Author Topic: Is this Johnson for real? (Read 6680 times)

Avaiojet · « **on:** November 21, 2011, 11:24:34 PM »

Fox, I only had a few. I was always a Johnson engine kinda guy. I had plenty of them. I still have three or four great running Johnson engines.

I can't ever, EVER, remember Johnson offering a green case engine?

Is this for real? Or does this seller know a plater?

CB

Tim Wescott · « **Reply #1 on:** November 22, 2011, 12:21:32 AM »

My understanding is that anodizing aluminum is fairly easy (well, doable in a small shop). I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard enough from folks who have, and seen enough "this is how I do anodizing" sites, that it's obviously within reach of the home shop machinist.

Allen Goff · « **Reply #2 on:** November 22, 2011, 04:46:36 AM »

I'll ask Roger Wildman he use to work for H. Johnson for many years. In fact Roger has Johnson engine displays they use to set up for trade shows. Many of the display engines never went into producting, so he has several "one-of-a-kind" Johnson engines. Later

Blessings
Allen

Mike Gretz · « **Reply #3 on:** November 22, 2011, 06:26:41 AM »

The green case Johnsons are for real, but extremely rare. This one looks in almost unbelievably good condition.

http://modelenginenews.org/cardfile/j36bb.html
The above article says there were no green case Johnsons smaller than .35, but Randy at MECOA has a .29 and a .32 green case in his collection - see list here http://www.mecoa.com/museum/archive1.html

I'll be interested if Roger can shed any light on the size issue.

Mike

David M Johnson · « **Reply #4 on:** November 22, 2011, 07:36:40 AM »

As far as anodizing it can be done in a plastic bucket in your garage with good results if you are careful about cleanliness and use the right materials. There are home "kits" that can be used.
David Johnson

EddyR · « **Reply #5 on:** November 22, 2011, 07:50:52 AM »

I won the KOI old time stunt three years in a row with a green case Johnson . Most of the green was gone but some still showed. I believe I sold that motor to Bill Little many years ago. I had three of them and gave two away in the 1070's to friends who needed motors.Those early motors were rebadged Orwick motors.
Ed

Avaiojet · « **Reply #6 on:** November 22, 2011, 08:42:54 AM »

Thanks gentleman. I belive the buy it now price is well over 200.00.

CB

De Hill · « **Reply #7 on:** November 22, 2011, 10:00:06 AM »

Quote from: Avaiojet on November 21, 2011, 11:24:34 PM

Fox, I only had a few. I was always a Johnson engine kinda guy. I had plenty of them. I still have three or four great running Johnson engines.

I can't ever, EVER, remember Johnson offering a green case engine?

Is this for real? Or does this seller know a plater?

CB

this engine resembles one that I sold on ebay 5 or more years ago. I bought it from Don Blackburn at one of the VSC's a long time ago. The green paint was flaking off, and it had weak compression. I sent it to George Aldrich, who rechromed the cylinder and lapped the piston to the cylinder. George told me that the green cased johnson's had serious problems with crankshafts breaking, and most were recalled. I talked to an old Johnson employee (forgot his name ) who told me of seeing a box full of recalled green cased johnsons under a workbench at the factory.

The flaked off green paint bothered me, so I sent the crankcase to Bill Schmidt in wichita kansas and had it repainted. Reassembled, it was a beautiful engine. I sold it on ebay a few years later because I didn't want to ruin the paint job again by mounting and running it. I have plenty of old engines to run that aren't as valuable.

Howard Rush · « **Reply #8 on:** November 22, 2011, 03:37:18 PM »

"Is this Johnson for real?"

How many times have I heard that one!

Mike Keville · « **Reply #9 on:** November 22, 2011, 04:24:39 PM »

Quote from: Howard Rush on November 22, 2011, 03:37:18 PM

"Is this Johnson for real?"

How many times have I hear that one!

Knew it was just a matter of time before someone jumped on that one!

Lyle Spiegel · « **Reply #10 on:** November 22, 2011, 04:59:40 PM »

If i recall things - there was a time when the Johnson CS was still king- and Lee Stickland from Los Angeles was selling a custom Johnson CS hop up- it included an anodized case. Several years ago when i still lived in LA area i spoke with Lee about it- he was surprised I remembered.

Bill Mohrbacher · « **Reply #11 on:** November 23, 2011, 04:22:00 PM »

Drop the BS on anodizing. These enginers were not anodized; they were painted. Johnsons sprung from the Orwicks. Orwick used several different paints. Woody Bartelt was very happy a year or so ago to have found a match for this paint.

Allen Goff · « **Reply #12 on:** November 23, 2011, 06:19:52 PM »

OK, now that you guys have kicked this around and have come up with the proper answer I have more to add. But Howard, you've probably have seen these many times and know all about them.

OK how many of you can tell me what these engines are?

No prizes offered for correct answer.

Blessing
Allen & Roger

Garf · « **Reply #13 on:** November 23, 2011, 09:40:32 PM »

2-CS/SS
3-36BB R/C
4-Holland Hornet

wwwarbird · « **Reply #14 on:** November 24, 2011, 12:43:21 AM »

Quote from: Howard Rush on November 22, 2011, 03:37:18 PM

"Is this Johnson for real?"

Uhhhhh.....huh-huh, he said Johnson.

Bill Mohrbacher · « **Reply #15 on:** November 24, 2011, 06:44:20 AM »

Bob Holland worked for Hi Johnson. He also designed the Gilbert 7 and 11 for Dynamic (Johnson).

John Stiles · « **Reply #16 on:** November 24, 2011, 07:55:10 AM »

Quote from: Howard Rush on November 22, 2011, 03:37:18 PM

"Is this Johnson for real?"

How many times have I hear that one!

BAAAAAAA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Don Hutchinson AMA5402 · « **Reply #17 on:** November 24, 2011, 09:00:44 AM »

The Orwick 29 glow engine I had back then had the case anodized a dark green, not nearly as bright as the Johnson shown. The Orwicks also did not have beam mounting lugs so this one must have been a redesigned Johnson crankcase.

jim ivey · « **Reply #18 on:** November 24, 2011, 09:57:44 PM »

that is an original greencase. that is paint. I thad clear epoxy over it thats why its shiney. year 1955/56. I knrw every one who ever worked there from august 55 to august 62. cant say I remember this guy. beauriful old engine..... jimmy ivey

jim ivey · « **Reply #19 on:** November 24, 2011, 10:31:57 PM »

ATTEntION!!!! we nevever built a "36", of any kind!! !!! 70 bore X a .770 stroke = ".35". Garf, Brett,DO TH MATH!!!!!!. known a a square engine. per HJ

Allen Goff · « **Reply #20 on:** November 25, 2011, 05:49:31 AM »

The four Johnson engines Roger Wildman has when he worked for Hi Johnson are all brand new, never ran. But the significance of two of these picture are not the engines. One has a self balancing spinner Roger designed for Hi, and the other was a adjustable pitch propeller. The last picture is a Johnson .15,
Roger said they never brought that engine into production, this one is the only one made.

Blessings
Allen

jim ivey · « **Reply #21 on:** November 25, 2011, 09:43:10 AM »

this is from the guy who really did work there. NOOOOOoo 36s or15s!!!! The hornet fyi is an /051. how do I know? it has red spinner and restrictor. .049s were blue. Cox thought it was a good idea, so they copied it like they did the hemispheric gonfig in the glowheads. johnsons couldn't be hopped up! we did everything possible ro the engines. Jack spent hours polishing the insides of engines,made little or no difference,sometimes made rgem worse, many times jack would come and say" jimmy,I need a hot engine "i the reason for only having 2 long long screws to hold the cylinder on. they all that was nrcessary to hold the cylinder on the case, and less chance of distortion at assembly. assembly jim "th mythbuster" ivey

Avaiojet · « **Reply #22 on:** November 25, 2011, 10:13:00 AM »

Quote

Jack spent hours polishing the insides of engines,made little or no difference,

Jim,

I love hearing about Johnsons, that's about all I had back then.

Added performance? Why not simply plane the cylinder sleeve a bit? Certainly would increase compression, or is there more to it than that?

CB

Bill Morell · « **Reply #23 on:** November 25, 2011, 10:31:44 AM »

Quote from: jim ivey on November 25, 2011, 09:43:10 AM

this is from the guy who really did work there. NOOOOOoo 36s or15s!!!! The hornet fyi is an /051. how do I know? it has red spinner and restrictor. .049s were blue. Cox thought it was a good idea, so they copied it like they did the hemispheric gonfig in the glowheads. johnsons couldn't be hopped up! we did everything possible ro the engines. Jack spent hours polishing the insides of engines,made little or no difference,sometimes made rgem worse, many times jack would come and say" jimmy,I need a hot engine "i the reason for only having 2 long long screws to hold the cylinder on. they all that was nrcessary to hold the cylinder on the case, and less chance of distortion at assembly. assembly jim "th mythbuster" ivey

Jim, I have been trying to figure this out. On EVERY post on Johnson engines you feel the need to remind us that "you were there". Wouldn't this have made you around 10 or 12 at the time that they were being manufactured? Isn't it possible that some engines were made there without your knowledge or consent?

Bill Little · « **Reply #24 on:** November 25, 2011, 01:15:45 PM »

Quote from: Ed Ruane on November 22, 2011, 07:50:52 AM

I won the KOI old time stunt three years in a row with a green case Johnson . Most of the green was gone but some still showed. I believe I sold that motor to Bill Little many years ago. I had three of them and gave two away in the 1070's to friends who needed motors.Those early motors were rebadged Orwick motors.
Ed

Hi Ed,

I do have a good running Johnson .35 that I got from you some time ago. Didn't notice any green, but I will look over it again. If so, I might just get the case anodized green!

Bill

Allen Goff · « **Reply #25 on:** November 25, 2011, 03:29:57 PM »

The Johnson .15 is for real, I should have held it in my hands to show it is much, much larger than a .049. And, Roger worked for Hi for many years I trust his word over anyone period...... Maybe we'll bring it with us to the VSC.

Blessings
Allen

EddyR · « **Reply #26 on:** November 25, 2011, 05:24:28 PM »

Bill Little I think the green ones are on on top of a chrome finish. The three I had were chrome under the green. I also had a chrome ,green .29 that I sold to George Aldridge around 1975.
Ed

jim ivey · « **Reply #27 on:** November 25, 2011, 09:54:51 PM »

Im 70 . my dad and I met hi in 1955, when I waS 14. I started working there weekends and occasionaly hitchiking to fullerton after school and work 2 or 3 hours then hitchike home took about an hour each way. henry was closer started there in 56, i was 15 by then. i went back to Hi in 57 and stayed till 1962 jim

jim ivey · « **Reply #28 on:** November 25, 2011, 10:11:07 PM »

nope no chrome and your friend never worked rhere nor did we do any trade shows, Hi was to cheap to spend money like that. we couldn't make them fast enough, no need to advertize. usually 3-6 month backlog when dad and I were there. It's just amazing to see how much bs has sprung up over the last 50 years.

Sean McEntee · « **Reply #29 on:** November 26, 2011, 01:39:24 PM »

That adjustable-pitch prop setup is too cool!! Someone should reproduce that for use in scale.

...but how reliable was it i.e. blade-shedding?

Bill Morell · « **Reply #30 on:** November 26, 2011, 01:45:57 PM »

Quote from: jim ivey on November 25, 2011, 10:11:07 PM

nope no chrome and your friend never worked rhere nor did we do any trade shows, Hi was to cheap to spend money like that. we couldn't make them fast enough, no need to advertize. usually 3-6 month backlog when dad and I were there. It's just amazing to see how much bs has sprung up over the last 50 years.

Jim, sometimes your comments are just plain rude and not needed. As was pointed out on SSW awhile back you don't remember everything about Johnsons ie the con rod incident. Need I say more?

Brett Buck · « **Reply #31 on:** November 26, 2011, 01:48:48 PM »

Quote from: jim ivey on November 25, 2011, 10:11:07 PM

It's just amazing to see how much bs has sprung up over the last 50 years.

Agreed. Every once in a while some old fart none of us ever heard of, and doesn't know how to use punctuation or a shift key, tells us all how it used to be and how we are all stupid. It's very helpful.

Brett

Bill Mohrbacher · « **Reply #32 on:** November 26, 2011, 02:40:42 PM »

With all due respect, get out your old model mags and you will find out who Jim Ivey is. Accord him the respect he is due by letting him post without demeaning him. He IS part of your history!

Allen Goff · « **Reply #33 on:** November 26, 2011, 03:12:28 PM »

Jim: Roger tells me he has a picture of the Stuka, and thinks you left Hi just about the time he arrived. Roger (75 yrs old) worked for Hi from 1962 till his death, and they use to go soaring to gather on their time away from business. The .15 was made in 62 or 63 Roger wasn't sure on that, but it was made of barr stock and like I said it was never mass produced. And by the way, the Johnson engine could be "hopped up". Hi use to put out a publication, I can't recall the name, but there were ten of them. Next time I see Roger I will get the picture and those articles and put them here on this site.

Sean; Roger said he still has a lot of the wooden blades for that item. I'll ask him how reliable it was.

Blessings
Allen

Jim Kraft · « **Reply #34 on:** November 26, 2011, 04:15:12 PM »

Gee Allen; Is Roger really that old? It has been a few years since I have seen him. What a fun guy to talk to and just be around. I will be 71 in a few days, so I guess thats not so old. LOL

Bill Morell · « **Reply #35 on:** November 26, 2011, 05:11:19 PM »

Quote from: Bill Mohrbacher on November 26, 2011, 02:40:42 PM

With all due respect, get out your old model mags and you will find out who Jim Ivey is. Accord him the respect he is due by letting him post without demeaning him. He IS part of your history!

Sorry but respect is not given. It has to be earned. There are a bunch of politicians who are in magazines and while they are part of our history I don't respect them either.

Garf · « **Reply #36 on:** November 26, 2011, 06:09:30 PM »

Quote from: Bill Mohrbacher on November 26, 2011, 02:40:42 PM

With all due respect, get out your old model mags and you will find out who Jim Ivey is. Accord him the respect he is due by letting him post without demeaning him. He IS part of your history!

He lost my respect when he was wrong about the Johnson rods but kept insisting he was right.

Garf · « **Reply #37 on:** November 26, 2011, 07:29:28 PM »

Quote from: jim ivey on November 24, 2011, 10:31:57 PM

ATTEntION!!!! we nevever built a "36", of any kind!! !!! 70 bore X a .770 stroke = ".35". Garf, Brett,DO TH MATH!!!!!!. known a a square engine. per HJ

wwwarbird · « **Reply #38 on:** November 26, 2011, 10:32:34 PM »

Quote from: Bill Mohrbacher on November 26, 2011, 02:40:42 PM

With all due respect, get out your old model mags and you will find out who Jim Ivey is. Accord him the respect he is due by letting him post without demeaning him.

Are you serious Bill??? With comments like he made above??? Like his comments aren't demeaning??? I don't care who it is, or what their "history" may be, if a person wants respect they should be watching their mouth much better than that. Call a spade a spade.

I also agree with Brett's comment and think about the subject often on these forums, "penmanship" can be pretty pathetic here.

wwwarbird · « **Reply #39 on:** November 26, 2011, 10:34:59 PM »

...and on a lighter note, what was the biggest Johnson?

Avaiojet · « **Reply #40 on:** November 27, 2011, 12:04:29 AM »

I'm wondering why Jim put up that photo of the Stuka.

That's twice today that Stuka was in my face.

Anyone ever build that particular one?

Here's a better photo.

CB

john e. holliday · « **Reply #41 on:** November 27, 2011, 07:51:47 AM »

I hate to say that I started losing my respect for Mr Jim Ivey when he claims that so and so did this, also that so and so did that. I still have the articles that Hi Johnson printed and sent out via snail mail on how to hop up a Johnson Combat Special. I guess I need to dig them out and scan them. May find them while looking for a set of plans I have misplaced.

John Stiles · « **Reply #42 on:** November 27, 2011, 08:43:25 AM »

Gotta love a good pi$$ing contest.....that's mostly what keeps me coming back here.....amusing stuff to say the least.

EddyR · « **Reply #43 on:** November 27, 2011, 10:21:30 AM »

Here is my Factory green over chrome .35. The green is all gone on the front but it still could be seen on the case below the exhaust. This is the same vintage as the photo that started this thread. The silk was green and the motor matched it. Here the silk is faded to almost white. I stuck the Johnson in it as the silk and the motor matched. It was quite the joke at the time.
Ed

Avaiojet · « **Reply #44 on:** November 27, 2011, 12:47:30 PM »

ED,

That's a great looking model, I'm building an All American now.

Where did you score the wheel pants? Wood?

CB

EddyR · « **Reply #45 on:** November 27, 2011, 02:38:11 PM »

Quote from: Avaiojet on November 27, 2011, 12:47:30 PM

ED,

That's a great looking model, I'm building an All American now.

Where did you score the wheel pants? Wood?

CB
.
Ed

The AASr was built sometime in the early 80's picture taken in 1989, balsa wood wheel pants.
Some one in the Tampa Bay area has it now

Jim Thomerson · « **Reply #46 on:** November 27, 2011, 04:12:41 PM »

A friend of mine, as a young person, got an Orwick 64 for his birthday. Somewhere in the deal he cleaned it with lacquer thinner and took all the green paint off. Some years later he repainted the case with green crackle typewriter paint. It looks pretty good and lives on a display stand.