MDS engines are made in Russia, and they have a good reputation in many parts of the world. They don't have a good reputation here in the United States, however. MDS engines are designed to run on 0% FAI fuel or 5% nitro. Folks who bought them while Horizon Hobby was still distributing them would ignore the recommended fuel guidelines and go out and run them with 15% nitro fuel.

The result? Overheated engines, pre-ignition, and blown glow plugs. Naturally the folks who ran into these problems couldn't believe the problems were due to an oversight on their part, so MDS engines must be bad.

Wild Foamy lives in the UK, and modellers there have the good sense to not use nitromethane unless they actually need it for some reason. MDS engines are also far more common on that side of the Atlantic, so parts and tuning advice should be much easier to come by.

The MDS .48 that he mentioned in particular has a solid reputation as a high quality, powerful, and reliable sport engine.