I am looking at possibly building a Balsa USA Sopwith Pup. My local hobby shop has a 28cc engine in stock but I was wondering what your guys opions are on the best gasser for the 1/4 scale pup.

In my opinion the G-26 would be the most dependable and certainly give enough power.

There are a lot of good choices these days I have seen that are made in China, the CRRC and DLE are just two of them, both lighter then the Zenoah and packing a lot of power but the Zenoah engines are hard to beat, very user friendly and you can always find parts for them if needed. They have been around forever and for good reason. You can go to the gas engine forum and look to see what other guys are using and what they think. I can still get any parts needed for even the old G-23, sometimes in the blink of an eye the new engines are gone and off the market so it's something to think about.

My BUSA 1/4 Pup has a G26 and flies beautifuly

Everyone seems to be saying the Zenoah G-26 and that is definatly a possibility. I was look in Jan. MA and saw the add for the Cermark engine. Has anyone heard of these or used them?
www.cermark.com/products/SPE%252d26-GAS-ENGINE.html

I'm for Zenoah engines when it comes to scale models where absolute minimum weight and maximum power are not the prime considerations. Zenoah engines are as reliable as they come and their prices are fairly reasonable. In a scale model with cowl room to spare, I'd stick with using the magneto ignition system. It's one less battery to worry about charging and maintaining, the engine is less expensive with a magneto, magneto ignitions generally create less RFI (radio frequency interference to your R/C receiver - yes, there have been exceptions to this rule) and the engines last a long, long time.


Ed Cregger

The first engine I usually choose is zenoah, mainly for the fact that they've been here for a while. Now,...it seems like everybody and thier brother(in china) is making a small gas engine, if your looking for a RTR engine right out of the box, go zenoah. They offer spring starters which in my own opinnion is the way to go, crank back one and a half turns and let it fly, no prop bites. I own a XYZ 26CC engine, it runs, but I had to redo half of it to get all the bugs worked out, I should have bought a good old trusty zenoah.

If your building a warbird they tend to need nose weight so Zenoah shines here, but tends to be more expensive. If your doing sport or 3D where weight is a concern and yer on a budget then DL, spe, crrc... The spe engines are awesome but their ignitions are complete garbage and an instant repacement with an rcxl is needed. DL is great and their 50 and 100 are interchangable with DA parts ie mufflers etc.. The DL30 would be a good cheaper choice for the Balsa USA 1/4 scale planes. My DL50 has ran great right out of the box. With sport and 3d and cost is not an issue then go with DA or 3W, they rock!

I'm looking forward to my first Gasser, it will
be a 4 stroke. JMO,

Bob