.........engines to avoid, walk into any shop and there will be a show case full of them, if! you took notice of what everybody says. A lot of you said avoid Magnums and then some said they were great.
Here in the UK I think Magnums are the same as SC I have three, .46 running a 12x6 prop running slightly rich never a dead stick, a .52 4 stroke running a 12x6 and a .91 4 stroke running a 14x8 never a problem with any of them. this summer I am buying a Giant Scale planes AT-6 am I'm putting in an SC400 64cc 5 cylinder radial it's almost half the price of it's OS equivalent and I'm willing to take the risk.
My other engine is an Irvin 40 running a 11x6 prop on an Arising Star trainer which my son is learning on, running slightly rich, a long life and no dead sticks.
Care is what makes an engine reliable some like caster some don't some like nitro and some dont, I run all mine on 5% 18% and use a decent 2 stroke oil for afterun and storage.
Bob H