8MILLSNIPER007

I have a few engines that are 20+ years old and still run like they are new. I can understand your reasoning for not recommending wot to newbees, as there is definately a learning curve for nitro engines. Some of the modern day engines really do make it easier to keep our little mills tuned right. Some of the engines I learned with were so difficult to tune and super touchy. I guess it's better carb designs, I can remember putting os carbs on some of my older mills to try and get them to hold a tune better. I still have a K&B 3.5 cc inboard marine engine that can be a monster to get started. Once you get it running it ran great and would start fine for the rest of the day. I have the same engine that will fire up with just a bump. I have had that thing apart and swapped parts to try and figure out why but to this day I haven't figured it out.

The_Shark

ever have a HS vibrate lean? thats always fun

8MILLSNIPER007

Oh yeah the K&b's were famous for that.. But usally it would loosen up and go rich on me! I use to try and put either OS or Perry carbs on my engines that were finicky. I still have a biplane that I put a set of pontoons on, it had/has a Enya 60III engine on it which I love the motor but the carb left alot to be desired so I put a os carb on it. Man what a difference, first flight about 6 mins into the flight the motor starts to run lean then normal, then revs up just like they do when they run out of fuel and at that same time I see this shiny silver thing fall from the plane and plop right into the water- what the heck? I was able to land the plane dead stick, but had to go retrive it from the middle of the lake. Come to find out the dam carb fell off. So I put another OS carb on it and the same thing happened only this time the fuel tubing kept the carb dangling below the plane, so I land it again go out and retrive it and the carb is gone again-the water hitting it must of pulled it off the fuel tubing. So I bought another carb and this time I attached a piece of safety wire to it, ever since I put a wire on it in case it fell off again it has not fallen off- go figure! Still have that plane, hasn't been in the air in over 12 years but still have it...

The_Shark

geeze, thats one thing that spooks me with nitro aircraft, engine problems means you fly dead stick, or if its a chopper, it falls like a lead balloon, but man does it look and sound cool when they fly.

savagecommander

you just auto rotate choppers down.... as long as the engine is running rich enough not to overheat, you can run WOT all day.

The_Shark

what about during inverted flight 10 feet from the ground[&:]

asmund

It runs incredibly well, top speed of 51 miles with the right prop and exhaust system, which is alot more than the stock Dynamite 32 was able to reach

8MILLSNIPER007

Flying a plane dead stick is a piece of cake as long as you have ample time to get it over your landing strip, I learned how to fly by flying gliders with no motor- we would use a hi start to launch them and then just cruise around until you find an updraft or thermal. I am with you on the helicopters though, I bought a t-rex 450 2years ago, put it all together but to this day have not flowen it. Yes you can autorotate a heli but that also takes some skill and stick time to learn how to do. I will stick with my boats, cars and planes.

Max_Power

A heli flameout inverted 10 feet off the deck IS NOT absolute death. Go to a heli-fun fly and you will be amazed at what can be done after the engine dies. Especially a larger helicopter. Many full scale helicopters can even pull into a hover and do a 360 roitation before running out of lift. As far as planes for the first 30 years people made every flight planning on a deadstick landing before throttles.

As to something relevant to the subject, remember Helis DO NOT run at WOT all the time....They run at a constant speed, which is about 50-60% throttle unless they are at full pitch doing a hard manouvere . Hover and most forward flight only require about half throttle. Don't be confused by throttle curves on electric helis. Glow engines work totally different as far as "Throttle" Like many here have said WOT and Red-Line are two totally different things. WOT simply means you pulled the trigger all the way...has nothing to do with how fast the engine is running. Durability at Redline(exceeding a given RPM, not a given throttle point) is often actually inversely-proportional to load. Meaning a engine with a load at 30k rpm is living a easier life than a "shaft run" at 30k rpm. You can be at WOT and be stopped and only be at right above clutch engagement RPM.(Full throttle launch, yet car barely moving yet) In my experience running a CAR at WOT and full speed for more than 10 seconds are so WILL take its toll on the engine as far as wear. Remember, part of the reason the car won't get going any faster is that the engines' internal friction is multiplying exponentially with rpm.

During a normal WOT "Pass" the engine is only pulling "unloaded externally" for a few seconds usually. At some point the power produced goes from being consumed by getting the car to accelerate to being consumed internally by all the forces in the engine and trying to pump air through the ports at unreasonable rates.(with some small amount keeping the vehicle moving) Todd