gaRCField,
Bet you'll still be amazed. Last year when I decided to get back to RC modeling I decided to spring for a 4-stroke. When I fooled with RC 20yrs ago the 4-strokes sounded good but seemed cantankerous yet I still recall telling myself back then that I wanted one.
Due to the cost I purchased a Magnum XL 91 RFS instead of a YS or Saito and to be honest, I was a little worried about it. I purchased a Jtec engine stand and mounted it to a small table in my garage (that is on wheels) that I'd been using to run some .049's on.
Now, I knew a larger engine would pull the table some so I made sure I mounted it over the end that didn't castor at right angles to the direction the wheels turned. Not knowing which direction of the throttle arm was off or full throttle (and not looking in the barrel of the carb to check
) I was caught by complete surprise when the engine fired immediately when I hit it with a starter.
Keep in mind this was the first time I'd used any of this stuff in approximately 20yrs too and to say I was rusty is an understatement. Something flew off and hit my forehead, I had to stiff arm the table to keep the engine from chewing me up and it took a second to regain my composure, wrestle myself to a position where I could hold the table with one arm and reach around and shut the dang thing off! Thank goodness the prop stayed on!
Turns out the cheap plastic spinner disintegrated when the engine fired and flew all around the garage in a gazillion pieces. That's what nicked my forehead and as it turns out my arm and back of my hand. Lucky I wear eyeglasses. That will also be my last plastic spinner (held together with sheetmetal screws at that).
I followed the instructions on breakin and ran a half-gallon thru it before mounting it in my plane. I also rigged up a throttle linkage on my test bench so I wouldn't have any more runaways I can't manage.
The power of that engine still impresses me and I can only imagine how strong these gassers folks use nowadays are. I was very fortunate to not have been seriously hurt and atleast had some familiarity with it so I was able to react fast enough to the situation I so foolishly had gotten myself into. I was also shocked to discover how much castor a half gallon of fuel could deposit on my car windshield when it was parked all the way at the end of my driveway while the engine and test stand were up inside the garage with the propwash directed outside!
The fuel residue running around the engine was black at first but cleared up significantly halfway thru the first tank. The idle improved remarkably after the 3rd tank and the engine has had about 1 1/2 gal thru it now. I pulled it and installed a ST 75 2stroke on my trainer so I could put the 4-stroke on my T-28.
Its been a few months now, I'm still assembling another ARF and have yet to maiden the T-28 successfully so I'm just about as excited to get back at it as I was this time last year.
Sorry for the long post. Your excitement about your new engine got my wheels a'goin.
Clay