Fox 35 collectors edition

At my age, I can handle the 4.5 seconds a lap on the Ringmaster and Jr. Ringmaster. Doubt if I could handle the 3 second laps on a half-A reedie.

I know the feeling getting old sucks. I have liver cancer and lung and chemo every 3 weeks. I look back over my life and get depressed
Speaking of depressed there’s a fox35 bidding now for ove 300 and still got twenty hours to go

Couple questions what are bosses
What does O&R stand for in drive washers and what is a lapped piston

Onelife wrote:I know the feeling getting old sucks. I have liver cancer and lung and chemo every 3 weeks. I look back over my life and get depressed.

Hang in there, @Onelife, there's hope. Been walking with the Lord these 50.5 years, there's always hope. None of my father's side, males lived beyond 70 years. So far I guess I'm lucky because I have already exceeded his younger brothers, now approaching 69. Wife had breast cancer, breast removed and chemo. She is 20 years in remission. There is great freedom in now worrying about the future for there is more beyond. Will be praying for you.

James 5:16 (WEB) "Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective."

Onelife wrote:Speaking of depressed there’s a fox35 bidding now for over 300 and still got twenty hours to go

Rather than shooting for the top preferred, I have lowered my expectations, and have accumulated other engines. Most recent is the K&B .35 Stallions, now got 3. Picked them up for less than $30 bid each, all 3 are in excellent condition. Also picked up another Testors McCoy .35 Red Head for under $30 shipping and taxes included. It has like new compression, only missing the needle. I'll remove one from one of my parts engines. Also got a K&B .45 Sportster new with optional bulkhead mount backplate without box for under $60 total.

Although not the top dogs, but they are still good runners, will still do the job.

Onelife wrote:What does O&R stand for in drive washers

Perhaps, Olsson and Rice?

https://www.ebay.com/b/Ohlsson-Rice/bn_21832035

They were an early, prolific model engine manufacturer in their day. Perhaps they also made parts, or their parts could be substituted?

Onelife wrote:and what is a lapped piston

See the discussion in: RC Groups: Lapping (Cylinders and Pistons)

Thank you.

One of Duke Fox's goals was to put O&R out of business. O&R engines are actually quite neat but are so antiquated by design are just slugs. They were never much of a spark ignition powerhouse and even worse in a glow version. The drive washer from a O&R will fit the Fox .35. Duke when he came out with the sandcast Fox .35, it exceeded any engine O&R was producing not too mention it was with very little weight penalty of batteries and coils etc. Duke made the bolt pattern of the sandcast the same as the current offerings as the O&R. If you've been around many engines, you probably would wonder why the Fox .35 has this weird bolt pattern that few engines interchange with. This is because he copied the same spacing as the O&R. He knew once introduced, his engines would replace the O&R turds of the day.

OandR are they the ones that came out with the L shaped NVA

Many manufacturers came out with a L shaped needle valve. I don't recall ever seeing a O&R with a L shaped version. Generally, O&R used a extremely small diameter spraybar and a very short knurled knob. The needle valve itself is so short I can't grab it. I have pretty big fingers, I roll it with my index fingers. The good thing is if I slip and my finger goes into the prop, the engine doesn't make enough power to hurt me.

I never understood why they used such a small spray bar because the venturi is so large you can probably put your pinky inside of it. Now the engine requires a restriction device shaped like a butterfly to choke it down so that it would draw fuel. I suppose it was another attempt at fixing it until it was broke.

Early Fox sandcasts used a Austin Craft. This version looked like a old toothpaste tube key to squeeze the tube as you rolled it. Super Tiger usually used a L shape and K&B later did the same. Just for the record, seeing your a Fox fan, cut the outer knob off of your Fox needle valves and bend it into a L. This keeps the needle out of harms way. It's also easier to adjust because you can hold the nose of the plane using the same hand use a finger to push or pull the needle and adjust it.

I need to rewrite the instructions of the Fox.

First thing take off backplate and remove all metal and dirt inside ( Mind you this is free of charge). Second don't listen to anyone on the internet of what fuel to use in this engine. Third, clip off knob and needle valve and bend into a L or better yet throw this part in the trash. Fourth, take muffler out of box, walk to the front door and open it. Using a javelin like throw, heave muffler as far as you can and shut door. Five, remove the POS glow plug that comes with the engine and strike with a heavy maul and discard into trash. Six, if your with us so far your on your way to a properly running Fox. Seven, don't read the instructions we provided from 1948 to current. Eight now that we have the engine with proper fuel (50/50castor /synthetic) and plug it's time to run it on the stand using a 9x6 narrow blade prop. Nine, SAND ALL PROPS AND SMOOTH LEADING AND TRAILING EDGES and wear a glove. Failure to do so will result in incredible pain and stupidity which has taken some people more than 20 years to figure out. Don't worry about balancing, it's some mythical bs that some feel stop the vibrations of this archaic piece of slag. We never did this at 12 yrs of age, why start doing so now 50 years later. Ten, don't ask anyone around you or on the internet how many turns to open the needle valve, open it until it floods out the engine and you can't turn the engine over. Now it's flooded which means you had it open too far. Very simple test. Eleven, after flipping for what seems to be a eternity, you've probably skipped step six because you know everything already and the POS Fox plug is now totally ruined from flooding the engine. You figured you didn't need to replace the plug because you paid for it and your too cheap to put a good one in. Now that you destroyed the plug and shorted it out, your cheap D cell batteries are now dead. You probably also have 6 glow igniters that you purchased used at the local swap meet in your pocket and you don't know which one is charged. Go into your pit box and get a glow plug out of it to test one. You probably just discovered you have no glow plugs because these are the most important item to own in the hobby but you spent all your money on some POS plane with warps and oil soaking that you plan to rebuild.
Twelve, after proving to every bystander that you know every cuss word on the planet and the Band-Aids won't stick to your bleeding hands due to the 29% castor oil because once again you didn't read step nine. Your knowledge of the Fox is coming around and one day you will be a expert at running this fine piece of American machinery. Thirteen, now that we feel you have enough hands on experience and your finger wounds have healed, it's time to bolt it onto the airplane. Once again, step 4 was not read because you chose to ignore it and you just discovered that the stock muffler now hits landing gear on your Ringmaster. Don't think that you can just bend that gear leg out of the way because the plane will now turn into the circle and come directly at you on release. Oh yea, you forgot to read this step as well and your now wondering how to get the permanent tattoo of a Fox .35 off of your forehead.

If you ever read the Fox .35 instructions, one could compare them side by side and see they left out some very important information. I would've had so much more to contribute.

Lol
Love it thanks Ken. Got to get this printed out and read them every day. I ended up buying some of BB’s NVA Fox 35 die hard fan always

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That is one darn good looking Shoestring. Very nicely done indeed, congratulations on that. It also appears that you have some funny looking leaf stencil in there as well.. hmmm.

Thanks the Fox must have brought it in

I made Fox decals and sent them to Matt. Hope that he will release Fox engine decals in near future

That would be something I like to get my hands on. Got a sample?

Onelife wrote:That would be something I like to get my hands on.  Got a sample?

Sent screen pictures by PM

sosam117 wrote:Well, here are mine and my brother's Fox Stunt 35 engines that we had back in 1973.
In the photos below My brother engraved his initials into the crankcase so I couldn't "borrow" his engine.
I cleaned both of them up and rebuilt both  of them as well.

On my engine I polished up the head to where it is nice and shiny.




I then mounted my brother motor in a display case and gave it to him as a Christmas present (X-Mas 2021)
My brother won a few trophies at the AMA Nat for stunts back in 1973 to 1978 with his Magician and Ringmaster planes.

I flew only the Ringmaster with my Fox Stunt 35.

I was checking out your engines again they are really looking good, I’m happy to see I’m not the only one that really appreciates the Fox engine thanks for sharing the pictures you did a fantastic job on shining them up

I own many different varieties of the Fox Combat engines. I have the first versions starting the 57 and the 58 which was the blackhead. I'm missing the .29 MK series and the .15 BB which had the huge MK series shaft in it. I don't own the last of the series MK 7 which is a real rarity. In 1975, the Baldie was introduced which was made from the Fox .36 case which is shown in Sosam's pics. The molds used to make the .36x were used for the Baldie which were altered meaning no .36x cases could ever have been made again. The Baldie was powerful but it would self destruct. The following year the coffin back MK III was introduced and it was game on. While it too has it's shortcomings, it's my favorite MK engine.

Ken can you dig up a picture of the rarity mm engine your talking about for me please

I'm not a collector, I use my engines but I do my best to take care of them.

     

        From right to left: First engine far right is the first 1957 Combat Special, moving left is not a engine with a burnt castor head, it's a black finish by Fox and this is the Fox 1958 Blackhead, the next inline is the Fox Red Head Rocket of 1959. This was a sport engine made to compete with other manufacturers but I also have two different versions of this engine. One has a entirely different crank and timing. All of these engines were based on the Fox Rocket case.

         I have the next engine ( Not pictured) which is the "61 Special" this .35 featured a  4 bolt needle bearing front. It was made for one year only. I couldn't get it for a picture as it's somewhat buried in my drawer.

      Next series were the X cased engines which the next inline which is my fathers is somewhat special to me. It's not a real common one and it's known as the Fox .35 Blue Ribbon Special. No triangular gussets on the case, it also used dual needle bearing crankcase. This was the only year for this engine. It leaks like a runny nose out the front of the case.

       Following that engine is the 1963 Fox .35X. This has a straight up plug larger crank.

        The next inline for 1964 was the Fox .36X, this was available in ball bearing rear main or needle bearing. I prefer the ball bearing myself. They featured the angled glow plug. These were pretty hot then and still to this day. I believe the bore is still the same, the stroke I think may have been changed but I also know the top lip of the liner is very thin compared to the .36 or vice versa. I'm starting to forget a lot of these things.

         Next to follow will be the Mark series Fox's.

Thank you keep them coming

The Mark series are in my opinion some of the best engines Duke made. One problem is keeping them together. Each series starting with the first the MK III had shortcomings. I'm not here to bash them but as the problems became apparent, Duke came out with the next version to improve it. As the improvements were made, another something would pop up or break.

        I don't have all of these engines to photograph as some of them are mounted on my planes. I don't show the MK VI. Many of the engines in these pictures are fitted with MK VI ABC piston liners. The MK VI was the only ABC combat engine Fox offered. The MK VII was a AAC engine.



         To the far right is the MK III which is somewhat clipped out of the picture.

Following that are Mark Smith reworked MK III &  MK IV slow combat engines which are both ABC and have special venturi's with Tiger needle valve assemblies. These were made for the event on suction and will pull a plane on suction near 110 mph. They have bushed rod ends and the crankpins are chromed.

  The following engines are MK IV's with different types of configurations being both iron piston and ABC versions with one featuring a Nelson head button for Nelson plugs.
The black heads on some of these were custom made.

     Last engine far left is the MK V. Now this is one of my favorites and probably the most disliked. It features one rear ball bearing and a bushed case. I love it, hit the ground, blow the dirt off and your back in the air. I've had great success with these, they're fast as can be. However, I've had two eat the circlip which retains the wrist pin. Eventually, play develops in the wrist pin hole and the up and down movement can dislodge the circlips and it's game over

Good grief for not collecting your doing a hell of a job. Impressive. I didn’t [bleep] done to study them yet and compare them to this volume 2 Encyclopedia yet but I’m going to. Just off the bat I seen some that sounded modified did you do them or is that the way they came? Like the one combat that’s cranks out to 110 I think I saw ?
Thanks for sharing.