Can I direct a question to beginners

[David Ashby - Moderator]

by the title I mean, as a newcomer how easy do you find them to operate? Do you get reliability? Are there any best practices you've come to learn or adhere to? What problems (if any) did you encounter at the start? Be interested to know what you think, thanks...

[Bruce Richards]

David what is your definition of a beginner I have been doing this for just over a year. Am I still a beginner? Compared to many here I am.

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Don't know Bruce, perhaps someone who's still to go solo?  It wasn't so much flying skills mind as wondering how people get on with their engines when they encounter a two-stroke for the first time.

[Bruce Richards]

I think I was pleasantly surprised how easy they were to start and handle. This is based on my memories of having some cheap second hand piece of junk when I was a kid and never managing to get it to run. My mate had a diesel and we got that to run one or twice in many hundreds of attempts.

[andy watson]

I was really worried about IC engines when I started, as they seem to be tempremental things.  I don't think my confidence was helped much by the e-bay plane I bought coming with a chinese jobbie that the combined fiddling of the entire club couldn't get to run reliably for a full flight.

Having said that, I replaced the engine with an OS 46LA.  A few people have said it isn't a particularly powerful engine for a 46- I have no idea.  I do know it pulls my jumper 25 round on about 1/3 throttle, and I rarely go over half throttle, except for specific manouevers- take offs and loops spring to mind.  Even climbing out of a low pass only needs 3/4 power.   Why did I choose OS?  Well it is the ONLY brand of engine no one says is rubbish.  Whilst all other brands have their fans, there is always one person that doesn't like them, except OS.  The only comment I have heard is that they are expensive, but I don't know that this is fair.  They seem to run a budget range that is similar in price to others.  My 46LA was £45.  I have just bought an OS FL-70 4 stroke for £105.  It seems to be a good buy, although I have not had it running yet.  I might have saved £10-20 by going for a cheaper brand, but an engine failure could prove an expensive economy to have made.

In use the 46 has been spot on.  I have to be honest and say I am not sure if it's tuned in perfectly- I am unsure about rich and lean; but there is someone from the club always on hand to help.  There have been 2 occasions I have had trouble with it.  One time it was cutting out turned out to be the clunk had lodged in the tank and wouldn't let fuel through.  Recently it was struggling to start- the glow plug needed changing.

For all the electric boys make a song and dance about turning up, switching on and flying, my OS is similar, and I am getting fairly comfortable with priming it, and what to look out for as I use it.  I never fiddle with it.  There is ALWAYS help around in the rare occasions it is needed.

In summary:

• Buy quality
• Get help to set it up, then leave it alone.
• The prop still scares me to death.

[Andy Pickford]

Dave

I have a Thunder Tiger pro 46 its fantastic only had 1 dead stick in probably about 100 flights or so. It's very easy to start with the chicken stick and you only have to pick the starter up and its running.

Saying that i wouldn't like to get my fingers in it!!!!

 I've just picked up a second hand Javelin 40 with an ASP 61 in it so i will have to see how that goes hope to fly it tomorow.

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[andy watson]

Well on the basis of what I said earlier, I would be dubious about buying an ebay engine unless it was new.

I don't know what size you are looking at, or the budget, but model shop leeds (google it) have offers on OS engines.  I got an OS .70FL for £105.  Guessing you want a 4 stroke because it's going into a nice plane- why risk the plane by skimping on a possibly dodgy engine?

[Tim Mackey]

Please try and keep to the topic and main question posed in the thread starter guys

[Robert Bromwich]

Well guys I've just started with i.c engines ,did have one running in a plane about 20 years ago but only lasted about 30 secs before it hit the ground ,i was only 15 at the time and older brother had a car with one in and we could never get it running right so i have never bothered with them and have stayed electric only up till now.

The one i have now is a SC40 in a richmodel se5a. At the start couldn't get it going was very tight over the top of the crank then my brother said about taking the head off to have a look, so we did then screwed it back on what a difference nice and easy and away it went first time,only thing we could think was wrong is they must have tighten it down to much.

since then i can start it first time every time with a chicken stick and it has now got 20 flights of 10 Min's on it and has never cut out once(touch wood)

Also i have a TT39 in a Raptor 30v2 that I'm just tuning up was hard to get it running first time as got it second hand (was new) and its been in garage for about 2years, have had 2 tanks though it but seems to be running ok so will have to wait and see

Rob

[RonSpencerUK]

Hi Dave and all I'm a newbee. With so much else to concentrate on, I wanted a really reliable engine with enough power to pull me away if I needed to. So I got the OS 46AX to attach to my Boomerang trainer. My instructor showed me how to start, run-in and tune the engine and it works wonderfully. I could have saved money by not buying an electric starter, and also not having a power panel and 12v battery; the glowstart is all that is needed.

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[Tim Mackey]

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[Callum Fraser]

its almost as if he enjoys it...

As for me I have just had delivered to me a almost new O.S 46LA i found on ebay. Lovely little engine and from what i can tell not too bad to start. Enough power for my first Acro plane but also great for my trainer (when i get one).

as for starting up, havnt done yet, as I dont have a plane to put it in... when i do iIwill post the experiances here though.

[Ralph Yeates]

I found the IC's easy to start, you soon learn to wear a glove, use a starter of chicken stick as you run out of fingers. small diesel engines were the norm when I started in control line they were a pain to get going in the cold with finger flicking, the noise from the open exhaust and the ether smell probably some health and safety regulation now about them.
Open main needle 1.5-2 turns. Adjust the main needle and that was about it until the engine gets max rpm then lift the model pointing to the sky and if the revs drop it's weak so richen it up by a couple of clicks lift again no change job done otherwise repeat the process.
Some 30 years later I now understand what the bottom end or idle mixture screw is for just shows you don't stop learning in this hobby.

[Steve biplane]

I got on a lot better with my LA46 when I stopped having the 'help of the club expert' to start it!  I had a few diesel engines as a kid (c/l and FF), then a 40 year gap, before taking up RC.  The LA46 always starts within a couple of flicks of a chicken stick provided I get the priming right and the glow-stick is fully charged.  The most common fault I see at the field is people turning over a completely flooded engine with an electric starter hoping it will start - it usually ends with the engine locking up because of too much fuel in the cylinder (which can't be doing the con-rod any good at all) And because it didn't start the solution is even more priming before applying the starter again.....

Steve

[Myron Beaumont]

Cor -Wot a bunch of _______s   Never ever used a "chicken stick "  AND I 've played guitar for 35 years odd for a living & still do for fun - OK  it is my picking hand I flick props with= but no "accidents "so far .(looking for a piece of wood to touch ! )  Hope the H&S folks arent' reading this .They'll stop me --(as if)

[Tim Mackey]

That may well be so Myron, and I have done likewise for many a year - but we cannot safely recommend that beginners adopt the same approach. Just imagine the letters that the ed would receive from the irate parents of little johnny after he took the top of his finger off whilst following written guidelines which suggested he toook no precautionary measures.

Unfortunately we live in a society of  easy cheap litigation and "always blame someone else" culture these days

[Tim Kearsley]

Only just spotted this thread.

I've been in the hobby for about 18 months and only recently put together my first I.C. model - a Hangar 9 P51, fitted with a Saito 1.00 4-stroke.  I must admit to finding I.C. engines a bit intimidating to begin with.  However, the Saito has been pretty trouble-free.  The only "problems" we've had was when I changed fuel after the first can-full, when settings of the main and idle jets seemed to need considerable tweaking.

I have to say though that I still don't like starting the thing very much, having had the prop thrown off a number of times.  never had that problem with any of the electric motors I've used!!

Cheers,

Tim.

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[Tim Kearsley]

Surprisingly Eric, there was a lock-nut!  The Saito engines come with a lock-nut and this was, and is, used on all occasions.  Despite this, and me tightening the prop nut and lock nut as tightly as I could, we still had the prop thrown off on a number of occasions.

Tim.