T52instruction page

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This is an instruction sheet is for assembling our multi-role trainer. First it would be helpful to gather the following tools and supplies:

First and foremost, this is what we call a "foamie". Our intention is to furnish a kit that is #1- inexpensive enough to be used as a throw-away learning plane or leisurely flying around type plane, #2- quick building, #3- FUN, and #4- versatile. By versatile we mean that you may build it in one of several ways. First, it is designed to fly well on ½ A power using our "Slick Mount" and lightweight radio gear. Built this way it should weigh in at a little over 1 Lb. and will fly very well on a stock control-line .049. Use a hot engine such as a Norvel and you will have plenty of power. Second, if you like electric power, it flies wonderfully on a speed 400 with a 7 or 8 cell battery pack.

The object is to make the plane strong yet flexible in order to withstand collisions with about anything. Repairs are generally easy; just keep a roll of packing tape handy. Really crunched foam can be cut out, spliced in and taped up. We recommend using mini-servos and smaller radio gear. Weight is very important when flying a stock .049 or electric. If you have one of the more powerful engines on the market today then standard gear is just fine. We have provided die-cut tailpieces and fuselage doublers. You may need to gently cut the pieces away from the salvage in spots. We want them to stick to the salvage for protection during shipping. I usually start with the tail group and wing.

We have supplied a die-cut tail group to make building simple. First notice that the hinge lines on the elevator and rudder are marked with a little slice at one end. This is where the hinges will be cut. On the elevator, pick the rib that the mark is on and cut along the surface of the rib on one side only. The other side will become the hinge. Then fold the elevator back and trim both of the cut edges back to the next rib so the elevator will bend up and down with out binding on itself (see fig.1). Use a X-acto knife or razor blade and make little cuts along the hinge of about ½ inch long and leaving about ¼ inch of material between them. The dashed line cuts actually help the elevator bend easier.

Now take the fin and locate the mark. Make the hinge the same way as you did for the elevator by slicing along one side of the marked rib and perforating the hinge line. Don’t forget to fold it back and trim away the excess so the rudder will not bind on itself. Check to see that the rudder and elevator bend back and forth easily. If they seem a little stiff, you could lengthen the slices in the hinge line and/or work them hard by bending them back and forth a few times to limber them up.

This picture shows the hinge line cut away on one side leaving the other side to do the bending.

A couple more shots to clarify things. Notice the hinge line being perforated to help the elevator to move easier. Do the same for the rudder on the fin. Incidentally, these are pictures from a different plane but the construction is the same.

You may leave the tailpieces the way they are or tape the leading edge to help aerodynamics. If you want to lighten the tail you can cut lightning holes all over them and cover the whole thing with packing tape. Tape it in the same fashion as the wing, only start at the bottom and work up on the fin and start at the trailing edge and work forward on the elevator, think of it as cheap MonokoteÒ . If you didn’t lighten the tail, that’s OK, but there is an area that is buried in the fuselage, under the slot that the elevator fit into, where you can cut several big holes and save a few grams of tail weight.

Now slip the completed elevator into the slot on the fin and locate the tab into the slot on the elevator. Tip: hold the fin sort-of side ways to the elevator and flex the slot up then slide the elevator in, to where the tab will drop into the slot. Then bring the fin upright.

Run a small bead of "Household Goop", or something similar, along the tailpieces on the top and bottom, block them up so they are perpendicular and set aside to cure. If you are in a hurry, use thick CA and accelerator. This will stick well but is not as flexible and crash resistant as goop.

The wing is shipped in two 24" lengths and a center section of about 4". The center is cut with a 10° bevel on each side to establish the dihedral. Lightly sand the top and bottom surface of the wing pieces and dust off thoroughly. A nice touch here would be to round over the sharp edges of the wing tips if you want to. When using 1/2A or speed 400 power, no spar is needed besides the filament tape top and bottom, remember – build LIGHT!

Now take the wing halves and use #77 spray glue or 5-min epoxy (recommended), and stick the two halves to the center section. Be very aware of the wing panels and their relation to each other and the center section. Make every effort to assemble the wing panels and center so that airfoils match up exactly. Most problems with a plane inadvertently turning one direction or the other can be traced to one wing panel that is skewed slightly acting as a giant aileron. If you use epoxy, hold them tight with a couple pieces of masking tape or packing tape top and bottom. After the wing is stuck together, smooth the seams with sand paper and spray a light coat of #77 over the whole wing, top and bottom. Let it dry off thoroughly. Apply one strip of packing tape along the center seams (leading to trailing edge) top and bottom, stretching them a little will help them mold to the top curves of the airfoil. The goal is to get 100% adhesion all the way into the "V" of the dihedral joint. You should begin to see a fairly strong joint shaping up.

Starting with the wing top, apply a couple strips of strapping tape, side by side, at the spar area (see fig. 2) using a slight stretch (not too much) to the tape (the wing may bow up a little). With a dihedral wing always pull the strapping tape from the center out to the tip. On this particular wing with a center section and two seams, it is best to start the tape about 2" past the far seam opposite the tip you are pulling to. Overlap the opposing sides. This will help strengthen the center of the wing. Also, trim the tape at the wing tip so about ½ inch will wrap around the tip. Turn the wing upside down and apply strapping tape in the same manner using a slight stretch to help straighten the wing out. A slight stretch will pre-stress the wing and will greatly increase the strength, but be sure to balance the stretching or you could have a wing that bends up or down.

When covering wings or elevators, the basic taping convention for foam-and-tape planes is to always start at the back and work forward so that an overlapped tape edge is never into the wind.

This plane is designed to fly great on rudder/elevator only. But, after applying the strapping tape to the wings, you will need to decide if you want to run ailerons along with the rudder and elevator. If not skip this part and drop down to the wing covering instructions. If you want ailerons, first reinforce the center section as outlined in the wing covering section below! You could make the ailerons of 1/8" Balsa. Cut two strips about ½ inch wide x 24". These will be encapsulated in packing tape before they are attached to the wing. 2" packing tape will fold around the ½" aileron about 4 times. Tip: when covering the ends of thin parts, trim one side off at the edge and wrap the other over it---just like when using iron-on covering. After covering the ailerons, find a suitable spacer like a scrap of 1/16 balsa strip and lay the aileron upside down on the wing with the spacer between them (see fig.4). Run a strip of tape along the back of the wing and the aileron then open it up, lay it flat and apply a strip of tape along the top of the hinge line. Turn the wing upside down and use a blunt object (window screen roller tool works perfectly) to press the top and bottom tapes together to complete the hinge. Do this to both ailerons and after they are attached, proceed with the wing covering instructions.

You should now have the strapping tape "spars" attached. Next we need to beef up the center section of the wing since it receives the most stress. I recommend covering the center section with 2" packing tape with a couple strips over each seam top and bottom and several strips through the center section from seam to seam. When you do this, run the ends about and inch long and pull around the leading and trailing edge to the opposite surface. This will reinforce the leading and trailing edge where the rubber bands will hold the wing to the fuselage.

After the center section is strengthened, you can apply the packing tape. If you want ailerons, they should be on by this time. Stick the 2" packing tape across the wing from the middle to tip. Overlap the far center seam about an inch. Let the tape run long at the tip and stick the ends to the cutting table before smoothing it down from the center. Leave the ends stuck to the table until the surface is covered, then with a razor blade trim to about an inch long and fold around the wing tips before covering the opposite side (this gets a little difficult when taping the bottom of a dihedral wing so I lay the wing upside down on the edge of a table with half the wing hanging off the table, then work on the half that is supported by the table). A tiny amount of stretching will help apply the tape smoothly but be sure to balance the stretching or you could have a wing that bends unevenly.

Again, always apply the tape starting at the trailing edge and moving to the leading edge with a ¼" overlap. When you get to the leading edge, roll the last strip of tape from the top or bottom to the opposite surface. If you do that you should have a minimum of two layers of tape on the leading edge. I recommend one or two more strips of tape over the leading edge. On this wing, it is easiest to tape the leading edge by smoothing the tape from the wing tip to the center. Finally, cover the center section and the seams with tape, again running fore and aft and wrapping the ends around the leading and trailing edges. You could do this first and then apply the final leading edge tape-however you want to do it is fine. The main thing is to make the center strong and crush resistant to the rubber bands that will hold the wing in place.

The fuselage can be left blocky just as it came out of the hot wire machine or you may sand the edges a little aft of the wing. You could even round it out a lot; it depends on how much effort you want to go to. You will now need to build a suitable firewall for the motor you will use. We, of course, have designed this plane around our SLICKMOUNT, which simply makes small engine running a pleasure instead of a pain. However you can rig your own engine-firewall-tank combo if you wish but how you do it is up to you. I will only outline the installation of the Slickmount and Speed 400 electric.

For the Slickmount you will need a piece of 3/16 or ¼ inch plywood. Hold the nose of the fuse to the wood and trace around it for the shape of the firewall. Mark the center of the hole for the Slickmount and drill a 1-1/4 inch hole with a spade bit or forstner bit. Then cut the firewall out. On this plane I mount the engine near the top of the firewall, about 7/8" down from the top edge to the center of the mount. Glue the firewall on the nose with 77 spray and carefully drill out the foam with your 1-1/4 inch bit. Try to drill right through the center of the fuse, perpendicular to the plane of the firewall and just deep enough for the Slickmount tank. Tip: lay the fuse down on its side and cover the other side with a block of wood so you won’t break through and drill your hand! I have used #4 sheet metal screws to mount the Slickmount to the firewall and it works OK. The best way, though, is to drill the holes at the four corners and install 4-40 T-nuts. If you have the T-nuts with the big flange you may have to cut a flat in them to clear the tank.

	Since this plane is designed for our Slickmount, I will out line the installation. The first step is to sand the shape you want into the fuselage. In this case the edges were just rounded over. Then trace around the nose on the plywood.
After tracing the shape, locate and mark the center of the hole where you want the engine mounted. We recommend it be drilled about 7/8" from the top edge.
	You can use a spade bit, hole saw or Forstner bit to drill the 1 1/4" hole. Check the fit with the Slickmount and sand it if needed. It should fit snug with tape turned into the hole.
Band saws work great to cut it out.
	Glue the firewall on with 5 min Epoxy or 77 spray glue to stick the firewall on.

For electric flying you should still install a thin firewall of 1/8" ply, it is up to you but if you do just drill a hole for the motor wires. We bend a strip of aluminum into a U shape and fasten it to the fuse doublers with sheet metal screws. Then the motor is screwed to the bracket, see fig. 3. Even simpler than that, try a couple of wire ties poked through the doublers and around the motor. Just cinch them up tight. I have been flying one of my planes for several months that way and it has worked great—just looks a little funky. Some motors come with a motor mount; so you will need to decide what you need to do to make it work. We will cover the battery and speed control later.

Sand all surfaces with about 150 grit and spray with 77 glue, let dry. In a nutshell, the object is to use nylon strapping tape to strengthen all four sides of the fuselage and seal the nose against fuel and oil infiltration. After the strapping tape, the fuse doublers are glued on and the whole thing is sealed up with the colored packing tape. Note: when applying tape to a fuselage, DO NOT STRETCH IT, unless you intend to correct a warped fuselage.

Start the strapping tape on one side at the tail and tape all the way around the nose and back to the tail with one strip of ¾" to 1" or a couple strips of ½" side by side. Do the same on the top and bottom. Go ahead and tape over the slot for the tail then run a razor blade gently along the slot to open it up and push any tape flaps into the slot. Make sure the pad that the tail group sets on is taped flat and wrinkle free. Whatever covers the firewall hole can be sliced and turned into the hole. Use strips of strapping tape from about the front of the wing to the face of the firewall so that there is none of the pink foam or firewall showing. This will strengthen the nose and seal it from fuel.

Again, slice the tape and turn it into the hole for the Slickmount. If your 1-1/4 inch bit makes the same size hole as mine, you should still be able to slide the tank of the Slickmount into the hole with a snug fit. Remember we still have the colored tape to stuff into the hole yet too. If it is too tight, trim some of the strapping tape from the hole and use the final colored taping to seal up the firewall hole. If it is still too tight, sand the hole out a little. You want a snug fit because it will seal the interior of the plane from the fuel and oil.

After the strapping tape is done, it’s time to stick the fuse doublers to the sides of the plane. Trim them from the die cut piece and punch out the holes, if needed. They will be glued on with 77 spray glue. Match up the sides with the angle of the front window and the wing saddle. Be sure they are the same on each side before you stick them or you could have an alignment problem. A good way to insure proper alignment would be to clamp or tape the doublers in the proper position, drill out the holes for the dowels and use the dowels to align the glued sides before sticking them. After the doublers are on, it is a good idea to wrap a couple strips of strapping tape around the nose at the firewall area. That just kind of cinches everything down tight.

The doublers are installed and tape is wrapped around the nose. For Cox 049 and electric, the doublers are used the way they are. For Norvel you will have to trim for muffler clearance and to allow for needle valve adjustment or extend the needle valve through the side. NOTE: if you want to make the nose "bullet proof" staple through the doublers into the edge of the firewall. Assuming, of course, that your firewall is at least 1/4" thick. Just don't staple into the Slickmount or fuel lines. This really strengthens the nose.

After the strapping tape is done and the doublers are on, you can proceed to cover with the colored packing tape. I like to start with the bottom then the sides and finally the top. That way the sides will wrap around and seal to the bottom and the top will wrap over the sides and seal. You can do it however you want, just make sure to completely cover the foam and overlap the successive tape strips by about ½ inch. Again, tape over the slots for the tail group and slice them open after covering. Make sure the pad that the tail group sets on is taped flat and wrinkle free. TIP: when trying to tape a curved surface with packing tape it will tend to bunch and pucker. Stick the tape along the flattest surface and slice the edge that is hanging over about every ½", then starting at the back, working forward, smooth each little flap of tape over the curved edge. The little flaps will overlap each preceding flap and the curve will be much smoother.

Be sure to cover the firewall. I run the end of the bottom tape up to the top of the firewall and the top tape down to the bottom of the firewall. When taping the doublers, the side tapes can be trimmed about a ½" around the profile of the doublers and folded around to the inside of the engine compartment. Make some slices at the hole for the Slickmount and push the flaps into the hole. Install the wing dowels and the fuse is about done. If you are running a Norvel, you will need to cut the doublers to clear the muffler and allow access to the needle valve. A needle valve extension might be handy.

The tail group should be dry and ready to install now. I use a coat of 77-spray glue on the part of the tail that slips into the fuselage. Now, you have to be fast so have the slot in the fuse open and ready to receive the tail group. Put a small bead of GOOP on the top of the fuse where the elevator saddle is on either side of the slot. Be sure to use GOOP only on tape covered Styrofoam. Then, quickly spray a wet coat of 77 glue on the bottom of the fin. Hurry and slide it into the slot making sure the elevator is seated properly in its saddle. Push the elevator firmly into the GOOP and make sure the fin is straight and true with the centerline of the fuse and squish the sides of the fuse onto the fin. If you are not careful, it is easy to give your plane a permanent right or left turn by bending the back of the fuse one way or the other. The goal here is to assemble the tail group and fuse while the glue is still wet to allow a little slippage so they can be aligned properly---good luck, work fast! Apply a strip of packing tape under the fuse to close up the tail slot and if the GOOP didn’t squish out the edges, then run a small bead on either side of the saddle to stick and seal the tail to fuse joint. Block the fuse and tail so they will cure in good alignment.

Here the fuse and wing are covered and the tail is glued on. Use goop, PFM, building construction adhesive, or silicone seal to attached the tail. Put a little bead of glue on the pad where the tail sets, then spray the part of the tail that inserts into the fuse with 77 spray, slide it in quickly and push the tail firmly into place. Squish the sides together and clamp. I used a little spring clamp.

Radio installation is very simple. For 049 or electric, I would recommend using as light a gear as you can. Mini-servos work well and a small 2-4 channel receiver is best. I think I mentioned before that standard sized gear works fine if you run a more powerful engine such as the Norvel 061 or even an .09. In true fomie fashion, all servos are simply pocketed into the fuse with exposed push rod wires connecting the servos and control horns. On this plane I would recommend the rudder servo on one side of the fuselage and the elevator servo on the other. You can mount them how you think best though. We have supplied 36 inches of wire so wherever you mount the servos, make sure they aren’t so far that you run out of wire. The battery is pocketed into the nose of the plane, usually right behind the Slickmount tank. The receiver is located under the wing in its own pocket. Now, if you want to clean things up, you could go to some extra work and hollow out the cavity under the wing and mount radio gear internally with Ni-rod push rods or just bore holes through the fuse and run the push rods through it. It’s up to you.

The fuse is ready for the radio. The hole closest to the engine is for the battery. Use the 1 1/4" spade bit to drill a hole for a regular size receiver battery straight down and close as possible to the engine and tank. Don't drill into the Slickmount tank and trim the tape away before drilling! Since this plane is powered with a Norvel, full sized radio gear is used. The next two holes are for the radio and servo respectively. The silver shaft poking into the radio pocket is a 3/8 diameter tube sharpened to cut holes for the wires to run internally from pocket to pocket. On the other side of the fuse (not shown) are the other servo and switch.

Refer to the drawing (fig 3) for a rough layout for the radio and servos. Slip the motor into place then Lay your gear out on top of the fuse (might have to tape it in place) so that the airplane balances with the center of gravity at about 2-7/16 to 2- 3/4" from the leading edge of the wing. This is a starting point and can be shifted fore or aft a bit. Use the battery, radio and servo position to adjust the balance point and add a little weight if necessary. If you use ailerons, mount the aileron servo ahead of or behind the strapping tape spar, on top of the wing with the control wires on top. In no instance should you ever cut into the spar area of the wing because it will weaken it and make it more susceptible to bending. You could also put a mini-servo in each wing and connect them with a Y-connector so that each aileron would have it’s own servo. When you have determined the best balance positions for the servos and radio, then figure where you want the control arm to exit the fuse, mark a line around the servo and use a knife to cut the holes in the fuselage through the tape covering. Use a suitable gouge to dig the holes out and try to keep the fit as snug as possible. Decide if you want a switch, if you do then make a hole for it also. Sometimes I just plug the battery in direct when I am ready to fly but you would need to have access to the receiver or remove the wing after you are done flying. After the gear is cut in, you may bore a hole through the foam from pocket to pocket to route wires internally for a nice looking job. Before sliding the servos in for the final time, coat the pocket sides with silicone sealer. This will hold the servo in place and the silicone is not too impossible to remove. Try not to get silicone on the plane because tape will not stick to it! If you do, wipe it off with mineral spirits (paint thinner). Tip: wrap the servo with tape so the silicone can be easily peeled off if you take the servo out. Tape over the servos leaving the shank sticking out.

I must stress again to make the servos fit snugly. If you want them to fit flush with the surface you are imbedding them in, you will have to create a pocket that is sort-of two stepped to clear the mounting flanges on the servos. This will allow the servo to sink further in and will keep the control arm as close to the fuselage as possible. Another great idea is this: If you intend to do a lot foamie plane flying, just cut off the mounting flanges and sand the bumps smooth. This will allow the servo to slide down into a nice, neat, straight-sided pocket. Of-course you won’t ever be able to screw the servo down again, but if you get into foamies you won’t ever need to!!!

Now that the radio gear is in, mount control horns on the elevator and rudder. Check to see that the rudder and elevator bend back and forth easily. If they seem a little stiff, you could lengthen the slices in the hinge line. Install the servo arms and use 1/16" piano wire with Z bends in each end to hook them up. I use a kink in the middle of the wire for quick adjustment of the length. Since this airplane is designed to handle very easy, the control surfaces are set up for the easiest possible control. An elevator with too much control throw, will provide a beginner with much more than he can handle so I would recommend about 3/8" to ½ " deflection up and the same down. After a certain comfort level is gained the deflection can be increased for very tight loops. The rudder deflection can be set about 3/4" to 1" each side depending how sensitive you need it.

	This is about it! The radio is snuggled into the pocket under the wing and the servos are hooked up and installed. I have two different engines to use for this plane, both will work great, the Norvel simply has more power. Notice the antenna is threaded through a small hole in the side of the fuse. Rubber band the wing on and go FLY!!

This is the finished product. It has been trimmed in yellow tape and the yellow on the fuse is Monokote. Black pinstripe cleans up the edges. We have flown this plane extensively and with the stock Cox engine it is docile and easy to manage. With the Norvel shown here it is very fast. We would recommend using a throttled version of the Norvel to slow it down. The throttle servo could be installed inside the fuse just below the window area under the wing by an internal pushrod running through a hole in the foam. Or mount it externally like the elevator servo shown. The carb throttle arm is on this side and can be actuated with a wire pushrod through a slot in the fuse doubler. Hope these pictures help. This type of construction is very subjective and it is difficult to completely screw things up so have fun and remember--after doing one, you are an expert foamie builder so go out and have fun! We have a customer that has really enjoyed our planes. So much so that he made a construction video of the T52. I understand that he is also building them on a contract basis for those of you who don't want to take the time to build but would rather fly. Brad Winsor is the the man to see and you can find his web at: http://www.angelfire.com/al2/buzzman/t52_video.html

This is a very laid-back flyer but you will need calm weather because it is very light and has lots of wing so gusty conditions are out. Make sure the balance point is at about 2 ½" to 2 3/4" from the leading edge, set the controls to neutral and give it a test glide. Shift the battery or add a little weight until a nice glide is achieved. The trainer is a very gentle flying plane and if trimmed correctly, will nearly fly it self. Here are some suggestions for the first time out: If you are running a stock 049 or electric, you should have plenty of power to climb out, but try to trim it for level and straight flight and let it gain altitude slowly in large circles. Once you feel comfortable with the plane, it will do loops, barrel rolls, stall turns etc. If you are running a more powerful engine such as the Norvel, just aim for the sky and let it rip. The extra power will almost eliminate stalls and because of the wing design, it will still fly slowly enough for most beginners. Fly until the engine quits and glide around until you are set up for a landing and bring her in nice and smooth. Congratulations! Ace! What!?! You piled it up? No problem, go get it and try again!

When you are flying around up there, get enough altitude so that when the engine quits you can sniff around for a thermal. If you find one, very gently set the plane in a shallow turn and if you have found a good thermal you can watch your plane spiral out of sight. It’s kind of cool watching a powered plane spiral up with the motor off. When you are done flying, or if you have to stick more tape on the plane you can wipe the oil off of it with ordinary mineral spirits. Mineral spirits works great to clean everything up and if you need to make repairs, wash the area with it and dry with a clean cloth. The tape will stick again. If you want to decorate your plane, you can use MonokoteÒ and their no-heat solvent to add things like windows, letters, numbers, or graphics. Auto pinstripes from the auto parts store can jazz things up a little too. Just do all this art work before getting oil all over the plane or clean it up thoroughly.

If you installed an electric motor, you will need a suitable speed control. We use a tiny one with BEC. This will eliminate the need for separate radio batteries. If you are converting from a gas plane, the speed control fits nicely where the radio battery and Slickmount tank would normally go. Speed controllers usually need some cooling so we recommend mounting them close to the surface in a pocket just behind the firewall. Have plenty of air space around it and cover the pocket with one layer of packing tape. Always test run your system a couple times at full power until the battery runs down to make sure it will work reliably and that there is no excessive heat build up. If it gets too hot, vent the control in some manner. We have been flying a 6-Volt Speed 400 with a prop adapter and a standard 6X4 prop. It flies great on a 8-cell. The batteries to use are Sanyo 600 mah. They look about the size of a AA battery cut in half. New batteries are coming out all the time so talk to the battery experts—because we aren’t! Our packs are assembled with the batteries laying side by side in a long thin pack, see fig #3. They fit nicely if you make a pocket in the side of the fuselage, just aft of the fuse doubler, fig #3. Make the pocket so that the batteries fit tight enough that they won’t fall out. You could gouge out the pocket forward behind the fuse doublers if you need to shift the battery weight forward a little. You could tape them in but if they fit snug enough you won’t have to fuss with tape every time you change batteries. Use polarized plugs on your speed control, battery packs, and charger so there is no way to reverse polarity. Allow the plug to be accessible when you pull the battery pack out. Just stuff the wires and fresh pack into the pocket and go fly again. Two battery packs will keep me flying with just a short wait for the quick charger to finish a pack after the one in the plane runs out. One pack will fly full power about 6-7 min. With the speed control, you can throttle back and stretch the flight time or hunt for a thermal and turn it off. When the thermal runs out, cruise around for another one.

Small engines can be so frustrating that you wouldn’t be the first to feel like stomping the plane into the ground and walking off. Here are some tips to help get things going.

First I would recommend using our Slickmount, if you don’t already have one! This is not merely an unabashed attempt to sell more products but simply a way to help keep you a sane and happy flier for years to come. The Slickmount allows the little engine access to the fuel in the shortest amount of time. With a remote tank, the fuel lines are too long for the tiny suction of a stock 049. Plus the size of the 35mm film container will give about a 15-20 minute run.

Cox 049 reed valve engines can be especially frustrating but when you know a few tricks, they aren’t so bad. First if it hasn’t been run for a while and you can’t get it to run except for a short burst after priming, it is probably a sure bet that the fuel inlet and reed valve are plugged with oily gunk. You should take it apart and clean the jets and reed, and wash the inside of the engine out with solvent. Check the reed to see that it isn’t cracked or bent. If it is, replace it. Make sure the glow head is working too. If everything checks out OK, then try starting it again. Incidentally, use an electric starter, hand or spring flipping is nuts! Prime the little guy with a little bit of fuel at the exhaust port and open the valve about 3.5 turns. If it zooms and dies open the needle valve a half turn more and try again. If you keep turning the needle out and it still zooms and dies, try this next little trick. If you have a squeeze bulb to fill the tank, hold your finger over the bottom vent (Slickmount) and gently squeeze a little air pressure into the fuel filler vent for a couple seconds. This will force fuel into the venturi of the reed valve and kind of jump-start the engine. This trick has never failed to start a cold engine for me and once you have it running you can set the needle valve for the best run. If the engine is screaming and then sputters out, turn the needle counter-clockwise until it sounds rough then turn back to peak. Needle settings are different for each engine. I find that it works best to set these engines at just under peak RPM because they tend to lean out as they run. If you use our Slickmount, put a cap on the top fill vent, it will make the engine run much steadier and keeps the fuel in the tank, (the air pressure behind the cylinder head can actually siphon the fuel from the tank).

Most beam-mounted engines, such as the Cox TD and Norvel Big Migs , have a carburetor on the front. These are much easier to start but again, use an electric starter. Just open the needle valve about 3-4 turns and choke the carb with your finger. Be careful of the prop! If the engine revs up then dies, open the needle valve a half turn at a time until you get a steady, rich run. Then slowly turn the needle in to get the best rpm but do not lean it out too much. If you flood the engine, screw the needle valve all the way it and spin the engine, it should fire then die. That should clean the excess fuel out of the system. Experience has shown that these small engines tend to lean out as they run, so experiment with the setting until you get the feel of how your particular engine runs best during actual flight. If your engine or muffler has a tank pressure tap, use it! They really do help the engine run more consistently. If you have our Slickmount, run a tube from the pressure tap to the bottom vent on the mount. Then make some sort of plug for the top vent tube. An automotive vacuum cap works well or a short piece of fuel line with a plug in it works well too. This will pressurize the system and will increase your flying pleasure.

Always be careful when starting any engine because they can do lots of damage to hands and fingers.

Most new engines will benefit from proper break-in procedures. It would do the new engine a lot of good to bench run several tanks of fuel through it at a rich setting. During the run, lean the mixture periodically, than set it back to rich. Let the engine cool before the next run. After 3 or 4 runs the engine should be ready to go.

You can hurt yourself, building this kit! Please use caution and follow proper safety procedures when using the tools and the adhesives needed to assemble this kit.

Powered models are dangerous! All model airplanes present a certain amount of danger to the operator and anyone in the vicinity. Please be careful when starting the motors and use good safety practices when operating this model.

We at JK Aerotech, have no control over how this product is used. You, as the operator of this equipment assume full responsibility during the building and flying of this model to operate it in a safe manner. Do not start the engine with anyone, including yourself, in line with a spinning prop or directly in front of a running motor (I have seen props come off). Always keep hands and fingers out of the spinning prop. Do not fly over people, or in populated areas. BE CAREFUL!

By building and flying this model you have agreed to take full responsibility for any property damage and/or personal injury or death caused by this model.

This is the complete instruction set for building our T52 Trainer. The text is illustrated with building sequence pictures so it may take some time to load this page.

Due to the size of the files, detail drawings are on another page. Just click on the bookmark below if you want to view them. They may take awhile to load.