Air Cooled Fun...Not a Porsche:-)

wings&wheels

wings&wheels

Joined
Dec 5, 2003
Messages
3,766
Location
New England, USA
We didn't have a lot of disposable income growing up in the 70's and I didn't see Dad much for a while, 3rd shift paid a bit more, but we always managed to have a new Cox .049 toy appear: dragster, trike, P40, Ryan....never got the Stuka, and the dune buggy. Great memories, even if the event ended with bits of plastic amid tangled flying lines! Well I found part, or should I say parts, of my dune buggy while helping Mom clean and I went on a mission, I had to find an almost complete one on eBay to restore it with.

Did lots of cleaning, spun the engine and hearing the pop I could almost smell the exhaust and fuel. Now to finish the 'resto' (parts swap), get fuel, batteries...maybe even convert to R/C steering.

CDB1023.jpg
 
Those are simple fun engines. I spent too many hours flying R/C planes with them. Electric is cleaner and more practical now but it doesn't have the nostalgia.
 
I had a purple dune buggy, and my brother had the orange Baja Bug. We played with those things for many hours for many days. I believe Cox was the brand. Thanks for the great memories.

 
Had one too.

Remember the ad..."Dune Buggy Wheelie"! I just wished it was remote controlled. I think I still have that engine in my barn somewhere.
It was just a Cox .049, but it had that great pull starter on it.

Thanks for the memory.
 
I had a Cox "Prop Rod", and the P-40. My favorite was a Wen-Mac twin .049 P-38 Lightning.

The Wen-Mac .049's had a seperate glow plug that screwed into the top of the cylinder head. With the Cox .049, (as well as the other sizes), the glow plug was the entire cylinder head itself.
 
Was never much into the cars, though I did have a few. I have about 30 planes though, mostly in boxes right now since we moved into a farmhouse that doesnt have a useable basement. But when we lived in the suburbs a few years ago I had an entire room in the basement that had the walls covered with the planes.
 
Control line nitro powered planes is somewhat of a dying hobby. Mostly because R/C technology has gotten so cheap and affordable, most anyone can have one. That, and the availability of drones. A lot of which have auto flight modes that help avoid uskilled crashes.

When I was younger R/C planes were mostly an adult hobby, because of the cost. Even a "trainer" was out of reach for most kids. Today that has all changed.... For the better. And there are a lot of "ready to fly" models that didn't exist back then.

There is a R/C flying field about a 1/2 mile from our gun club. It's unbelievable how sophisticated some of these planes are. Many have smoke systems, and there are a few turbine powered jets from time to time. A few weeks back there was a guy there that was flying an actual Kerosene burning turboprop. The hobby has really improved.
 
I loved my Cox Baja Bug. Thanks for the thread!! Childhood toys were epic when I grew up. Saved up my money and purchased the dragster too. I could never get the dragster to run. Something was wrong with the engine and it was given a fine send off with Estes rocket engines.

I am fairly sure the Cox 049 was responsible for my utter obsession with all things 2 stroke!
 
I had the cox drag car. It was a 57 chevy and you had a long string to use as a guide...A friend of mine had the dragster one...
 
billt460 said:
Control line nitro powered planes is somewhat of a dying hobby. Mostly because R/C technology has gotten so cheap and affordable, most anyone can have one. That, and the availability of drones. A lot of which have auto flight modes that help avoid uskilled crashes.

When I was younger R/C planes were mostly an adult hobby, because of the cost. Even a "trainer" was out of reach for most kids. Today that has all changed.... For the better. And there are a lot of "ready to fly" models that didn't exist back then.

There is a R/C flying field about a 1/2 mile from our gun club. It's unbelievable how sophisticated some of these planes are. Many have smoke systems, and there are a few turbine powered jets from time to time. A few weeks back there was a guy there that was flying an actual Kerosene burning turboprop. The hobby has really improved.
Click to expand...
Ya. I'll never forget the time in the mid 1980's when I saw a couple of men fly and crash their R/C helicopters. They were almost $3k back then.

I so wanted to build a R/C USS Constitution with a battery of cannons which fired BBs. LOL.
 
Kira said:
What kind of lube goes on that worm drive? 500rpm?
Click to expand...
No idea yet, it is plastic on plastic so I would use some type of silicone grease maybe, but there is a lot of unburnt fuel w/ the nitro and alcohol fuel, castor and other oils being flung around so who knows....
 
Just remembered when I was around 6 I got a P51? Control line airplane for my birthday. Dad and I took it nearby to fly it and he had to fly it first to show me how. He made the lines too short and rotated too fast got dizzy lost control and nose dived into the pavement and it exploded. 😖 it didn't get replaced.
 
WOW! this brought back a flood of memories. My Grandmother would buy me one for every birthday. I do miss her she was so kind. When my grandfather passed away I would sleep by her house on weekends when I didnt have school to keep her company. I havent thought of that for years.
 
Blueshound said:
I love the photo itself. Clearly taken by a kid (you?) probably on 110 or 126 with a flash bulb. The van has clearly been well loved!
Click to expand...
No, not my pic, but mine was very well taken care of. I did t have a parking lot close by so chased it down the street, well, until it decided to exit into someone’s yard or under a parked truck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Twisted1
Inspecting old brake pads/rotors to find a problem..
2
Replies
27
Views
801
SammyChevelleTypeS3
T
2004 F150 5.4 high calculated load, low power
2
Replies
23
Views
3K
Luftmasse
redhat
This was a new one for me, '05 Suburban tracking down the noise
Replies
7
Views
2K
redhat
Brons2
Rented a Sienna Hybrid for a week
Replies
18
Views
2K
JavierH19
celicaxx
2006 Ford Five Hundred under valve cover pics, 186k miles conventional oil
2 3
Replies
42
Views
9K
MrGraybeard
Back
Top