Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys
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Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys
1–10 of 190 posts
Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys
#2I had one of these as a kid! I could never get the "glow plug" engine to actually fire up, though, so I was never able to fly it. Sounds like I missed out on a spectacular crash.
Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys
#3I had one of these as a kid! I could never get the "glow plug" engine to actually fire up, though, so I was never able to fly it. Sounds like I missed out on a spectacular crash.
Or a missing finger. Those things are pretty nasty to get going without a starter motor. Some of them come with a spring loaded starter, those are a little bit safe, but the ones that you start manually are really nasty.
edit: Hah, that's actually mentioned in the article.
Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys
#4i don't get this - control-line planes were very popular in the 1960s and were not particularly dangerous. I built and flew a couple of diesel engined ones myself - not very well, it has to be said. the main danger was not getting your fingers out of the way of the prop when you flicked it to start it.
the advent of cheaper radio-control systems kind of saw them off. one of my flatmates in the 70s built a beautiful r/c slope-soaring glider.
Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys
#5I had one of these as a kid! I could never get the "glow plug" engine to actually fire up, though, so I was never able to fly it. Sounds like I missed out on a spectacular crash.
glow plugs are pretty easy to start - stupid question, but you did have a big battery to power the plug?
Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys
#6I had one of these as a kid! I could never get the "glow plug" engine to actually fire up, though, so I was never able to fly it. Sounds like I missed out on a spectacular crash.
Or a missing finger. Those things are pretty nasty to get going without a starter motor. Some of them come with a spring loaded starter, those are a little bit safe, but the ones that you start manually are really nasty. edit: Hah, that's actually mentioned in the article.
it won't cut off your finger, but it will hurt!
Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys
#7I had one of these as a kid! I could never get the "glow plug" engine to actually fire up, though, so I was never able to fly it. Sounds like I missed out on a spectacular crash.
glow plugs are pretty easy to start - stupid question, but you did have a big battery to power the plug?
from the article it seems it's not a true "glow plug" heating element like one may use to start a diesel engine. my impression was the engine is so small the radiant heat of the engine is what causes the fuel to ignite in the chamber - seems tough to start cold
Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys
#8I had one of these in the 80s, a P-51 Mustang.
I vaguely recall it being annoying to start, but was with my dad so he definitely helped with getting it going. We had a bunch of soccer fields behind where we lived, so we flew it there to avoid any accidents.
It did eventually crash, but was fun while it lasted.
Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys
#9I'm sure most kids aren't big on personal protective equipment but seems with some gloves it wouldn't be too bad to start. This reminds me of a "friction welding" toy set from around the 70s/80s that was featured on HN a few months ago, which may seem potentially more dangerous without experience on either
Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
glow plugs are pretty easy to start - stupid question, but you did have a big battery to power the plug?
from the article it seems it's not a true "glow plug" heating element like one may use to start a diesel engine. my impression was the engine is so small the radiant heat of the engine is what causes the fuel to ignite in the chamber - seems tough to start cold
diesels don't have a glow plug. a glow plug has a radiant coil that ignites the fuel, and then the heat of the engine keeps it firing, which is different from diesel fuel.a diesel engine depends on heating the fuel via compression with the energy being provided by the human flicking it. there is no battery input to a model aero diesel engine. a car diesel engine uses a starter motor to provide the initial compression.