Re: Thimble Drome Champion

happydad Thu Dec 17, 2015 7:50 pm

crankbndr wrote:Got the body painted and cleared today even though it is very humid here and downright hot.
I used colors close to original although the black is metallic. Assembly coming soon.

Very nice. Can you paint my Shrike that color? lol!

happydad

getback Fri Dec 18, 2015 8:08 am

Very NICE Crank , the blue metallic came out good , what paint did you use ? getback Small Cox Logo

crankbndr Fri Dec 18, 2015 9:54 am

Thanks, the paint is Dupli-Color Perfect Match (its a Ford color) and their clear in the auto stores, definitely not fuel proof but my shelf queen won't care.
I have used that two part K2 clear over Duple-Color in the past and it should be fuel proof but haven't tested it yet.
I also tried Brownells Aluma hyde clear that is so-posed to be epoxy based over Duple-Color and it wiped right off with 30%.
Still looking for a good clear to go over Duple-Color, K2 looks promising but need to test it.
Very happy with the body, I was lucky it had no cracks dings or dents.

Thimble Drome Champion - Page 7 Dsc01018

Thimble Drome Champion - Page 7 Dsc01018

ARUP Sat Dec 19, 2015 7:52 pm

Hey... you... dum azz... that car looks great! I laughed so hard at your 'no gloves' text! This Site Rocks!

crankbndr Sun Dec 27, 2015 8:38 am

Had a hard time finding phillister head, phillips drive, black oxide replacement machine screws. Found some NOS eBay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281870237022?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

That is all I needed to complete the Real McCoy

Thimble Drome Champion - Page 7 Dsc01019

Thimble Drome Champion - Page 7 Dsc01019

The early cars had a short needle with slotted head, you had to insert screwdriver to adjust.
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McCoy vs Thimble Drome

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OVERLORD Sun Dec 27, 2015 8:57 am

getback Sun Dec 27, 2015 9:58 am

Fantastic job on the restoration of the McCoy !!! I guess you got another conn. rod for the engine ? My patient's is just shot to heck I guess// I am not having as much fun as I had intended in my older age lol!

I plan to work on that though... This Site Rocks!

getback

batjac Sun Dec 27, 2015 12:30 pm

crankbndr wrote:

I been wondering about you avatar, I've seen it before but can't place it. Looked through all my old papers, its pretty cool, where is it?

Oops! Sorry, I didn't see this question back when you originally asked it. That's from the troubleshooting chart in the instruction booklet from a mid-70's Cox PT-19.

The Historian Mark

akjgardner Sun Dec 27, 2015 2:45 pm

Hey Crank,The car looks great. Love the colors

ARUP Mon Jan 04, 2016 8:07 pm

Has anyone here built the Cleveland 'Speedster' Aircar from Cleveland Airline Model plans? Its catalog number is AU-7.

getback Tue Jan 05, 2016 9:01 am

ARUP wrote:Has anyone here built the Cleveland 'Speedster' Aircar from Cleveland Airline Model plans? Its catalog number is AU-7.

Couldn't get that link to work is this it http://www.hippocketaeronautics.com/hpa_plans/details.php?image_id=3232 Download //open , getback Babe Bee .049

Marleysky Tue Jan 05, 2016 5:23 pm

Try this link: http://www.clevelandairline.com/ASP/PRODUCT.asp

It's a prop driven car, don't know if it's a balsa kit or solid block, no details, no pictures just the sketch of the car.

GoTo : link above, then select "product catalog" on left hand side, then "secondary"
Product line, then " industrial training". It is in there......

ARUP Tue Jan 05, 2016 9:08 pm

Yes... that's the link. Click on 'featured releases' then click on the 'next' button two times in succession and you'll see it. You purchase plans only. Maybe, back in the day, a kit of some sort was offered. I just made a large purchase from them because you can get a 30% discount right now. I should have gone ahead and let 'curiosity kill the cat', or, rather, the cat's bank account, and purchased a set of the plans.

getback Wed Jan 06, 2016 8:32 am

That's a pretty wild looking car but they don't give you much to go on other than that small pic. getback Babe Bee .049

crankbndr Sat Jul 09, 2016 9:03 am

Picked up my first Thimble Drome O-Forty-Five Special, out sniped two other bidders. It looks to have not been run much. I look for road rash on the top of the seat and exhaust and for marks on the engine from disassembly, this one looked good.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cox-Thimble-Drome-Champion-Race-Car-Original-/191907327960?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=ZqpR7o90JFanbsyIsOn3YXtl5w4%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

crankbndr Sat Jul 09, 2016 9:35 am

The body looks like original paint, it will be stripped and painted. I believed they came in red, blue, white and yellow.
I'm thinking yellow.

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Thimble Drome Champion - Page 7 Dsc01111

crankbndr Sat Jul 09, 2016 9:52 am

This little jewel of an engine is frozen good, that plate with a handle that is covering the crankcase is turned almost 90 degrees and is an exhaust throttle. The handle is bent but think it can be straightened. When closed it seals the crankcase. Off to the croch pot for some cooking.

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Thimble Drome Champion - Page 7 Dsc01112

Thimble Drome Champion - Page 7 Dsc01113

crankbndr Wed Jul 13, 2016 11:56 am

This .045 was the hardest engine to free up i've ever seen. It did two 8 hour cooks in the crock pot, soaking in liquid wrench and Rem oil and three rounds with a heat gun.
On the third round of heat gun I started trying degreaser and brake rotor cleaner and it broke loose but wasn't good for the aluminum especially the cast case.
It has .045 Spitfire top end, even the glow plug has Spitfire stamped on it. The case casting is complex, it has separate chambers for intake and exhaust.

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Thimble Drome Champion - Page 7 Dsc01114

crankbndr Wed Jul 13, 2016 12:03 pm

The air intake is through a hollow axle and this tire is free wheeling. There is a filter in the axle.

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The drive wheel is splined to the axle

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crankbndr Wed Jul 13, 2016 12:15 pm

I been using Duple-color lacquer but they didn't have the color yellow I wanted so I used Rustolium enamel. The enamel was much harder to work with and had to strip the paint after the first job because of all the flaws, the second time I primed and wet sanded twice before color and it came out much better. Still got to paint seat black.
Got repo stickers.

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Thimble Drome Champion - Page 7 Dsc01117

crankbndr Sat Jul 16, 2016 1:14 pm

OVERLORD Sat Jul 16, 2016 2:28 pm

Great restoration Crank, that looks like new. I read with much interest your description of the engine. Thanks for posting!!

crankbndr Sat Jul 16, 2016 4:02 pm

Hi, thanks! I really do enjoy working on these old models, great hobby for me.
I was going to take the engine completely apart but chickened out, I might go for it still and post photos here.

crankbndr Thu Jul 21, 2016 9:20 am

I found photos of a dissembled .045 right here on our own forum, member altidsulten posted these photos

https://www.coxengineforum.com/gallery/Personal-album-of-altidsulten-cat_u200.htm

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Thimble Drome Champion - Page 7 Dsc01120

fyin Thu Aug 11, 2016 3:37 am

Hi Crank,

I just bought a Thimble Drome car but bought wrong version " pusher " and planning to modify it to run in engine, can you post some inside (hosing with gearbox / eng pics of your car for my reference??
Many thanks

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