was dated July 1931 and the other was
from October 1937.
Paul Cogdill, Cedar Park, TX
Paul, it’s the little things in life that give us
the most joy! Model Airplane News has been
around since 1929 so these are definitely
some of the earliest issues. Some modelers
collect them and we have a bound volume
library here in the office that we are very
proud of! I am sure our magazines were in
good company with whatever other treasures the owners of the restaurant saw fit
to display on their walls. Maybe they were
modelers as well! Thanks for sharing.
—GY
SMALL GAS ENGINES
U I know that for the longest time, we
modelers have assumed that when you
talked about gasoline (gas) engines, we
were for the most part discussing giant-scale engines. In the old days, anything
above a 30cc engine was a monster, but
as time has gone by, we are blessed with
having gas burners up into the 200cc-size
range. I think for the average modeler,
the size range is more like 25cc to 150cc.
There’s a lot going for these types/sizes of
engines but also, I have noticed a downward “growth” in engine sizes. Do you
guys have any info on the new branch of
gas engines below 20cc? I would like to
convert some of my smaller . 60 to .90-size
glow planes to gas, but not sure where to
start.
Phillip Chapin, Kingston, Ontario Canada
Phillip, thanks for writing. We here at
Model Airplane News have also noticed this
growth in the smaller displacement gaso-
line engine market and so far, it promises
to become very popular without much of a
downside. One of the first engines we got
our hands on was the RCS (RC Showcase)
SV17, distributed by Troy Built Models
( troybuiltmodels.com). This 17cc gaso-
line engine with its electronic ignition
and compact size is an ideal choice for
anything in the . 60 to . 90 engine range.
Everything needed for this engine could
easily fit inside a 3x3-inch fuselage cross-
section, and if you used a small 4-ounce
tank. So far, I have flown the SV17 engine
in a few of my old standby airplanes
including a 60-inch-span Balsa USA Einde-
cker 90, and a 63-inch-span enlarged ver-
sion of the popular Nifty Fifty from Florio
Flyer. This engine easily spins a 14x6 Smart
wood prop from Wildcat at 8,400rpm and
standard Zinger wood 15x8 propeller at a
decent 7,600rpm. It seemed that the best
all-around thrust-producing piece of wood
was a Moki 15x6 that developed 7,900 revs
and really made my Eindecker come to
life. You can see a video of my engine test
run at: ModelAirplaneNews.com/SV17.
