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Well, the weather is not conducive to flying, so I figured I’d do some engine work today.  I mounted up a couple of engines for the most recent projects, a couple that I got at the swap meet last week, and a couple that have been sitting on the shelf waiting for attention.  Here they are on my trusty test stand.




The two Medallions are the one that I made the pressure tap on, and one that’s been giving me fits.  The one that’s not been cooperative just wouldn’t run.  I’ll pull it apart and see what’s going on inside.  The one that I made the pressure tap for was a real dog before I messed with it.  Now, with the pressure port blocked off, it’s turning 20K with a Cox 5x3 safety prop.   Next thing to do with it is to plumb up a tank and see how it runs using the pressure port for tank pressure.

On the TD .051 I was going to try my hand at bladder pressure, but my forceps suck.  I can’t get them open in time and the prime runs out too fast.  I’ll make up a different system and try again.

Of the engines I got from the swap meet, the Golden Bee ran like a champ.  The Black Widow and the Silver Bee didn’t want to cooperate.  I’ll have to tear them apart and rebuild them.

The interesting things were the two Testors .049s I tried.  One came from the swap meet, and one I’ve been holding for a while.   The last Testors engine I tried to run was in one of the Fly ‘Em series when I was a kid, and it wouldn’t run for me at all.  So I had no grand hopes for these.  I looked online for operating instructions or starting detail, but there’s nothing for Testors engines like this site.  So, I hooked up a tank and the starter battery and guessed from there.  For anyone who’s curious, a good needle setting for starting is 2 turns open.  Peak RPM was at 1 ½ turns open.  For comparison to Cox .049’s, I used a Cox 5x3 safety tip prop bored out for the Testors shaft.   One engine turned 17.7K and one turned 18.6K.




MUCH better than I expected.  I ran about ¾ of an ounce through both, and they ran smooth and steady.  I’m gonna have to clean up the other Testors, McCoys, and Wen-Macs I have and see what they can do.

The Beguiled Mark