Testors Spitfire, just bought from ebay (and video)

Hello,

I just got this off ebay, dirty and requires good clean. Controls work fine and no damage to the plane. The engine, tank and snap spring is one unit and includes a flywheel at the front if I am not mistaken.
Here is the video,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV0iHibkR6A

Thanks
Simon

Hi Simon.  

Looks like a good project.  I have a few old Testors planes myself.  A couple N.I.B. that are staying that way, and a couple in the clean-up stage before flying them.

I love those old Testors pipe bomb engines.  Not as much as Cox, but a close second.  The front piece that looks like a flywheel is the starter spring housing.  I doubt that there's enough metal there to do any dampening of the pulses, but who knows?  If you really think there's garbage in the tank, you can just firmly pull it straight back and it will come off.  The tank is just held in place by a ridge around the tank and a groove in the case it snaps into.  If you do take it apart, you can easily check the reed valve to see if it's still good.   It should be, as they're just a plastic reed.  I don't know if they're mylar or something else, but in the Testors engines I've taken apart, they're still in good shape.  I think that's because the Testors planes never got much flying time.  

I'm kinda surprised the glow head's burnt out, actually.  All the Testors engines I've bought still had good glow heads due to low run time.  Maybe the previous owner used too much voltage and fried the filament?  You can keep an eye out on eBay for new glow plugs, as they come up regularly.  I'm pretty sure the Wen-Mac .049 glow heads will also thread right on the engine, and the Wen-Mac heads use ordinary short glow plugs.  I don’t know how well the engine runs with that four bladed prop.  But, I bet it lugs the engine down pretty good.  If you’replanning on flying the plane, I’d seriously consider a Cox 5x3 Safety Prop.  Also called a ‘Rubber Ducky” prop (http://coxengines.ca/cox-.049-propeller-5-x-3-safety-tip.html).  You should get around 15-16,000 RPM on the pipe bomb with the 5x3.  If you can’t get the Cox 5x3, I’d use whatever brand you can get over there where you are.  Here's a thread on a pipe bomb engine I took apart and cleaned:

https://www.coxengineforum.com/t8062-fun-with-generic-non-threatening-title

For cleaning up the body, I'd suggest first trying some Dawn dish detergent gently wiped on the plastic.  Dawn is great for cutting old glow fuel if it's not too heavily caked on.  Be careful around the decals and wipe them gently.  You're not finding replacements for those puppies.

The EOD Mark