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Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys

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Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys

#31

Post by kqr »

WalterBright wrote: post #24

Hey, I still have my Cox 049 engine somewhere. The airplane is gone, smashed up of course. I suppose it was dangerous by modern standards, but not at the time. About the worst it would do would cut your finger if it backfired when starting. Or you could use a cheater stick, or even an electric motor to start it. I once made a car for it out of piano wire. It would take off at high speed down the road, but because I n…

> but because I never could get the wheels aligned perfectly straight it would inevitably try to turn

Hm. I don't think "wheels aligned perfectly straight" is the actual solution. I wonder if there's some simple mechanism by which it could be made directionally stable, in the sense of continuously adjusting itself to go forward instead of turn.

Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys

#32

Post by kqr »

WalterBright wrote: post #29
wrp wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a concern about starting fires when they came down. I heard the rocket club at my school had to notify the fire department beforehand. I just remembered I also had a gas engine helicopter. Much more fun since it was free-flying. It would go pretty much straight up then rotor down when it ran out of gas. Couldn't do it on a windy day.

Those helicopters were very difficult to fly, or so I've been told, as they were unstable. The modern electric copters cheat because they use a computer to stabilize them.

I was going to say. Helicopters are difficult to fly, period! It's not just those -- also the big ones.

Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys

#33

Post by neilv »

JoyfulTurkey wrote: post #8

I 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.

Yes, in the 1980s. It must've been Christmas gifts, and my brother got a P-51, and I got a Spitfire. They were made of plastic, and looked more like realistic scale models, rather than what in the photo looks like a hand-painted balsa wood kit.

(I don't recall we ever ran the engines. Probably told to wait until we went to a place with room to fly them, and then probably parts were lost before that could happen.)

Speaking of most dangerous toys of that era, I'm troubled to recall that we dumb kids threw around lawn darts, which already looked of vintage design by the time we got them, second-hand. There must still be holes in our garage. We're so lucky no one ever got hit, because now I realize those things could easily maim or kill.

We must've also had figurative guardian angels when (pre-helicopter-parents era) speeding around the streets on our bikes, walking through active train yards, disassembling and repairing high-voltage and motorized appliances and machinery, wandering off on trails and into the woods, etc.

Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys

#34

Post by cdot2 »

kqr wrote: post #31
WalterBright wrote: post #24

Hey, I still have my Cox 049 engine somewhere. The airplane is gone, smashed up of course. I suppose it was dangerous by modern standards, but not at the time. About the worst it would do would cut your finger if it backfired when starting. Or you could use a cheater stick, or even an electric motor to start it. I once made a car for it out of piano wire. It would take off at high speed down the road, but because I n…

> but because I never could get the wheels aligned perfectly straight it would inevitably try to turn Hm. I don't think "wheels aligned perfectly straight" is the actual solution. I wonder if there's some simple mechanism by which it could be made directionally stable, in the sense of continuously adjusting itself to go forward instead of turn.

castor wheels like on a bicycle/motorcycle?

Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys

#35

Post by jfk13 »

WalterBright wrote: post #24

Hey, I still have my Cox 049 engine somewhere. The airplane is gone, smashed up of course. I suppose it was dangerous by modern standards, but not at the time. About the worst it would do would cut your finger if it backfired when starting. Or you could use a cheater stick, or even an electric motor to start it. I once made a car for it out of piano wire. It would take off at high speed down the road, but because I n…

Wow, that little Cox engine ... that's a blast from the past. Must've been 1972, if memory serves correctly. Being in Sweden at the time, mine was attached to a (highly simplified) little balsa Draken plane. Good times indeed.

Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys

#37

Post by kqr »

cdot2 wrote: post #34
kqr wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but because I never could get the wheels aligned perfectly straight it would inevitably try to turn Hm. I don't think "wheels aligned perfectly straight" is the actual solution. I wonder if there's some simple mechanism by which it could be made directionally stable, in the sense of continuously adjusting itself to go forward instead of turn.

castor wheels like on a bicycle/motorcycle?

That is clever! Does it work when the vehicle is four-wheeled and does not lean? My experience with prams with castor wheels says no.

Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys

#38

Post by giantg2 »

meheleventyone wrote: post #28
WalterBright wrote: post #24

Hey, I still have my Cox 049 engine somewhere. The airplane is gone, smashed up of course. I suppose it was dangerous by modern standards, but not at the time. About the worst it would do would cut your finger if it backfired when starting. Or you could use a cheater stick, or even an electric motor to start it. I once made a car for it out of piano wire. It would take off at high speed down the road, but because I n…

Don’t worry these days kids fuck their fingers up on quadcopters instead.

But will they know the joys of dangerous chemistry sets?

Re: Fun, danger, and 70s airplane toys

#40

Post by euroderf »

WalterBright wrote: post #24

Hey, I still have my Cox 049 engine somewhere. The airplane is gone, smashed up of course. I suppose it was dangerous by modern standards, but not at the time. About the worst it would do would cut your finger if it backfired when starting. Or you could use a cheater stick, or even an electric motor to start it. I once made a car for it out of piano wire. It would take off at high speed down the road, but because I n…

A pal and I mounted an .049 on a slab of wood and added three wheels and let it zoom around a school parking lot. It would go in expanding circles until it hit a curb or it crossed the road and hit a ditch. Pretty sturdy. No disintegration-on-impact like balsa airplanes.
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