Martin Harris - Moderator

Mine don't stop! Although that was actually a problem with my Irvine 46 which consistently refused to stop, even with a totally closed carb barrel. The problem was a loose fitting front bearing allowing air to leak past the rubber sealed bearing into the induction tract . The cure - fit new bearing with appropriate Loctite bearing fit product.

Are we referring to the 58 in particular - or RCV engines in general? I have a 91 which runs very well. 10 years or so ago, I did change the cylinder bearing to cure an odd "catching" noise -easy enough - and it's been fine since. I suspect an unseen foreign object as during examination of the bearing, it suddenly lost its notchiness although I changed it as a precaution. I'd be more inclined to be wary of the "walnut whip" SP versions with their rather strangely designed cooling fin layout, which I've never owned but I do know that, unlike my 91, they are rather mechanically noisy.

To be fair, I can see Paul's point - even if it might have been posted with tongue in cheek. There's every reason why a good MDS could be regarded as a favourite glow engine if it's one of the few good ones that has survived the running/settling in period - too often in the hands of a beginner - and has given good service. I have a .38 which came to me second hand in a funfly and a .58 donated by a frustrated owner, which still get occasional outings but can be relied on to give excellent power after easy starting, stopping only if commanded (or the fuel tank is empty). Favourite? No, not for me - but with my preference for 4 strokes - and twins, in particular, they wouldn't have ever been in contention for my nomination.

My first engine was a DC Merlin - sadly, I don’t have it any more but I was given one some years ago which I popped into a Phantom Mite built from a downloaded plan. What struck me was the ease of starting compared with my teenaged efforts! There’s really nothing like the whiff from a diesel, with its heady aroma of hot castor, ether and paraffin. I was slightly tempted to re-use the rather sad looking Enya .09 from the bottom of my “collection” but went with a slightly larger and more modern Leo 15 when recreating my first RC model, a Stirling Cessna 180, which again, was a nostalgia project.

Before this thread heads in the tired old direction, please bear in mind that we’re discussing favourite IC engines… P.S. Although not a great fan of 2 strokes, I do have a great deal of respect for my OS 91FX which started first time out of the box with a reverse flick and has only improved since! It drags my Panic towards the stratosphere with not a second thought…

I’m more than happy with any of my 4 strokes, Laser, OS ( and clones - although the ASP 180, unique to the clones, was a surly beast until I added a second head shim) and Saito. Like Leccy, I do have a particular soft spot for my little OS20 FS but I have to say that I found it surprisingly powerful. Mine pulls a scaled down (40” span) Peter Miller Ohmen - renamed to the Glohmen - very well.

I don’t see anything wrong in this example Bob. The size is (I assume) described accurately in mm and the Imperial description is a long standing convention which predates metrification by decades (at least). No chippy would ever expect a length of 4 x 2 PAR to measure 4” by 2”…

Remember- no party politics please.

Hasn’t planed all round timber always been undersized i.e. the nominal size is based on the sawn size?

We’ve had to delete a post and edit another due to language unacceptable on this forum. These contained language that you might not use in “polite” company but while many of us would be quite happy to use them at the field, please remember that this forum is aimed at a family audience. Please check carefully before forwarding or cutting/pasting content. Some moderator actions may seem petty but we can’t allow the “thin edge of the wedge” to normalise coarse language here.

We were introduced to the SI system in the last year of primary school. In secondary school we learnt using a mixture of both Imperial and Metric. I still visualise length in yards, feet or inches. When I’m given a figure in metres, I think of it as a bit more than the equivalent distance in yards, a small figure such as 100mm is equated to 4 inches in my head although I seem to be equally comfortable with both systems at 10mm or less. I think the original logic of the Imperial system is the ease of dividing by the most common factors in everyday life - 2,3 & 4 (plus 6) - Metric limits you to only 2 & 5. After all these years, it still sounds odd to me when I hear someone saying something is 20 metres away! Going to lift something in kg? Easy - it’s a bit more than twice it’s real weight in lbs!

Welcome to the forum Kev. Please be aware that we have had some reports that scammers sometimes target “for sale” or similar ads.

I've used that method with great success - but obviously you do need the receiver to remain connected. Hold the transmitter close to your body to block the signal and it's easy to detect the direction of maximum drop - in the immortal tradition of the pantomime..."it's behind you!" In very thick maize, I had to go into range check mode in order to get a good dip when I was within 10 yards or so of the unseen lost model.

As an example, I used a particular engine in two different airframes - same fuel, same prop, same silencer and same settings. The first one, a scale 30's racer, had slight - and I mean slight - staining around the exhaust exit hole after multiple flights and never even a smear on the airframe. After its sad demise, the engine went into a YAK54...after every session, multiple paper towels were required. The conclusion? Perhaps we should pay more attention to the exhaust exit positioning?

...put the batteries under/around the motor?