I am looking for a 26cc gas engine to power a 1/4 scale clipped wing Taylor Craft. In researching the web I found Badger Canyon Model Aircraft Engines (BCMA), has anyone heard of these engines and how reliable are they? What about the Evolution or the Zenoah G-26 with electronic ignition? The plane will weigh about 12-14 pounds. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated. Thanks Steve

The Zenoah G-26 is getting great reviews, and is evidently a lot more powerful than the G-23 it replaced. I have a G-23 on my 1/4 scale 14# Fokker Dr.1, and it flies it well on an 18-6 prop.

Dr.1

I've been interested in these BCMA engines too. In fact I have been looking at these engines for over a year now. I finally got to talk with a guy that PM"d me awhile back about them. I believe he said that he had two of these engines & that they ran great, & had excellent power too. I was a little leary because of the price being so much better than all the bigger name brand engines, but he told me not to worry that these conversion engines performed very well. When the time comes that I feel I can afford to set up a gasser, I will be going this route & giving BCMA a try. I see however that their prices have gone up some since I first started looking at them.[&:]The Zenoah G 26 is $299 at one site I just looked at & it weighs 59 ozs. with the muffler. The BCMA 26 is $275 with the auto advance ingition & $305 with the electronic ignition. It weighs only 38ozs. with the muffler, & I might add that I like the aluminum muffler that comes with the BCMA engine much better than the stock muffler that comes with the Zenoah. That is a 1lb. 5oz. difference in weight. I really think you get more bang for your buck with BCMA. That's JMO!!

I think either one will sufficiently power just about any 1/4 scale size plane, but my vote is for the BCMA.

http://www.scottellingson.com/brillelli_012.htm

I have had great success with these engines. Customer support is unbelievable also.

recently purchased the BCMA 26 for a top flight gold edition P-47 build I am starting this fall, the appeal of gas power was too great. Adam the owner has been great to deal with and the price was right after receiving the engine the size was perfect for my project and minimal cowl cutting will be required to fit. the size and weight are comparable to a 120 glow engine and the appeal for me was the clean up issue or lack thereof I have not bench run the motor yet but after reading the 13 pages of the BCMA thread in the gas forum I was sold , I will be running a 16/10 prop there will be more posts in the warbird threads coming soon

I hear ya Tim. They just seems like a great deal to me, allthough I must admit the other link that Stamper put up for those Brillelli engines is another one that I have looked at for sometime. They too seem to be a pretty good deal. I have been pretty much sold on the BCMA engine since the first time I read their whole spiel, but it is allways nice to talk to someone who has actually bought one & glad that he did! I'll be looking forward to hearing how you like yours when you get the plane up in the air. Heck if ya bring it out here I can watch ya maiden it & get a first hand look at how well she runs.

hey mark was meaning to get down to Tracy last week but life got in the way the brillelli guys and BCMA work closely together and are very close in specs from what I have read, the gas engine thing is a new adventure I was amazed how small the engine was when I got it . a large cowled plane like a F4U ,JUG, or a Sukoy would hide it well getting ready to set up my building space soon for the JUG. still need to maiden the spitfire ,I have too many projects life is grand

If ya give me a couple more weeks Tim I should have the Mustang ready to maiden too, (I hope). We can give em both a go off of our runway if ya want.
I should be a little more mobile by then too.[8D]

for sure taking the kids to Disneyland so its going to be a couple of weeks for me also BTW both the engines have a nice package of accesorys Electronic Ignition. ,a set of standoff engine mounts and the BCMA comes with a multi screw prop hub not just a single bolt in the center when I get back from vacation I will do some bench running in so I will have a idea how good it really runs the gas motors are suposed to fire up in a couple of flips no starter needed we shall see.

Don't forget your heavy leather prop glove!

I used the new Zenoah recently in the H-9 P-47 review, and I liked it a lot!

Minn,
Which Zenoah is that?? The G-20??? If so how was it in size?? I looked at that motor in Toledo, but from what I saw it looked to be a bit bigger than a normal 60-size glow that they are saying it will replace. I am talking about overall size including the carb. On a war bird with a big cowl I don't think it would be a problem, but what about using it on 60 size sport planes?? Do you think it would fit on them??

Ken

I don't think this engine will fit too well in a 60 size plane Ken. I think it is more suited for a 120 size bird.

Ken I just went to Horizon's site to look at the Zenoahs. Apparently the Zenoah 20 is for 60 size birds with round cowls like the Corsair & the P-47D

The newer G26 is for 120 size planes.

Zenoah's press says it will fit in a 60 size warbird with a big round cowl. But I haven't had the chance to hands on one yet to see how it will fit in other 60 size plane.

Ken

I have had the Brillelli 25cc, 26cc, and have the 40cc on order. I am currently flying a GSP Giles 202 with the Brillelli 26cc engine and an APC 17X6 prop. The engines run great and the customer service is unbeatable.

A friend of mine has the Zenoah installed in the Hanger 9 P-47 and it performs flawlessly... it's a great combo... He was so impressed he went out and picked up the Hanger 9 Hellcat and baught a Zenoah G-20 fir it too... I have the BCMA / Birelli 26cc and it is almost a twin in sz to the G-20 My friends P-47 is way overpowered so I'm sure the BCMA 26cc will fly a 120 sz very well too.

Excellent, Thanks for the info. It's good to hear from more & more people who have bought the BCMA engine & are happy with it's power & performance.

I guess that Zenoah 20 must be a little bitty guy.

Scale plane with a slightly short noses should go with the G26 ... how can Zenoah engines be questioned about its reliability? Look at the Scale Masters ...

It would be great if you or friend of yours could provide some pictures / report of that combo...

He never goes on rcu..
I'll ask him to take some pics and send them to me... I'll try and get them posted...