
Signature
Paul McIntosh
Desert Sky Model Aviation
http://fly.mcintoshcentral.com
> Look around the flying field. How many Irvines do you see? How many Jetts
> do you see. How many Supertigres do you see? How many MVVS do you see?
> How many Enyas do you see? All of these are great engines but get pushed
> aside by the OS-is-best crowd.
Well put! I think the secret to OS's success is a combination of good quality,
massive advertising, and an effort to make their engines as close to "plug and
play" as possible. I'm sure that was what prompted the development of the new
Chinese Evolution engines that come already broken in, with preset needles. I'm
betting that they'll sell a zillion of 'em!
> I have owned several Fox engines and all of them were real powerful and
> reliable...
Yes, but NOISY!!! Fox sells a quiet muffler, but it's not suplied as standard,
as it should be nowadays. The previously mentioned Flightline Solutions website
shows an effective mousse can after-muffler that's effective if you don't want
to pay Fox extra for what they should have supplied in the first place.
As for power, keep in mind that in Dave Gierke's recent test of .60-sized
engines, the old Fox .60 was the torquiest of the bunch, exceeding the power of
all but one of the much more recent designs. So, while one might not be able to
teach an old dog new tricks, a smart modeler might just discover that the old
dog already has some tricks that most people don't know about!
Geoff Sanders
E Riehle - 30 Oct 2003 21:39 GMT
The lion share of my engines are Fox, from .15 to the old .78rc...never had
any problems with any of them. My favorites were the .45bb and the .25bb,
both little monsters. The .45 took some PIA dial-in time, but once I found
the sweet spot that engine was the most reliable in my lineup, and that
included the Enya, OS, and others...
I also have a Fox .15, .45 & .60 w/Davis Diesel heads on them that I'll
likely never get around to using, but the .45 was bench run once and almost
pulled the bench over!!
I've gotten into four-strokes in the last couple years, and I really wish
that Fox would get into that arena.
It all comes down to marketing, and that was never one of Fox's strong
points...
Abel Pranger - 31 Oct 2003 00:33 GMT
> Yes, but NOISY!!! Fox sells a quiet muffler, but it's not suplied as standard,
> as it should be nowadays. The previously mentioned Flightline Solutions website
> shows an effective mousse can after-muffler that's effective if you don't want
> to pay Fox extra for what they should have supplied in the first place.
Unfortunately, Fox doesn't sell the quiet muffler anymore. It worked
great, reducing exhaust noise to a point where prop noise was clearly
dominant, and increased power to boot. The Achilles's heel was too
little metal on the stack/flange to support the added cantilevered
weight of the muffler, so they broke easily. Apparently it wasn't a
great seller, as Fox quit making them altogether, rather than tooling
up to make them stronger.
FWIW, MVVS mufflers will fit the Fox engines, and are much more
robust, though not much better in the noise reduction performance.
Abel
Geoff Sanders - 31 Oct 2003 05:17 GMT
> Unfortunately, Fox doesn't sell the quiet muffler anymore.
Oh, well...
> FWIW, MVVS mufflers will fit the Fox engines, and are much more
> robust, though not much better in the noise reduction performance.
Hmmmm..... Verry interesting! However, for my own Fox .45, I removed the aft part of the
muffler (which isn't easy, BTW!) and mounted a mousse can to it using the existing screws and
some JB-Weld. I haven't flown it yet, but it IS quiet.
For some time I've toyed with the idea of building an adaptor flange to mount a bolt-through
muffler. That's the one big gripe I have with Fox: The bolt-on muffler.
Geoff
User friendliness and reliability are mainly what appeal to the average
modeller. In this context, when someone asks me whether they should buy a
Fox or OS, I would invariably recommend the latter. Your defence of the Fox
is admirable and Duke would undoubtedly smile down on you. You are quite
right though, that other considerations (especially cost) influence what you
see at the field. For example, to follow your line of thought, how many
Mokis or Webras do you see? I can only speak from my limited experience
with the only Fox engine I'll ever own.
> How many are in use at the flying field has nothing to do with how good an
> engine is. Too mayn newbies are introduced to the "OS is the best" and
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> > >
> > > TIA , Steve