I'm not having any real problems, but I really don't feel like I've got my OS 46AX dialed in right yet. I've got about 2 gallons of fuel through it over 7 or 8 days of flying.

I do the pinch test on a regular basis; I pinch the line going to the carb, and the RPM's increase. Sometimes it won't even let me get to the point of where it would decrease before it will stall. When I tune my engine, the grass is SOAKED under the exhaust port, and people have commented about how much liquid is coming out of the exhaust. My flight times are also very short (going through lots of fuel). Again, when I try to lean out the needle, the engine wants to quit. Also if it's leaned out, it makes almost a rattling vibration sound at mid to high rpm, like the seal is not tight enough. I don't know if it's my imagination, but a few clicks rich seems to get rid of this noise. The plane does want to JUMP when I hit the throttle, so there seems to be plenty of power when advancing from idle.

My trainer seems to think it sounds fine. It idles well, and there's slight hesitation or no hesitation when the throttle is then opened to full, so he says to leave it. Ever since I switched from 10% to 15% nitro it just doesn't seem to be running as PERFECT, again, nothing really wrong, just not appearing to be as dialed in as it was with the 10% fuel, and it's tearing through tanks of gas.

I am going to get a tachometer. Is this the most accurate way to tune an engine? Is it agreed that you lean the needle to get max rpm's, then richen the needle to lower the rpm's by 300?

Thanks. I know this has been covered many times, but I don't think I'm missing anything...