The price looked good so I got myself one of the KB .18 engines, without knowing much about them. Does anyone here have any info/experiences with these?

After a peek inside, they kind of look like a cheaper version of the HPI .18 engines...

Car engines or are those actually airplane engines? Didn't know HPI made aircraft engines. Is it stamped made in Japan anywhere?

It's an airplane engine, but I don't think that they are made anymore.

The company that bought K&B, RJL, buys old engine companies and assembles the leftover parts into engines.  They are not in the business of seriously making anything, though they occasionally make or have made a few parts.  That looks like what happened here.

Lohring Miller

I have been tempted to get one of those engines too. I was thinking of the little ducted fan, plane and engine with tuned pipe. But unfortunately they wouldn't ship the plane though.

I strongly suspect that the aero engine is a converted car engine. They had three different heads for the engine. Plus there were pull start versions and car carbs, etc. The ducted fan version used car head, a pull start, and a car carb on it.

Yes, they most likely have common parts with car and boat engines, much like the OS 15CV has. The HPI one is true ABC with a strong aluminium conrod, while the KB one is an ABN construction with a brass/bronze conrod...

From a distance one can barely tell them a part (carbs are identical too);

The K&B was out before the HPI came out...

The K&B isnt very strong at all and is heavy.

Early if you want to make a 15 size ducted fan let me know ok. I know what engine you will need and all.

Well we can't all have your engine guru...

The KB engine is not heavier than a typical .15 BB engine, and it is actually lighter than the Fox .15BB RC engine.

Mecoa does manufacture engines, but not in some time because of their recent move.  They mostly make the K&B series.

The HPI engine is most likely made by Toki. I have an HPI .15 car engine that came to me with a blown out rear bearing.... The engine hadn't even run yet. ABN cylinder/piston, single needle car carb, bronze conrod. Stamped "Made in Japan" as the above HPI engine. I have mine over at a buddy's shop to see if he could make a prop drive for it or find a way to put a prop on it. Not strong engines, but they run. I know little about the K&B version though.

At first I thought it might have been made by OS, but I looked further and found it to be most likely a Toki.

Just to clarify, it is the KB engine that has a brass/bronze rod and the ABN technology.
The HPI is true ABC and has a rectangular aluminium rod.

I have only seen a bronze rod in the Toki .05 engines before, but they could possibly be making the parts for the KB too then.

This is the info page for the engine I have..
http://www.hpiracing.com/optionparts/stat-15fe.htm


Or I suppose they could be Fuji, but I have never had a Fuji in my hands to know.

The K&B is done by a retooled TOKI dies. The rod is a phospher (spelling?)bronze rod. It is a very strong rod with a smooth "dogbone "shape. There are no stress risers on it compared to the aluminum rod. I had my engine complete a shaft run by accident when the prop came off and nothing catastrophic happened to the engine. Compression was very good and the rod suffered no damage. The engine is anemic, though. It does not put out like MECOA say with a tuned pipe. Mabe with a flywheel.

I just said it wasnt very powerfull. Sorry to bust your bubble thinking you got a strong engine. But good luck. There are far worse engines out there. They K&B 18 I had was bone stock. it was on par with a FP 15. it was just as easy to run. The CVA and magnum 15 are much stronger.

The OS CVA .15 is the bomb compared to the MECOA .18 fer sure. You are so right.

Thanks for the offer, but I was tempted, but didn't go for it.

About 10 years ago, a friend had the Ducted Fan set-up with the Toki .18 engine...(it looks virtually identical to the K&B and HPI )...it had a pull start like a car engine. The DF unit and tuned pipe came as part of a package deal, with an airplane kit...can't recall the name of the plane though? The kit manuf. might have been OK Models, but I'm not too sure of that? It was a Japanese kit, is about all I can be sure of...(I think )

It was a cool looking little jet-like plane, but it built heavy, and after testing the fan unit, we found it wasn't all that powerful either...and eventuall my friend lost interest...never did fly it...

This is the strongest 18 size engine out there that is still in production that I know of.

Here is the engine and parts needed for it.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXHLV9&P=0 engine

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJPZ5&P=Z rear cover. you must cut the pin off the crank for the pull starter.


You will have to do some mods on the carb.
1. cut and reshape the intake so it clears props
2. turn carb around so that the needle points at the carb
A. now take apart the needle and remove from the carb
B. cut the top part of the brass on the machined nut section. cut through the middle of this. then solder a small brass circle on top and when cool use as a nut to hold the nipple on.
C. reattach to the carb
3. Use this remote needle as its small and easy to use http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXDG58&P=ML
4. You will have to make a special nut that goes down into the prop. this centers the prop and hold it on.

This engine set up with a 21cc marine pipe will turn a APC 6.5x6 Pylon at 26,500-27,000. enough to blow the tips off. I Havent flow it yet as I need some carbon props in this pitch range and a plane to handle it lol.

Yeah I think MECOA finally sold off all of their DF planes for that engine that they got from Toki when they bought them out.
But they might still have some DF units along with the engines.

If you really want some insanity, There are some modified .21's that will blow that .18's doors off revving to over 40,000rpm. Some race modded .12's are turning over 45,000rpm in 1/10th scale on-road. For someone with motivation, these kinds of engines are the ones for super speed. Unfortunately, the revvers dont come much larger than 4.6cc/.28ci. There is an 8.0cc in the Associated MGT 8.0, but its a toad. 24,000rpm on a good day.

Anyway.. carbon fibre would be a must at these kinds of rpm speeds.

Ok...here goes,
I've flown and used the K&B .18 for years and love this little engine. I've three of them and two are going in a C-160 ARF. They are reliable, easy to start and easy to tune. I've used them in several models and will keep using them.
Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

Good to hear, what typical numbers do you get?

Yes, you are probably right that the conrod is strong and made with good engineering considerations. I'm perhaps a little biased from discussions in the 1/2a forum where people think the weight of a bronze rod is holding the Toki .05 back.

So it seems like the HPI engine that I have is an early one, and that they since then have moved to a "thick" nickel layer and a Bronze rod on all of the engines, Toki, HPI and KB.

I will run it and see what it gives, the quality seems fine and it has a nice pinch. One thing I found, just by looking, is that the transfers ports seem to be rather blocked at BDC. The bottom of the liner bore in the case could do with some clearing out (it is better done on the HPI). This could easily be improved with a dremel though. Here are two pictures, not sure if it will show up that well (KB first, HPI next);

I have a Fuji .05, which is essentially identical to the Toki .05 without the coloring, both made or assembled by MECOA. Yeah it is a little on the heavy side, but not bad. The RC engine works pretty good actually. But it doesn't rev up high on smaller props like some of the other 1/2a engines do. It is a converted car engine as they made a new prop adapter nut for the front of it, that unfortunately means you have to ream out the small 6x3 prop quite a bit to fit. The head is still oversized like for a car, so it might be cooling the engine a little too much too. Maybe chucking the head up in a lathe and machining a little off the top would help too. But hard to say.

The Fuji .05 or Toki 05 both come with a pretty nice muffler that would allow one to use the engines on more flying fields where noise restrictions are in place. So maybe the power or speed tradeoff would be worth it then.  But if noise isn't a problem, one could make a intake venturi dispense with the heavy RC carburetor, run the engine sans throttle. Leave the muffler off and save quite a bit of weight that way.

yes and there is a 25 that will blow the doors off the 21 and then there is a 28 that will blow the doors off the 25 so on so on qwk.. I will say that the only 12 that comes close for plane use to the 18 is the Traxxis 12 as it has the longest stroke of them. it will turn that 6.5x6 prop at 23,000

oh and quick dont buy into the HP and RPM numbers that the engine MFG state lol its all advertizing. look to a un sponsered rc car driver to find the greay engines