I fly a sig rascal 40 . I have a plastic spinner and an aluminum one too.

Since spinners get scratched during starter startings, is plastic always better than Aluminum?

I would prefer to put my Alum. spinner though - looks cool....Pls advise abt pros and cons!

--747

Plastic is not better than Aluminum... in some cases like running 4 strokes you'll have a hard time keeping a plastic spinner together unless it has an Aluminum back plate. Scratches happen... get over it one thing you can do to help is learn to hand start your engines... unless something is VERY wrong the only time my starter comes out is to fire up my Heli a fairly close tune... good prime and a back flip has my engines running 99% of the time. Keeping your starter cone clean and making sure you FIRMLY hold the starter to the spinner then hit the button goes a long way to keeping your spinners looking like new... still hand starting is the way to go... it's not only easier on the spinner it easier on the engine bearings, con-rod and so on.


John

Hi!
Alu spinner with backplate is better than a plastic spinner without a backplate but much handier is a alu spinner nut.
Regards!
Jan K

I have read that if a plane crashes nose down, the plastic spinners have absorbed a lot of the energy usually destoying it self in the process but preventing a lot of plane and engine damage. Planes that have has aluminum spinners on them when the plane noses in have suffered more damage and in some cases the engine has been severly damaged. Cost wise I don't see any advantages to getting an aluminum spinner. If a scratch here or there bothers you, then maybe you would prefer static planes that look great but never fly. Thats ok too but limits your fun imo. [8D]

I really can't buy this, There is no way to compare how serious each individual crash was or what effect the spinner had on survivability. I have seen aluminum spinner crashes at my field, full power nose dive, Yes the plane was heavily damaged but the engine was fine and flew again a few days later.
I can say that the aluminum spinner I have on my Kadet has no scratches on it after over 70 flights and the plastic spinner on my P-51 is scratched up pretty good after the first flight.

The only 'con' I can think of for aluminum spinners is the cost.

I Use The Spinner That Looks Good For The Pic I Take When The Ship Is Finished.At The Field I Use A Nut Type Spinner As jaka Has Sown.Spinners Are For Decoration IMHO

I have an aluminum spinner already. Now if I fix it to the prop , and use the starter: Will it get damaged or scratched visibly over time...coz the current plastic one does have scratches all over.
Is aluminum Spinner scratch resistant than plastic when using starters?
-747

Metal polish will clean those aluminum spinners right up!

My gosh man, we're talking about a flying toy. Not a restored Hemi Cuda. Just put something on it and go fly. Sheeesh!!! [>:]

Its not the spinner, its the starter cone insert. You need to buy one of the after market soft ones. They grab better and don't scar the spinner as much.

A couple of details............

A spinner isn't just for looks. It's proven that a spinner that's about 20% the size of the prop helps aerodynamically. For a ten inch prop you would use a two inch spinner or one around that size. The improvement is measurable.

Very often, if you're scratching your spinner with your starter, a better starter cone would stop the scratching. There is at least one brand of cone that looks to be a soft "rubber/plastic" and that works excellent. It's easy to keep clean. It doesn't scratch even the softer plastics and polished aluminum. If it does happen to slip on the spinner, it might leave some residue, but that wipes right off. It works great for a couple of us at our field. It didn't work for one guy. He didn't keep anything of his clean, much less the starter or it's cone, and he would often try to beat his engines into submission.... uh, was heavy handed when starting an engine.

Anything that breaks in a crash absorbs energy. The energy absorbed goes no further. If a spinner breaks in a crash, the energy the spinner absorbed will not have a chance to break something behind the spinner, like the engine or the airplane. If an aluminum spinner breaks in a crash it will have helped limit the damage to the rest of the airplane. Aluminum spinners don't often break in a crash, but plastic ones will.

Bruce, I learnt a lot from these posts..How bout you?

Part of the fun in t he hobby is forums like this, flying is just one aspect of it.....Am sure others would agree!

And ...did you say you like Sheesh - kebob?![:'(]

I crashed a trainer this past weekend due to a bad battery pack. Anyway the Aerostar did two 360 degree 30 degree nose down turns as my son and I watched helplessly before it crashed into a dirt, recently plowed open fileld at about 1/3 throttle. The damage was not that bad. Everything forward of the wing was destroyed but the engine looked okay except for the broken carb spray bar. I later discoved the crank was bent as I was cleaning the engine back at home. The engine was a Webra silverline 40 with an 2 1/4 inch True Turn aluminum spinner with an APC 10/6 prop. Even the prop driver hub was smashed behind the spinner back plate. True turn spinners have a pretty strong and thick backplate. I like the True Turn spinners and have used them in my pattern birds for the last two decades, even crashed a few but never had a bent crank before this. I plan to use plastic in the smaller engines that are evently more prone to bend cranks in a crash.

Bob

racerbob,
Good plan.
My CAP went in from 60' the other day. Engine was flat out and is a STRONG engine. The airplane went in pretty much like a lawn dart, straight in. It did have a bit of an angle, but not much.

The wooden prop was "gone". OK, the hub of it was still there, but both blades were gone. Not a surprise. And the plastic spinner was, shall we say, scratched badly. Some of the scratches went all the way through. And the spinner backplate was a mess. I'm not sure how many pieces. The needle valve extension was bent but it was just 1/16" piano wire. And the composite motor mount was broken off. Both arms were still securely fastened to the engine, but ended about even with the backplate.

Spinners and props not only absorb energy by breaking, but they do something else by breaking. When they break, they stop transferring crash force into the engine. The ones that don't break transmit the forces right on through to the engine.

Last night, I straightened the needle valve extension, decided it was too long and pulled it off, and mounted that engine on a new Calmato Sport. I'll put a new plastic spinner and wooden prop on it in a day or so when I take the airplane out for it's maiden flight. And it'll have a safer maiden with a good handling, broken in (but not broken) engine.

So, I can hand start my OS 46 NexStar? Some say you use the starter first time out then hand start. Is that acceptable practice? I tried it a couple times when engine was warm - but wouldn't start by hand.

Make sure the engine is primed with fuel, you have a fully charged glow ignitor, and flip away! It'll start...maybe just not as easily as with an electric starter. Watch those fingers or get a chicken stick!

mcdanman2003, a couple of firsts: first off don't even consider starting the engine without using a chicken stick, its just a wooden stick with a rubber piece around it. You flip the prop by pushing the side with the rubber end against the prop. That way if it starts before you are ready at least your fingers won't get hit! Another first, before you even fuel up, make sure that the tail of the plane is tied with a rope looped around the stabilizer so that if the engine starts the plane doesn't start racing toward you!! Last first, first off why would you want to start the engine without help? It will probably run like crap or quit right away or you won't even be able to get it started. If you do get it started the throttle linkage probably isn't set up properly and if you do get the engine started, you won't be able to shut the engine down with the throttle! So now what do you do?!? Another no-no, its not a good idea to try to "taxi the plane around a bit in a parking lot". My cousin tried that and with his inexperience the plane accerated too quickly on him and he rammed it into a curb. Took out the firewall and split both sides of the fuselage down the sides at the seams. The wing also took some damage even though it was held on by rubber bands. Took me several hours of repairs to get everything back together. My advice, wait until you can take the plane to an Rc club and get some help.[8D]

FastSky - You are so right. I do belong to a club and have pretty much done exactly as you suggested. I have tried to hand start with a chicken stick after a couple of flame outs instead of luggin the starter, I just tried with portable glow starter and couldn't get it to fire over. Back to the pits and hit with the starter and away she goes. I have always use a hold down as well.

All very good advice.

There are lots of flyers that say they don't need a starter and good for them, but as you found out, hitting the engine with a starter can usually save you lots of time. I will drag my field box and starter around to help new flyers get their engine started after they read that "all you need is a chicken stick" but I will advise them to get a starter for next time. Starters are also a safer way to start the engine imo. [8D]

Cheap people by cheap spinners. People that want quality instead of just something to get by use aluminum spinners. Bottom line is there better and will last forever if taken care of. I just wax mine and it looks great again. As for the Hemi Cuda comment I disagree with that. All my planes are scale and I wouldn't put a cheap plastic spinner on a expensive plane to save 15 bucks. Thats my opinion.

Gibbs

I love my elec. starter, and it loves me. when I had quick reflexes, I still had a hard time flip starting when I got my NEXTAR that item was one of the first on the list.
frankly IMHO its a much safer and quicker method or starting a engine have had some hard starts with the 46 fxi mostly when its cold, after a few spins with the E.S. fires up

I can look at my planes at home. When I take my planes to the field, its to fly them. I don't worry about waxing spinners! Once the engine has started the plane isn't going to stay around close enough to see the spinner anyway! [>:]

Fastsky,

I guess it's a matter of taste. Some have it and some don't. Use yours and I'll use mine. When mines sitting on the table it looks better than a grooved up plastic piece of junk.[:-]

Gibbs

and to the question for 40 to 60 size sport planes I use whatever I have on hand mostly plastic not going to spend 50$ on a 2 stroke 46 powered sport plane .
for my warbirds and larger 4st engines alum is the safest type of spinner of course, and that is what I use .
the debate who is cheapest buys the cheap spinner bunch of B.S. is what that is.
I am far from cheap and have several thousand $$ in planes, engines, and radio gear, and I can guarantee there is plenty of plastic in there and they work just as well as the alum. ones at a fraction of the price ,spend your $$ where you want it has nothing to do with taste and everything with bad attitude about the cone your plane has on its nose and how much you spent on it, just start that thing and fly eventually your gonna crash unless your just putin around