Cox flight contest begins now!!!!!

cribbs74 wrote:That should work pretty good. I suppose that will be considered control line. Are you going to throttle it and have elevator?

Ron

Definitely an elevator but a silencer/muffler will be a must whether throttled or not.

In the RC class, is there plane and sail plane classes? I'm only mentioning it since it's time aloft.

Travis,

R/C is a class and CL is a class.

So, basically it doesn't matter what you fly in RC. It goes off of engine runtime. Release of plane until engine quits. A Sailplane wouldn't be the best choice unless you fly it like a regular plane as the time quits when the engine stops. Nothing stopping you from swapping the engine across airframes to rack up more time though.

Ron

So if I'm 100' up and my engine stops, I have to stop my timer? That may be hard to do while looking for a landing spot while being "Dead Stick". I thought originally it was time aloft, which would make more sense, hence my first question.

Yep. Engine run time. I think that's the best way to go. That's how I'm timing my flights: I hit a button on the Tx after I launch, and hit it again when the engine stops. My little "Stik" plane comes down in a hurry, so soaring is not an option with it. Thermalling is not really working the engine, anyway. Still, you gotta rack up time!

WingingIt74 wrote:So if I'm 100' up and my engine stops, I have to stop my timer? That may be hard to do while looking for a landing spot while being "Dead Stick". I thought originally it was time aloft, which would make more sense, hence my first question.

Travis,

The contest is meant to be about Cox awarness and engine longevity. I chose flying as the medium as nobody sees them when run on a test stand in the garage, backyard or whatever.

The reason we settled on engine run time was for the very reason you mentioned. Someone in a sailplane could stay up a really long time and rack up serious time. Not everyone has a glider so engine runtime makes it a little more fair for everyone. Nothing in the rules say you can't use a 3oz tank though.

The change was discussed throughout this thread and I did ask for feedback along the way and received very little.

I would still like you to compete Travis hope you are up to it. Sorry if I made it confusing with all the changes. The rules are back on the first post of this thread if you want to take a look.

Ron

No, I'm good with that. I just don't know how I'll keep track of time when I'm worried about finding a landing spot, as I don't fly at a field and won't always have someone there with a stop watch. I think my DX7 has a stop watch, but not for sure, I know it has a count-down timer... I don't use it though.

I originally intended to run the same engine in the R/C plane, and a C/L plane to rack up time. Then, I saw the categories are for each type, so swapping the engine back and forth, would not count for the same goal. I am wondering, (just to be in both classes) if I could start flying in the C/L class with a different engine, and have it count toward the end goal, in the C/L class. We are getting more people to come to the Tuesday Night Flights, over there, at the circles. Maybe that's just muddying the issue, though.

The timer will work as a count up one, also! That's what mine does. It is easy to set up, too. Just start clicking and scrolling, you'll find it! Mine is set for the Trainer switch to activate it, and it won't turn off your radio when you hit it. The computer knows it's a timer switch, then, and doesn't stop the transmission of signal. You don't even have to look at the radio to hit the switch, so your eyes stay on the plane. Just be certain to log the time before you turn off the Tx, because it will erase the elapsed time, that you just flew! My plane, from engine shut-off, to landing, is about 4 seconds.

What better end to a work day!

When I came home after work, my sister was here to cut my hair. She brought her kids and the youngest of her girls came running up and tackled my leg, asking "Uncle Duke can I fly your airplanes". Well what else would the greatest Uncle in the world say but "I would love to, go ask your mom if its alright." She's six years old an as cute as a bug. So, as we were getting our hair cut I put another backplate on a took the little cutie out to the field to fly. It took a little bit of work to get it started, but she got a couple laps in and she was all smiles. I also tried to get her older brother to try, after we got it in the air I started to hand off the handle and we crashed and broke a prop. Oh, we switched to an electric, big, slow plane. And of course we did have another E-prop for it. So, I told them to come back to their favorite uncles house again. The little six year old loved it.

Sounds like good wholesome fun to me Duke. I cut the grass......to include my little flying field.

Don't get those youngsters hooked on those new fangled lekkies!

I like the gas engines to much to do much electric. But I'm going to build an electric trainer from the stunthanger forum for what we are going to call "free lessions" at the Airfair in July. If they get it, I'll put them on a Cox engine trainer. Can we count the new guys time on our Cox Castor Oil Odyssey engine for the contest? I can't wait to get my sister's 6 year old out again. Strike when the iron is hot.

Duke,

That topic was never really addressed. I certainly don't want a whole team of folks flying a single contest engine to rack up time. Most folks only fly by themselves and that would be an unfair advantage to them.

However, I wouldn't dream of crushing a youngsters spirit by denying them a gas engine flight. So my question to all the competitors out there is......... Is everyone good with sharing stick/handle time amongst friends/trainees etc.?

And should that time be counted toward the competition?

My suggestion would be to go ahead and let them fly, just don't count the time towards the contest. Please respond with feedback or I will have to make a determination on my own. You may not like that.......

Ron

I don't want to stir the pot or rock the boat. Your right, if someone only flies by themselves it wouldn't be fair.

It's okay with me. I'm pretty sure I can't compete with the Kimster.

Don't know how much of a threat I'm gonna be 'less I get things in gear...still sneaking up on 1/2 hour of Control Line !!!!

"While in other NEWS"...finally got around to sanding the fuselage and wings of my Stunt Trainer ! Gonna work on it some more tomorrow morning before stuff starts going on...

Kim, Looks nice! Are you drilling a hole for the needle to run horizontally "in-board" with an upright cylinder? (thinking of the shortest fuel line distance...) I just learned a lot about the benefits/function of Uni-Flow tank venting for my speed entry... (that's all new to me) also this anti-syphon technique.





Are you running a Uni-Flow in the Stunt Trainer?

The "curious" Roddie

roddie wrote:Kim, Looks nice! Are you drilling a hole for the needle to run horizontally "in-board" with an upright cylinder? (thinking of the shortest fuel line distance...) I just learned a lot about the benefits/function of Uni-Flow tank venting for my speed entry... (that's all new to me) also this anti-syphon technique.





Are you running a Uni-Flow in the Stunt Trainer?

The "curious" Roddie

That anti siphon works great and helps wth fuel flow as long as you don't start doing crazy manuevers.

Jim

I need to learn more stuff about Uniflow and Chicken hopper tanks. On this one I DO intend to run War Dog's needle inboard, with it's cylinder horizon on the other side, with it poking through a removal "cowling" to even things up. I may rotate the engine upright once in a while for the nostalgia look, but like with the Combat Kitten, with the engine on it's side, inverted landings become a much more "non-event" !

I have started plugging one vent after fueling in that it seems to cut back on fuel being siphoned out of the tank by the prop blast. Don't know if it really happens, but it seems like I get a little bit longer run this way.

It seems funny to now put so much work and care (and thinking) into building these little guys! I used to slap them together in a night, barely wait for the paint to dry the next day and launch 'em!

Thank you for the photo! I'm gonna copy and save it to see if it helps my Reed Speed planes !!!

JPvelo wrote:
That anti siphon works great and helps wth fuel flow as long as you don't start doing crazy manuevers.

Jim

Jim...I have entire flights that qualify for that term !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kim, plugging one of the vents not only prevents siphoning from gravity, it also prevents siphoning from prop blast and the slipstream of air over it. At the same time, it also assist in fuel feed to the engine. So in turn, yes the engine could very well run longer. In regards to chicken hoppers, they're very easy to use and work very well as long as they're not leaking. The hopper itself is a major leak area. Certain hoppers work far superior than others. The GRW tank line was purchased by Eric Rule and they work quite well. I found them to be the least amount of trouble as tanks are concerned as far as quality goes due to a very good track record of soldering and internal cleanliness. Chicken hoppers are very troublesome if you need to get inside of it as other parts that you don't want unsoldered become unsoldered. Puddling solder isn't the solution to fixing a tank. It must be fit properly prior to soldering to avoid leaks.

Vibrations are the achilles heal of the tank. If you attach a chicken hopper with rubber bands over the center of the tank it will squeeze the tank and eventually make the hopper leak and possibly the back tank seam. They need to be attached over the hard end caps ONLY. Chicken hoppers not only allow for tight tank installations, they can give you more capacity due to the hopper which is a great solution for short snub nosed planes (Flite Streak) for instance. When setting the needle on a chicken hopper, nose high and outboard wingtip lowered. Peak the needle and back off a fuzzy until it's crackling a bit on the rich side and launch. This is very important and the way the plane is flying is equally important.

A chicken hopper won't work properly if the plane is flying tip high or tip low so trimming the plane is a must first as this is dramatically changing your pickup height within the hopper. Most hoppers are already plumbed as uniflow. It's entirely up to you how you want to run it either standard vent or uni. It just becomes a matter of switching the caps around. One major problem with hopper and this is on standard vent and or uniflow. When mounted on a profile, the cylinder blocks the vents on the hopper. Getting the vents into clean air is a must as the turbulent air flowing off of the cylinder totally screws it up. Either raise the tank slightly if possible and extend the vents with fuel tubing allowing the tubing to lay on the cylinder head. Redirect your venting to the cleaner inboard side of the airplane using a piece of copper tubing through the fuse and bent into the wind.

I've been meaning to make a chicken hopper on my kit bashed Miss Ashley using the Cox Medallion. Mainly due to tank capacity and feed issues. I for one have never been happy with the tubing that Perfect uses in their tanks as I feel it's too small. It's also brass which gives you the green death as pictured above in the fuel tubing. The tanks are not reliable due to the improperly soldered pickup inside and it WILL fail due to the pickup acting like a tuning fork within the tank. Brass tubing isn't seamless nor is copper and while copper doesn't work harden rapidly, the brass will, I have several examples sitting on my bench right now with the brass tubing split inside the tank. I plan on grafting a small .020 tank onto a larger wedge to make my 1/2A chicken hopper. Ken

Yo Ken,

Thanks!  I'm making a hard copy of your note to stick on my bulletin board out in the shop.  I THINK you or others may have explained this before, but I lost it in my computer.

I'm getting a Brodak order together, and am going to order one of his to mess with.

Thanks Again!

Kim wrote:

JPvelo wrote:
That anti siphon works great and helps wth fuel flow as long as you don't start doing crazy manuevers.

Jim

Jim...I have entire flights that qualify for that term !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, that's why I run bladders exclusively now. Motor keeps screaming no matter what!

Jim