Yeah what he said

Well kh6oo--you asked!

Try to take it all with a grain of salt. Lots of different users + lots of different circumstances + lots of different performance requirements = lot of different opinions.

I have to add my support for the Magnums. In my experience, they're a great value for the money. Mine have all been easy to tune and run like champs on 15% Wildcat or 15% Omega fuel. Good performers and easy to maintain.

If it were me, I'd see how much weight it takes in nose to balance the plane. I'd then purchase either the Magnum XL-52RFS or XL-70RFS depending on which one is closer to the weight needed. I'd hate to install a Magnum .52 4-Stroke only to have to add 6 oz of dead weight to the nose to make it balance. Make sure you take the the spinner, prop, muffler and mounting bolts into account when figuring this out!

P.S. In all fairness, I've also had good luck with O.S., Saitos and Thunder Tigers. I believe all manufacturers have some good models/runs and eventually they all also turn out a lemon or two. I try not to get too religious about one brand or another.

That's my $.02

LOL, wow, looks like it blew up yesterday. haha. Thats ok, love all the responses and I think I will be looking into a Saito or YL 52. I get what a few of you are saying about 4stroke cost, but when I opened the post I mentioned I have one of those already that I "was" going to use in it, but kicking this idea around in stead. WHY, you ask? Becouse I want to play with it first and formost, with the added option to have a noob trainer in the hanger.

Thanks All
Tom

Valves, valve springs, push rods, valve adjustment, bearings. Not that they are not unreliable, just not quite as reliable as a two stroke. Though I think some may be defining user friendliness as reliablity. In the hands of an experianced user, both will will run, idle, and respond well.

Ok got that makes sense
yes anytime you add moving parts you risk failures