madman75

+1

madman75

I don't think that is what happened. Around the time Horizon was getting out of the Webra line I emailed Webra about the Speed 50 not being shown as available from Horizon and the 55 as being in stock. they informed me that the 50 was still available and was still being made. I think it was more of a Horizon decision than Webra not having stock for sale.

proptop

My Feedback: (8)

You might be right...they dropped MDS too, not long before...perhaps to make more room, so to speak for their Evolution line?

pe reivers

Same thing seems to happen with Horizon selling "evolution gas engine"  parts. Back ordered until February. The Original MVVS parts are not hard to come by at all!
So sorry Horizon! You are not doing your customers a favour.

Konrad

Looks like a profit margin issue! Not a desire to offer us the performance enthusiast the products we crave and are often willing to pay for if marketed and informed honestly, as to their proper use and application.

All the best,
Konrad

buchtes

My Feedback: (7)

die verdammten Schlitzaugen fressen die ganze Welt auf, und alle sehr gute Produkte damit.

djlyon

Really shouldn't have a comment like that here. Hiding it in German doesn't really work well on a forum read world wide.

Denis

BelAirBob

I think Horizon dropped Webra, MDS and ASP? because they wanted to carry only a few engine lines.....probably got a better deal with Evolution. I have only seen one Evolution at my field over the last few years. Seemed to run OK, but nothing spectacular. Webras were nice but expensive and again, the majority of people buy on price......

bob

DISCUS54

My Feedback: (211)

Another casualty of cheap labor and swiped engineering. Webra may have had other contributary issues with their bankruptcy. Ultimately no company can offer long term competitive pricing like the Chinese because they have costs that the Chinese don't (like workers comp insurance, minumum wage, equal oppurtunity employment, ect, ect, ect.) The Chinese products are overpriced compared to others...based on their costs such as research and development, labor, and materials. The end user ultimately decides who stays and who goes...looks like a lot of model engines have been purchased by people whose greatest concern is price...with little consideration or appreciation for the other companies with like products. Webra's labor and materials cost was simply too much compared to the competition. It is a wonderful thing to have a global marketplace, but don't forget that not everyone is playing by the same rules when it comes to putting that engine on the local hobby store's shelf.

mundo330

My Feedback: (3)

I have used Webra engines many times in the past. In Fact my first Helicopter (which was my first RC aircraft) was a Schluter SX81 with a Webra 61. I had 3 additional Webra two strokes and a Webra T4 60 I have always missed. I had a box of Engines disappear in a move from NY to FL and never was able to replace them. Most of my early engines where Webras as that is what the Schluters had been designed around. All the engines I have purchased have been German, Austrian, Japanese or Italian. I have been given some Chinese and even a Russian engine and they ran well but the best looking and best made engines where Webras. They will be missed!

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

Don't brag about not touching the needle valve. Why? Because it makes you sound like you are a moron. Every two-stroke glow engine should be retuned at every new day of flying. Why? Because it is a good safeguard against frying an engine. While your engine may be very consistent, your ability to hear is not. Haven't had a problem? My answer is simple and true, it is - yet. BTDT.

No, no engine starts easier than an OS. Maybe AS easy, but not easier.

Again, only folks bragging about never using a starter are the lucky few that haven't met Mr. Prop when he is having a bad hair day. Once you get supremely whacked, you'll forget all about that idiotic finger/hand/chicken stick starting technique. Yeah, it looks cool. Guess how cool you look in the emergency room squirting blood for or five feet from your mangled hand. BTDT. My nurse friend tells me that I definitely did not look cool.

I loved my Webra engines, but I too have quite a bit of anymous toward Webra for the hell they put me through by not including decent instructions written in English. I find out many years later that the reason that I couldn't get my Webra to run right with the stock Dynamix carb (late 1970s) was because it was designed to be fed with a fuel pump. I damned near fried that poor engine several times until I removed the Dynamix carb and replaced it with an HB plastic Perry carb copy. No problems after that, but after that it never produced as much power as my OS .61 FSR, both running the same pipe. I've always felt that even though the Dykes ring was holding compression well, that the engine had suffered from overheating while using the Dynamix carb and was over-the-hill power wise by the time I fitted it with the HB carb. Yes, it could have been a lower flow rate carb. There's no way to reach back in time and test this hypothesis.

Pardon me for my gruffness. I'm diabetic and my right big toe is hurting like the dickens. Pain pills won't touch it.

Merry freakin' Christmas to all!


Ed Cregger

jerrya

My Feedback: (4)

Very sorry to hear of Webra's demise. I have several Webras in my stable today and they are all great running engines. I used to have in the 80's a Midwest Sweet stick with a piped Speed 60 on it. It would fly straight up out of your hand. Everything eventually changes however, companies come and go, just like most other things. I just hope that Enya doesn't eventually follow them.

stuntflyr

Merry Christmas, Ed.
Chris...

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

While I truly love Webras and hate to learn of their demise, the thought of there being no Enya is flat out scary.


Ed Cregger

freakingfast

My Feedback: (3)

Webra's demise is partly their fault. Primarily marketing/advertising (or the lack there of) and product development/targeting. Some examples: They came out with the 55 (black head) and this was a very good engine, it had a higher than average working range and had very good power up there. The engine had a devolved following of people that found it worked well in everything from speed planes to 3D. Without explanation Webra dropped it for a new 55 GT (non-colored squarish head). The new engine had no published info to let the buyer know that this engine had a much lower working range, similar to that of an OS 55AX. Much confusion abounded and people were disappointed when they attempted to prop it like the former black head.

Throughout the manuals (in mice print)I found misleading or absent info to simple info like maximum nitro content (10% in most cases) glow plug heat ranges, prop choices and which of the multiple factory tuned mufflers is right for what app.

They did build great engines with my only complaint was that the small engines were ABN not ABC. The little 36 was a masterpiece of power.

freakingfast

My Feedback: (3)

Website weird, double posted.

kurt2022

My Feedback: (18)

I have not had the opportunity to own a webra engine but have a couple flying buddies that have them and like them. I personally have had the best luck with Irvine glow engines and didn't like it when they were sold out to OS. I have now converted to four strokes after procuring my first saito a while back. I really hate to watch many of the rock solid reliable engines, both gas and glow, being replaced by chinese hit or miss engines. I guess Ross Perot was right about the giant sucking sound of good manufacturing jobs going to slave labor nations, even Germany is not immune to it!

mike109

G'day Engine Lovers

I have never owned a Webra but I have tried to get one. The problem here in Australia and I suspect in the US and Europe too is that the big wholesalers like product they can sell in large numbers. They like products which are easy to sell and which sell quickly. Specialist products just don't interest them any more. The market is being dumbed down just as it is in so many other areas. Shiny products with a low price which rush out the door. That's what the wholesalers and importers want. Webra and Enya just do not fit into that picture.

My local hobby shop has recently reduced the size of his hobby section and is concentrating on the "toy" market. Small electric models which will probably never fly and which will make him a quick sale but are highly unlikely to bring return business. There is a Waco biplane that he has been selling in moderate numbers. He has given me two so far to check out when the new owner could not make them work. One put the prop on backwards, had the ailerons reversed but the model was saved because the ESC was dead. The second one had a totally flat battery. The owner connected it up to test it then left it connected for several days and then wondered why it would not work. The battery was toast. When they do get into the air, they have 30 second life expectancy and another potential model flyer will be lost.

Here in Oz, OS is handled by Model Engines. They do it well. Prices are reasonable though not cheap, service is good and spares are available. As a result they sell in large numbers and are probably safe at the moment. Enya was handled by a smaller importer but they were never handled well and the importer has given up on them. When Super Tigre was Italian, there were specialist importers here too but since they have gone Chinese even Super Tigre is becoming harder to find.

The Chinese stuff is mostly handled here by small independant importers. As a result there is no central point for spares and getting parts is not easy. The more specialist retailers seem to be becoming disillusioned with them but it is really too early to tell.

All this is part of the reason I went over to four strokes and Saito in particular. I could get them, they were a reasonable price and the quality and backup were there too. But lately, I have noticed that some shops are no longer selling them as they once did. Could this be the end for Saito here? I hope not.

So. I have decided to buy my engines from specialists. My most recent purchases (in reverse order) have been a Jett 46 (direct from Jett), an Enya (from eBay) and a MPJet from a small importer - David Owen. And I can see another Laser on the horizon some time too.

I have owned a number of Chinese engines from ASP/Magnum, JBA and GMS but none of them really captured my interest so it is my plan to support the more interesting manufacturers and let the Chinese get on with making very average engines which are just too hit and miss for me. Sad about Webra though. But typical of current market trends.

Michael in Oz

Sport_Pilot

Sport_Pilot

Konrad,..

Hobbico is the parent company that owns both Great Planes and Tower, among others.

Konrad

OK, I thought it was GP that was the umbrella corporation.


All the best,
Konrad

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Lets be getting away from forms of government and back to Webra

I've deleted an off topic post already!

Konrad

Now you want to do this!! The cat is out of the bag let it run its course!

It is time for a revolution.

Thomas Jefferson said as he was signing the declaration of independence. That no matter how good this document is it will be time for a revolution in about 200 years. We are over due. Now what Jefferson meant by revolution is not recorded.

Konrad

Why mine and not the other posts discussing the forms of government. Really if this now bothers you so, you should have controlled this much earlier like I said, your only real recourse is to let it run or close the thread!

And what have you got against Jefferson?

All the best.

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

The "hit and miss" references regarding Sanye engines has been a thing of the past for quite a while now. I have no more trouble with Sanye made engines than I do any of the other name brands that I buy.

If one wants to have some snob appeal regarding their engine choice, buy engines from Jett Engineering. Those are pieces of art. I wish I had held on to my Sport Jett .46. Oh well, when I screw up, I don't mess around.


Ed Cregger