going back to glow

[Phil 9]

Well I have ordered a new laser 70 for my next model have not had a glow engine for 5 or 6 years.

having tried petrol and electric for that time I find the advantages of these power systems over glow engines are not overwhelming,

I bought an acro wot artf and this size of model would have been electric but I have been missing that engine sound .

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Kevin Fairgrieve]

You know it is the only way to go.

The force is strong with you.

Kev

[Robert Welford]

Welcome back from the Dark Side!

[..]

Your not on your own , especially petrol converts in my experience.

We've had a few at my bigger club going back to glow, not to many I hope as I've had some cracking engine buys since glow engines stopped working 

Edited By Justin K. on 14/09/2016 21:00:34

[brokenenglish]

Yeah, I reached this conclusion some time ago.

I'm grateful for the fact that I was able to teach myself to fly Thanks to electric foamies but, for me, the only real advantage with electric is that it allows models to be sold really RTF.

I think the whole "petrol" phenomenon is trade driven. The last generation of glows are just so damn good that no-one needs to replace or upgrade. I have quite a few (8) red Irvines that, for me, are absolutely faultless - Perfect!

So the manufacturers and trade are persuading us that all smallish models must be electric and all larger models have to be petrol... Personally, I think this is only valid for very large models (LMA type).

I've seen, on these forums, some ridiculous arguments put forward in favour of petrol. Typically, fuel cost differences are computed based on a huge number of flying hours, and then that difference is compared with the cost of just one engine. Whereas no-one would fly that number of hours with just one engine in one model.

[iqon]

I have petrol It`s economical to run, I have electric it`s convenient, I have glow its more fun

[Charles Smitheman]

I too have recently really been enjoying some glow flying.

What has made a huge difference for me is changing to Optipower fuel. The cleanliness of the model due to the fully synthetic fuel is quite remarkable. And they all seem to run ever so much better than before.

I am using their 12% four stroke mix, which suits an irvine 53, small saitos and os four strokers, and my delightful, smooth, powerful, easy starting Laser 150 was airborne last weekend in my newly restored Spacewalker. (restored? dont ask...)

[Terry Walters]

As a self confessed 'new age eginista' I welcome you back Phil with pleasure! Nothing makes me smile more than a happy glow engine purring away. I suppose it's the difference between steam (glow), diesel (petrol) and electric (well electric is just electric isn't it......) only one genuinely stirs the senses doesn't it?

You never know as us IC builders get more numerous and the 'word' spreads might eventually get a regular feature in the mag to properly replace the sad loss of Pete Lowe's column............

[Jon H]

An interesting thread which sort of backs up some of what i have seen here at Laser myself. A number of customers have come back to us after trying petrol and not enjoying their experience. Some didnt like/couldnt keep noise under control, others complained of vibration and poor throttling but the biggest complaint was reliability.

It is somewhat surprising to me that petrol engines are sold as super reliable when they have far more points of failure than a glow engine and are much more sensitive to settings. A lean cut and rich cut have the same symptoms and this can lead to an engine that wont even start so its not easy to trouble shoot.

That said, most of these comparisons are to two stroke petrol engines and i can see that 4 stroke petrol engines of 40+cc are really where my focus needs to be. At the small end the advantages just arent there. Our 70 running on 5% nitro and 10% oil is both clean and economical. The extra weight of a battery and cdi unit in an acrowot just makes no sense to me.

As i have mentioned before, i am testing engines on glow fuel using oil ratios you would normally expect to see on a petrol engine. So far so good, testing continues.

[Peter Miller]

Glow is the only way to go!!!

I had one dabble with a 10 cc petrol engine.YUK!

Gave up dabbling with electric when Speed 600s and NiMH batteries went out.

Don't like the smell of diesels although that was what I started on back in the 50s and anyway the cost of the fuel has got stupid.

Glow is best.

Edited By Peter Miller on 15/09/2016 08:44:22

[Phil 9]

I ditched glow originally because of forum posts (not just this forum) that persuaded me glow power becoming a thing of the past. With the demise of the LMS glow fuel would become hard to obtain and very expensive. But I can still but glow fuel easily and fuel costs only work out to be a small percentage of what I spend on the hobby.

for me a convenient size model for club flying is still the 40,60 and 90 size models that are (for me) to small for petrol.

30,50 and 100cc petrol's are nice but are cumbersome. I guess everything is a compromise.

As for glow reliability it is not a thing I ever had a problem with. with mid air dead sticks being limited to the first couple of runs of a new engine (and that was still rare). I found if I did have problems with running reliability it was detected on the ground.

This now means I will now own glow, electric and petrol models. Having a mix like this brings it own problems having to make sure I have the correct support equipment with me for each type. I was hoping just to pick one and stick to it but it has not worked out that way so far.

I did think petrol was the answer but in my experience petrol has started to work out more expensive because it pushes me to buy larger models.

Having said all that my biggest barrier still seems to be waiting for good flying weather and a weekend to arrive together

[Bob Cotsford]

Retirement or long term sick leave Phil, it's the only way to go. Flying is therapeutic so is permissible as part of the stress relief/recuperation regime, and the best weather seems to come mid-week.

Personally I find all power sources have a place, if only to provide a fresh take on model flying. Small petrols don't work so well, neither do small four strokes so for small models electrickery is more appropriate to me. Coming up to what used to be 40-90 size I plump for four stroke glow motors using 52-1.20s as they just sound so much nicer than two strokes. Beyond this it's a bit grey as I have a 180 4str sparky running on methanol and 38cc 4str sparkies on petrol.

Of course you need some exceptions to remind you why you have preferences, so I also have 4S and 6S 40-60 size models and 40-90 size 2 strokes too. 2 Stroke glow just feels right in a fast aerobatic design from the 70s, and large electric more appropriate for BIG foamies.

Edited By Bob Cotsford on 15/09/2016 09:46:37

[extra slim]

Keep it down guys... you are ruining my auction site bargains

Seriously though I find variety is the box ticker for me... I have bottles of electrons, cans of petrol, and tubs of methanol, and even recently got the old fella to mix me up some dirty diesel.. and dug out his old control liners and PAW's to teach myself the art of the compression engine..(err still learning as each one seems to have its "personality". culminated in running up dads Mills 2.4 last weekend... 60 years after its last run... complete wow factor for me..

[Engine Doctor]

Welcome back to the " oily hand society"  but keep an electric for that quick unplanned trip to the field .

[Richard Wood]

Most modern glow engines are very reliable if cared for & do make a nice smell!
With a decent muffler they sound great too.
No reason not to enjoy electric as well.
Good luck with the Acro Wot . Mine is nearly ready for a test flight - with an electric motor.

[Phil 9]

Posted by Engine Doctor on 15/09/2016 10:49:05:

Welcome back to the " oily hand society"Â Â but keep an electric for that quick unplanned trip to the field .

well there's a thing. I don't find electric too convenient for that quick unplanned trip under those circumstances sods law dictates my batteries wont be in a charged stated. where IC only has one small rx battery to worry about and there is usually enough in it to go flying and top up at the field

electric does open up non club sites where flying IC would not be suitable. the fact I now have all three shows there is no one stop shop. and different power systems suit different types of model and flying site. So mix and match may be with me for a while

[IanN]

Horses for courses

The explosion in nos of petrol engines in recent years has probably been due to the cheapness of the entry level stuff - DLE30 etc - which got a lot of peeps into models "the next size up" for very reasonable money

Yes, some have had problems with petrol power - but then, so do others with electric or glow

Plenty are happy with petrol and will stick with it but I think some regression back to larger glows is perfectly natural. Flyers decide they like the larger models they have become used to, but have come to realise they also need to buy or fabricate additional silencing, sometimes iso mounts, plus make provision for the vibration etc. All of a sudden that petrol engine isn't as cheap as it first appeared, and involves a bit of extra work. Then, when you come to the next engine purchase you start thinking "actually, with hindsight, a bigger glow is a perfectly reasonable alternative after all"

[Tim Flyer]

Welcome back . When glow first came out it was a revolution in its simplicity compared to the much more fiddly diesels. It's simplicity is why I still favour it . Last Sunday I was flying the Wots Wot XL with laser 155 for near 20 min on each flight with fuel to spare on the standard 420cc tank. As said above fuel is a fraction of our costs . It isn't hard to buy glow fuel mail order . The noise it makes is so much better than the rasping petrol 2 strokes or (weed whacker motors) as they are referred to by some others and as Ian says above the vibration is minimal versus petrol.

Edited By Timothy Harris 1 on 15/09/2016 12:51:29

[..]

I'm meeting a guy on Sunday to sell my last two electric planes so I will be glow only from then. I do appreciate the turn up & fly thing but for me the faff recharging the darn things just isn't worth my time.

Also a couple of horror stories locally involving club mates & LiPo's helped the decision. I will keep one LiPo tho to power my starter.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Phil 9]

Posted by Percy Verance on 15/09/2016 14:38:53:

I wish I'd known you wanted a Laser 70 Phil. I just sold a current model new unrun/boxed one a couple of weeks back for about 75% of the new price........

that's a real shame. especially sine there is currently a bit of a wait for new engines from laser

[Jon H]

Posted by Phil 9 on 15/09/2016 14:42:57:

that's a real shame. especially sine there is currently a bit of a wait for new engines from laser

i am working on it!

I have 7 70 crankcases fitted up and waiting for their front housings. Once the machine is fixed they will come through, and our latest spec conrods are currently in production so should be ready soon.

In the meanwhile, i have 8 80's, 6 155's, 4 100's, 4 200's and 2 300v's to work on...

[fly boy3]

I am starting to dabble in the black arts as I am interested in all forms of power. A lot to learn as I have used ic for over 28 years. It's great to have a thread about my first love again, I think I can smell 2stroke exhaust fumes again. LoL Keep it up lads.

[Broken Prop]

Wecome to the Laser Appreciation Society Phil. Just one thing tho'.

You are buying a thing of beauty.........don't put it in a plane, mount it on a mahogany stand and polish it from time to time.