Thimble Drome Champion

Been looking for one of these for years and found one with everything I wanted. ( Christmas gift to self HaHa) I flew it under wives radar so far.
Its a pre-war Dooling Mercury Deluxe and could be a reproduction, not sure. If it is a repro its a very good one.
Digging into this one should be fun.

This series of photos is the chronological order, mine is the Mercury rear drive, second in the photos.
I haven't had time to dig into it yet, been busier than a Dem making excuses for Hillary.

The similarities between my model and this one on eBay are striking and to numerous to be a coincidence. The louvres in the engine cowl and bottom pan are identical and unusual.
The cockpit dash, gauges and stering wheel are identical as are the fuel pump and hand brake. These and other features show they were build by the same person.
I,m going to send a note to the seller for any info.
  As for price the yellow Mercury has been for sale for at least 5 years, it will never sell for that. The Dooling models simply don't go that high. What is his motivation for running this and other listings over and over for years? I don't know.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TETHER-CAR-ORIGINAL-DOOLING-Yellow-5-Mercury-/371247334155?hash=item567010c30b:g:KsIAAMXQVs1Rm95B

Written elsewhere is how my Dad played with toy airplanes and why ....infecting me with all things mechanical and aviation

But he also briefly played with the tether cars of the day..(late 50s early 60s) and I remember fondly the McCoy spark ignition tether car we ran in vacant parking lots....

Thus far I have seriously resisted seeking and playing with these toys...(frugal reasons)

BUT dang if these threads ---and the super efforts by crankbndr don't get me all spun up to play!

I know there must be at least one You-Tube of a dynojet tether car being very fast and dangerous out there!

crankbndr wrote:The similarities between my model and this one on eBay are striking and to numerous to be a coincidence. The louvres in the engine cowl and bottom pan are identical and unusual.
The cockpit dash, gauges and stering wheel are identical as are the fuel pump and hand brake. These and other features show they were build by the same person.
I,m going to send a note to the seller for any info.
  As for price the yellow Mercury has been for sale for at least 5 years, it will never sell for that. The Dooling models simply don't go that high. What is his motivation for running this and other listings over and over for years? I don't know.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TETHER-CAR-ORIGINAL-DOOLING-Yellow-5-Mercury-/371247334155?hash=item567010c30b:g:KsIAAMXQVs1Rm95B

I could go crazy over these, the pictures above are extraordinary.

The one for sale, at that price would buy all my Enya and other engines, my model cars and airplanes, and I would probably throw in my full scale 2003 MX-5 Miata.

Bob

Some numbskull tried to mount this Dooling .61 (repro by Woody Bartelt)  in the frame, it did not fit well, looked like a 10 year olds work. The engine has never been fired.
The frame has had at least 3 engines mounted, drilled like swiss cheese and patched with J-B Weld. Im going to have to grind it flat and install engine mounts inside the frame.
Have to put fillets and feather the edges around the mounts, that means painting the frame to cover the repair. A sacrilege in the tether car world.

If the frame is made of cast aluminium, you might want to investigate this:

http://www.techno-weld.co.uk/home.html

I have not used it myself, but it has been used to fix small fractures in motorcycle engine blocks and also to repair cooling fins by filling to replace missing pieces.

The link is to an UK company, but I'd be surprised if it were not available in the US.

Thank you for the tip, I will look into this.

Scott Dinger is a welder in Simi Valley Cali that has done extensive work for the hobby. I haven't had contact with Scott in approx 2 years. He has repaired my cast aluminum speed pans and also broken unobtainable crankcases. I did a Google search and found this http://www.allweld.com/ It certainly is worth asking. It all depends on the quality of the casting. If it's porous, it will more than likely blow holes and melt. If there's a chance that he can do a test somewhere inconspicuous, he will immediately know. A phone call to him would also let you know.

Thank you for the helpful tips, Im going to look into these and think about it a bit.
One problem is the J-B Weld, do you think I can burn it off with a Mapp gas torch?

As much as I have used J-B Weld dozens of times to repair everything from automotive to the handle of my favorite coffee cup, it is a monster to get off of any model engines.
Case in point, I got a Cox TD09RC from a buddy who is a J-B Weld freak that was fully and heavily covered with it. He gave me the engine since it was impossible to clean and he gave up on it.
After trying everything including a torch, it seemed nothing would work without destroying the engine.
So I put it in a glass jar full of 25% Nitro fuel to soak.
I checked it about every two weeks for about 6 months and none the better than before.
I actually forgot about it for a year and a half and then pulled it out.
Lo and behold, the J-B Weld pealed right off by hand like an onion skin !!!
Once I disassemble and clean everything again it should look and run like new again ....
FYI .....  YMMV.......
Steve

That's one fault with JB Kwik, the fast setting JB Weld. It's no good for fuel-exposed parts like gluing venturis into Norvel engines and such.

Nice save on the TD 66, I can't wait a year though.
Anyone ever try this stuff??

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Attack-Epoxy-Resin-Glue-Remover/282220257319?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D40804%26meid%3D302e46c3d5bb49ef9854ba40684e69c2%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D130393956090

While pondering what to do about the frame I started finding other parts for a period correct tether car. I acquired this Dennymite Airstream to power the model.
Reginald Denny was a cool guy, he was an aviator, movie star, inventor, hobby enthusiast and he was probably tapping Norma Jeane before she was "discovered".
She worked in his factory and was photoed by the military for a spread about women in the war effort. This read about Denny is worth the time.
http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/denny.html

Interesting site CB especially if you click on some of the links.

I enjoyed seeing his hobby shop located in the right spot. Looks like a '51 Dodge crusing by. Also some good info regarding him and his hobbies on wiki.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Denny_(actor)

Bob

This is an add from 1939, it shows the engine and car

The engine has to mount lower in the frame for the plug to clear the cowling, the V plugs were much larger and taller than the next gen plugs.
Only about 3/16  clearance to work with between bottom cover and top engine cover.

I been stuck on this project, I need to connect the flywheel to driveshaft so I can mount the engine. The rear end is sprung so need a u joint, I can work with brass its easy to cut, grind, solder.
Any thoughts on a coupling? It has to be short, might even need to cut crank shorter to get engine rearward.