My first "large" engine, c.1952, was a Fox .29.  It was one of the newer ones with the 6-bolt head.  Flew it all through the '50s: Ringmaster, Circus King, Yak-9, and so forth.

Many years later, 1989 or '90, the late Tom Lay gave me an old 4-bolt, sand-cast .29 which I used in a Box Car Chief (FM, Dec. '90) for dozens of flights until the crank broke in-flight at a contest in Whittier Narrows, CA.  Prior to that, it placed well in OTS events in Tucson.

The Fox .29 was a nice engine.  Highly modified by NJ's George Moir, it powered him to the win in Class B Team Racing at the '54 Nats.  (Was a feature article in an old issue of M.A.N., back when they still featured real model planes.)  As a kid, I launched test flights for George in Haddonfield, NJ.  Ahhh....that fuel's "shoe polish" aroma!

Your motor sounds stock with the higher performance Ranger head on it,higher compression?
Ed

George Moir's '54 Nats'-winning Fox .29 was not the 'bathtub' version, which appeared later.  His began as a stock .29 which benefitted from some filing, polishing and other mods that were revealed in an old issue of M.A.N., along with the construction article for his 'Rambler IV'.

I have these .29s and am also curious about the Ranger head-different than these?  My understanding is these put out about the same power as the .35,  could be timed a touch faster to suit B team race of the day but are quite suitable for stunt in the day.  Maybe happier with a 9" prop.  I think this is what Steve Wooley used in his Argus.

Dave

Thanks Jim,  these are new and not run although one for some reason doesn't have the original needle assembly.  The former owner must have robbed it for something else.  Plan to (someday) build the Argus for one of these.

Dave

OK, here is some info on Fox 35 heads.
All of these came out of my junk box.
Check out the first picture.
The one on top is from a very early engine – no bumps on the lugs.
The middle five are all different configurations of the Ranger head. The two on the far right have “Ranger” cast in.
The three on the bottom are configured with a slot for the piston baffle. Note the difference in how much the combustion chamber protrudes into the bore on the one on the right. Must be for higher compression. The one on the left is a hemi chamber – aftermarket, homemade?
Now look at the second picture, showing the tops of the heads.
Top one is a thin head.
In the middle row, the one on the left is an early thin head, prone to warping.
The second one is thicker and supposedly cures the problem.
The third one has been modified (by Fox) for eight bolts.
The fourth one is die cast and modified by Fox to a four-bolt configuration.
The last one is probably the most popular Ranger – die cast, six bolts.
In the third row, the middle head is new, right out of a Fox pack. Part number 13502.

         Bob Z.

The old Foxes after 1957 react very well to a lot of Nitro. What some learned was to lower the compression when running a big load of Nitro. I ran 8/8 props back then on Foxes and they would run OK with 25% Nitro. We has some fuel that was 40% and the stock head models would blow a hole in the piston. We thought 18,000 was really high RPM. When the 36X came out 18,000 was easy.
 Today one might wonder why use a Fox 35 in combat but they were very common as the combat models were very light and small. My flying wings only weighted 12-14 ounces.. A Quicker with a Fox 35 on it was a very competitive model in 1956.
Ed

Thanks for that Phil. I have got it all cleaned up and the rod loose from the wrist pin, but have not run it yet. It seems to have good compression and a fairly tight front bearing, so after I run it on the bench a little I will try it in a plane to see how it goes. I have a Sterling Mustang profile that has a 35 on it right now but might fly just fine with the old 29. Thanks again everybody for the info.