Super08

My Feedback: (2)

Adam good luck with whatever you decide to pursue in the future.
Doug

Flyer Freq

Thank you very much Adam! I have learned a lot from you about gassers, and have enjoyed sharing this experience with my fellow BCMA owners. Best of luck to you in the future! God bless your endeavors!

Andy

Flyer Freq

Hey Guy's!

I suppose it won't be long and this thread will fade into the past; and I suppose it has already started. I had a good time here, learning and helping others learn about gas engines, specifically the SPE engines. Adam has tied up the lose ends by giving us a place to turn for warranty work and parts. I know of a few companies that either didn't or were not able to do this when they closed up. I found myself in a little bit of a bind, as a few weeks ago, I had a prop strike with my BCMA SPE 40, that ended up with a broken crankshaft. Due to many factories having to shut down due to the Olympics, many of the parts we need to keep our engines running are not readily available at the moment, even from the suppliers that Adam pointed us to. I was directed to another company, by another friend, who had some of the parts, but not all of them. To my surprise, this company(Greg) went the extra yards to call around and track the rest of my parts down. In addition, he called me at home to let me know that he found every part and that they had been shipped. His name is Greg Shane, from eFLIGHT STUFF. Here is his website: http://gregshane.web.aplus.net/cart/...?categoryID=92

This may be the last help I can offer in this thread. Thanks so much to those that have helped me here!

Andy

Jary12th

Has anyone used 100LL Avgas in these engines? I have the 26cc that I have not started yet. Have read that avgas is used instead of auto fuel because of the odor of gas. Was curious of the performance difference

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

Avgas doesn't smell as bad as regular gas, as you have noted. Avgas stays fresher longer than pump gas. Those are the two good points.

Avgas is considerably more expensive than pump gas and is not readily available as pump gas. Will it help engine performance versus fresh pump gas? No. Can it harm a two or four-stroke model gas engine? Theoretically, it "could" cause damage to a two-stroke engine's piston right at the exhaust port. I've never seen this happen, but I haven't ran many engines on Avgas, so I really have no experience in this area. Personally, I doubt it because of the little time we put on our gas engines in model airplanes. I doubt if you would ever see it. Could Avgas be beneficial to any spark ignition/gas/petrol fueled model engine? I don't know. But if there was an engine that could benefit, it would probably be a four-stroke model engine running an ignition system and a high compression ratio, such as a converted glow Saito 1.50 to 2.20 four-stroke engine. But that is only a guess and even then I don't think it would be a readily apparent benefit.


Ed Cregger

OK2Fly

Avgas lacks ethanol, which is good. Avgas won't stink up the house (as much), which is good.

Avgas is pricier and harder to find than pump gas, which is bad.

A lot of guys at my field run 100LL in their DA 100's and 150's, and after several gallons, the engines appear fine.

alqwad

My Feedback: (12)

Does anyone have a PDF flie for the mounting template for the BCMA/SPE 26cc? If so, please post for others and/or send PM for email address. Thanks in advance.

Jary12th

I have one in PDF. RCU would not let me upload it, PDF format not supported.

Rob

stevenchao

Dear Customers,

We are sorry and embarrassed, but most of all, we are deeply sorry.

Last couple of weeks you were subject to poor SPE-40 and SPE-43 gasoline engine services. We subjected our customers to unacceptable delays, lost time, and other inconveniences. The USA parts and the new USA version of SPE-43 engines disrupted the flow of CERMARK's gasoline engine repair team, who depended on those parts to serve you.

With the new USA version of SPE-43 upon us, parts were not available or not tested, which further hindered our quality assurance efforts.

Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience that we caused. This is especially saddening because CERMARK is trying to earn your loyalty and to grow CERMARK’s family by bringing forth products that are leaders in quality, cost, and customer enthusiasm.

We are committed to you, our valued customers, and are taking immediate corrective steps to regain your confidence in us. We have begun putting a comprehensive plan in place to provide better SPE-43 engines, and improved procedures for handling operational difficulties in the future. Though we can not promise that we will not stumble again, we are confident, as a result of these actions, that CERMARK will emerge as a more reliable and even more customer responsive than before.

You deserved better from us. Nothing is more important than regaining your trust. We hope you will give us the opportunity to provide you the positive experience you should expect from us.


Sincerely,

Steven Chao
President
CERMARK

planewrecker

My Feedback: (147)

I would like to thank Steven Chao at Cermark.

I purchased a BCMA SPE 40 from Adam late last year, but due to not having a plane to put it in, I didn't attempt to run it until this September. As luck would have it, the engine I was sent by BCMA was a piece of junk and would not run! I contacted BCMA about it the week that they decided to go out of business. I was told by them to send it to Cermark. (So much for the vaunted BCMA customer service).

Naturally I was less than thrilled to send it to someone that didn't sell me the engine.

Steven at Cermark took the engine in for warranty work. He was great and spent a lot of time talking to me on the phone. He always seems to be accessable. Because of Adams mods and the shortage of parts, Steven ended up sending me a brand new engine, and bench ran it before sending it out, (something that Adam should have done. It would have saved me a lot of trouble.)
How much better customer service can you ask for, and I wasn't even his customer! The new engine runs great, and my plane is finally flying.


I made the mistake of not buying from the licensed importer once, Never again. When buying these Chineese engines, make sure you know who you're buying from! Cermark is the only place I'd ever consider for buying another SPE engine.

airstik2003

Now wait a minute,

Don't be bad talking Adam. My dad bought 5 engines from him a few years ago and had not problems with them. They run great, better than any other engine we have. My dad likes them over every other engine he has ever owned and he has been flying for 35 years. Adam is a very besy man, when we had questions-not problems-we would call him and even when he did not answer, he called back within the hr and talk to us about the engines. I'm sorry you had a problem, but don't led one mishap make your experience troublesome. Nothing is 100% and i know there are many, many people here (myself and my father included) who miss him and his engines. Adam, thanks for all of the work you have done for us!

Tom

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

I don't believe in bad talking, but if someone has a problem you don't sweep it under the carpet either. With that said I bought a 26cc just before Adam decided to pack it in. It too would not run any more than 30 seconds. After trying many things including new ignition units and carbs I found the problem. When he did the conversion to the RCexl ignition, the sensor was installed with too much gap. As soon as the engine started to warm up the cranckcase would expand just enough that the gap was too much to trip it. Trust me this took a while to find. Now I reshaped the sensor mount to close the gap the engine runs fine. I had spoke to many people (including Cremark) while trying to find the problem and no one had seen this one before. I just put it down to "s@@@ happens".
Doug

WCB

That's exactly right. The one's singing his praises got good engines and good service and I'm happy for them and they are right to post it here. There are some that got left holding the bag like I did. Our comments deserve equal time. My BCMA 26 had problems I found after BCMA went out of business. The problems were obvious and should have been found had the engine been test run before shipping. So either he didn't test it before shipping it (like he promised) or he tested it and shipped it with the problems anyway. Either way is wrong. At any rate he was long gone so I had no recourse there. I found a local machinist to fix the problems fairly cheap. But it is money I shouldn't have had to spend.
If anyone is interested in the problems I found I will post it here later. It is a long story.
wcb

planewrecker

My Feedback: (147)

We're all very busy men. If you think I'm bad talking Adam, which I'm not, I'm sorry that bothers you. I'm just stating the facts. I really am sorry that his business failed, I hate to see that happen to anyone. The fact remains that I was sold untested junk and dropped like a hot potato.
I bought this engine mostly on the service reputation they had. That reputation didn't hold up. BCMA was happy to take my money, but did not honor the promise of service that went along with the purchase. When I make a promise to someone I fulfill the promise. Maybe I'm naive, but I expect the same from others.
BCMA was still in business when I called them about this engine. They did very little to help me out other than to try dumping me off to Cermark. A return call from Adam would have gone a long way, but I didn't even get that. They did me wrong and if it wasn't for Steven Chao and Cermark I would have a $350.00 paperweight.
Steven came thru, Adam didn't

Pit-Viper 1

My Feedback: (12)

Who is taking care of the warranty on the ignitions? Got one I need to send in.

Thanks,

Shane

rdrude

I am a happy owner of the BCMA 26. I went with this engine last year because of all of the good things that the members of this forum had to say about Adam and the "extensive" work that he did with the engines and his customer service. Although I have not had a lick of trouble with mine, I can understand Planewreckers frustration. This was my first gas engine purchase, and was sold on the warranty that Adam offered, and the "tweaking" that he did to the engines prior to shipping. For that service level, I paid a premium for the engine. Now after a full season of learning the ins and outs of gas engines, I can honestly say I would not do it again if he was still open. I do not see much of a difference between the BCMA and the SPE 26. The customized service from Adam is now out of the equation.
In reality, these small gas engines are rather simple, and once you develop your knowledge base, easy to work on. For those of us that do not need bleeding edge performance, and the desire to save money in this hobby, the China based engines are fine... as long as you do your research.

I am sorry to see that Adam has gone out of business, but there are other small manufacturers here in the states that we can turn to.

rdrude

Shane,
I think Cermark is handling all of the repair work now.

stevenchao

I want thank those who spoke well of us here at CERMARK. Cermark dealers and team members really try to our best to keep our RC hobby alive and well. Adam of BCMA has been a loyal SPE dealer for many years. Over the years he really tried to put his best into his name.

To clarify once and for all, BCMA is not responsible for illegal importation of recent SPE and MLD engines. It is absolutely unfortunate that Adam was unable to continue. Good intention often does little to the small econmy of our cottage industry. Until another worthy authorized dealer rise to meet the demand of our consumers, Melody (speengines.com & mldengines.com), Cermark (cermark.com) and Austar Models (austars-model.com) will continue to do our best.


Peace,
Steven Chao,
Cermark

flyboy4553

Well I guess at least you could have had a paper weight. I got a new 53 from him Adam last April and put it in 260 Hanger 9 Extra and when I started it it locked up. Put it in the box and sent it back. He said something was in the cylinder which I did not know. Anyway I have been very patient and only bothered him 3 or 4 times. Now I guess I need to find him. No Engine, No money back and he won't return any messages. I was on the verge of buying several engines from him for other club members and very glad I did not now. I thought he was a great guy and wanted to help him out. I don't know if he knew it but I helped him sell six 40cc engines just from other people that I know on the net. Oh well live and Learn I guess

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

Folks that have never been in business for themselves have most likely never experienced burn-out. It is really difficult to explain to someone that has never been there. Yes, I've been there several times. It can get so bad that you have to stifle the urge to vomit when you see or think of your business or product. You have put everything into the business and no matter what, you couldn't keep up with its demands. You struggle and try so hard that you amaze yourself with your own strength and stamina, but to no avail. Eventually you reach the end of your limit and you run away from the business for fear of losing your mind. Normally very honest and caring people, people that were previously pillars in the community, run away, leaving all unfinished business behind. It is the survival instinct kicking in.

Give Adam and Scott at Brillelli some time to recover. I'm sure that both gentlemen will do their very best to make things right for the customers whom they owe. Kicking them while they are down only moves your name further and further down the list. These folks are tapped and probably couldn't stand a confrontation now without suffering serious regression/depression. If you were their friend before, be their friend again.

When I worked outside sales I had a rule that I created for myself and my customers. If my clients smiled when I approached, all was well. If they didn't smile, but scowled when I came into view, I knew I needed to rework our relationship. Even as a salesman, I had other salesman trying to sell to me. I wondered why I had dealt with a few of them and not the rest of them. After all, they all offered essentially the same products and services. Then I realized that I bought from those that made me smile. We need to bring smiles to Adam's and Scott's faces. They're toast.


Ed Cregger

WCB

Sorry Ed I can't buy into your "he's a good ole boy and will make it right" scenario. There's too many people on here telling similar stories of how they got beat out of their money and/ or engine. I understand about burnout and depression etc. but when you start selling a product and taking people's money you better be able to handle the pressure of running a business (assuming that was the problem in the first place.) The decent thing to do would have been to at least return the engine so the guy could send it somewhere else to have it fixed. Not returning the engine or money and no explanation/ not returning calls or emails is simply inexcusable and points strongly in the direction of fraud, which in most states is a felony.
The customers already "brought a smile to Adam's face" when they sent him their hard earned money. The customer is the one not smiling now. I hope you are right and he does eventually stand up and do the right thing. I just can't foresee it ever happening.
WCB

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

-


Everyone is entitled their own opinion. All I did was state mine.


Ed Cregger

WCB

You're right Ed. But there comes a point when ya gotta call a duck "a duck."
WCB

Bill Rademacher

My Feedback: (77)

I have a SPE 26 from BCMA - it runs like a scalded dog.

I got a muffler for it from Cermark. I explained what I was looking for over the phone, and they went and measured and went the extra mile for me.

My friend has a Cermark Sukhoi, mounting a Brillelli 26. Beautiful plane, excellent motor. Scott also converted a Mac 28 for me years ago, and practically gave it away to me. They're all stand up people.


Everyone has a tough time now and then. And we all make mistakes, get tired, run in, and beat down. Sometimes, it just doesn't go our way.

Patience. Understanding. Some humility. A little faith in folks.

Work it out. Things can always be worse.


billrad

rdrude

That is a good attitude to take... but this is also a business. If a person gives his money to a vendor, he expects a product in return. From what I have read, there are some people on here that have either not received the product they paid for, or they have sent in engines for repair and have not received back yet. That is wrong, no matter how you spin it. I have nothing but the upmost concern for my fellow man, but you also can not shut the doors of your business and leave your customers hanging. Fine, Adam wants to close up shop... then do it after you satisfy your obligations.

I have no axe to grind with anyone here... but come on... fair is fair. Take care of your obligations and then rest up. I hope Adam comes back better than ever. I have nothing but good things to say about my BCMA 26... however, I am not one of the ones who is looking for their money or their engine either.
My 2 cents.