Is anyone interrested in 1/2a fun carrier? We have a 3 line bellcrank in 1/2a size comming out soon and I am working on a plane to follow. Is there any interest?
Larry

Ok folks....."FUN CARRIER" not an event.
   Yes I know that .06 and .07 engines are not 1/2a but let us face it ...that is what we are left with. The .07 by Thunder Tiger can be got for less that $50.00 if you shop around.
     I am thinking of a MO-1 for the plane to be simple.
Larry

    Thottle has not been known to work well on .049 engines. There is a method to slow a model in flight without thottle and we mention it in our Dynamic kit. You use a third line attached to the tail of the model and adjust the speed by altering the flight path of the plane.
Larry

Hi Larry,

Neat idea.

The Norvel 049 throttle very well. I know because I had to take the time to set-up two of them to run well enough to fly a Scale model my son built. They work very well, indeed. They aren't in production anymore and so the Wasp AP 061 from Hobby People is probably the best way to market the model and they often are on sale for 29.99. Usual price is 49.99. Pretty good deal,  and fun for those that like 1/2A models, even if the engine is an 061.
I remember when we built models as kids and had hand-me-down engines like Cub 074's and 099's and Tornado 060's we didn't really care that they weren't really 1/2A's because they fit nicely on the models...
Chris...

Ok folks....."FUN CARRIER" not an event.
   Yes I know that .06 and .07 engines are not 1/2a but let us face it ...that is what we are left with. The .07 by Thunder Tiger can be got for less that $50.00 if you shop around.
     I am thinking of a MO-1 for the plane to be simple.
Larry

I am just going to repeat what some others have said here before, particularly the post by Chris McMillan.

The AP Wasp .061 is readily available from several mail order houses like Tower and Hobby People.  The price is less than $50.00.  Their throttle works exceptionally well.  After they are properly broken in, these engines simply become bolt in and fly. with little or no fiddling to get the to run (and they can really run fast - they like small props) and to throttle down (even with small props).

Norvels are always available from eBay.  New ones sometimes get kind of pricey, but sometimes a good buy can be had.  And some of the used ones have been quite satisfactory and ususally can be had for a reasonable price.

Larry,

How soon could have have several of those bellcranks you are talking about?  What kind of handle with they use or will they be compatible with the Brodak and/or the Roberts handles?

Keith

Here are some pictures of a 1/2A Carrier plane - at least 15 years old.  The engine was off of a very fast mouse racer - it happened to have a cylinder ground for a throttle sleeve, so I just plugged one on.

The bellcrank is homemade, the handle is homemade but with a piece of coat hanger wire and any two line handle, one can duplicate it's action.

The throttle sleeve would only throttle it down to about 4-5000 RPM, but at 5000 RPM, the plane would fall out of the sky.  I was able to fly this model around at 45 degrees or more and regularly got 30 second laps out of it on 35 foot lines.  I even built a small arresting area out of 2 x 4 sheets of masonite that fit on a regular carrier deck (in front of the last line) - the idea was to use the front 24 feet of the deck as the 1/2A deck.  I don't even remember what triggered this little experiment, because we never had a 1/2A event or went to any contest that had it - but I also have a Seafire built over the Guillows Spitfire plans that was set up for a TD with a regular front mounted carb.  That one never flew, but mainly because there was never any contest to fly it at.

I don't know if this event will catch on or not -- I hope so.  The rudder on this one has been gone for at least 12 years but I could have it ready to fly this weekend if I had to ...

   As to the bellcrank ....I expect to have them packaged by next week and I will be sending some to Sam's Stuff and Hobbies and Maxwell's hobbies. We were going to make them from metal but the price ballooned up so we will have them in Nylon. Nylon is better too because it works smoother, with no drag. I have concluded the design for the plane and it is in drafting now.
   Now the handle....The standard three line handle will operate it and since the plane will be on (about) 50 foot lines that seems like a good choice. Of course, any way that you can pull a third line will work.
Larry

YIIKES!!!!! I just looked at the price of the handle I guess I will need to get engineering to work on that next.

Feel free to take inspiration from my home-made handle - it is important to note that a pull on the trigger yields a pull on the throttle line results in "HIGH" speed.  Most carrier flyers use a pull for high speed.  With this arrangement, you want the double-drag of the elevator lines to pull you down to low speed when you release the tension on the throttle line.  It makes it much more reliable to come up off low speed quickly should you need to if you are pulling on the throttle line for high speed.

With the Brodak/commercial units, it is not important which way is high or low because the mechanism applies a pull to either the throttle line or both elevator lines.  The throttle line moves the opposite direction of the trigger.

I'll include a picture of a Cox 3-line handle that was sold with one of their RTF plastic planes - You can see that this one moves the throttle line the same direction as the trigger (note that the throttle line is 'forward' and the elevator lines are retracted into the housing in the bottom pic - vice-verse in the top).  This one would be slightly easier to manufacture, because the throttle trigger and the throttle line attachment are one piece which simply slides back and forth.

I'll also note that my home-made unit was modelled after a Hot-Rock with a coat-hanger wire throttle arm that won profile carrier at one of the Lincoln Nats, and my bellcrank is a Perfect 1/2A bolted to a home-made aluminum bellcrank.

It need not be a hugely expensive venture.  (There is also a similar composite of my handle in both positions).

I had just finisher preliminary sketches on a handle that is very simular in the Cox operation, maybe because I had the Cox handle once. Thank You for your help, because of your pic's I found a flaw in my idea. 
Larry

If you would like to borrow this one, or have me take some photos of the interior and parts, just let me know -