Hi Fred!

Welcome to the party, Pal!!

Glad to see another get on board enjoying the fun of building/flying the old iron.

Hopefully you'll find your "happy place" within this niche and get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

If the late 60s and early 70s is your "back then" time... I would suspect the Supertigre G21-35 was the engine you were exposed to the most (and possibly owned yourself).  That so, G21-35's do show up on eBay fairly regularly, mostly in good to excellent condition. 

It is commendable that you would like to use period-correct engines. I too, would like to do so, but I'm willing to fudge a bit if it gets an older airplane design up in the air. For example, I have a Super Swoop kit that looks like it ought to get a Johnson on the nose if I want it to reflect the kit's box art. Well, I only have three Johnson's, and I have plans for them. So, it may get a front-loader Fox Combat Special from 1962, or maybe a Fox Blue Ribbon, or a 35X, or even a 36X on its nose, which is still in keeping with the era it would be flown in, but not be an exact match for the Super Swoop box art.

Something to think about: If you try to use the Fox MK series engines of the late 1970s-on to power a vintage combat plane, I think you're going to find the additional weight of the MK engines will cause the airplane to be quite nose heavy and that, coupled with the increased wing load, will cause the vintage plane to not be its best. (Won't be as responsive and won't turn as good.)  Thus, IMHO, it's best to keep a lighter engine contemporary with the period on the airplanes so when you fly them, they fly as they were designed to fly and not be grossly nose heavy with too much wing load as is the case when a heavier "modern" (Fox MK's, etc.) engine is used.

Also, do you want to go FAST?  Or do you want to enjoy the old airplanes at respectable speeds yet not put your old engines (that you will probably acquire) at increased risk due to high-nitro fuels needed to go really fast?

As for me, I am limiting my old engines to nothing more than 10% nitro and I'm only using castor oil for the old lapped mehanite piston on steel sleeve engines. Even at that, my airplanes typically will scoot along at 105+ MPH which is plenty fast for this old boy.  This is something else that only you can decide what works for you.

In all, it's a lot of fun, and even though my vintage combat airplanes are not 100% "period correct" (so far I've only used iron-on coverings instead of silk and dope as I did "back then"), they are a ton of fun to fly, and the sound of those old engines doing what they were designed to do is frosting on the cake.

Again, welcome... and have fun!!

Andre

Thanks Andre, I have followed and read many if not all your, Jim Welch, Ken Cook, and several other's posts on this topic here and on the RC control line forum. I also took the time to read just about every thread in the combat forum here.

Ref Barry Baxter Plans service, I have bought several from Barry mostly 1/2a stuff but got the VooDoo and Big Iron plan there.  I see that many of the RCG threads include PDF plans that I copied a few on my computer but haven't taken to large format printer yet.. I have gotten plans from Carsten's Publishing before they went under. I have been following for when the new company may resurrect the publication and plans service. I find that getting a plan from them and a copy of the magazine issue with building hints and process is very good way to try and scratch build

In my youth my dad built and flew RingMasters, Noblers etc and usually with McCoy engines. Eventually the engines (.29 and .35s) found their way onto my meager attempts to build a kit properly.

Dime store or Post Exchange (I was an Army Brat) usually only carried Enya and Fox .35s so I had a few of them. Never had a Super Tiger, Johnson, Veco, or early Fox X but knew about them from magazine test articles

I have no frame of reference to many of these desired planes as far as how they flew with the period engine.

I learned some time back to adjust the front mounts to accommodate heavier than recommended engines, usually because my Enya .35s were quite a bit heavier than the Fox...usually a combination of moving the engine near or recessed into the LE and lengthening the tail booms/fuselage or just using a heavier/bigger elevator/stabilator...always trying to NOT need a ton of lead up front or in the tail.  Plus I learned from building fast combat foam wings the benefits of carbon fiber and bass or spruce spars and other techniques to make a wing less likely to fold in a high G maneuver

Thanks for the link to Walter Umland's, I thought I saw one or two there to build. Recently there has been Riley himself shopping the idea of re-kitting a few of his old designs and Walter has listed what he has now, and plans to expand some laser kits I hope he actually produces, like the Big Iron

I would love to find the old boxes for many of the kits, but I have been absolutely astounded by the prices some old Sterling, Top Flite, Midwest die crushed kits auction for on E-bay.. I would never pay $250 for a $3~$9 old RM S-1 kit. But that is me, I understand some folks just have to  have the exact kit/toy they grew up with for a collection or to actually build.

Well the above is not entirely true...From these threads I got an original Mongoose kit for $60 and the 1/2a Kittens were a tad pricey too..lol

I never used pacifiers in the past. I am new to chicken hopper and uniflo as in 1960/70 we just used standard vent Perfect or Veco tank from the plan recommendation. My dad used to help me open them up to clean, fix. But that is a task now rapidly getting beyond my poor eys and and hand coordination ability.

I have became very good with Bladder pressure tank build and use, starting and needling. In fact I bought a slew of OS remote NVAs, Randy Smith NVAs and all the ST NVS I could find. Thus all my .35s and .36s can be fitted with a good system for high pressure.

I am going to take a stab at Pudding/Vienna Sausage can W/Pacifier humped in the wing. In fact I just ordered some of the Pipette rubber bulbs to try out and going to walMart soon to find pacifiers to try

Great to have another Combat guy with us Fred. Have a look at these too. You may find some others you would like to build that you didnt even know they existed. I know I've sure discovered some that I didnt know was ever kitted.    https://www.facebook.com/bob.mears.10/media_set?set=a.10201134603751700.1073741827.1367679344&type=3

Shame you missed the museum. But hope its bigger and better next year anyway. Feel free to stop by anytime though. You dont have to wait till next labor day.

Sure. Bout any time. Just give me a heads up to make sure I am here. I help my brother with his Funny Car now and then, Go to every contest within 8 to 10  hours, And an occasional Rangers game. Other than that I dont do much ):

Most of those old 35's use aprox. 1oz per minute. I'm using the little red caps cause they're cheap and easy. Dont leave them in your airplane when your finished flying, they dissolve and make a mess. Baby pacifiers still work ok but I cant find any just by themselves. And what I do find on a ring is expensive for just a fuel system. I'm also running a bladder tubing thats only 1" long. It seems to do very well and will hold about 2.5 oz. 

I always found pacifiers to be huge pressure. Over kill as far as Im concerned. Stubblefield used plastic baseballs way back in the day. And a pound of epoxy...they always looked pretty crappy, but the idea wasnt bad with a little more effort.

Thanks Ken that sounds like one I had seen a picture of, probably Larry S plane.  The pod of the crashed plane looked very light weight about like ping pong materiel; at the time I thought it was just an over-sized PP ball (I seem to remember they were made ) but perhaps it was a LS plane with the toy bowling pin cut down

Yep found them----http://www.ssww.com/item/jumbo-table-tennis-balls-W9989/

Bob that is curious (pacifier being very high pressure) but in line with what I am seeing playing with these pacifiers.

Before I ask questions I try to search the forums. Here on SH I found over three pages of threads where pacifiers were mentioned. Quite a few stated they used them for lower pressure and easier to needle.  So now that begs the question, lower pressure than WHAT?

Just out of curiosity I put 2 oz water in the Gerber pacifier and 2oz in a bladder from Phil Cartier's large tubing made up to be two inches long with same fitting and fuel line length. I let both full flow out on the drive way and the pacifier stream went 3 feet further than the bladder and emptied faster.

Non scientific but confirmed to me that the pacifier was higher pressure than the bladders I have been using. I may over inflate a Pacifier and leave it set over night and see if they can be pre stretched to give a lower pressure.

I planed the same experiment with the pipette bulbs...I already know the red caps are lower pressure than both bladder or pacifier and may just stop this wast of time and use them

I bought a a box of 24 pipette bulbs but have not fussed with them yet.

Fred,

Barry's Jerkline Special plans do not look like what I remember the Jerkline looking like.  AMA has accurate Jerkline plans. 

Thank you gentlemen good info and I agree that low but constant pressure solves a lot of hard tank problems in high G situations.

I have never seen a Jerkline special other that what I read of the old skool designs so good heads up to look at AMA plans also

From what I am learning about my personal building ability and re-learning is this adventure will take a few years keeping me busy for some time.

Because I have no personal experience or memory of many of these aircraft, most will probably not be up to a "purists" standards

That said, I ordered some 5 and 8 mm silk from Dharma to re-learn with. Way back it used to kill me to spend a lot of time on a finish and re-kit it in less than 2 min..  I guess many of us have been there

These planes will probably never see combat and so I plan to finish them better just for aesthetic reasons

Putzing around building what I can on two Demons and a Mongoose and waiting on the post man for various things like some kits and engines from a PAC NW buddy

I asked Howard Rush about his Nemesis and he gave me a hint or two and pointed me to Pat Johnston who promptly laser cut me two Nemesis II short kits for very reasonable price

Since I have several Fox MK VI one Nemesis II will get one on the nose though I doubt I will ever be able to fly it so I may enlist Sean McEntee to give it a trim flight or two

Sure gonna be busy this fall and winter

Still need to buy a gallon or two of good dope and thinner ( I have a small amount of Sig on hand) and need to see if there is a aircraft supply place more local to me than Dallas

Momma and I still have to plan out next years travel and other family events to see if I/we can make it to some of the places where nostalgia combat planes get shown off, played with, discussed, and cussed...

Thanks Larry I think Aero performance was the outfit in Dallas/Ft Worth I was steered to before. I have a daughter in North Richland hills so may give them a call before our next trip up there (3hrs away)

RE the Pudding/Vienna cans....I did one Demon for bladder tube and one with Vienna can. Found Gerber pacifier and tested inside the can; around 2.5 Oz it starts to push against the insides...cool no biggie I can't fly well enough for a 5 min combat match anyway. But still curious how many folks claim it will hold 4 oz of fuel..... maybe Binky pacifiers are different but I don't see how....like I said it is no big deal.

I will most likely use red caps in the pods as I have a lot of them, they are cheaper, and they are a LOT lower in pressure for the same volume

Sure wish the post man would hurry up and let me play with a ST G21 35 and a Johnson CS that are on the way to me... nose section held up waiting on them

If I had the motor templates it would be cool and no big deal but they seem to exist for every engine EXCEPT the ones I have or am getting

Larry that is the tube I use also as recommended by Ken Cook,  lighter than B55 rocket tubes once you fuel proof them

All Fox combat type engines that I'm most familiar with (pre-"MK" Schnuerle engines) all use the common 4-40 thread pattern. This includes the Fox 36X.  Length will be the important element: Too short, and they won't stay tightened as good and can deform the head/case, too long and they'll likely bottom, possibly not getting a good seal on the head gasket. Further, too long and they may strip the case threads if over tightened trying to seal the head gasket that won't seal because the long screws are bottoming in the case.

Thanks guys

I have already bought one of the very large SAE fasteners assortments from RTL and got hundreds of 2-56/4-40/6-32/8-32 in all the common lengths up to 2.5"

what I do not have are 3-48 and hoping the Johnson or Torp engines don't need that size

Actually it was this time last year that RTL sent me a Black Friday sale e-mail (I had been a customer buying specific fasteners but never one of the assortments.)  That sale let me get the Standard assortment for 50% off...around $47 and exceptional value if you frequently use those common sizes