Morton Radials

[Elwyn Aud]

Just curious what a Morton M-5 cost when it first came out. I have a book with old engine ads but nothing on the Morton or later Burgess engines.

[Ed Carlaw]

Always wanted one but can't swing the hefty prices they bring. Ed.

[Dave Hull]

Don't know about the price when it first came out, which I believe was around 1946(?), but here's a source that says a new factory engine (not the casting kit) cost about $40 in 1950. This should have included an adjustable propeller and the truss-type engine mount.

http://www.jitterbuzz.com/MAN_1950_02.html

I started a 2x size billet version of the Morten when I was in high school. Got far enough along to bolt together the main pieces--and to know that I would need to do a lot more work to get it to run....

The Divot

[Elwyn Aud]

Thanks.

[Perry Rose]

In regard to Steve's question on facebook, the designer figured a taller fin/rudder would be better so I extended the unit along it's existing lines. Once it got the balance right it's flys great. Evo .52 power. r/c with Jim Lee venturi.

[Joe Bowman]

Hey Elwyn,  I found an ad in the 1946 Model Airplane News that listed the Morton M-5 at $79.30 less coil and condenser.  Not able to post the ad at this time.

[Elwyn Aud]

That's closer to what I expected considering most engines were in the seven to twenty dollar range. Thanks much!

[FLOYD CARTER]

In 1947, our hobby shop in Los Angeles had a Morton M-5 in the display case.  Tag showed $75, including a metal prop.  The shop owner, once took it out and set it up on the test bench.  It ran fairly well for all of us to witness.  AFAIK, it was not sold during the time I lived there.

[Dave Hull]

Late last year, I was in a hobby shop in LA. One of the guys working there took a Morton M-5 out of a box of interesting stuff. It was in pretty good condition--but not for sale. It may have been the very same one that Floyd saw--if the one he saw run came from T&A Hobby Lobby.

Dave

[Jim Kraft]

There are several on you tube that you can see running. I saw one running in person at one of Tulsa's engine collectors events. Something you do not see every day.

[dennis lipsett]

Lew proctor put one on his first Antic. At the 67? Nats he went to fly it and only achieved a fast taxi.
On the other hand a good friend now deceased was an excellent machinist and bought the casting parts for the engine and made the rest from the factory prints that they sold. I asked how did it run and he said that the first attempt to start it didn't work. He hooked an electric motor to the prop and left it turn at a low fixed rpm. After about 5 minutes or so it gave a pop and was followed by a few more and eventually he got it hand started.. I kidded him for years about that. He sold it for a hefty price. Also made his own twin cylinder engines for his giant scale models. I supplied the aluminum to make the crankcases. He was a consummate craftsman.

[Robert Zambelli]

I have a few of these old Mortons, one appears new.
At least one will go to the Brodak museum.
One of these days, I'll set one up on the stand and run it.
I've heard they're very quiet and make minimal power.
We'll see!

Bob Z.

[Norm Faith Jr.]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Morton-M5-Radial-5-Cylinder-Premium-Version-Model-Airplane-Engine-S-N-A388/193264266414?hash=item2cff72acae:g:XzQAAOSw0NZd~Asv

[Dan McEntee]

    There was a gentleman Floyd Cramer in my area that was a customer at the hobby shop I worked at, who was a master machinist and built several of his own radial engines and powered large R/C biplanes with them. We discussed the Morton engines and he told me that there was a problem with the gearing on the valve train. He had the factory drawings and combined with his own experience and knowledge was going to build up a better working copy of the Morton and was going to use off the hook R/C car spur gears for the valve train. Easier and quicker than hobbing your own gears! I believe he said the Morton was a scaled down Kinner, and it does kind of resemble one. He build his own scaled down Kinner to power a Kinner Sport biplane that was just down right awesome! Floyd also built the first working Wankel rotary model engine. Some doubted his claim of being the first and pointed out that Graupner put out a Wankel engine, but Floyd had submitted photos and a description of his engine to American Aircraft Modeler magazine a few years before that to prove it. I don't think Floyd is still with us, and I wonder what happened to his collection of stuff if he has passed on.
  Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee