RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

My issue with Magnum is quality control.  Parts that are either too soft or brittle is the major one.  Other than that they are fine.  In fact the bearings are as good or better than OS.  IMO OS is not the best for longivity.  Especially for two strokes.

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

You have to define exactly what that means.

I agree that they are NOT AS GOOD as O.S. and Saito, in that both of the latter have higher tolerances and better builds.

That said my Magnums have lasted over six years of hard use, so I cannot call them "junk" either.

I prefer the Magnums over the Evolution engines.

Maybe in another six to ten years they'll not be running, but my similiarly aged OS's and Saitos are...

But I've already gotten my moneys worth on the first period of time.

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

Oh I agree with you on that one. Heck I like Super Tigre over Evolution. But heard that the Evolution Gas Engines were excellent. Haven't heard anything on the new Evolution Rotory Engines they are now making for both gas and glow yet.


Pete

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

You're right, the Gasser Evolutions are very good.

I'll also take a Super Tigre over an Evolution any day.

The throttle barrels on the ST's are slopily built ( leak seal, really? ) and leak air... but the engines run, and run, and run...

And the run often when I've closed the throttle fully too! :D

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

Everything is a choice thing and in RC it's no different. Instead of the ST try a Thunder Tigre sometime. I no longer use the smaller glow engines. The smallest engine I use is the .91 and those are OS 4s except for one two stroke and that's a SK. Another cheap engine from China and I have only used the .91s so I can't say anything about there other engines. I do have an .80 someone gave me but I haven't tried it yet.
When Saito and OS started getting way too much for there engines they brought them right in line price wise with YS but YS is not for everyone. They are simple, easy and great but too many people buy them and haven't a clue how they work. Not much different but not good for someone that likes to twist screws a lot and doesn't know what the screw does. Most of mine are the 1.20s and they are the old modela without a low end needle. I only have two of the FZ models with the low end needles and they twist backwards to most other engines, They have an air bleed carb.
I no longer buy new glow engines but I do like to trade and I try to only trade for YS and OS. With the new small gas engines glow makes no sense at all if you are buying new. The new 15cc engines are great for 60 size planes plus they cost less to operate and are just a much easier engine all around.
Again, it's all a choice thing. It also depends on what is sold in your local. Here it is Saito and Magnum. I'm the only YS user I know and a few of us use the OS, just a bunch more Saitos but all of them are starting to disapear due to the newer cheaper gas engines.
If you have the money then try them all. Do some trading and you can get engines for next to nothing.

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

I have a Magnum .52 and the carb that came on it was jacked up right out of the box, the barrel stop didn't work, it just let the barrel slide right out of the body. The customer service guy at Magnum told me to send it in and so I did, low and behold almost 3 weeks later he is claiming that I didn't send it in and that it "must have gotten lost in the mail". Baloney I tell him, I sent it and I have proof of postage to prove it. I called in several times and the last time I called he hung up on me. Well, the next morning the carb magically must have shown up because the guy calls me in the morning and tells me he "found the package" and is sending me a new carb out. Overall frustrating experience and felt like I was being called a liar every time I talked to the guy.

Magnum seems low end to me, the materials and the workmanship seem sub-par. (my only experience is with the 2-storkes) O.S. on the other hand has been ROCK SOLID! I have an OS .46 AX in my Extra 300, and OS 61 FX in my Su-Do-Khoi profile 3-D plane, and an OS .46FXI in Nexstar. All of them are fantastic motors.  I also have a Thunder Tiger GP .61 that I have had great luck with, so I'm no OS only fan boy type.

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

Whats a good 15cc engine? Ill be putting a 4*60 on the board soon and I don't wanna spend over $300 for another engine.

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

Can you explain to me the difference in the glow engines and the gas ones? The only thing I know is they run regular fuel instead of glow fuel. Why is the gas better then getting into the four stroke?

Thanks

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

Glow has more power to weight ratio since its burning Methanol and Nitromethane. Obviously it cost's more to run than gasoline. I don't think gas engines have an advantage until you start getting into large planes.

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

Also gas engines are not as messy.


Pete

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

Excellent thread. I am contemplating a second plane and one of the decisions is 2-stroke or 4. After this thread I think I'll go 4.

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

Sounds like you were merely missing the carb lock screw, that performs two functions. It limiits how far the barrel will close and it prevents the barrel from, falling out.

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

I dunno..

With the newer 15cc and 20cc engines even smaller planes benefit from going gas, especially when you consider that Gas is so much cheaper than nitro, and the gas engines effectively have their own pumps...

You don't have to worry about muffler pressure, changes in HS needle settings to deal with nose high conditions, etc... once the engine is tuned, you pretty much forget about the needle valves on the carb.


The power to weight on these small engines is pretty impressive, rivaling glow due to the light CNC aluminum machining.

You can also by them ready for beam mounting so they will drop into most glow ARFs.

Performance has been great on my .60 and 1.20 sized planes rivaling oversized glow engines with few drawbacks.

The downside is that you have to worry about charging the ignition battery...

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

No, the screw was there, the barrel had some defect in the cutting of the slot that the screw rides in and when it was adjusted correctly it would let the barrel slide out.

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

Sounds like some overworked machine operator fell asleep at the cutting wheel.

That should have been rejected during inspection.

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

The only problem I got with single cylinder 4 strokes is that they are such vibrators... Two strokes just aren't as bad, having twice as many power pulses.

Have you ever watched the control surfaces of a big (okay, medium sized) 3-D model twitch when its Saito 200 is idling? That's hard on all the rigging, joints, radio and everything else.

And for this reason, I like to use twins, preferably the ones that have both cylinders going out and in at the same time; in other words, with two opposing crank pins, not just one crank pin.

The single crank pin models are mostly the older Saito medium to small sized twins.

You can tell which ones have opposing crank pins if you notice that one cylinder will be slightly ahead of the other- they're not perfectly in line (like they are in the sinlge crank pin Saitos).

In these motors, the vibration from the masses of the two pistons going in and out cancel each other out, and they vibrate less... which is a good thing.

Same thing goes for Gas motors, as well: more cylinders are better.

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

I had a asp 120 fs, was a good engine, reliable and sounded great, think asp/super custom and magnum are the same?.

Bought my first 20 cc gasser to replace theasp asthe engine was not quite strong enough for the model it was fittedto.

After the first flight the asp 120 went up for sale, the asp was throwing a 16 6 mas, the 20cc is throwing a 17 6 wooden prop at a better rpm with far more thrust. the power was amazing!.

Maybe a top of the range (expensive)125 fsglow engine can be compaired power wise but bang for buck with cheap running and total reliability and ease to use with a comparible all up weight (fuel load etc) gas is the king for me 20cc and up.

Magnum needs to get there finger out (and others) and produce a similar priced gas engine, and if they want to really be ahead of the game produce a cheap four stroke gas engine, as the ony selling point of the bigglowfour strokes is the sound over a two stroke gas.

And I know there is already a four stroke gas engine availible, but it is far from cheap.

Cant beat a four stroke sound, in a couple of years I hope to have a a few cheap, reliable, economical four sroke gas engines, best of all worlds as far as im concerned.

RE: 2 Stroke V. 4 Stroke
 

Iagree, and ultimately if a customer returns the part and can prove they sent it, the customer "service"department shouldn't hassle them and instead ship a new carb out right away so that the customer doesn't have to wait 3 weeks to even fire up the engine for the first time when purchased brand new. NOThappy and will never buy another Magnum motor again. Will tell all my friends and people at the flying field what I had to go through to get this stupid carb replaced.