4 ms·

I had one of these as a kid! I could never get the "glow plug" engine to actually fire up, though, so I was never able to fly it. Sounds like I missed out on a

I had one of these as a kid! I could never get the "glow plug" engine to actually fire up, though, so I was never able to fly it. Sounds like I missed out on a spectacular crash.

jacquesm 4y ago
Or a missing finger. Those things are pretty nasty to get going without a starter motor. Some of them come with a spring loaded starter, those are a little bit safe, but the ones that you start manually are really nasty. edit: Hah, that's actually mentioned in the article.
- zabzonk 4y ago
  it won't cut off your finger, but it will hurt!
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    It can do much worse... https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=60153 https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=60153 Really, the mechanical integrity of the motor/plane mount and everything else comes into play when the thing starts up and if you're not treating it with all of the respect that it deserves you can get hurt very badly. I used to live right next door to a model airfield and more than one person left that field with serious injuries from spinning props. Starting them is the most obvious moment when things are dangerous but then the speed is still quite low, once they rev up you are much better off not to be in front of them or in the plane of rotation. Electrics aren't much safer. These models are nothing short of amazing but the safety issues are very often overlooked and minimized.
    - zabzonk 4y ago
      depends on the capacity (and hence torque) of the engine, a sensible person would always wear a thick glove! besides, kids back then were pretty impervious to injury.
      - jacquesm 4y ago
        Right... well the number of times I've seen the ambulance ride out to that field tells a slightly different story. The problem is that every time it goes right your risk tolerance goes up and after a while people stop seeing the risk entirely. Same story in machine shops. I think the real issue is that these are not toys, some of those motors pack an awful lot of punch, much more than the size of the motor would convey to a casual observer. Likewise for LiPo packs, those things are extremely impressive from an energy content perspective and yet, the number of idiotic things I've seen people do with them just baffles me. After a long history of making, building and using all kinds of dangerous stuff I still have all my fingers. But I did manage to break my leg on an experimental bike so even the cautious can get caught out. Oh, I just noted the helpful little table on that article I linked above: Ultra Micro- Micro= Break the skin/ light bleeding, can cause serious eye damage 20"- 25" wingspan= Deep cut requiring surface stitches 25"- 35" wingspan= Deep cut through muscle, damage to tendons requiring multiple layers of stitches and possibly even surgery. 35"- 50" wingspan= Can cut to the bone, cut tendons, surgery required to fix damage. 50"- 70" Wingspan= Damage to bone, broken fingers, cut tendons in arms hands and legs. 70"- Large Scale= Lost fingers, serious deep tissue and tendon damage, cut arteries potential death Giant scale= Dismemberment, can take off fingers even arms or legs, can likely kill especially if it hit you in the head.
      - watwut 4y ago
        Kids back then were not "impervious to injury". Accidents and injuries did happened in the past. So did fires cause by kids.
  - Taniwha 4y ago
    I still have scars .... 50 years later
zabzonk 4y ago
glow plugs are pretty easy to start - stupid question, but you did have a big battery to power the plug?
- dieselgate 4y ago
  from the article it seems it's not a true "glow plug" heating element like one may use to start a diesel engine. my impression was the engine is so small the radiant heat of the engine is what causes the fuel to ignite in the chamber - seems tough to start cold
  - zabzonk 4y ago
    diesels don't have a glow plug. a glow plug has a radiant coil that ignites the fuel, and then the heat of the engine keeps it firing, which is different from diesel fuel.a diesel engine depends on heating the fuel via compression with the energy being provided by the human flicking it. there is no battery input to a model aero diesel engine. a car diesel engine uses a starter motor to provide the initial compression.
    - stonogo 4y ago
      Just about every single automotive diesel engine sold since the 1950s is equipped with glow plugs, so the above post might be confusing. Automotive diesel glow plugs do not ignite the fuel; they lower the required compression in cold weather by warming up the air going into the combustion chamber. They're not the same things as glow plugs found in methanol-fueled model engines, which also do not ignite the fuel directly, but serve as a catalyst so the methanol can combust via compression instead of electric ignition. When talking about glow plugs, it's important to specity the sort you're talking about and the context in which your discussion is taking place.
      - zabzonk 4y ago
        i admit i am not an expert on modern auto diesels (i remember my brother muttering about having problems with this on his Merc). but 1960's model diesel engines did not require a battery to start them.
quercusa 4y ago
I saw one start maybe twice. Knowing my dad I suspect the battery was always dead.

I had one of these as a kid! I could never get the "glow plug" engine to actually fire up, though, so I was never able to fly it. Sounds like I missed out on a spectacular crash.

jacquesm 4y ago

Or a missing finger. Those things are pretty nasty to get going without a starter motor. Some of them come with a spring loaded starter, those are a little bit safe, but the ones that you start manually are really nasty. edit: Hah, that's actually mentioned in the article.

zabzonk 4y ago
it won't cut off your finger, but it will hurt!
- jacquesm 4y ago
  It can do much worse... https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=60153 https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=60153 Really, the mechanical integrity of the motor/plane mount and everything else comes into play when the thing starts up and if you're not treating it with all of the respect that it deserves you can get hurt very badly. I used to live right next door to a model airfield and more than one person left that field with serious injuries from spinning props. Starting them is the most obvious moment when things are dangerous but then the speed is still quite low, once they rev up you are much better off not to be in front of them or in the plane of rotation. Electrics aren't much safer. These models are nothing short of amazing but the safety issues are very often overlooked and minimized.
  - zabzonk 4y ago
    depends on the capacity (and hence torque) of the engine, a sensible person would always wear a thick glove! besides, kids back then were pretty impervious to injury.
    - jacquesm 4y ago
      Right... well the number of times I've seen the ambulance ride out to that field tells a slightly different story. The problem is that every time it goes right your risk tolerance goes up and after a while people stop seeing the risk entirely. Same story in machine shops. I think the real issue is that these are not toys, some of those motors pack an awful lot of punch, much more than the size of the motor would convey to a casual observer. Likewise for LiPo packs, those things are extremely impressive from an energy content perspective and yet, the number of idiotic things I've seen people do with them just baffles me. After a long history of making, building and using all kinds of dangerous stuff I still have all my fingers. But I did manage to break my leg on an experimental bike so even the cautious can get caught out. Oh, I just noted the helpful little table on that article I linked above: Ultra Micro- Micro= Break the skin/ light bleeding, can cause serious eye damage 20"- 25" wingspan= Deep cut requiring surface stitches 25"- 35" wingspan= Deep cut through muscle, damage to tendons requiring multiple layers of stitches and possibly even surgery. 35"- 50" wingspan= Can cut to the bone, cut tendons, surgery required to fix damage. 50"- 70" Wingspan= Damage to bone, broken fingers, cut tendons in arms hands and legs. 70"- Large Scale= Lost fingers, serious deep tissue and tendon damage, cut arteries potential death Giant scale= Dismemberment, can take off fingers even arms or legs, can likely kill especially if it hit you in the head.
    - watwut 4y ago
      Kids back then were not "impervious to injury". Accidents and injuries did happened in the past. So did fires cause by kids.
- Taniwha 4y ago
  I still have scars .... 50 years later

zabzonk 4y ago

glow plugs are pretty easy to start - stupid question, but you did have a big battery to power the plug?

dieselgate 4y ago
from the article it seems it's not a true "glow plug" heating element like one may use to start a diesel engine. my impression was the engine is so small the radiant heat of the engine is what causes the fuel to ignite in the chamber - seems tough to start cold
- zabzonk 4y ago
  diesels don't have a glow plug. a glow plug has a radiant coil that ignites the fuel, and then the heat of the engine keeps it firing, which is different from diesel fuel.a diesel engine depends on heating the fuel via compression with the energy being provided by the human flicking it. there is no battery input to a model aero diesel engine. a car diesel engine uses a starter motor to provide the initial compression.
  - stonogo 4y ago
    Just about every single automotive diesel engine sold since the 1950s is equipped with glow plugs, so the above post might be confusing. Automotive diesel glow plugs do not ignite the fuel; they lower the required compression in cold weather by warming up the air going into the combustion chamber. They're not the same things as glow plugs found in methanol-fueled model engines, which also do not ignite the fuel directly, but serve as a catalyst so the methanol can combust via compression instead of electric ignition. When talking about glow plugs, it's important to specity the sort you're talking about and the context in which your discussion is taking place.
    - zabzonk 4y ago
      i admit i am not an expert on modern auto diesels (i remember my brother muttering about having problems with this on his Merc). but 1960's model diesel engines did not require a battery to start them.

quercusa 4y ago

I saw one start maybe twice. Knowing my dad I suspect the battery was always dead.