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Just want to know if this is legal with FAI Fox .049.
Cheers,DanYes its legal. I have one with a Killer bee.
When flying a Spacer, many people,-including myself– feel that you are obligated to warn everyone on the field.OK I’ll bite why do you need to warn people while flying a Spacer? I have a A/B Spacer that was very well behaved. Had a Goldberg Viking that was a little wild on power but what a great glide.
Dan
I never trust my Spacer. Even from one flight to the next.
My first one, with a Holland Hornet hit the ground with engine running at 2.5 seconds. Quoting Jackie Sheffer “it went HARD right”
I even short Dt’ed it onto Bob Hanford at a half mile downwind. No damage though. Oh yes, Bob is OK too!
I don’t make the rules, I just work with them.Dan and Dankar,
I notice that both of you have run Holland Hornets at one time. I’m just starting in Nos Power and have built a 1/2a T-Bird with a Hornet on the front end. However, I’m having trouble starting it. The glow plug is good as is the battery and I know it runs, a more experienced flyer started it for me. Is hard starting a characteristic of this engine? Do you have any advice? I’ve been advised not to use a starter motor as it might damage the engine. Do you agree?And Dankar I see that you flew a Goldberg Viking. Is the Viking still completive in any class? Say classic gas?
It’s been a long time since I started Hornet. Mine, which I shared with my brother, was hard to start. It didn’t like starting inverted. We’d hold our models upside down until it got going.
I would agree that starting it inverted will be a problem.
You didn’t mention fuel system. Are you running pressure? Fuel draw will be a problem ( read non-existent ) without a restrictor.
I used an electric starter. No real problem for me. If you flood it and use the starter you could develope the biggest problem with the Hornet, which is a broken crankshaft. Don’t use a flood-off. That can also break a crank.I quit running mine. Plugs weren’t available and a Killer Bee was. Then I broke a crank on the Killer Bee! The engine wasn’t running so one couls assume a sudden stop was the problem there.
Hard starting was historically a problem for them. Or so I was told. If you got it started it would outrun a TeeDee.
I ran two HH .051’s and a .049 recently and had no trouble starting any of them. I had a small prop on the .049 and was getting snapped often. Put a little bigger prop and away she went. I was quite happy with the Hornets. I like TD’s but love them Hornets.
DanThanks for all of your comments concerning the Hornet. I sent the engine I was having trouble with to Bob Mattes and he pronounced it “worn out.” It would run at 15.7K but was hard to start. I’ve picked up several HHs since and they run and start just fine. Even in some cool weather we’ve had lately. I have one on a T-Bird.
Well then, all of our advice should have included the caveat
Is it worn out?Has the HAFFA got an agreement on the new field at Salinas?
I know Ed was working on it.
My 1/2A T-bird has a Space Hopper, it starts up every time, and the spring starter sure helps. 😆
The 1/2A Spacer has a Thermal Hopper, no spring starter, but it always starts too…good old Cox, sometimes backwards! I don’t know if it because I have a birdcage mount on the Thermal Hopper, but it required a 1/8″ shim under the mount to give it over 10 degrees of left thrust before it would point it’s nose skyward under power. When I replaced the Cox 6×3 grey prop with a Windsor 6×3, it really made a differance in the climb. Other than that, this Spacer has been very consistant, one of my best Nos ships.
BTW, I built it from the Campbell kit and wound up using only the plans, as the parts did not match the plans or fit each other 😕 …what is up with that?
I have built several Campbell kits, and have found that they were consistently very high quality. Excellent fits, and properly selected wood.
However, no one is perfect and sometimes mistakes happen. In all fairness, Lee should have been contacted and allowed to make the shortages good. Not easy to do when one is in the midst of building. Also, like all of us, Lee has gone through some tough times personally. Maybe your kit was produced back then.
In any case, if you or anyone has any problem with any of the few kit manufacturers that still produce Free Flight kits, we should give them an opportunity to put things right.
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