RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

Thanks WR

Your suggestion has been great... Looks like I better stand clear of Vmar.

This forum appears to be one of the best....Bill

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

Bill
I really don't know about the VMAX Engines one way or the other, but I have read several post here on RCU where a few people were having troubles with the engines, and having trouble getting Richmond R/C(VMAR) to service them without a big hassle. You might want to do some investigating in the Vmar Post. I am sure you can get some good info in there about them.
If you are just getting back into the hobby after many years, I personally would go with an engine that most people have had luck with. Starting back in the hobby with an engine that is unreliable will quickly become discouraging. My own personal recommendations would be Thunder Tiger, O.S, or Evolution in 2 strokes. There are other brands that are good also, but these are three that by a majority have a pretty good reputation! Welcome back to the hobby!

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

Thanks Ray..You and WR have given me MUCH food for thought.

Good night to all. Bill W.

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

Whats the matter with you guys??? its the same old story over and over again- FORD vs CHEVY, etc/etc. pick your own pair to compare. you bought an engine that is supposed to run, try to get it to run-- then BEEF at the seller with Loud VOICES, then let everyone know the response. I accept the fact that the Advertisements are most all miss leading, in some respect. whats the difference between a FORD vs Chevrolet vs a Dodge. same advertiseing gimick. tell us about how the sellers responded with you problem. dick

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

Dick:

Vtec (or Vmax, whichever is the correct name) engines have all run acceptably here for the ones who have gotten them. At the same time, no purchaser has been happy with the airplane it was bolted to on arrival.

Bill.

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

There are good Fords, and Bad Fords. There are good Chevy's and Bad Chevy's. My Ford F-150 Pickup is now under recall for a potential Fire Hazard in the Cruise Control Unit which has a switch mounted by the Master Cylinder. I think I read somewhere that there have been a couple hundred vehicles burnt up due to this defect. It took many people having this problem to finally get the recall put in place. If people don't speak up and let others know where a potential problem lies, then the problem will never be known by many, or ever get corrected. This thread serves the same purpose. Just because someone got a bad O.S engine does not mean they are all bad, but I sure like to hear from those who did have a problem, and like to know what that problem was so I can consider those potential problems when I make a purchase. If someone don't like a particular engine, I really like to know why. If someone says that they don't like a particular engine just because it don't look as pretty as another engine, then I don't put much merit in that. If someone says they don't like a particular engine because it blew a rod , or locked up on day one, then I like to hear that info.

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

That may be so in the magazine, but having compared these two engines in the field, in one case where both engines were tried in the same model, I tend to disagree. I would rate them somewhat on a par with the nod going to the OS .46 LA because it appears to pull a large prop (11x6) more easily.

I was pretty underwhelmed by the two TT .42s I've seen. The TT .46 Pro, as they say, is a whole-nother story.

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

I have owned both the TT GP 42 and the O.S LA 40, and I personally must say that I thought both were pretty descent little engines that served there purpose well. Neither were big powerhouses, but that is not why I bought them. Both were extremely dependable for me, and I had several tell me that, so that is why I bought them. Honestly I can't ever remember having had a deadstick with either. So it really surprises me that either of these engines would be a topic of discussion in a "WORST ENGINES" Post.

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

For some people, if an engine can't make a plane go vertical until it disappears, allow them to take off in 5 feet, or go 150 MPH, it's not worth considering. Unfortunately, a few of those feel compelled to tell the rest of us that since the engine can't do what they wanted that nobody should buy it.

There's also a group of people who are inclined to attack any company that is sucessful. Show them one person's bad experiences, or perhaps one or two dogs from the company, and suddenly the whole line is on the don't buy list.

Add to that the people who hop on that bandwagon and repeat these misguided recommendations even though they've got little to no practical experience with the engine, and you end up with people who routinely condemn things like the OS LA line even though many of them serve their purpose very well.

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

--- and some of us have fairly extensive personal experience. I used to be a dyed-in-the-wool OS engine fanatic -- pretty much didn't (wouldn't?) own anything else. That changed in recent years with repeated bad experiences &/or disappointment with OS performance when compared to significantly less expensive alternatives.

Despite my current ambivalence toward OS engines (at least in the sizes that I use), I recently bought another OS .46 LA, & it works well enough -- very similar to a pair of TT .42 GP's that I also own. I actually agree with Harry Lagman's relative assessment of the 46 LA vs the TT 42 (the LA has more torque & the TT has more peak power).

My personal beef with OS, aside from the unforgivable slide in quality & reliability, is that several competitors offer much better value for no apparent penalty in user-friendliness, lifetime & performance -- Thunder Tiger being an especially relevant example. TT & OS both use ABN technology, but TT makes it work very well & OS still struggles with it -- at a premium price. OS engines are no longer the relative powerhouses that they used to be & they are no longer the standard in quality & real-word reliability (at least in some versions). The better competition has caught up (or passed OS) in virtually every aspect of ownership & operation in certain engine models.

I don't own anything larger than a .90 size engine, but in the 40 - 90 2-stroke sizes, OS has some very tough competition in performance & virtually overwhelming competition in price.

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.........engines to avoid, walk into any shop and there will be a show case full of them, if! you took notice of what everybody says. A lot of you said avoid Magnums and then some said they were great.
Here in the UK I think Magnums are the same as SC I have three, .46 running a 12x6 prop running slightly rich never a dead stick, a .52 4 stroke running a 12x6 and a .91 4 stroke running a 14x8 never a problem with any of them. this summer I am buying a Giant Scale planes AT-6 am I'm putting in an SC400 64cc 5 cylinder radial it's almost half the price of it's OS equivalent and I'm willing to take the risk.
My other engine is an Irvin 40 running a 11x6 prop on an Arising Star trainer which my son is learning on, running slightly rich, a long life and no dead sticks.
Care is what makes an engine reliable some like caster some don't some like nitro and some dont, I run all mine on 5% 18% and use a decent 2 stroke oil for afterun and storage.
Bob H

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

ok i have seen alot of posts bout the os 40 la an i have a 10-12 pound twin an was wondering if they would power it it flew great with the tower hobbies 40 s but they had probems with lockin up anybody kno anything bout that an i notied when i was test running the la 40s they dont seem to have the rpms of other engines

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

Piper Chuck, that's a good post and a pretty accurate assessment of the workings of a few key players on this site.

My personal feelings about the OS LA line, having set up quite a number of them for newbie student pilots now, is that they are one of the best engines "for purpose" available, if that purpose is to fit to trainers, provide adequate, reliable, quiet power and durability while burning very little fuel.

The guys with LAs in their trainers tend to spend very little time faffing around with their engine and can concentrate on learning to fly.

I think OS ought to be be congratulated for providing such a fit-for-purpose engine at such a competitive price.

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

In my opinion there are two primary reasons for dissatisfaction with an engine:

1. Choice of an engine unsuited for the desired use.

2. Inability of the operator to properly adjust or otherwise operate the engine.

There are obviously "lemons" produced by every manufacturer. There is, however a tendency (occasionallyapparent in this thread) for the unfortunate owner of one of these lemons, or one otherwise dissatisfied with his example to reach the sweeping conclusion that every engine produced by that manufacturer is "To Be Avoided At All Cost".

jess

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

Mostly anyone who has ever owned a Tower Hobbies .46 Pro Engine will really appreciate an O.S after fidgeting with those contrary Tower .46 Engines. I have owned 2 of the Tower .46 Pro's, and both were as contrary as the other. Loads of power, but who wants to spend there whole day at the field tweaking, and retweaking, and tweaking again? The O.S Engines I have had have all been pretty reliable. My favorite being the O.S SF .46 for exceptional power, and dependabillity, and I also enjoyed the little O.S LA .40 which was just plain dependable. I now have a O.S .46 AX which seems like it is going to be good also. So I will say again that I am stunned that we are talking about some of these engines in an "AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST" post. Everyone is welcome to say what they think should be avoided, but it has just surprised me that certain engines that I thought would never be talked about in here are being talked about in here.

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

What about GMS engines? Like the .76 ringed?

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

Since this post doesn't seem to be slowing down, I thought I would put in my two cents worth. I've owned approximately 30 engines from most Mfgr's during the last 16 years. I have had only two that I couldn't get running properly. First was a K&B 65 Sportster. I replaced every gasket and seal, and still couldn't get a full flight w/o a deadstick. The second was a K&B .61 that I bought to replace the K&B 65. I had even less success with this engine. I would get it running perfectly on the ground, only to deadstick 5 minutes into the flight.

I'm now older and much more experienced; AND we have places like RCUniverse to learn from. In hind-sight, I was probably running fuel with too low of an oil content and ruined these ringed/bushed engines almost immediately during break-in or the first flights. At the time, I did not know the difference between oil content needed for engine type, bushed vs bearing, castor vs syth, ringed vs ABC. Knowlege =Success. My point is, the more experience I gained, the fewer problems I have had.

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

re, thedak; I have two GMS.76's. I have one in a H-9 .60 Mustang ,bisson pitts muffler and an apc 13x6 prop.. I bought it when Tower started selling them.. I said for the money I'll try one. I use 15% , runs well.. but is no power house.. I found the carb a little sloppy.. not happy with it, so I changed the carb to an OS 7L.. Big differance.. Power is up ,runs great no problems. My second GMS .76, which was given to me.. It lasted about 9 flights.. was running it with 15% and a 12x6 on a big trainer ( LT-40), teaching my son.. During a flight at 1/2 power just flying.. it quit. Took it apart, well broke the piston rod on the lower end and spun out the bearning. Overall, Im not saying the GMS .76's are junk.. but .. you get what you pay for.. To compare engines.. my old old COMO .75 out runs the GMS's hands down. Glenn

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I had an MDS .58 on my trainer. Awesome engine. It made me an incredible pilot in just a few weeks. Spent hours to tune it completely, after a couple of flights %$&$9)(/)&(% engine out glide back down. At some point i landed better when i had no engine. Bought a OS .46 AX, now i feel like i have autopilot: absolut control over all aspects of flight. But i won´t forget what the MDS taught me. I"ll probably put it in some old junk to keep the learning curb at the current rate.

Putting together my second plane: A Catalina!!! ARF of course

Seaplane
Twin
Scale

All in one, but I feel confident thanks to my MDS. Tell you all about it later

Pedro

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

Any engine made by Megatech. I even tried 4 others carbs on one. Pure junk, I did'nt feel right trying to sell it so I shot it with a 220-swift. Shooting it was was the most pleasureable experience with that engine.

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i've also had a TT .42 and an OS LA .40.. strapped them both on the same plane, and the TT did feel like it had more muscle...
the only engine of this type that i've come across, that i would stay away from, is the supertiger .40 it's heavy, and it just ain't got the juice...

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

IMO I will add to your post, and say that I personally avoid anything made by megatech based on past experience. I have had a couple of thier Electric Planes and Helis, and the Planes had cheap servos in them the size and weight of a volkswagon. Not to mention they flew like bricks. The Nitro Trainer ARFs they have are probally OK, but way overpriced I think. Since this is a thread devoted to Engines, I will not ramble anymore. Its just that I have not had many pleasurable experiences with anything Megatech that I have ever owned.

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

The OS engines are the best money can buy. I have three: 40 LA, 19, and 46 AX. The 19 is 40 years old! All of them are super reliable a characteristic of OS engines. Besides that, OS uses the finest materials and manufacturing methods to turn out superbly built engines.

I find it very strange that anyone could be critical of OS. In fact, I find most flyers I have associated with over the years unanimously agreed as to the quality and reliability of MAX. Also complaining about the price of a model plane engine is ludricrous. I can't imagine anyone being so hard up that spending an extra ten or twenty on an engine might break them. Anyway I bet these whiners and complainers all drive gas guzzling SUVs!

As for poor quality or junk? My candidate for this honor would be the Megatech engines. Magnum would be another. I would stay from anything made by the Chinese, Twaiwanese, or Koreans.

Ciao,

Eagle Al

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

Strange indeed, even more surprising that there are so many of them. Do you suppose it is some sort of personality disorder, or perhaps a mass hallucination brought on by some plot of the evil competitors? In any event, I am sure that your unswerving loyalty and cheerleading will turn the tables.

Absolutely! Why on earth would anyone in their right mind pay less for any product when it is so absurdly easy to pay more?

Right again! Like you, I have never known anyone with any concern for price. Besides,any pesant who can't come up with an extra twenty shouldn't be spending money on hobbies at all.

I don't know where you get your information, but based on the unerring accuracy of the rest of your post I am sure you are absolutely correct! (one minor quibble, I own a number of OS engines and a couple of SUVs. To balance that out however I also own a Nissan 350Z) Aside from my personal exception, I expect all other OS owners walk or ride Japanese made bicycles

I'll bet you carefully screen every item you purchase to avoid those nations, uh-how about stuff made by the Americans??

Impressed by your impeccable logic and objectivity, I await more of your wisdom and unbiased whatever.;)

jess

>>EDIT: Fixed HTML. wr.

RE: AVOID THIS ENGINE AT ALL COST!!!!!
 

Somehow I sense a hint of sarcasm in that last post. ILMAO!
I agree that the O.S engines are good, and I exspecially like the older SF Series of O.S, but I also own some Magnum 4 strokes, and they have been very reliable engines. As for Magnum 2 strokes I cannot say since I have never owned one.