I have a fondness for the Great Planes nylon cones/aluminum back plates. I fly four strokes and you need a very tight prop and the plastic back plates just don't cut it. The aluminum back plate with the nylon cone works very well. The only problem I've had whith them is when they were the first part of the plane to touch the runway, or other nearby ground.

I've personally had one 40 two stroke spit off the spinner/prop and everything else. I've saw one other 40 size two stroke spit off it's prop and spinner, both were all plastic designs. Both were from running to lean. I also saw one Tru Turn get turned to scrap on a OS Twin. He had the models mixed on his TX and the throttle was reversed. He was smacking a running starter into the spinner and it backfired and destroyed that spinner. The only other spinner failure I've seen was on a Christan Eagle ARF. The guy who owned it is deaf. He hits the starter and holds it firmly until he sees smoke from the exhaust. THis time, the engine started and out run the starter, spinning off the starter hub. He was still applying pressure to the starter when this happened and the starter went full into the prop. I saw something hit the tarmac right near the plane and then some 20 seconds or more, the cone came back to the ground. No one was hurt, but it was an experience. That's four incidents in a three years. Hardly plastic shrapnel flying through the pits on a regular basis.

Most smaller two strokes that are tuned properly can use the plastic backplate/cone spinners. Four strokes are a different animal though and they need the aluminum back plates.

Don