdude wrote:i dont know if anybody has suggested this, but fueling syringes would be nice

Yes, this has been suggested but syringes are available from your local pharmacy and we opted instead for a special production bulb fuel pump.

dinsdale wrote:How 'bout complete sets of socket (allen) head screws for each engine model - including washers where necessary.  In black preferably.
eg  a complete replacement screw set for a Surestart (would be the back plate screws, choke tube screws, prop screw and washer and mount screws, washers and nyloc nuts)

We already have these screws for sale:

http://coxengines.ca/fasteners/

sdjjadk wrote:How about replacement wheels, tires, wheel retainer clips / nuts, gears and maybe flywheels for all of the cars? Especially the spur gears for the old steel chassis cars. Those are usually the most needed and hardest to find parts as there is no source for new / reproduction replacements.

Will likely never happen as a production run of 1,000 would never sell in our lifetime ... way too small a market.

Cox International wrote:

sdjjadk wrote:How about replacement wheels, tires, wheel retainer clips / nuts, gears and maybe flywheels for all of the cars? Especially the spur gears for the old steel chassis cars. Those are usually the most needed and hardest to find parts as there is no source for new / reproduction replacements.

Will likely never happen as a production run of 1,000 would never sell in our lifetime ... way too small a market.

Does it have to be a run of a thousand pieces each?

sdjjadk wrote:

Cox International wrote:

sdjjadk wrote:How about replacement wheels, tires, wheel retainer clips / nuts, gears and maybe flywheels for all of the cars? Especially the spur gears for the old steel chassis cars. Those are usually the most needed and hardest to find parts as there is no source for new / reproduction replacements.

Will likely never happen as a production run of 1,000 would never sell in our lifetime ... way too small a market.

Does it have to be a run of a thousand pieces each?

1000 is usually the first price break on small parts.

Alternate question, can a list of usable replacements be compiled for people who want to run these and don't care about exactly authentic? Tires would be on this list I expect, and likely fastenings too.

Another alternate: 3D printing. Is there a significant (cost other than time) up-front? (Yea, I get that the time to re-draw and code a part may be worth more than any profit that might happen.)

Phil