I am looking at getting a Hobbico Avistar Trainer with either the Supertigre GS-45 Engine or the Tower Hobbies .46 BB Engine. I am looking for opinions on the TOwer Hobbies engine. Good? Bad? Don't waste your money?? I am hoping it is a good engine so I can save a few $$:-) Thanks in advance.

It runs good, user friendly, and has more power than the O.S FX .46. Some of them have an airleak in the carb, but you can seal them most of the time. Either way, the air leak will not prevent It from running good, it might take a little longer to shut it off.

I have one and runs fine.

Had no air leaks but gave me fits initially when it was back-firing all the time and only after a crash I found that the muffler was partly blocked with molten alluminum during manufacture. I removed that and since then NO PROBLEM.

Try a TT46 pro. Same price, better quality, and no air leaks. The Tower engines run strong usually, but are notorious for leaks.

Ditto

I have both the .46Tower and .46TT

The TT is more user friendly

According to Clarence Lee in Model Airplane News the Tower .46 is the best sport .46 size engine in terms of power and ease of use. It may have been around six issues ago, not sure. He's considered the expert and has written many books on engines as well as being involved in their design. I'd get the Tower! Also, you can't beat Tower for immediate service.

Max

The Tower Hobbies .46 became very popular at our field because of the awsome power the produce. They seem to be user friendly enough, however, they are heavier than most other engines in this class. Alot of people buy the Tower muffler to put on whatever .40 clas engine they are running to get a few xtra revs.

Scott

I don't have this engine, but its muffler is great.

I had to RTV the rear cone, to prevent excessive oil leaks, but it is reasonably quiet and adds good power for my OS.46FX.

This is THE reason this engine makes more power than OS, or TT.

I have to agree with Dar about the muffler, it is the reason Tower motors are thought to be strong.

I put the tower muffler on a .46 TT and .46FX both of those motors beat the tower .46 by 500rpm all running identical fuel and props and all tested on the same day.

Nothing wrong with the Tower motors but I almost always have to adjust the mixture each time I'm at the field, the TT and OS are practically set and forget.

Tower motor made by the same factory that makes GMS engines which also have a reputation for leaks. As I understand it, the China factory that products the Tower, GMS and others does not have the quality control they should have over the machined tolerance of their parts.

My father-in-law had a Tower 46 on a SPAD that ran terrible. It had so many air leaks it you could barley get it to run. He sent it back to Hobby Services and they replaced it with a new engine. It ran worse than the first one did. He sent it back and requested a credit and bought an OS 46FX. He lost over a month and a half of flying plus the shipping cost . The OS doesn't seem to expensive anymore. We you get to the field you want your engine to start and run so you can learn how to fly not learn how to work on junk engines. I now some people have good luck with Tower engines but I have seen 4 that were junk. I think they just have poor quality control. I think TT or OS are a better choice.

I have the Tower 40 BB I actually had to take the idle screw all the way out just to get it to idle, I also have the GS-45 very dependable and like all my Tigres I only have to set it once all day and they are very reliable and move the planes along very well.

In the Model Airplane News magazine, they rated all the .46 2-stroke engines made by all the different companies. The tower .46 proved to be more powerful than the O.S. However, I don't believe anything is better than a good ol' O.S. engine. It all depends on how long the other engines last! you know it? Just my two cents.
Clint

When are you people going to wake up and see that the emporer(OS) has no clothes. Rid yourself of that brainwashed attitude!

Max