Hi guys,

I am student in Ireland who is carrying out a final year project in the design and building of a light weight generator. In the project I will have to incorporate an engine to power the unit.

Unfortunately am kinda back to square one as regards the choice of engine for my project.
(See previous thread:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...75&forumid=145 )

I went down to my local supplier of model engines and he told me that the OS model airplane engines would not be at all suitable for my needs. The reason for this is that there will be almost no load on the engine, ( it only has to turn a shaft in a dc motor), and so it would burn out very quickly. Therefore he suggested that I use a marine engine that is water cooled:

Irvine 46 ABC Marine Engine, ( this is the one he recomended as he said it was the most reliable and not too tempremental to use. However he also just happened to have it in stock as well!!)

OS 21 RG-M Marine Engine, ( he said this one was more tempremental if it is not run at 30,000 revs. However i only want 10,000 rpm output from my engine so may have to investigate gearing down, etc.)

However now I am really lost and becoming frustrated in my search. All threads seem to indicate that the OS engines are the most reliable but my dealer says the opposite!! (BTW He is a most unfriendly and unhelpful guy!!!) Also I am designing a light weight engine yet the weight of these water cooled engines seem to be a small bit excessive when compared to the airplane engines.

What I am basically asking you is what engine would you recommend me to use. It must be:
- light and reliable
- not liable to burn out due to lack of any real load.

I know these are unusual questions but you are my only real source of information. I need your views as i think my dealer only wants my money!!!

Thanks for any help you can give.

UCCC