ORIGINAL: bigedmustafa
ORIGINAL: Gray Beard
The only two stroke glow engines I use now are the SK .91 costing about $100.00. If the ST users gave these engines a try I'm sure there would be a big drop in sales for the ST brand.
Just a thought!!
I always joke that there are two kinds of glow pilots; those who only fly O.S. Max and those who actually know how to tune an engine. It seems like those of us who have successfully tried the occassional Super Tigre or Magnum engine will go on to try a lot of different brands and fly them all successfully. Those who try a different brand only to have trouble with it and then hear, ''Yep, you should have bought an O.S.'' often go back to flying O.S. Max and then never learn how to handle any other brand.
I am regularly flying Thunder Tiger, Super Tigre (Heaven help you if you confuse the two), Magnum, Enya, and Saito engines right now. I also own and fly JBA, O.S. Max, MECOA, and HB engines. Each of these brands is unique with regard to how to best prop, tune, break-in, fuel, and maintain them.
Even different engines from the same manufacturer run and handle differently. My Magnum XLS .46A is a very smooth running engine that evenly delivers power throughout its rpm range, while my Magnum XLS .52A seems particularly happy while running wide open yet it drops off significantly as you back off of the throttle. The two are ported differently and they behave differently as you fly them.
Rest assured that any pilot who tells you, ''Yep, you should have bought an O.S.'' doesn't know anything about engine tuning, and the reason they only fly O.S. is because they can get somebody to help them when they screw up their O.S. Max engine's tuning. I like my O.S. Max engines, but they're like IBM computers (nobody ever got fired for buying IBM) or Sony home electronics; there is better stuff available for less money, but they're ''safe'' brands that are normally reliable.
I've never owned a engine from SK, Webra, Moki, or VMax but I'm confident that I could get any brand of engine broken in and tuned correctly. I know how to test whether an engine is rich or lean on both the low and high ends and I know how changing things like nitro content, oil content, and plug temperature changes tuning dynamics. When you understand these basic concepts, you don't have to be locked in to only flying O.S. Max AX series engines with 15% nitro and either A3 or #8 glow plugs.