What website has the largest selection of glow engines for sale online? I'm finding that more and more places are having smaller selections of engines available lately.

Well, for shear variety of engines, you might want to visit the MECOA website:

http://www.mecoa.com

MECOA manufactures and/or sells engines under the MECOA, RJL, K&B, GMS, HP, and HB brands in a wide variety of sizes and configurations.

As the marketplace has been moving more and more toward brushless electrics, the demand for glow engines is weakening. Lines like ASP, MDS, MVVS, Tiger Shark, and others have been getting weeded out of the North American marketplace over the last couple of years.

I'd assume that you're already familiar with the offerings at http://www.towerhobbies.com and http://www.horizonhobby.com. Between those two distributors, you've got O.S. Max, Super Tigre, GMS, Tower Hobbies, Magnum, Thunder Tiger, Evolution, Saito, and Webra represented, although Tower doesn't carry full lines for either Thunder Tiger or Magnum. You can look at http://www.infinitehobbies.com for a complete line of Thunder Tiger engines and visit http://www.hobbypeople.net for a full line of Magnum engines. Hobby People is also selling the Mark line of engines by Moki.

If you're interested in Norvel or Aviatech/Aviastar engines, you can find those at the http://www.sigmfg.com website. Sig is selling the Norvel AX-40 for $59.99, which seems like a very solid value. You will want to visit http://www.centralhobbies.com for a fairly complete listing of YS Engines.

I believe I've covered most of the 2-stroke and 4-stroke engine lines available in North America. I didn't venture into Gas power with the above listings. Hopefully a couple of other posters can fill in some blanks for you.

Oh, I was going to list http://www.kangkeusa.com as another place to shop. In addition to their SK line of 2-stroke glow engines, they're now selling JBA 2-strokes as well.

I haven't listed resellers for Rossi or RCV, I know they're out there, but I don't remember links off the top of my head. Oh, and Jett engines are frequently mentioned by enthusiasts as well, hopefully someone will provide a link for those as well.

At one time, we used to believe that ASP, Magnum, SC and other brands were all seperate brands from seperate manufacturers. This is no longer true. We have become educated, so why should folks pretend any longer?

If you have Sanye made engines, you have all of the above mentioned brands, all in one product.

It used to be this way with Super Tigre and Como. Some folks thought that an outlaw group of entrepreneurs put up their own factory and copied the Super Tigre line and sold it as Como. No amount of explaining would comvince them otherwise. <G>

We are beginning to see through the veil of marketing hype and are staring at another, deeper layer of truth. That's all.


Ed Cregger

I would stay from Kangkeusa. I bought one of their SK 90's and after a month or so of running the carb got so sloppy the motor will not run anymore.The needle is real loose, so I wrote to Kangke, four times and they never got back to me. I told them I just wanted to buy another carb from them to replace it. No answer. To bad, not a bad motor for the price. And, yes I changed the o-ring on the needle.

The name says it all. http://www.justengines.unseen.org/

They are good people.

I have to agree about Just Engines being a good place for engines. Shipping to the U.S. is reasonable.

This is not so much because of electric motors, they have reduced demand somwhat, but not as much as you claim. ASP is still being sold, in fact they now sell more under the Magnum brand than they ever sold under the ASP name. MDS had quality control issues, and the manufacture found business making other items. MVVS was more of a problem of the devalued dollar. MVVS prices went up, but you could still buy Chineese engine. I think you can still buy Thunder Tiger but not as popular due to quality??? Not sure about them. I suspect OS is still in demand. Most people buying electrics have not given up glow, though most fly them less than they did.

I mentioned two different Thunder Tiger resellers earlier in this thread. Ace Hobby is the North American distributor for Thunder Tiger engines and Omni Models and Tower Hobbies sells most of their engine line while eHobbies.com, thundertiger4u.com, and infinitehobbies.com are all major online resellers for Ace/Thunder Tiger products.

There is an entire class of pylon racing built around the Thunder Tiger Pro .40 ball-bearing 2-stroke, and Thunder Tiger engines are usually mentioned at the top of a short list of some of the finest 2-stroke engines sold today.

Thunder Tiger 4-stroke engines have a solid reputation for reliability, but have fallen out of favor in recent years because they're heavier than most other brands and up until recently they've used an air-bleed carburator instead of twin needles. This too is changing.

The new Thunder Tiger F-75s 4-stroke is a ringed-piston design sporting a new twin-needle carburator and its weight is almost identical to the Saito .72. The F-54s and F-91s are currently being updated as well, with specifications yet to be disclosed.

The biggest difference between the TT F-75s and the Saito 72? The Thunder Tiger sells for $50 less.

Big Ed mentioned one of my favorite engine companies - RJL/MECOA.

I have owned several of their engines. Actually, nearly half a dozen and they all worked perfectly and as advertised. They are on my good guys list.


Ed Cregger