RE: Thunder Tiger GP-18, anyone tried it???
OK, you got me to pull it out of the box again. You are mistaken. The hole in the carb barrel is at least as big as the one on the OS 25 FP. It is definitely bigger than the one on my Enya 19 V BB or my OS 15 FP. It falls squarely in the normal range of sizes for sport engines.
In 20 odd years of flying RC I have never broken off a carb in a crash. This keeps coming up, so maybe other people have really bad crashes compared to mine. I think it's more likely to happen with bigger engines and heavier planes. The GP-18 is good engine for maybe a 2 to 3 lb plane...not a lot of momentum. I am not bothered by the integral carb at all...one less part to keep sealed.
This is never going to be a racing engine or a combat engine. It's biggest problem is that hardly anyone makes planes for this size anymore....the HOB AT-6 and Mustang, the Dynaflite Butterfly, and maybe some electric ARFs you could convert. It would fit right in with the old .15 to .19 designs, but you have to build them from scratch now. Which is what I plan to do.