Golden Bee, sort of....

I once owned a beat up Gibson ES295 guitar. It was finished in gold sparkle paint which I thought was butt ugly.I stripped the electronics and sold the body for $15.00. Later I find that the guitar would have been some sort of "collectable".

Maybe like that "Golden Bee"?

Not rare enough to go for. I'd prefer not having to remove paint, looks buggered.

The other engines in the auction don't look too bad. It's at $12.00 plus shipping at the moment.

I am not going to bid of course, have no need for any of those. I would probably have the seller toss the testors in the trash to save on shipping.

Yeah...kinda triggers a "Rescue Response" but not strong enough for me to go for it ....

The large medallion with throttle is tempting... I'll wait and see if it stays low a couple more days.

Phil

Cribbs74 wrote: I would probably have the seller toss the testors in the trash to save on shipping.

Ninjaman currently has a thread running about his struggles with a Testors. If anyone does have a shot at these engines, maybe keep him in mind if you don't want the Testors yourself.

Rod.

Obviously seller is not familiar with these engines.

Ebay COX ENGINE MOTOR .010, 051, AIRPLANE MODEL 3", 2 1/2" & 1 7/8" LARGE

Medallion looks like it might be a .15 one with unmuffled throttle sleeve. Testor pipe bomb RTF engine, someone here improvised a mount and made use of it. Babe Bee might be okay. I'd be tempted to soak the gold painted Golden Bee / Black Widow to see if paint would come off.

Worth going for? 2nd thot, I'd think the Medallion might be worth it, but may be towards end if not too high.

same seller has some other interesting things too including a prop rod pan, and another engine, not cox.

Phil

GallopingGhostler wrote:I'd be tempted to soak the gold painted Golden Bee / Black Widow to see if paint would come off.

Looks like it's probably just a plastic tank, and maybe backplate. No fill/vent pipes, so it's not Golden Bee or Black Widow.

Oldenginerod wrote:

Cribbs74 wrote: I would probably have the seller toss the testors in the trash to save on shipping.

Ninjaman currently has a thread running about his struggles with a Testors.  If anyone does have a shot at these engines, maybe keep him in mind if you don't want the Testors yourself.

Rod.

Probably a little harsh, just have found them to be substandard in just about every way. I have had a bunch of them. I sent them all to a member here.

Ron

I need to revisit the "pipe-bomb" mount that I started a while back. It was based on 3/4" sch. 40 PVC "pipe".. ... Batjac (Mark) and I had been brainstorming together on a mount.. and he actually finished his and built a coroplast model for the platform. I don't remember whether there was a flight-test.

As for my mount.. I surmised that I needed a 3/4 hole-saw for a cylinder-clearance hole in the pipe.. along with cutting a key-slot for the little product-engine's crankcase to locate. A short piece of 3/4" hardwood dowel (3/8" long) inserted into the PVC pipe behind the modified backplate ("Mark's mod..) would allow mounting a conventional plywood firewall.



I obtained the hole-saw.. but hadn't gone any further with the experiment. Basically; the dowel-plug would be glued (or screwed..) flush into the PVC pipe.. and the plywood-plate glued (or screwed..) to it. The whole engine-mount would be about the same length as a Cox "Golden Bee"/"Black Widow" engine.

Just curious.. does anyone know if the integral spring-starter assy. can be removed from the "Pipe-Bomb" engine.. and still allow it to run? That assy. alone must account for close to 1/3 of the engine's weight. Maybe the flywheel-effect is a necessary-element for sustained-running? I'm wondering if it's pressed-on to the crankshaft; similar to the Cox drive-plate..   I don't know much about the Testors Pipe-bomb engine.. but maybe there are some mods that could be done to increase its performance? Maybe a simple lightweight thrust-washer could be fitted in place of the spring-start mechanism.. to allow the use of larger diameter (6" + dia.) props to be run? This would reduce the weight-penalty of a fabricated mount (somewhat..) and possibly make this "misfit" engine usable in a model sized for a Cox reed-valve engine? You may think.. "why bother"... but I say; "why should these little engines languish in the land of misfit toys"?

Roddie, I didn't think it was worth it to remove the sprint housing.  I have one with a broken spring, and just left it.  It runs okay with the spring broken, so I didn't want to chance screwing up us somehow. I know I've read that some people have done it. Maybe over in the 1/2A section of Stunt Hanger.  I like the pipe bomb engines.  The ones I have make Bee RPMs, even though they're a little heavier.  An engine's an engine.  I'm surprised Carl Goldberg never tried to come up with some kind of mount like they did for postage stamp engines.  Must have been thousands of You Fly "Em planes that ended up crashed.

The Eclectic Mark

The time Carl Goldberg came out with the nylon engine mount for Cox .049 postage stamp engines was IIRC the late 1960's. I still have 2 engines with them. CL still had enough of a following and was a good way to make use of an otherwise good donor engine from a one-shot crashed and destroyed RTF.

Come the 1980's, 1/2-A CL RTF sales are dwindling, CL kit sales are on the decline. There probably was not enough monetary incentive to make a sell engine mounts for these engines.

Amount of weight saved by removing the steel spring and back off the Rotomatic starter plus possible damage to the engine diminishes the need IMO to mess with it. But given the potential donor "I've got nothing to lose", more power to the one who tries, and even more if they succeed.

It is rather amazing that the creators came up with perhaps one of the hottest engines when they created the Testors pipe bomb engine. Reduced production costs (scads were made) with of all things, a molded fiberglass reinforced crankcase. It's all part of a bygone era.

But, I think it neat that someone would cause these ghosts to relive by creating a mount to capture them in their glory again in a suitable airframe.

roddie wrote:I don't know much about the Testors Pipe-bomb engine.. but maybe there are some mods that could be done to increase its performance?

Not necessary. They perform just fine. Assuming fits are good and the correct head/washer combination were used, they run every bit as good as a cox reedie. Their bypass porting is huge. The reason for my comment on the head was that there appears to be about three combos. The heads used on later Wen Macs, early Testors McCoys and the Pipe Bombs all looked the same, but some were designed to run with no gasket, some with a shim gasket and some with a very thick alloy gasket. Run the thick gasket on a head with built-in sealing ridge and you will reduce the compression significantly. I do believe they are a little weak in the rod, so hotting them up for more RPM may be risky.

For good or ill I won the auction. I hope that larger Cox engine is worth it.

Phil

I think you did all right. They all should clean up well. Acetone or similar will clean up that hack golden bee.

Ron

I really wasn't bidding on the painted bee. I hope they are all "good" engines regardless.

Phil

I was a little snarky about the gold one when I started the thread, but
it looks like a you scored well, Phil. You think that's a .09 or a .15.
Either way, if the head is a dud I have one for you.
Bob

pkrankow wrote:For good or ill I won the auction. I hope that larger Cox engine is worth it.Phil

I think you did good, Phil, you got those for a song. Cox looks like a .15. Mecoa has a glow plug head adaptor:

http://www.mecoa.com/acc/adaptors/index.htm



With that size engine, I imagine that compression loss would most likely be minimal, depending on how they cut the exhaust chamber.

Nice score for the $$$ that is a .15 and with a throttle ring to boot , I would spray that GB with carb. cleaner over a trash can to get the bulk of the yellow/gold ? off then you know what to do!! Eric

The silver baby bee is pretty cherry. Like new compression. Might BE new with how cherry it is. Worth the $20 alone.

The "golden" bee is a basket case with epoxy everywhere. It is free, the drive plate is filed from hexagon to not even close to round...it appears to be a Testor's not-really "black widow" The back is destroyed. The tank is salvageable, the case, cylinder, piston, and crank appear to be OK... sorta. The piston shows signs of being reset improperly and then brought back to fit with compound or something. It has compression that I would try to use, but it is not superb.

The Testors product engine is a defused bomb. The piston is stuck, the crank is free, and the back and reed is missing...

The .15 is stuck solid, nothing moves. Disappointing. I'll get back to it, this is the engine I really was bidding on.

Well, off on vacation tomorrow so into the drawer they go for now.

Phil

You did good, Phil, good Babe Bee, potentially good .15 Medallion and 2 parts engines. I bet that Medallion will loosen up with a good crockpot bath to soften the congealed Castor, may be a good soak in a penetrating solvent. You got a prize there, definitely.

Crock pot treatment is where I am going is right. My previous treatments with fuel have not been as good as I hope on old stuff. works fine on stuff that moves at least. Antifreeze is the answer and I think I already have some.

Phil