picking a engine
 

I have a trainer 60 that I'm putting together for a first plane. Calls for a .61 cu. in. engine I was thinking of buying a more exspensive engine thinking I could use it again on a second plane if all goes well. But after thinking about it my next plane would be a smaller more mobile plane so should I buy a cheaper engine because I my never use it again? If so any engine suggestions.

RE: picking a engine
 

Saito .91 or Saito 1.00 to fit where a .60 goes. About $300

RE: picking a engine
 

Get a good engine regardless of its size..........For rookies like us,a good motor will outlast any of our planes. And no matter what size engine you got laying around,your gonna find a cool plane to put it in. You'll never own an engine and "not use it again" as long as it runs,so you might as well have a GOOD engine rather than a crappy one laying around.

If I were you,being that its your first plane.....I'd put in a standard O.S. .61FX and fly the crap out of it. I would say you could save 40 or 60 bucks for a cheaper(but still good) engine like a Thunder tiger Pro .61 or something,but luckily when it comes to these smaller engines, 40 or 60 bucks can buy you an OS so take adantage of it while you can afford an O.S. You wont find a better,more troublefree,and long lasting engine. Just make sure whatever you buy,its a "ball bearing" engine and not a "bushed" type.

And also if I were you and this is your first plane........you can "think" about your next plane already,but dont consider any of your choices for this plane in regards to your next one. Chances are your next plane,even though it may be smaller in size,will require an even bigger motor. Plus unless your really hard up for money and NEED to use the parts from your trainer for your next plane,you'll likely want to keep your trusty trainer in flying condition. We r/c pilots tend to require more than just one in flying condition......{he'll find out soon enough,right guys?} Point is...your plans will likely change before it actually comes time for your next plane.

I wouldnt recommend getting into 4 strokes yet either,2 strokes are nice for learning how to tune buy ear and dont mind being ran wide open and being treated like we stole it. You'll want a 4 stroke someday,just not TOday. Plus 2 strokes are MUCH cheaper.

This post really made me think about myself tonight.........after walking in my front door after work today with a brand spanking new $340 plus tax SAITO 125!!! WOO HOOO!

RE: picking a engine
 

There is no such thing as an "engine I would never use agine". The bottom line here is you don't know what you will be using several airplanes down the line and most people do not. Even with careful planning things change.

Do yourself a favor like jester suggested get the appropriate engine for your traner. And that should be a good quality .61 such as TT61Pro or OS61AX, you will not regrete that decision. Indeed stay away from four strokes for now.

John

RE: picking a engine
 

The Super Tigre G-61 Ringed engine is available for $84.99 before discounts at Tower Hobbies. At that price, it's actually less expensive than many .46-size ball bearing engines - O.S. .46 AX ($109.99), Thunder Tiger Pro .46 ($89.99), and Evolution .46 NT ($89.99) to name a few.

This would be a great choice for a .60-size trainer ARF like the H9 Alpha .60, Thunder Tiger Tiger Trainer .60, or the Hobbico Hobbistar .60 ARF. It's also plenty fast and powerful enough for sport planes.

I bought one for my Sig King Kobra Sport/Pattern kit, and I've been really pleased at the ease of break-in and tuning. It comes with a three-year warranty from Hobby Services, the same folks who provide warranty coverage for O.S. Max engines here in the U.S.

A ringed engine like the G-61 ringed will last forever and will run better the second year you own than the first year. You can spend a lot more if you want to, but if there's a downside to flying a Super Tigre G-61 ringed, I sure haven't figured out what it is yet!

RE: picking a engine
 

Buy the Super Tigre!!! They might be a bit heavier but they run great and strong and last forever and they are inexpensive. And believe all of those guys, you will use this engine again!!! Balsa breaks a hell of a lot easier then aluminum or steel!!!!:D:D:D:D:D

RE: picking a engine
 

I gotta tell ya....You'll hear alot of people say that Super Tigers are nice engines,but are very difficult to get tuned right etc. Well,I own a G-90 and love it to death. Its mounted upright in my favorite plane(big stick .60) and gets flown more then any of my other engines. This is so far my favorite engine although obviously I havent flown my new Saito yet and I think it has a good chance at being my new fav.

The only problem with my beloved Super Tiger is at one point I swore up and down that I'd never buy another one after not ever being able to get in tuned right and my instuctor kept laughing and telling me "told ya to buy an OS". Its deadsticked on me 4 or 5 times during takeoff. At first,only my instructor could tune it. Everytime you'd even touch the needle it would seem to run great until takeoff....then blaaaa,deadstick 15' in the air. We finally a couple months ago got it tuned right or got lucky or something and I havent really touched it since and kinda afraid to. But since then....I've loved every flight with it and it runs better then any of my other engines(I dont own on OS 2 strokes though,but all the other guys do and they all run awesome). My experience with my ST are like alot I've read about and are the reason I dont recommend one to a new guy,but like you guys say.......its a GREAT engine.....once you get it running good,and its cheap!

My muffler baffles did fall out of its muffler though,has that happened to any of you guys' ST's?

RE: picking a engine
 

I'm not trying to be funny or anything, but I really think you and your trainer need a class in tuning. The Super Tigre .45 is one of the easiest engines I've ever tuned.:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

RE: picking a engine
 

You guys might both be right. I kind of get the impression that tuning issues are proportional to the displacement of the Super Tigre in question. I don't see a lot of complaints about the .34 through .75 models in the engine forums; it's the .90 and the G-2300 (1.40) that draw a lot of conversation.

My G-61 ringed has been a pleasure to break in and tune. I'd like to try some of the G-40 and G-45 models, but I already have a bunch of nice engines in this size range. The smaller Super Tigres are very inexpensive, very powerful, and very reliable by most all accounts.

For $84.99, you could try the G-61 out and sell it for 75% of it's retail price if you decided you didn't like it. If your Super Tigre G-61 ringed engine runs like mine does, you wouldn't even want to sell it for $100 once it's mounted and broken in.

RE: picking a engine
 

Thanks for all the great advice. I bought an os 61 fx.

RE: picking a engine
 

Any .61 will serve you well. It's all in the setup & tuning.

RE: picking a engine
 

BOHICA29,

In time, you will develope your own routine for breaking-in a new engine. For now, follow your instructions very closely, and if I can offer some advice, don't be afraid to run your engines a tad on the rich side. Remember that a motor "unloads" in the air (which is why the manual recommends you not tune your engine to "peak" RPM's). Besides, a few extra paper towels to clean the oil residue from your plane at the end of the day is alot cheaper than having to replace motor bearings.:)

Treat your OS right, and it will last you for many years.:D

RE: picking a engine
 

Here is my $.02.

Get a good .61 to .75. I had a Super Tiger G-61 and loved it. Once broke in and tuned it was my bast running engine by far.

To say that you want to go smaller would not religate you to a smaller engine. If you scale down the physcial size you may get into something like warbirds or 3-D. Higher wing loading means you need a larger engine for the relitive size. An example of this would be a 60 size cub. You are looking at a plane with 80 some inch wing span compared to a 60 size war bird which would be around 60" so my point here is that engine size is relivant to the specific type of plane not the physcial size compared to your trainer.

I would never put a smaller engine on a plane than the smallest they reccomend.

Other factors you have to look at, which may dictate going larger than a .60 or changing to a 4 stroke..... What altitude are you flying at??????? The higher altitude your field is means you loose air density and would require more power to get the same performance which would mean more displacement and or larger pitch/diameter props. I know when I learned to fly full scale this was very important but flying r/c I never thought about it as I flew at sea level. I now live at 4,000 ft and had to put this knowledge into my flying here. This is very critical especially in the summer where temps are hot and humidity is higher. The more humidity and altitude reduces efficency of your engine power and prop performance. If you search information for DENSITY ALTITUDE and is just as important for our r/c stuff as for full scale. Some times here we have to fly early in the morning to get the best performance in the summer.

If you look through these forums on engine tuning you get every thing from this or that engine is crap and 1,000 different ways to tune. I have been flying for a long time and used many engines. There is not OUT OF THE B OX best engine that you can bolt on and fly.... Every engine requires proper tuning and that needs some learning. No matter what, it has been proven that engines need to be properly broken in and tuned before put in the air. Yes there are people who have and say to just fly it andf get away with it but there are guys like Clarence Lee, world renowned, who stress proper break in and tuning. If you don't know who he is pick up Model Airplane News and read Engine Clinic. This was my favorite in RCM until they went out of publication. Clarence has written many books and designed many engines through the evoloution or free flight and r/c.

Anyway follow these steps.
1)Break in the engine and use a good quality fuel
2)KISS.... Keep It Simple Sir. You don't need a roll away box and 15 different glow plugs or peops to have a good plane and engine especially ina trainer. If you use the reccomended prop by the engine manufacture then you only need a few different prop combintions to fine tune your plane. Yes keep a few spare glow plugs because they do go bad. If you have a sudden "CARB" problem I would change the plug first. Usually, unless you change something major like prop size or nitro content, you don't need to miss with the carb after you get it set. A new engine will not run as good as a well broke in engine.
3)BALANCE YOUR PLANE PROPERLY.....Different styles of planes balance different depending on the performance and flying style you want. If you always start at the reccomneded point then you have a good flying plane, especially a trainer, there is not much adjusting a trainer like a 3-D plane. When I say to balance properly I mean both on the pitch axis like most people do but also on the roll axis (called Latteral Balance) which is over looked by a lot of builders. A lot of crashes are blamed on a lot of things that end up being a problem with balance and then not being able to properly control the plane. This is the simplest and usually overlooked thing you can do to your plane to make it fly right. A Yak or Sukoi and even the Edge 540 are very docile fgor a performance plane when balanced neutral.

So I got a little off topic and drug this out but I want to see people succed. I ahve seen too many people sink a bunch of money and time to throw it in the trash can and give up because of these simple things.

RE: picking a engine
 

A great choice and an extremely user friendly engine with a little guideance. It will also be a versatile engine for a wide variety of airplanes beyond your trainer.

John