I must admit, MinnFlyer knows his engines. He broke a Saito 1.00 in for me on a new SkyBolt. Has never dead sticked or given me any problems. I do know for a fact , lol , he has the touch.

Thanks Robbie, but there's not "touch" - If I can do it, anybody can

I've got to agree with Minnflyer here. 4-strokes are definitely more likely to sustian damage in a crash. Since the pushrods for the valves are located at the front of the engine they are exposed to whatever the plane hits, which is usually the ground. Most often it's at least the pushrods damaged, and often the camshaft and gearing will be damaged as well.

Ken

Naw, if you hit badly enough to damage the camshaft and gearing a 2-stroke would be toast too.

Well, thank you for all your examles and advice. I've learnt a lot. As its looking like good weather at the field tomorrow I'll head up their as I know there are some experienced fliers up their in the mornings and I'll see what they say and if they can help me set up an engine if need be. I'll also ask them what they use as it may be easier if they use similar engines.

I may post tomorrow on what I find out and decide. I'll return here to re-read some of your advice too.

Thank you.

I have my first 4-stroke now in a sundowner and have not had the opportunity to fly it yet. A buddy of mine has a couple and he can do stuff my two stokes do not want to do. Like come in for a hover at no throttle and hit the gas and it responds quick. But I have also stuck my two stroke .61 thru the roof of a mans car pulled it out replaced the carb and fired it right back up. Hope the 4 is that durable lol. But they sure have alot of torc. Mine is the Saito 180. I am fairly new and pretty motor wise (auto's with carb's only) so setting the two strokes is no big deal and I set my 4 and my buddy came over and he gave it a couple more ticks one way or another it just so smooth up and down over the 2.

Then you need to tune your two strokes. There is absolutely no reason they would be slow to respond other than the carb needs adjusting.

A bunch of the Tournament Of Champion level flyers use two strokes. They're often gasoline twos, but they're twos. And glow twos are used too. And they respond as instantly as needed to compete at that level.

Tune the engine and prop it with the appropriate prop and the only differences remaining are:
cost
weight
power
complexity
maintainability

Yea, but those 2-strokes are so much harder to tune than a 4-stroke

What your buddy is using , is the torque of the 4 stroke. The horsepower and the torque band on 4 strokes , come in at a much lower rpm . Thus he can run a higher pitch prop and lower rpm`s to hoover, ect with. On 2 strokes the power band is at the upper end of their rpm range and to get the same torque as the 4 stroke , has to run a higher rpm. and is why you cannot run as high of pitch prop.
For flat out speed, get a 2 stroke, for stump pulling get a 4 stroke.

Well, my new futaba 6606fs receiver arrived today for the plane, looks nice but does go very fast!!!! Engine time.

Ya'll have seemed to have overlooked the single most important reason to own a four stroke. They sound FANTASTIC! Makes all the difference in the world, when your big radial engined warbird comes by at full throttle and instead of a high pitched howl, you have a nice, low pitched growl. Gives me goosebumps.

A

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

That actually ought to be: Ya'll have seemed to have overlooked the single reason to own a four stroke.

Not the single reason, nor the most important reason - think of it more as a great fringe benefit.

Last time I checked this was a beginner's forum.

Fun is fun, but don't you think it's more responsible to be clear and honest about things.

Ok, I'll be honest:

A 4-stroke has a high-end needle valve and a low-end needle valve

A 2-stroke ALSO has a high-end needle valve and a low-end needle valve

Neither has any other mixture adjustments

So a 2-stroke is no harder to tune than a 4-stroke (I was only joking earlier - That's why I put the in there)

Which four stroke ?
IMHO Saitos or O.S are the way to go, if you can afford it. If the plane is tail heavy go with the O.S ,they weigh more than a Saito.
If your on a budget , Magnum and ASP are much cheaper , and run very well . The manufacture recommends a synthetic / castor blend , because they run a steel sleeve . They usually do weigh more.
YS engines are awesome, but they are probably not a good choice for your first 4 stroke unless your work background has to do with mechanics . The fuel delivery system is more complicated and they are a little spendy.
I fly Saito ,O.S. Magnum and ASP. 4 strokes , and very happy with all of them. Out of all 4 brands , my Saitos have more power are lighter, The O.S . Magnum and ASPs seem to have about the same power , but the O.S. does have nicer HS and LS needles , but they are all good engines.
Once broke in , they don`t take much fiddlling with.
Hope this helps
Robbie