mike109

G'day everyone. I have about 50 glow and diesel engines. I have been playing with engines for over 50 years now but today I went right back to basics and ran my new OS LA 46 for the first time. I did it as a sort of experiment. I have been advocating that beginners use these in their trainers for some time and the ones that I have seen have always been a success but I wanted to try one for my self to put in a trainer I was given and which I intend to use in my teaching.

Why the LA 46? They are relatively cheap (this one cost me $115 in Australia), they are simple, they are quite crash resistant and they are a good introduction to glow engines for beginners.

I decided to give it a run before putting it in the plane so I bolted it to my test stand, filled it with my usual 10% nitro mix, fitted the OS #6 hot plug, filled the tank, gave it a few chokes, attached the glow starter and flicked. It spluttered but did not start. It was very tight at the top and still a little dry so I turned to the electric starter. On the third attempt it started with the throttle just slightly open. I did not move the needle as I wanted to see whether it would start and run "out of the box". It did and the "out of the box" setting proved to be ideal for running in. Plenty of oil came out the exhaust and the engine did not become over hot when tested with my "digital thermometers" (fingers).

It was slightly rich and ran at about the two stroke/four stroke boundary and within about half the tank it would idle well and run up to about 80% throttle well.

I am going to give it a couple of more tanks and then fly it set a little rich. I think I could fly it as it is now but I think it will be better with some more running.

I am really impressed at how well it started and ran right out of the box. Even though I had changed absolutely nothing, I think it would have flown the trainer.

Mike from Oz

Corrected the nitro from 15% to 10%

jaka

Hi!
Use less nitro when using a hot glow plug!
5% nitro will be just fine togheter with an OS 8 or Enya 3 glow plug.
You will see that the OS .46 LA will run just as good on such a low nitro content.
11x4 or 12x4 is the prop size of choice if you fly at sea level. APC, RAM or Graupner "Sonic" are the best props.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I used the 46 LA in all my fun fly planes. One thing I ended up doing before I ever fired them up was to remove the head screws one at a time and put some thread locker on them. I think every engine I had except one had the head screws loosen up on them. I used 15% nitro with the OS #8 plug in all of them. Other the then tune up run I gave up any breaking in at all, once they ran and would idle I took off and flew the plane. After about the third flight no more gray crap out the muffler. Never once have I ever had a problem with an LA. As much as I didn't like the 40 they still ran well, just way under powered compared to the 46.
Gene

mike109

G'day

And so today it flew. I screwed it in to an old rather tired Skyraider Mach 1 trainer which I had been give, put some servos and radio gear in and went off to the field.

I gave it some prime by blocking the exhaust with the throttle fully open and turning it over about 5 times then applied the glow and was greeted by a firm "knock" when I turned it over by hand. It started first attempt with the electric starter so I decided to find "peak revs" and leaned the needle about one turn. I backed out a little and went flying.

The only adjustment I had to make was to lower the idling speed a little with the trim on the radio.

The wind was from the south east and quite strong. As our strip runs east/west, I had quite a strong cross wind but the engine had plenty of power and the model was soon in the air.

The OS performed faultlessly. It was leaving a small smoke trail but had plenty of power for the quite large trainer. After about 10 minutes we landed. When I later checked the tank, it was pretty close to empty so it is either a small tank or I had the engine richer than I think. Either way it was a perfect example of an easy to handle, perfect running, powerful enough engine for trainers.

I just wish more beginners would buy them for their trainers. This one will either end up in a small scale model of some sort. Possibly my horrible to fly Balsa USA Etrich Taube 40.

Mike from Oz

OkadaKeisuke

My Feedback: (1)

Mike,
If I recall, your a big fan of the Kadet Senior. I use a LA .46 on my Kadet senior. Works great. I have no desire to overpower that bird, as she is very stable and fun just cruising around at low speed!

~Noah

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Can't agree with you more. I used the engine in a couple of scratch built Bipes, Fokker D-VII and I even use one in a small Extra ARF I bought at an auction, the Extra was just calling for a .32 but the LA was perfect for the plane. The LAs kept getting a bad rap because they didn't put out the same power as the .46 FX but they also had none of the problems and ran great right out of the box. I think the LA engines are a great choice for anyone just starting in the hobby and it's hard to beat the price.

mike109

G'day

Yes, the Kadet Senior is my favorite plane for just plodding around and initial teaching. Mine all have four strokes just because I like four strokes but a friend has one with an LA 40 in it. She takes a while to become airborne but once there, the LA 40 is quite enough to have her floating around.

Some years back a friend of mine managed to come second at the world championships in scale with his model of an AVRO 504 powered by a humble OS loop scavenged 35. The LA series are the direct descendants of those engines and are still good engines for simple scale subjects. They also make great diesel conversions with Bob Davis's heads.

I have several friends who are learning the ropes at the moment. They insist in using large complex engines and they keep having problems. Pity they don't consider the LA series.

Cheers

Mike

flyhigh2

Talking about the Kadet Senior, I am rebuilding one right now and have an La 46 and a magnum 52 that I could put on it. Which do you think would be a better fit?

Thanks

hogflyer

I've flown a Senior ARF with an RCV .56 4s and it was a great match. I have a Senior kit that will use a Magnum .52 RFS (and 3-channel too). It's designed to fly on the wing with minimal power (something a lot of fliers today have trouble contemplating).

Hogflyer

mike109

G'day

Either will be fine but I would use the four stroke. They just suit the Kadet better. They are more "relaxed", they are a little quieter and they are happy plodding around at part throttle. Having said all that, the LA would be pretty good too but I would still go for the four stroke alternative.

Cheers

Mike in Oz