<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Originally posted by: wings
Ya, that helped a lot. I am new to the hobby. I just got an electric plane this summer. Its a V-tail 3 channel plane. I have only had it since mid july and its already boring.


I want a gas powered. But...until you brought it to my attention I did not know there was a difference between gas and glow. Do you know of any sites that explain the difference?


Does gas have proportional control via a carburetor and glow does not? What are the 4 servo's for on a gas engine?

up-down, back-forth, engine speed (forgive my terminology, I am new to this). Whats the fourth for?
Wings<hr></blockquote>



Hey Wings
the main difference between glow and gas is that for glow when you start it up you connect a 1.5volt battery to the glow plug. This ignites the coils inside the glow plug. after the engine is started you remove the battery and then the heat from the combustion of the fuel and the compression of the engine allow the glow plug to remain lit. glow engines run off of a mixture of nitromethane, and oil which also lubricates the engine.

a gas engion relies on it's own ignition system which ignites the air/fuel mixture through a spark plug just like in a weed wacker, chainsaw, etc. these gas engines are mainly used for large and/or giant scale aircraft. They run off of a mixture of regular 87 octane pump gas and a ratio of 2 cycle engine oil. this makes them much less expensive to run due to fuel costs and some companies sell kits to convert a weed wacker or chainsaw engine to an airplane one which is much less expensive than buying a purpose built gas aircraft engine Both glow and gas engines use a very similar carb which controls engine speed except for control line and free flight models without throttle control they just run wide open until they are out of fuel but they have a needle for adjusting the mixture be it a richer or leaner one.

To answer your next questio the primary four channels are for 1. throttle 2. rudder which controls yaw of the aircraft and can be used to turn the aircraft all by it self but when making an aileron turn rudder is coordinated in to control and minimize adverse yaw (the aircaft turing the opposite way you move the sticks) 3.Aileron- is used to control the rolling action of the aircraft called bank when you move the ailerons one direction it changes the amount of lift the wings have causing the wing to either rise or fall putting it into a banking turn. 4. Elevator is used to control the pitch of the aircraft. meaning when you move the stick it either position the aircrfat into a climbing or diving attitude.

There are however many other channel functions such as flaps, retractable landing gear, high/low rates etc. etc. but these are not necessary functions for training and normally come with more experience

I hope this answers your questions.