Although drones have become commonplace and taken over as a favorite modern flying toy on kids’ Christmas wish lists, I’m guessing that most adolescents in past decades would have been thrilled to find something unusual under the tree that can become airborne right in their own backyard. While socks and belts might serve as more practical gifts, I’d still be pretty excited to unwrap a mini helicopter, even at my advanced age! Even though it hasn’t flown since the seventies, this vintage Cox Sky Copter here on Facebook Marketplace can be yours today for only $129, should you happen to be anywhere near Green Bay, Wisconsin. The seller isn’t sure if it still functions, but for just a little over a C-Note, this could be a fun father-and-son or daddy-daughter adventure to try and get this one back up in the sky.
We’d like to thank Barn Finds reader Lothar… of the Hill People for thinking creatively and sending us this unconventional tip! A couple of things hit me right off the bat that help make this one interesting, including that it appears to emulate the Bell 47-G, a real-life helicopter unit sometimes seen in the T.V. show M.A.S.H. Second, the design detail is fairly thorough for a child’s toy from this era, right out of the box. Unfortunately, the cardboard box this one came in was tossed out with the Christmas wrapping paper, and this would undoubtedly add to its value if included.
The seller says this has been stored since the seventies, but it’s reported to have been a working flyer at one time, as evidenced by a small scratch on the plastic cockpit window and a blunder on one of the blade stickers. Otherwise, this chopper seems to be in fine condition overall and doesn’t appear to have seen excessive airtime. Adding a considerable amount to the cool factor here is the engine: a nitro-fuel-powered Cox .020 unit, activated with a glow plug. Once started, you just perform a gentle rotor twirl, and up she goes.
If there’s one thing to criticize, it’s that Cox chose not to incorporate a pilot inside the cockpit. I could have envisioned a seventies phenomenon here where most came with the standard captain, but a few had a surprise limited-edition aviator to make them more desirable. Other than that, just about everything else seems to have been well thought out by the design department. This seems like an enjoyable and potentially bonding acquisition if you’re a parent, and maybe even a precursor project for a youngster to get them prepared to take on an automobile restoration in the future. What are your thoughts on this toy helicopter?
That comment “nitro fueled” needs to be talked about. Cox small engine fuel was/is 40% nitromethane, the rest castor oil and methanol. Why didn’t we dump some of that in our vehicles? Because nitromethane would blow the heads off, so not advised. To be honest, just about everybody here has experimented with these small engines in model planes, boats and cars, and I don’t ever recall them running right. E-drones have taken over the skies, and for good reason, they rarely crash. I’d update this to an LS .049,, :) Cool find.
So what you’re saying Howard is drop in a SSBC (Super Small Block Chevy). 👍🏻
I think Howard may be on the right track here!
Had many a Cox engine as a kid… and as an adult… They all ran fine if one treated them right. Most didn’t or never learned. The Cox stuff was the gateway drug to a lifelong hobby of building and flying model aircraft. Still do it in my old age but like most, have switched over to electric power with the old glow engines just display pieces now. And don’t confuse drones with fixed wing model aircraft… two very different things.
I had Cox engines in a Flying Saucer,Air Planes and Mustang car that ran on a string through the bottom of the car.Crashed all of them.
I think the pilot landed to use the restroom.
I had a couple of the Cox planes that flew in a circle that never lasted more than a couple flights before I crashed them beyond repair, my brother got one of these helicopters and once we got it in the air the wind took it higher and higher into a tree never to be retrieved! Thanks for another fantastic trip down memory lane!!
Ya , I built a plane with the .049.
It was very cool.
She’s so fine my 049!
Drone Smone, look what I got ~ Whoever buys this
You would see the Bell helicopter many times in the Highway Patrol television series. Nobody could outrun Broderick Crawford!
10-4!
This is so great. I didn’t have this particular helicopter, but I did have one, I was a kid and I just dont remember. Between my older brother, his friends and other kids on the street, there were the U control planes, flying saucers the cars. Those little 049 engines were great. Whenever anything was totaled we’d save the motor. My helicopter actually went quite a distance….. Once…… Then it landed a good distance away on a busy street. Yep…. You guessed it….. Another spare motor got added to the box that day. What a great find and memory!! Thanks Mike!!!
My father had a string control. 049 airplane, a Stuka as I recall. I remember firing it up a number of times but don’t recall him “flying ” it. Cool memories from a mostly bygone time.
Though Estes rockets are still available..
I never had a “string” airplane, I thought they were kind of lame, around and around, made me dizzy. Same with the cars, around and around, not much different than “spin dizzies”. We had a lot more fun with rockets, except they had a tendency to “go missing”.
Although I didn’t have one of these, I do remember them.
I recently submitted a Cox dune buggy to BF. Lots of kids had that one.
Yes i had a orange one, crazy high prices now on Ebay, new in a sealed box is big money!!
Didn’t those buggies have the worm drive setup made from a coil spring?
Had one as a kid and watched it go way up then fly off. Wind of the plains states took it away. Looked at instructions after and said don’t fly if winds were greater than five mph. The wind is never less than that here. I figured It might have made it to canada. That was a months wage delivering newspapers.
I had this helicopter as a kid. It would fly pretty high and catch the wind. I always had a long walk to retrieve it for 20 seconds of fun.
I had a Cox Navy blue Corsair with a string line, it took a while going in circles and the plane up and down, and into the ground a few times before I kept it up long enough to get dizzy. I eventually hit the ground hard enough to split the wing.
Coxes original finger remover!
Nothing like loosing part of your pinky finger and make up a good story about how you lost it like a mafioso!
Never mind the string cars, one misstep and you have a 120 scale miles per hour toy car hitting your leg and causing burns as well as a good gash on it!
😊
ahhh, da pleasures of mid century kid-hood…
“ We dont need no stinkin helmets ! “
(but the guy who said dat in da movie needed some sorta protection… from himself. Great, comedic, loss to us all). As said above, thnx 4 da memories…
I have just about every Cox car made from the 60s corvette,riverara,>40, to the 70s dune buggy,baha bug, & action van and a few custom built ones I made using Cox chassies, a die cast cobra,Nylint jeep, & Nylint ford pickup (Little Red Wagon clone) Presantly working on 2 Guillow’s balsa plane kits Folker Triplane(Red Baron) & Sopwith Camel(Snoopy) with Cox .020 engines
Cmon, this isn’t toy finds!
Let’s see more cars!
Just skip it if you don’t like it. And to think you wasted your time commenting on it too – LOL!
Guaranteed this one will get more comments than 80% of the car articles.
Most of us (thankfully) love this peripheral stuff.
My fingers still bear scars from trying to start a recalcitrant RC model airplane!
And has been stated, if it started, it only would survive a rotation or two before nose-diving into the dirt…pilot error to be sure!
The air plane would be shattered/scattered, so my friend and I would mount the remaining engine & propeller on a modified skateboard, sending it flying across empty parking lots.
Pleasant memories from the 60’s fer sure!
Spent hours and hours building a string-controlled 049 powered Spitfire with the paper covered realistic wings. It was beautiful. Dad said he should fly it first since I might crash it. Smashed it to smithereens. Went to the hobbyshop(remember those?),Dad bought one already done that was hanging from the ceiling. It had a solid wood wing held on by a rubber band. Able to fly it and crash it many times. Just snapped the wing back into place after a crash!
You reminded me. I had a 4 wheel drive Porche 959, electric back in the late 80’s. My Dad came out, said looks like fun can I try? ( You can’t say no to Dad lol). Well, after about 38 seconds and a full speed run directly into a curb. That was it….. Off to the Hobby shop to buy all the parts I needed to put Humpty Dumpty back together. I’m sure your Dad felt bad, that was nice of him to replace it. Those models are very intricately designed and one of these days I want to build another one, not to fly but to display.
Ohhh, but U gotta crash ‘em’n smash ‘em. Wheres the fun?
We used ta squirt Zippo lighter fluid on’em and send them on their way…
(nota deliquent among us – long term marriages, one doctor, social worker, several teachers, etc) ~
I can still smell that fuel…
So I can’t look at this Boomer / Early Gen-X era “toy” and not make a comment on modern parenting and childrearing… I started “playing” with model airplane engines in my ‘tween years…11 – 12… had older brothers into it… how I became interested, and occasionally got hand-me-downs. Dad’s level of interest was a gaze up from his paper with a “don’t make mess” comment. Now I can’t imagine a parent in this era we’re now in letting their 11 year old leave the house with a pint can of highly flammable, nitromethane fortified, methanol… to fuel an exposed internal combustion engine with an un-shielded, sharp plastic prop spinning at thousands of rpm… at least not without multiple adult supervision, a helmet, safety glasses, ear projection, fire extinguisher, quarter inch thick leather gloves and a first-aid kit worthy of an EMT. Yet back in those late ’60s, early ’70s, I and my friends would run out of the house with the stuff with nary a grunt from the parents… maybe a “make sure you’re home for dinner” Now, did I occasionally hurt myself?… Sure (typically good finger cuts)… but the Dad reaction was nothing more than a gaze up from the TV with a “that was dumb… go see your mother” comment. So glad a grew up in a time when we were allowed to be feral…
I had the Red Baron biplane (crashed it….) I bought the dune buggy ($2.00 at a garage sale (1973) Still have that and the Sand-rail! We had a few of these Cox toys and loved them all, It taught me a lot about how things work (and or) needed to be repaired!!!