Simple solution:
Don't TELL the guy what you plan to do with it. Then he can't be held liable for your fingers or eyeballs in the event of a catastrophe.

I learned this lesson a few years ago. I'm also clean cut, well groomed and can speak plain English during pleasant conversation. But I had 4 or 5 local shops turn me away when I came around hunting for junk engines that could be had cheap. It didn't matter that I would be coming back to them for carb parts or cylinder gaskets or piston rings. They'd rather sell the stuff for scrap metal than nickel and dime me for gaskets and bearings. Their loss, I guess.


My advice:
Some crusty old "junk" collector asks you what you want with a used weedie engine - [sm=47_47.gif] - you tell him it's for a water pump so you can water the lawn from your pond out back. He don't need to know what you're doing with it.

A "water pump" sounds a lot more harmless than an RC airplane or RC boat. Catch my drift?