Lil Roughneck 020/051

balogh Sun May 24, 2015 4:10 am

I bought this Lil Roughneck from Selecthobbies some time ago to build it once its predecessor retires. The previous one was powered by a TD 020 and flew quite well.

Lil Roughneck 020/051 Lil_ro10

I thought I make this new one as a common R/C platform for my 010, 020 powerplants ( the Lil Roughneck is said to fly with only a 010 on board, but I have never tried) and the 42 years 051 reedy (pictured while in duty) that tossed me back into modeling 5 years ago when I found it in the garage neatly preserved form the 1970-s. (I sang some songs about it on various threads. It came with a Super Sport trainer with an 051 piston/cylinder combo instead of a 049 product engine setup, for reasons unknown to me)

I built it between 9 am yesterday and 3 am this morning ( my back aches bitterly)....I designed the firewall so to accommodate a couple of different COX bacplate designs...in the worst case I return to the 020 to pull it.

This one weighs a tad less than 8 ounces and I wonder how the 051 will fly it...I go maiden it as weather here is just fine.)

**RknRusty** Sun May 24, 2015 6:58 am

I have a 9 ounce C/L Baby Flite Streak that flat out hauls ass with a Tee Dee .051, so your RC plane ought to really scat with the .051 pulling it. That's a sporty looking little plane. Did you just Monokote over the cockpits? I like its looks.
Rusty

balogh Sun May 24, 2015 8:35 am

Thanks Rusty yes I only monocoated.Once it deserves for good flying I may put some Cox decals on it too.

The maiden was so so...I had to pull the engine 4degrees to the right to keep it flying straight... once I have burnt the beer after the Saturday lunch I hit the field again.

1/2A Nut Sun May 24, 2015 11:25 am

http://www.airplanesandrockets.com/airplanes/lil-roughneck-november-december-1963-american-modeler.htm

Looks good hope you enjoy it! Small Cox Logo

balogh Sun May 24, 2015 11:46 am

Thanks for the link, I can confirm these low-wing small R/C planes are often tricky and will react with furor if small inacuracies in angles and dimensions are built in inadvertantly in your plane.

Mine this morning during the maided flightn - before I offset the engine angle by 4 degree - simply did not react to the rudder and elevator and kept pulling left until it crash landed in deep grass. The assembly instructions warns, anyway, that the rudder needs to be widened otherwise it will not make its work)

After the engine angle was offset though, now it is as tame as a kitten, and with the 051 reedy as fast as a swallow.

I put an exhasut deflector on my reedy and it looks like you the backplate gasket needs to be put on its both sides otherwise the engine will inhale false air.

Lil Roughneck 020/051 Exhaus10

1/2A Nut Sun May 24, 2015 4:04 pm

What is that blue thing on the side fuel filter slash port for refueling?

balogh Sun May 24, 2015 8:19 pm

Yes it is but the fueling stub is blanked as it was broken.

getback Mon May 25, 2015 6:34 am

I am glad U asked I was wondering the same thing I presume you have a tank inside the fuse ? the more I see these small planes I want to invest in something that would soot my purpose around the house here to fly but would have to be slow to start with , being inexperienced RC Plane

balogh Mon May 25, 2015 6:53 am

Sure I have the tank, a party balloon, holding some 3 ounces of fuel, in the nose. With a TD 020 or Pee Wee this can be a convenient plane to start with "around the house" but you will sure need a larger open area especially with a 049 on the nose. This plane will fly at a speed around 50 miles/hour or even more..

balogh Mon May 25, 2015 7:03 am

Correction to the balloon tank size: it is actually 20 cu cm = 0,7 ounces..

1/2A Nut Mon May 25, 2015 10:55 am

Ode to the Lil Roughnecks

Lil Roughneck 020/051 Wp416510

balogh Mon May 25, 2015 12:18 pm

These are way more beautiful than mine (that was made on the kitchen deck during the night). Are these yours, or from the net posted by someone else? I flew mine for about another 2 hours today and it gets tamer and tamer with all aerobatics (loops, wingovers climbs etc.) absolving the way I ask it... a real enjoyable little plane.

1/2A Nut Mon May 25, 2015 2:23 pm

No not mine just examples pulled up during a search perhaps help inspire a few to build one too. Memorial Day

balogh Fri Aug 07, 2015 5:10 am

I lost my Lil' Roughneck last weekend thanks to a RX battery running short of juice mid-air. (I hate these 330mAh small batteries but in my efforts to cut weight I have no alternative...4 pcs of AAA batteries would be the solution at the compromise of some weight and space in the belly of such a small plane).

The elevator froze in an up position, the plane started an endless series of loops while being drifted away in high elevation to a distance where I could not follow it, and just disappeared in low-hanging clouds...I could hear the engine screaming for about 10 minutes before it was lost.

Gone is also my 40+year TeeDee-reedie combo engine I have had since the mid-70's when I got it in a Super Sport trainer. So I cannot say my spirits are high...

Does anybody have an idea where a Lil Roughneck 020 ARF kit could be bought? Selecthobbies sold out the last one to me. Now I started to build it from scratch, using the balsa sheets from which the ribs and the formers were cut out, as patterns.

Oldenginerod Fri Aug 07, 2015 7:12 am

I'm sorry to hear that. That is one of the main reasons that I have decided not to pursue R/C. I don't trust radio waves when I can't see them. It would be a good idea to write your phone number somewhere on the plane for when this sort of thing happens. Someone is bound to come across it and hopefully is honest enough to contact you.

KariFS Fri Aug 07, 2015 7:18 am

So sorry for the loss Balogh. I remember your story about that engine and what it meant to you.

Maybe you could post "missing" ads to the area where you think your plane may have landed? Did it have your name and number on it?

balogh Fri Aug 07, 2015 7:24 am

Thanks Kari...I should have placed my name and phone number just as I have made myself promise that after so many losses....but I did not. ..
I will definitely put that in the new one I am building from scratch..
We posted it on Facebook but chances are very thin..

balogh Fri Aug 07, 2015 7:45 am

Thanks oldenginerod..I will stick to R/C even if I started out from C/L...this is just different. ..not necessarily better or worse but despite the higher costs and risks R/C with COX is where I found my ultimate thrill and pleasure.

BTW I visited SigSkyray in his Florida flyfield yesterday and saw his 9 year old boy flying C/L so well and in an idillically set up field...this is just another prerequisite I miss ín my neighborhood to fly CL...

balogh Fri Aug 07, 2015 8:24 am

The photo of my Lil Roughneck taken just befoire it was gone:

Lil Roughneck 020/051 Lil_lo11

Will remember her as Lil Lostneck...

The "funny" thing is that I flew it with the red backplate "cheapy" (as one godfather on CEF termed it when I introduced it) on the left on my starter box, that I bought on ebay some time ago at a never-again price, then ugraded with a TD 049 cylinder-piston combo. I just swapped them before the last flight with the good old TDReedie combo in the nose...

The next one will be even faster !!!!!!!!!!!!!! with my phone and name placed inside...

getback Fri Aug 07, 2015 8:46 am

I am sorry to hear this balogh as I have lost a few planes when I was tring to learn RC , I guess that's why I am not real thrilled about getting back to it plane / engine / radio / batt. all in one shot and usually not to be ever seen again . Glad to see your getting started on a new and faster one . Eric Airplane

Marleysky Fri Aug 07, 2015 8:57 am

So sorry to hear of your loss. Crashing and picking up the pieces is (at the end of the strings) disappointing, having to watch helplessly as your plane flys away is almost heartbreaking. If I were to build another (and that's a nice looking model) for RC, I would put my name on the outside so it could be seen, as the finder may not know to look inside.

BTW, you called your engine a TDreedie? What was that? I thought TDs were rotary intake and reedies were, well reedie intake?

balogh Fri Aug 07, 2015 11:32 am

Thx Marleysky

The lost engine was a white backplate product engine equipped for some unknown reason with a TD 051 cylinder back from the 70-'s. COX combined many components as the stock dictated. I was a lucky one with that combo and the unluckiest now to have lost it...

1/2A Nut Fri Aug 07, 2015 3:14 pm

My goal these days is to try and film my planes and of course some photos but film is the best.
Sorry for your loss!!!!! I use 2/3 AAA good for 450mah when you peak them out.
They also carry these in 800mah AAA

http://www.ebay.com/itm/320952347690?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

balogh Fri Aug 07, 2015 4:59 pm

Yes I noted you film clips on the Skorches with a head-mounted camera?

1/2A Nut Fri Aug 07, 2015 6:47 pm

Yes, that way if the worst should happen you have vid to reflect on of your proud project.
Sometimes video helps with the direction the plane went and do a hunt for it if possible.
I take my sports camera and video a flight or two each time I go out to observe engine rpm
and flight performance from any modifications I made to the plane.

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