Just finished flying my .35 sized Ringmaster!!!!!!!

Ron,

I knew you would be grinning ear to ear, it will go on for a couple of days. Glad the engine worked out for you. You definitely want padding behind the tank and a fuel filter between the tank and engine, otherwise you get bubbles which can affect your run. Glad to here the old engine 4/2/4ed for you. I've managed to cut all the ribs for my stuka and I'm going to start on the wing this weekend. Have fun with it. Remember, nose heavy is good, nose heavy is good, my old flying buddy that has taught me most of my flying lesson's told me that when it feels like you can't turn it anymore then it's time to start adding a little tail weight. the CG for the ringmaster is 1.5" from the leading edge. Mine is about 1" right now. Doe's your ring have adjustable leadouts? I couldn't remember. Bill told me that engine was totally broke in, the sludge looks a little dark, might be cause it was in a drawer in his garage for a few years. He gave me another just like it. I have 4 foxes now.

Jim Hayes

Ron, Control Line Central makes a set of teflon pad's that have 2 degrees of right thrust in them that you mount between the motor mounts and the plane, they will make your line's even tighter and they will solve any problems with the engine shifting. CLC is on the net, there also know as J&J hobbies here in Albuquerque.

Jim Hayes

Also Brodak offset shims, part# BH-850 comes with pairs of 1,2 and 3deg offsets. I'll have some in a couple of days, so I'll let you know how they look.
http://brodak.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=BH-850&x=5&y=10

Congrats on the maiden. That fox 35 looks like it barks with the open port exhaust! Love the pic of the castor slime trailing down.

Thanks for all the tips and tricks guys. I will remove the rubber, have to admit though it's pretty solid and there are lock nuts on the backside to keep it all secure. I will check out the shims and put some foam behind the tank. I did about 4-5 runs on it and it ran really well. The only leaning was near the end of the tank. Not sure why the oil is dark perhaps it was just spitting out old crud or maybe it's as John suggested and there was water in the fuel. It was a pretty old jug.......

Anyway I will make a few changes and see how it goes. Funny thing was the engine had more compression after the run.

Ron

Jason_WI wrote:Congrats on the maiden. That fox 35 looks like it barks with the open port exhaust! Love the pic of the castor slime trailing down.

Thanks Jason, The sound was deep, but it didn't bother my ears. The sound is nothing like the shrill wine of an .049 it was probably only turning 10K. What it lacks in RPM it makes up for in overall torque. Even on a wet 4 stroke run it hauls that plane around with ease.

It's a good motor. I can understand why it has been a CL favorite for over 60yrs.

Ron

Ron,

Not sure how much you know about a Fox .35 or how much you have run it but Fox .35's need break-in, and a good amount of lube whenever you run it. It is a maximum size engine for that case and you get part of the cooling from the fuel. Most use at least 25% oil and some use as much as 29%. Since it is an iron/steel engine at least half of the lube should be castor. If it has been run extensively, a castor seal may be present on the piston.

The black "slime" may be synthetic lube cleaning out stuff accumulated over the years. If you need to use a muffler, there are strap-on tongue mufflers available that many use.

I like your color choices, here's mine...sans tank.

George

George,

Thanks for the tips, this particular Fox .35 was purchased in 1952. The owner bought it new and used it many times over the years. It was handed down to me on the premise that it be used again. It still runs quite well. My maiden run was done by a fellow that is big into Fox .35's and he too warned me to use high castor. I used the fuel that he was using the fuel he was running in his Fox .35 powered Shoestring.

When I buy my own fuel I will be sure to run high castor.

I don't know why the oil was blackish. The engine though rubber mounted is solid so I don't know what to say. It could have been a number of things.

Thank you for the compliment concerning my color choice. I like yours as well. I tried to be faithful to the original design. I added an accent just tonight. Now I need to come up with a Ringmaster decal.

Ron

gcb wrote:.........but Fox .35's need break-in, and a good amount of lube whenever you run it. It is a maximum size engine for that case and you get part of the cooling from the fuel. ..........Since it is an iron/steel engine at least half of the lube should be castor. If it has been run extensively, a castor seal may be present on the piston.

The black "slime" may be synthetic lube cleaning out stuff accumulated over the years. ..................

Most of my controlline experience was with McCoys. Later, I flew Enyas on my RC stuff. However, in both cases, construction was steel or steel/iron and the fuels were all castor. Breakin for an Enya took forever, but cared for, they would also last forever. Pistons were either flat topped with standard porting or baffled and loop scavenged.

George's point of fuel cooling is well taken. Since our fuels at the time did not have a synthetic component, the castor passed thru the engine and carried a lot of heat out of the exhaust. The engines also varnished over time, but the larger engines were not as prone to getting tight like the .049. A well varnished engine that has been run on all castor may seem to lose some compression when run on a synthetic/castor mix and gets the cylinder walls and piston cleaned up. I agree with George that some of the dark exhaust may be the engine losing some of its internal coating. The exhaust should be light golden to medium gold in color.

Andrew

BTW, two good looking Rings there.

This isn't really related to the original post, however it is related to the Fox. I myself don't use high percentage castor oil fuels in my Fox. In my experience using the high castor fuel they can be problematic due to the heavy carbon that will result from long term usage. I'm not suggesting not to use it, just to look out for high varnish and carbon. Whenever a Fox .35 sits dormant for any period of time that has been run on high castor oil fuel the rod needs to be checked for free movement on the wrist pin. They rod gets almost welded to the wrist pin. Instead of the rod rotating around the wrist pin the entire pin is now turning which really damages the wrist pin hole due to egging it out. This rotating motion can also disengage the wrist pin circlips which instantaneously can ruin a engine. Removal of the backplate and placing a allen key to pry the rod off the crank web will easily see if the rod is indeed floating. The Fox conrod is a weak link in the .35 stunt due to being unbushed and no cross drilled oil holes in the large end of the rod. I usually drill the rod for oil holes. This will also require a new gasket if the backplate is removed. The back of the Fox case is quite crude and should be lapped onto a piece of flat glass similar to flattening a Cox extruded case. The stuffer backplate available from Fox is a much better designed backplate. The stock backplate doesn't extend into the case to hold the large end of the rod on properly so premature wear can take place there and the rod can rub the backplate which can also show examples of that blackish oil. Many times when a crank bushing is wearing the crank has substantial radial play, the backplate can show severe rubbing on it as well.

The stuffer plate has hard anodizing on it but will eventually wear as well but it does provide better sealing due to being a machined part vs a casted piece. The stuffer backplate retains the gasket much better as opposed to the stock casted backplate. The stock plate has a considerable radius in the inside corner which squeezes out the gasket. I glue sand paper to the case and lap the backplates into the case which resolves this by removing the radius. I only have a few stuffer plates so I used many of the stock units. The stock backplate can and will break if not properly installed. If the ears are slightly bent and you decide to straighten them I suggest keeping Fox's number on hand as you will be ordering a new one due to breaking. Ken

Ken,

Good point about the wrist pin to conrod bearing. ANY engine should be checked to see that the upper conrod is free if it has been stored for awhile.

BTW my Fox .35 has both the stuffer backplate and the hemi head. I also used a tongue muffler instead of the stock muffler.

George

Congrats Ron I remember the feeling .. Sick but pumped !!
Glad it went well for you bud love the write up ...you know it's fun when u can't wait to tell everyone about it !!
Woop woop keep those laps coming Ron
Dizz