Other than an electric starter what tips, techniques or methods do you find most effective for starting a TeeDee 049 on a small combat size prop?

Best,   DennisT

Isn't it kinda hard on the crankcases to use a starter on those?

Wear a hard leather glove. 
Sorry, someone had to say it.

25-35% nitro and stock spring or elec starter. Any 1/2a prop. High nitro is the best single answer to easy Cox 049 starting.

I have personally gotten reliable runs out of a Cox Reedie on 5% nitro -- by custom making a super high-compression head.

Reliably enough to convert a good chunk to high(er) compression?

I have a bunch of stuff between .049-.15, and a Fox .35. I like the idea of a higher compression engine running the same stuff the Fox likes.

Could this work for reedies, Medallions, and a bunch of Norvels .061?

How much did you have to take off the head?

I assume you did it on a lathe.

Thanks.

I have 3 TeeDee .049s in FF use, including the one I bought in 1962. Still in use. I have started them hundreds of times on a small electric starter made for half-A engines, never by hand on the 5-2 props in use. FF suppliers like Texas Timers may still sell the starter, or Hobby King maybe. High nitro like 25-35% or even more helps light the fire. If using a bladder, keep tubing pinched with one of the devices made for this until you are ready to start. Remove the pinch device but hold tubing pinched between fingers. Put the spinner (even the stock TeeDee spinner works) against starter cone, hit the starter button (most FF guys use a foot switch), and burp the fuel line till engine catches, then let go of tubing when it is running. Be ready to re-pinch tubing if engine quits or you will fill engine with fuel. I strongly suggest one of the replacement cylinder heads that take a Nelson plug or a conventional glow plug. As you can surmise this process would be impossible without a starter motor and a remote switch operated by some body part other than your finger.

What would be " a hot battery" for the Tee Dee 049? Do you mean an rc setup type that you can raise and lower the amps? 

It's not a work of engineering genius, mechanical or electrical, but it has worked for 30 years. The leads connect to the 12V power panel; the foot button completes the circuit and juices the starter. The wing nuts at bottom of 2x2 post anchor the post to the vertical end of the flight box.

I have seen the hand-crank starters in speed in the 1950s (dim memory) but a little bulky to lug into the middle of a field for FF!

The starter is held to the top of the post with a large hose clamp, through a hole drilled through the post (hole not visible in picture). Also large rubber bands on hooks shown in pic. This is just a Rube Goldberg thing that happens to work, maybe not best design ever. Switch is a press-to-connect that springs back to "off" when pressure is released. I put the red box on ground in a convenient location where I can step on the switch with right foot. Keep in mind this is for FF where you are holding the fuselage with one hand and managing the fuel tubing/bladder with other. CL routine may differ, esp with a helper. You push the spinner into the starter cone, step on switch, and engine usually starts instantly. Sorry, don't have any info about the Sullivan starter.

Reliably enough to convert a good chunk to high(er) compression?

Well...  You'd have to try.  The engine ended up on a crap airframe, so it's hard to say.  And the fact that there's a known correlation between engine compression and the amount of nitro you need, and that no one else has done this, suggests that there's something about it that maybe doesn't work for all engines all the time.

I have a bunch of stuff between .049-.15, and a Fox .35. I like the idea of a higher compression engine running the same stuff the Fox likes.

Could this work for reedies, Medallions, and a bunch of Norvels .061?

How much did you have to take off the head?

I assume you did it on a lathe.

I actually made a custom head (on a lathe) that used a regular glow plug.  I made it crazy-high compression, then adjusted the compression with shims until it actually ran right.  (I did find out that an overcompressed reed-valve engine will pretty much run through a tank while bouncing its prop back and forth against the compression bump -- that's not useful information, but hey, now it's known!).

If I were going to do it again I'd use a turbo plug like in this article.

Or check with this guy to see if he makes high-compression heads.  I suspect the answer is no, but hey -- you can ask.

So experimentation may be in order.  I would expect that if you did find it practical, you'd need to plan on shimming the head for different weather conditions, and that may be more of a bother than just getting 25% nitro fuel.

Obviously, they are harder to start with a toothpick prop. First, find out if you can reliably hand start it using a prop with more mass, maybe an APC with a six inch diameter or so. If you can't, then you are p!$$Ng in the wind thinking it is going to be worth the frustration starting out with a small combat prop. If you have trouble with the larger prop, then take a close look at the piston/cylinder fit. If it isn't snappy, it's going to be harder and the 1/2A starter makes sense.

The heavier prop will let you get the starting routine down, and provide a pretty close shot at the needle. The F2C guys do this all the time to get their diesels running and some heat into them. Then they swap props and make some finer tweaks. This is especially important if the engine has been apart or you have somehow lost the settings.

I totally agree with Larry on using a really good battery. I would also recommend that you use at least 25% nitro. Now there's going to be a bunch of guys who say they can run a Cox--any Cox--on 10% or 5% or no-nitro. Go ahead. Get flippy. Personally, I'd rather just start the thing and fly.

I guess what I'm saying is that I try to eat the elephant one bite at a time, so I don't choke on the whole leg.....

The Divot

What's the nitro content of Cox fuel? I was guessing 20 to 25%.

Other than an electric starter what tips, techniques or methods do you find most effective for starting a TeeDee 049 on a small combat size prop?

Best,   DennisT

Too bad the combat rules didn't allow starters back in the day.
Imagine driving 100 miles or more to attend a contest just to either win or lose a combat match due to a failure to get the damn TD started.
I'll bet at least 1/4 of the matches ended up being "non-matches" on account of that.
So not necessarily in order of importance  we have these needs....
Ample battery juice to light a wet plug
Ample compression...[I used to run no head shims or maybe just 1]
With a starter you don't need to prime..just choke the engine and then spin the engine.
I've never liked the stock needle valve assy....the fine thread NVAs are so much better.
If the glow plug is in good shape and the needle adjustment seems too critical then there is a chance that there is a crankcase pressure leak caused by any of the screwed in place parts on the engine or else your fuel system feed in sucking air..or the tank could be vibrating and causing the fuel to "foam".
I never had any catastrophic failures [like crank pin breakage or the rods snapping] until I started running the 5 x3 Cox props cut down into the 4 inch range.
The engines loved to run above 25,000 with a cut down 5x3 for a little while until the rods snapped.
The only major failures I had were the crankcases would break in half inside the plastic carb housing..most likely from repeated crashing.
What's interesting is that the Killerbees with the lightened [shaved] pistons will handle running about 25,000 much longer and this has to be due to less reciprocating mass.
I have done my own piston lightening and it is amazing how much material you can remove. I chuck the piston up in a holding fixture, tie the rod off to one side and use the back edge of a No.11 blade to shave the lead alloy piston free hand until the skirt is paper thin.
If you do a real good job of it the engine will need a small divot ground into the crankshaft counterweight to restore balance / smooth running.