Radial77

Iwas dealing with Luigi since March, made payments in May and received the engine from Diego in Oct. Luigi had presented himself as designer, engineer and owner of SLEngines all the while. I was lucky cos' Isent a demand for refund to info@slengines in sep and Ithink Diego caughtthe e-mail and delivered the engine within a week. Iguess he started investigating after this.

All said and done, Diego seemed like a very starightforward guy (after dealing with Luigi you'll notice!). I hopehe's is able to sort this mess out and continue providing these beautiful engines. Iwould ditchdodgy marketing guys like Luigi as these things market themselves! WishingDiego and PRMall the best!

Sharman.

2walla

My Feedback: (10)

Well I have to applaud Diego for coming out on the forums to set the story straight and hope that he contiunes to manufacture the motor.. The high end model of the model aircraft business is a relativly small group of people but they are willing to pay for a quality product and manufacturer support. Hope he keeps building the motors.. I would like to downscale from my 250 moki and like the enclosed rockers and arms much better than the moki.. If he can get a few out and have some demonstrated good results they will sell..

Maxam

My Feedback: (62)

Hi everyone. A report on the progress of running my new seidel 7-35. The idle and throttle transition is excellent. Yes an 8oz tank will definitly be enough fuel. The max RPM UMS states (5200) must be incorrect! Thier suggested props range from 16x8 to 20x5. I tried at first a 18x10 and it definitly was too big, lugging the engine down too far. An APC 17x8 was turned at 7500 rpm which is right at the 2 hp range. At less than three pounds with this power makes for a good power to weight ratio of .7 hp/pound. The larger seidels have higher max rpms. The diameter is 7 and 3/8 inches which means it will fit in a hangar 9 corsair! -Tom

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

Tom, your Hangar 9 Corsair with that radial engine will be so sweet! [sm=thumbup.gif]

77chickenhawk

youll have to make flaps for it tho.......

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

This is not directly glow engine related or radial engine in particular but it does have to do with UMS Technologies who have supplied some guys here with the UMS-Seidel radials.

I placed an order for the small steam engine that UMS lists on their site and shows a picture of. I thought that was what I was ordering.

Instead UMS sent me some entirely different design engine that is ugly, useless, and worthless. I have e-mailed them and registered a complaint and told them I want the engine they advertise on their site or else a complete refund. I am waiting for them to respond.

So, just a heads up to those who may be contemplating ordering from UMS. You may not get what you think you are buying.

Attached are two photos, what they show on their site and what I placed an order for. And the other photo shows what they sent me instead.

Maxam

My Feedback: (62)

Kmot, those exposed screw threads are dreadful! I would send it back too. Chickenhawk, I already have a saito 90r3 in a hangar 9 corsair that I have been flying for 4 years. The cowl reference was to indicate a reference but yes it would be cool! -Tom

abufletcher

Kmot, yikes! It looks like you ordered a human robot and got Frankenstein's monster insteaad! In fact, the website photo looks like a sleekly designed original and the one you got looks like a crude copy. It reminds me of when I lived in the the Middle East and you could take any item of clothing you had to one of the Indian tailors, along with some fabric, and they would "copy" it for you. The copies were always sort of funky and weird, but they were cheap!

That said, my whole experience with UMS has been completely professional and satisfactory.

abufletcher

I see the UMS site is still showing the OLD design for the 7-35. The new design looks good, but I wouldn't be too happy if I had settled on the one shown (with its parallel rods) and instead got the new one, which has more of a Pratt and Whitney look to it. Companies need to know that they HAVE to show EXACTLY what they are going to ship!

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

UMS Tech has not responded to my e-mails or their own on-site claim form. I can only assume they are willfully ignoring me.

I contacted my bank to try to get the charge reversed, and the only way Visa will do that is for me to send the engine back to UMS in India, at my own expense, and then I can file a claim to either get the correct engine or a refund, and UMS charges a 15% restocking fee. So I would have to spend an additional $37 shipping, plus forfeit an additional 15%, in order to get a refund of the selling price of the engine. BS! [:@]

I will just have to write this off as a $68 loss and warn anyone contemplating buying from UMS to use caution.

retransit

My Feedback: (18)

Tom,

I finally was able to get my Fleet out and fly it myself.
See:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3JUPxfm7DQ

Bob

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

Awesome! [sm=thumbup.gif]

abufletcher

Visa? The only way I was able to buy direct from UMS was through a bank-to-bank money transfer. [sm=72_72.gif]

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

Perhaps because you are in Japan?

Maxam

My Feedback: (62)

Hi Everyone, I just got my Seidel 7-70 back from Kelvin with the new collector ring. It looks good and very well made. You can see my engine with the ring installed on Kelvin's site. Now I can start my Black Horse Corsair! Now to send the other two engines for thier rings...........Tom

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

Re: SL Engines

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10108565

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10108591

I think maybe Luigi got the short end of the stick. Anyway, it seems he is back up:

http://www.slengines.com/index_en.html

kivisto

Keleo Creations really does nice work have rings for 170 an 325, very cool to have support like this in the hobby! http://www.keleo-creations.com/index...roducts_id=208

radial1951

EXACTLY the same website as a couple of months ago, even the For Sales are still there. Nice Bucker.

Hmm, there's that Moki 150 again. I wonder just how long Luigi has had that engine... The plane originally flew with an SL150.

Must have swapped the Moki into it after the exhibition flights. I wonder who got that SL150...

fredo

It's definitely not me, who's got that SL150....Looking how this whole thing unfolds again makes me feel like vomit and actually confused at the same time.

PRMEngines

that site is fake: I can guarantee that nothing is available (especially the SL150).
Try to contact him to buy Moki, Bucker, SL150, if someone can, I still compensate the money spent!
The justice system in Italy is very slow, wait a day and will solve everything!

radial1951

Hello Diego

When can you offer your PRM150 engine for sale? There are quite a few people on this forum who would like to buy such an engine, including myself.

But I am sure we are all very cautious now.I certainly will NOT be the first customer to send my money to Italy and hope I get an engine.

Somehow, you need to gain the confidence of your customers and establish your engine as a reliable product. It will not be easy, but I think action is needed now.

Unfortunately, your potential customers can do nothing about the legal matters arising from this venture. We are very interested in the future supply and support for the radial engines we wish to buy.


Cordiali saluti.
radial1951

Radial77

Just wondering how many SL 150s are out there. I got no.7 from Diego but stamped SL150 (not PRM). Another member here got one numberd 12 before I received mine. How is it that no.7 was with Diego and no.12 with Luigi and no.12 was sent out first>. Who makes these things. .....??

@ Fredo,
Would seriously look into getting a refund for the moki.

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

Unfortunately for all of us, moderator blw removed Luigi's posts from that thread so we can no longer read his replies, which were quite interesting to say the least. So now we are once again left with only one side of the story.

JRSmith

My Feedback: (47)

I am the guy that started the other thread about the SL engines and I did not ask the moderator to delete the posts, but think it was the correct move at this time. I only asked in the thread that it not become a battleground for Diego and Luigi. They deleted Diego's post also, for what it is worth. I have seen some threads that go way off tangent with stuff that should have remained private in the first place. There are always two sides to every story and hopefully the truth will come out, but I am not sure that these forums are a great place for internal company issues, especially when emotions get involved. This is obviously something that needs to be worked out in private and once a resolution occurs, together or individually, they can move forward publicly and continue to bring the product to market. Which I think is what we are all hoping for, at least I know I am.

I do agree with Radial1951, that it is going to be more difficult to sell the engine now with all the information that has come to light. It is going to take some effort to restore confidence and trust with the consumers that this engine is aimed for. I think they have a great product and I would really like them to be successful, but only time will tell. For the couple of guys that I am aware of that own one right now, Sharman and I, the resolution can't come soon enough, but I think we owe these guys some time to work it out privately, as they should.

For what its worth. Take care.

Jason

fredo

To me it's good that things like this come to the light. It clarifies the issues so that decent people have a chance to avoid disasters. I would appreciate if RCU admin allow this to keep going. Of course within limits. We can talk about this civil way.
As you all remember a Moki150 engine was on SLengines web site for sale a while ago. I hope everybody agrees with that. I send my money using PayPal in mid August. I never received anything apart from a lot of rubbish talk.
Please note, that site is back up running with all that stuff for sale again. More victims on the way? I keep asking Luigi for a refund but all I get is more rubbish talk. Please be aware!