Fox .35 engine manual

As was the way of things then, it wore out immediately and pounded out the con rod which caused me to blow glow plugs and wonder why. I never looked back while new and improved engines came my way, the McCoy was likely tossed or given away. Greg Davis, master modeler and commensurate machinist, began to turn his focus from airplanes to why on earth he had to put up with his combat engines Fox.

Greg right has never been a stranger to engines, but in endeavoring to make crankshafts, which he did and supplied them to the Dreaded Canadian Contingent Combat team, a real force to be reckoned with. What happened during this period of study was typical of Greg and his perfection.

He discovered that he, like many of us, didn't totally understand the dynamics of our engines, and most information was handed down and not fully understood. If you know Greg, you also know that this is unacceptable. He began to study in earnest. One of the many things learned was that he could understand all relationships in timing, metallurgy and tolerances for the various parts. Greg also learned that he could not only make parts, but beyond this, figured ways to refurbish parts that could not otherwise be used.

Many changes were made over the years Click here a a little history from Duke Fox and Bill Morbacher. Accessory Items. Muffler Tilt Up. Spare parts. Crankcase - Non Anniversary. Crankcase - 40th Anniversary.

Crankcase - Black 50th Anniversary. It was the only USA-built big diesel success of the late 's, but the British and German and Italian diesels of the early to mid 's were super designs and led the way for many engine developments of metalurgy, porting, etc Blame it on the glowplug and the easy supply of ingredients of glow fuel in the USA, which the rest of the world was not privvy to, otherwise, we'd have been among the world's leaders in diesel development through the 50's, 60's and on and on.

Model engines are a wonderful hobby and a world of knowledge, thanks again for this article on the history of the engines! One correction : The Baby Cyclone used delicate magnesium for the crank case, not aluminum Submitted by tom mayhew not verified on February 12, - pm. The box says it can use a. Magnesium is far from delicate - it some uses it as strong as steel.

There are some aluminum crankcase out there - they are the reproduction made by Larry Jenno and others to replace the original's. Submitted by Randy Ryan not verified on February 4, - pm Baby Cyclone The case, backplate and exhaust stack of the originals were die cast zinc. Very easy to work with and fairly inexpensive it was the chooice of a number of model engine makers. Most zinc cases that survived use eventually disintegrate from degradation of the zinc.

Submitted by Gerald L. Wiles not verified on July 22, - pm Early model engines Very much appreciate your account. In or so, I wrote a similar "history" for the Springfield Strato Hawks club but included what I considered to be innovative designs.

However, I missed several that should have been included such as Tlush, Anderson, and Melcraft. Because of my connections with Dyna-Jet, I also mentioned them. It's been fun! As far as the virtues of magnesium vs. Luckily, some of us found them to be truly great engines in. They remain very sought today. I'd happily buy a couple of. Many of us who purchased them found out how great they were and remain very sought after now.

I'd love to buy a couple of. Submitted by William Jackson not verified on May 22, - am Been involved in hobby since Been involved in hobby since mid '50s. Submitted by Tim Westcott not verified on June 15, - am A. His 4-Cylinder and 2-Cylinder are still in existence!

Regards, Tim Westcott. A couple of us were regulars at the midwest model engine shows. One day a wonderful gentleman - Gerald Wiles - stopped at our tables of display engines and It seems that some years before - a couple of young fellows were asked to test the Dyna Jet. At that time there was not much available information - so the group located a huge field with a sink hole in the middle - a perfect location to make a lot of noise - because the sound would have to go UP rather than travel horizontally for long distances.

Heavy benches were constructed and a couple of engines were started. The noise, of course, was deafening. Quite unexpectedly, the farmer's cows came ambling slowly down the sink hole and tried to get romantic with the engine testing crew. It turned out that the deafening roar of a Dyna Jet makes a cow very romantic. So let their findings be passed on to those thinking of starting a Dyna Jet near a cow. Be prepared for romance.

Submitted by Steve Kundzala not verified on February 22, - am Great article! Great article! I still have some of those engines. The Fox 35 was my favorite. Atom 1. Thanks for reading. IN grest condition.

Plastic fuel bowl is missing. We tried to find a value but have not been successful. Any help with this would be appreciated. Thank you. Submitted by John Carlson not verified on February 8, - pm Engines and their history I stumbled upon this web site.

Brings back many fond memories. I have been a collector since the mid 's. I still have many engines and planes NIB. The article and dialog is truly refreshing.

Its amazing how much knowledge still exists! Warm regards to all of you and thanks for the contributions above. How would I go about finding out how much they are worth and how rare some are. Appears complete and would like to know if any collectors out there that may be interested.

I had wheels and could go to model contests. The Junior Birdmen, sponsored by the San Francisco Examiner, had hired a man who was promoting the Junior Birdmen, and held a series of contests throughout central California, one contest nearly every Sunday. Boy, did I go for those! Their system was that if you won first place in one of their events, you got a silver wristlet, and that made you an ace.

Over a couple of years I accumulated several dozen of those silver wristlets. All of these contests related to either gliders or rubber models, because Mr.

Hurst felt that the gasoline powered model was dangerous, and he resisted it. I checked and re-checked to make sure that I had done everything right. Finally, in desperation, I decided to turn the needle valve body around, even though the instructions plainly said the hole should be in back. Wonder of wonders, the motor started in the first couple of flips and ran very well.

We took it out and it flew great. I flew that model a lot of times. It was always a little disconcerting, because every time it landed, we ran a risk of damaging something. By this time the summer work was paying better, and I was able to buy a Dennymite motor, which was one of the best ones built at the time. I built several different models around that Dennymite motor, and I placed in quite a few contests, and won one free flight, I believe.

In retrospect, the gas models were more of a challenge, but I learned more from building rubber models because they built easily, and because I was able to try out so many different thoughts. I learned quickly that a triangle fuselage was stiffer than a rectangular one, that diagonal verticals were stiffer than straight ones. Regardless of what Charles Hampson Grant said in his center of lateral area theories, I found that if I put the wing up front on a high pylon, it stayed right side up.

I learned that if you wanted a model to catch and stay in a thermal, that you had to cut down the rudder area to the bare minimum. I learned that an all weather airplane, one that you could fly in the rain, won more hardware than a fair weather ship that was a tremendous flyer.

About the time I graduated from high school, June, , I went to quite a number of free flight contests, and started meeting people that were to become famous in the model world.

I first met Danner Bunch at a Fresno contest. It sailed out, not into the sunset, but into the South Bay. I remember taking an interest in a lot of motors that appeared about this time. Al Hoveseppion built a little motor he called a Micro. It was especially attractive because he had two brass tubes sticking out to form an exhaust stack. The first Elf I saw was down at Sunnyvale on a biplane, and the owner explained how he had flown it on two lines attached to operate the elevator.

Now he came out to the open spaces to see how it would go by free flight. If he really did fly the motor the way he described, it predated Walker by quite a few years. I remember an indoor towline glider event sponsored by the Junior Birdmen in which I beat Bob Muser by just two seconds. When I was about thirteen or fourteen years old, I figured out that my best security for the future was to get the best education I could.

Of course, I had known from the time I was four or five years old that I wanted to learn how to build airplanes. So all during high school and junior college I took all of the courses that I could that I though would improve my engineering skills. When I was able to go to junior college, I took everything that was available.

Consequently, when I graduated from junior college, I was fairly well equipped to start in the engineering department at Hughes Aircraft. Hughes Aircraft was just developing out of the little group that had built Howard's Racer.

I was hired and given badge 32 and found myself shortly doing wiring installation drawings on the D2 airplane, which was Hughes competition to the Northrop Black Widow, a three man, twin boom type airplane. I was a quick, neat draftsman, and I worked up in the company quickly.

Meanwhile, having moved to the Los Angeles area, I rooted around and started looking up the model clubs, the flying area, and the different manufacturers that I had read about.

A few months after I had moved from central California to Burbank, California, the Burbank club had a free flight contest. I built one the day before the contest. I went out to the contest the next day, and in due course made my flight. In these days there were no dethermalizers and there was no weight limit on control line gliders. The day was hot, there was a lot of lift in the sky, and I figured that I would sacrifice the model to win the contest.

One launch and it was up in the sky for ten or fifteen minutes, and it was gone forever. I waited around for the end of the contest, fully expecting to get a first place award. What a shock when they told me I was disqualified. Later I started to fly at Western and Rosecrans, which was the center of gas model flying at that time.

I became active in the club and became a Sunday regular. I flew in their contests, but never did have outstanding success because my interest tan toward experimentation and designing the unusual and offbeat. When I found out what it would do, I kind of lost interest. I was out flying at Western and Rosecrans one Sunday around noon, and one of the fellows told me that he had heard on his car radio that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, and that we were at war.

I can remember wondering just what changes in my life would some about because of that. Because I was working at Hughes, I got deferments up until the spring of , when I was drafted.

During this period I continued to work with the club and continued to fly with them, and had started to plan my first engine, which became the Fox. This motor, which is now at the AMA museum, was designed by me but was mostly built by whoever I could get to do what. Patterns I had made at a pattern shop, castings were made at a small aluminum foundry in downtown Los Angeles, and a machinist was going to machine up the first motor.

I became acquainted with a Frank Smith, who later became very famous for his mini-plane design. He invited me over to his apartment basement where he had a small lathe, and it was through his efforts that we really got the first motor to run satisfactorily.

In cooperation with Frank, we built three or four motors off of these patterns, and then, when I was called to the service in the Spring or Summer of , modeling pretty well stopped. I remember I was sent to Camp Buckley, outside of Denver, to basic training.

The first week-end that I got a pass, I guess I walked five or six miles out in the country to go to a model contest. I talked to the different people and was able to mooch a ride back with one of the modelers by the name of Joe Nogy. I got permission to prepare a description of some experiments that I had done on the stability of a towed glider. Evidently the article was forwarded through channels, because after going through basic, I was shipped down to Biloxi, Mississippi to go to B24 school.

About halfway through this school, I got shipping papers to go to Dayton Ohio, and found myself at Wright Field, assigned to the glider branch. From the glider branch it was a small step to a group created to investigate the flight characteristics of an experimental Cornelius glider that had killed its pilot. This project was ramrodded by a Captain Stolzenberger, who was a good promoter and had a good imagination.

He was convinced that we could learn more about this glider, or any airplane, by building a scale model of it and flying it. He convinced the authorities to give him a free hand to build such a model. At Wright Field he had available to him some very good talent, both in aerodynamics and all its associated fields. The Aerodynamics Department calculated the moments of inertia, and the weight that would be required of the glider, and it fell my lot to build the glider.

I explained that we would need to have a couple of fair size work benches and, it was not to take forever, I would need a helper or two. This was supplied. I designed the structure of the glider and the various fittings. Since the machine could weigh only so much, it was entirely covered with balsa wood, and had good size fittings throughout.

The radio was a Babcock Bang Bang system, taken from the glider target planes that were being used at that time. In due course of events we finished the model, provided the cable and a quick disconnect something on the order of ice tongs , and went out to the field area to give it a test.

It turned out that helicopters at that time were not capable vertical assent of more than 10 feet or 15 feet, and the helicopter had to move out of its own vortices rather rapidly in order to gain altitude. You can imagine the yank on the glider when the helicopter started accelerating away from the launch site and the cable came to the end. The lift tongs tore the sides of the fuselage out.

We took the wounded bird back. I suggested to Captain Stolzenberger that we could repair the model, but that he should start working the system to see if we could go to Lakehurst and drop this from a blimp, since the speed of the air ships was not too great, and the model could be attached to the bottom of the gondola. I think that he did not know what to do next, because a tremendous look of relief came across his face. He got behind the idea very enthusiastically.

In a few days I had the glider all repaired. In due course the Captain was able to requisition a C Curtiss-built twin engine transport , and we loaded the glider and all of the tools we thought we would need, and off to Lakehurst we went. Many of the people at Lakehurst cooperated wonderfully, and shortly we had a saddle hung underneath the gondola of one of the M-2 ships. This time the air ship took off with the glider hung right underneath it.

A section of the floor of the gondola was removable, and it was my duty to reach down and release the glider at the proper signal. I was very happy for the rides in the blimp, but I was not at all happy with the idea of hanging through the opening in the bottom of a gondola at 3, or 4, feet.

I arranged a rope around my waist and securely tied it. If I should slip and go down, I would only go a few feet and the rope would hold me. The tests worked great, with no damage to the glider. Six or seven flights were made over a period of three or four days. The tests proved, as we had suspected, that the forward wings on the glider worked fine as long as there was not enough yaw for the rudder to stall. Once the rudder stalled, the thing went into an uncontrollable flat spin, and seemed to have no desire to come out.

Normal reversing of the controls did not seem to work. However, just by luck, on the first flight the Captain tried letting the controls return to neutral, and it was found that after about three quick turns, the glider would straighten itself out. With the controls reversed, instead of straightening itself out, the glider would flip over on its back and flat spin upside down.

Not only had we proved that the glider design was no good, we had also proved that you did not have to have a wind tunnel in order to learn a lot about the flight stability of a plane. While I was in B school a year or so earlier, I had made up production drawings of what was to be the long shaft Fox. My original sand cast model motor weighed about 14 ounces, which I thought was too heavy.

So, I made everything thinner and lighter. This produced, as we later found out, a good running motor, but very frail. My thought at this time was then when I would get out of the service, I would have a motor design and a set of tools made so I could find a machine shop to do the machining.

Thus, I would be in the motor business. I came home on furlough near the end of or early in I asked around, and it seemed that Anderson Die Cast Company was the major die cast company in Los Angeles at that time. I went to visit them, and they seemed to know what they were doing. This mold would make all the cast parts necessary for that. I accepted their offer. Since I been frugal with my paycheck while I was working at Hughes, I had just enough money to cover the cost of this tool.

Later, while I was at Wright Field, Anderson finished the tool and sampled it. They then sent me sample parts. I was able to get a machine shop in Dayton to machine up the parts for the first die cast. A few weeks later I was discharged from service.

I took my newly made motor back to Los Angeles. After talking to some potential motor manufacturers, I chose Mr. Claude Slate, who I had known casually at Hughes Aircraft. During the war he had bought a machine shop in downtown Los Angeles, and was primarily making rings for the oil well industry. Claude was a good engineer and an honorable person. He appeared to me to be the ideal person to handle my business.

The deal was struck. Claude would build the motors, sell them, and pay me a royalty in return for the design, the drawings, and the use of the casting die.

For the first couple of months I donated my time and labor to help Claude get started. However, after about three months, I got itchy to get back into the aircraft engineering business, and went job hunting in earnest. Douglas, in Santa Monica, offered me almost twice the money that Hughes Aircraft did, so you know where I went to work.

It seemed strange to me that after Hughes learned that I had taken a job with Douglas, they more than doubled their ante. I was really fortunate at Douglas in being assigned to the mechanical division of their research department.

The research department was staffed with the head of the Physics Department, head of the Electrical Department, head of the Hydraulic Department, head of the Sound and Vibration Department, etc.

Each of these people were specialists and technically oriented. However, whatever tests they wanted, it fell to the Mechanical Department to design and build whatever test equipment it took.

During the two years at Douglas I worked on several very interesting projects. At first I was assigned just small projects of designing and fitting, making some alterations in some equipment, or something like that. After a couple of months they started feeling confident of my capabilities, and I had some good sized projects assigned to me. One of the most interesting projects was a telemetering data reading. The Nike Missile was just being developed at that time. When the test shots were made, the various information pickups in the missile were telemetered back to the ground and recorded on some high speed film as just a long string of graphs.

Of course, on any section of film you looked at, the lines would all look the same length. This information had to be condensed. They put a group of women to work reading the lines to make the graph, which was very time consuming.