ORIGINAL: Roary m
Some of us will remember Saito's first run; pretty abysmal. I have numerous O S engines, but I never knew about the liner peeling on a much larger scale until this website. I do have a 40VF with the top of the liner gone and it still runs. My point is this: OS has made engines with bearing problems and liner issues not to mention the hotrod 70 fourstroke with the blue rocker cover that they apparently pulled. Saito just keeps moving on with their product. It used to be understood at our field that Saito was the K and B of the four stroke world. A lot has changed.
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There was a time when being the K&B of anything could have been a terrific thing. I remember the early Seventies when K&B was a highly respected and sought after engine. Then, for some reason which I still haven't figured out, their quality seemed to nose dive and they produced mediocre engines. At least in the sport flying category. The ducted fan engines seemed to be a well though-of product. I was not into marine glow engines, so I have no idea how they fared in that market.
I don't remember Saito's being abysmal. Please fill us in. What period was that and what were their problems? Most engine manufacturers have periods of less than perfect products. I wouldn't expect Saito to be any different, although according to one of my now deceased modeling friends (John Pazursky sp?), he loved their engines from the late Eighties and early Nineties.
The OS liner peeling debacle is fact, not fiction. It had been with OS for quite a while in many different lines of engines, but it wasn't until the internet became available that we had the means to identify others have similar experiences with the product. As I said before, any manufacturer can have a problem - it is how the US importer handles those problems that determines the value of the product.
Yes, I paraphrased a bit, but you get the idea...<G>