Favourite I.C. Glowplug/Diesel Engines

[Dickw]

46 minutes ago, payneib said:

The bruised part of my finger nail is nearly grown out from my "Introduction to PAW Diesels" over a month ago. Very much looking forward to adding one of those to my collection and building a Mini Goodyear racer for it. ........................

That brings back memories 😀. My first "big" engine was a PAW 19 (3.2cc?) I bought to have a go at CL combat back in the early 1960s. You had to be able to start quickly for combat, so cuts on the finger from the sharp back edge of the prop and bruises when I didn't get my finger out of the way quickly enough were fairly common - not to mention cuts on my arms from reaching over the prop to retune quickly 😁.

Lovely engines though, and I had a great time.

 

I think the PAW diesels were my favourite engines, and I had quite a few of different sizes, but that 19 was the tops for me.

 

Dick

[J D 8 - Moderator]

3 hours ago, Ariel said:

PAW 1.49. It was the first engine I ever owned and took me ages to even get it to start but the sheer joy when it did was everything a 13 year old could want.

Still got it although it hasn't been used in over 50 years.  I wonder if it would run again?

  Same for me pretty much at 12 years and a Frog 100 which gets a run in the test stand now and then just because.

  Perhaps as a MOD I should add diesel to the title ?

[Engine Doctor]

1 hour ago, J D 8 - Moderator said:

  Same for me pretty much at 12 years and a Frog 100 which gets a run in the test stand now and then just because.

  Perhaps as a MOD I should add diesel to the title ?

As a Mod yes you must add diesel please 🙂. As a confirmed member of the Oily Hand Society a diesel of any make will always be a favourite. The Frog 150 is my favourite user ,great engine ,very easy to strart and I currently have two on the go in 2ch models . Only downside is having to change and shower before SWMBO allows me indoors..... worth it though 🙂. 

[Nick Cripps]

Another one here who has a soft spot for the PAW149. I learnt to fly control-line with a Mini Goodyear Deerfly built from the free plan in Aeromodeller in the mid-70s and powered with said diesel. The engine is still around somewhere but hasn't been run for around 30 years.

However, my first i/c engine was a Cox 049 in a Cox "Sandblaster":

 

 

 

I received this as a Christmas present (in 1973, I think) and it was this that set me off towards this absorbing hobby about a year later, combining my interest in aviation with tinkering around with all things mechanical.

 

I loved it, and still do, 50 years on!

 

[payneib]

27 minutes ago, Nick Cripps said:

 I learnt to fly control-line with a Mini Goodyear Deerfly 

 

 

 

 

That's on the list. 

[Michael Linacre]

3 hours ago, Nick Cripps said:

Another one here who has a soft spot for the PAW149. I learnt to fly control-line with a Mini Goodyear Deerfly built from the free plan in Aeromodeller in the mid-70s and powered with said diesel. The engine is still around somewhere but hasn't been run for around 30 years.

However, my first i/c engine was a Cox 049 in a Cox "Sandblaster":

 

 

 

I received this as a Christmas present (in 1973, I think) and it was this that set me off towards this absorbing hobby about a year later, combining my interest in aviation with tinkering around with all things mechanical.

 

I loved it, and still do, 50 years on!

 

Great picture,i too had a cox Sandblaster.

[Tim Hooper]

Early days yet......

 

I've just bought a new PAW .060 TBR diesel.

 

It's only had a couple of runs to date, but so much easier than the other smaller diesels that I own.

 

There's an 80" scale jobbie on the building board to give it something to do!

 

 

 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Starboard wing webbing, is that finished ?

[Charles Smitheman]

Now this is a topic right up my street!

Jon your post made me think that we were cast in the same oily mould!

 

My first engines that I loved as they just worked:

Hand me down Cox Baby Bees that gave me many cut fingers and flew away my KK Snipe forever.. sniff..

 

DC Dart. Mine's such a good runner now.

 

OS 40fsr that just worked, taught me to fly aerobatics with a tuned pipe and 10x6. The front face of the needle valve got rusty from the airflow as it never ever needed adjustment. 

 

OS60H still as good as it was 45+years ago. (Chrome liner)

 

Saito FA30 open rocker. At least 500hrs run time so far, a charming gutless wonder.

 

And then the ones that can be coaxed or fettled to actually work. So satisfying. 

There are lots more, but these are particularly special to me because I grew up with them.

[Christopher Wolfe]

I was contemplating adding my favourite model diesel engines to my original post so thanks J D 8 for including them.

 

For reliability and ease of starting the Mills family have have never disappointed me; from the original Mills P-75's (I have a few), to the lovely Australian Doonside variants, Irvine and Boddo Mills the are all little gems. Only sad version best not talked about but it was none of the above.

 

Similar with the Mills 1.3's, very easy to use and then the Mills Mk III 2.4 will start if one just gives it a sniff of fuel and threatens to flick the prop.

 

Another favourite is an Enya 41-4C-D  which runs nicely if one sticks to Enya's fuel recommendations and is great to fool people at the flying field as the club 'experts' once told me that I had forgotten to connect my glow plug connector (It has a dummy plug) so I told them that such items were designed for beginners, gave the prop a backwards flick and away it went purring like a kitten

 

* Chris *

 

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

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. 

[Bruce Collinson]

For those wallowing in nostalgia's warm bath, another thread reminds me that the next auction has oodles of engines, amongst which there are bound to be favourites.

 

Mine were DC Merlin and Spitfire, then a PAW 19D which frightened me to death (at 15).  My first Laser 100 started the instant it was shown the starter.

[Jon H]

Ohh diesels have been added. 

 

PAW149. My first new engine and it taught me a massive amount about engines/how they operate, tuning etc. 

 

AM10. The little thing just sings, and that is really all there is to it. I would love to add an AM15 to my collection. I keep seeing them nib at the bmfa auctions but never seem to remember to actually buy one. 

 

I have PAW60 as well, a beast which i need to fit into a test model and thrash around for a bit after its rebuild. 

 

I have some DC sabres, which are nice n all but i find them rather unrefined vs the AM. One also has a stuck contrapiston so you can only back off the compression so far. After a minute or two running it gets a bit hot and bothered. I will fix it one day. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andy Stephenson]

There's a couple of AM10s in the BMFA auction catalogue.

https://nationalcentre.bmfa.org/catalogues

[Nigel Sharp]

Free flight and control line

Allbon Dart 0.5cc

Dc Spitfire 1.0cc

 

Various Cox .049 Baby Bee and Black Widows

 

RC

OS09MAX

OS15MAX

Enya 19 IV

Hp Silverstar .40

 

Hours of fun in the farmers field behind my home in my teens with the small engines. That Dart cut my finger to the bone once. lovely in a veron cardinal. Spitfire temperamental to start. My first cox came with a plastic P40 that I rarely got to fly before abandoning it by moving to a PowerPod on a Svenson Senior glider.

 

But I dislike the oily mess with engines so I spent most of my flying with gliders.

 

Then 15 years doing Vane and Rc racing yachts before coming back to aircraft all now electric.

 

 

[2.4g Shaun]

Now diesels are added. All DC, PAW and my absolute  favourites  Oliver Tiger 2.49, and Super Tiger G20/15 D.

[John Stainforth]

3 hours ago, Jon H said:

Ohh diesels have been added. 

 

PAW149. My first new engine and it taught me a massive amount about engines/how they operate, tuning etc. 

 

AM10. The little thing just sings, and that is really all there is to it. I would love to add an AM15 to my collection. I keep seeing them nib at the bmfa auctions but never seem to remember to actually buy one. 

 

I have PAW60 as well, a beast which i need to fit into a test model and thrash around for a bit after its rebuild. 

 

I have some DC sabres, which are nice n all but i find them rather unrefined vs the AM. One also has a stuck contrapiston so you can only back off the compression so far. After a minute or two running it gets a bit hot and bothered. I will fix it one day. 

 

 

 

 

 

My brother and I had an ED Bee, AM10 and AM15, and a DC Sabre in the early 1960s. But our pride and joy was an ED Super Fury, whose performance was in a different league!

[leccyflyer]

My favourite diesel would be my PAW 2.49 which had a short life crashing in my original KK Outlaw and failing to get my KK Mini Super off the ground, before having a bit more success with a marine head conversion seeing service in a KK Vosper Air Sea Rescue launch instead. I have a new one, as yet unflown, destined for a new Mini Super and it's little brother a PAW 1.49 which will hopefully make it into the air in my duplicate diesel fuselage for my current Outlaw.

[John T]

I have a number of PAW engines ranging from the 19 and downwards in capacity, but the pick of the crop for me is the PAW55.  This is an absolute jewel of an engine, easy to start and surprisingly powerful for a 0.55cc engine.  I now have 3 of them, one in a 32" span "Poppet" which I fly with the prop on backwards to reduce the power a bit, and I've got one in a D.B. Rookie 68" span powered glider, which it powers surprisingly well. The Rookie is shown below as I originally built it with a PAW100.

 

 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Not my favorite motor but I did fly my PAW 1.45cc a couple of years ago, it is nearly impossible to get diesel fuel or ether in France today.

[J D 8 - Moderator]

1 hour ago, John T said:

I have a number of PAW engines ranging from the 19 and downwards in capacity, but the pick of the crop for me is the PAW55.  This is an absolute jewel of an engine, easy to start and surprisingly powerful for a 0.55cc engine.  I now have 3 of them, one in a 32" span "Poppet" which I fly with the prop on backwards to reduce the power a bit, and I've got one in a D.B. Rookie 68" span powered glider, which it powers surprisingly well. The Rookie is shown below as I originally built it with a PAW100.

 

 

  Being a self taught model flyer I had been trying to get the hang of RC flying with other assorted types, but it was the DB Rook 68 that showed the way.😁 Power was a DC Saber.

[Paul Marsh]

MDS - have a few...

Actually have a mk1 MDS 40 and always been a good engine. remember it was in a Flair Cub and had a huge tank in it, enough to fly an hour - which it did and ran the tank dry after an hour.

[payneib]

Been playing with my little OS10 and OS15 today. After four hours or perseverance, I'm just about getting a hand start out of them, within reasonable time limits. It seems like the difference between "not quite primed enough" and "flooded engine, hydro locked cylinder, soping glow plug" is approximately half a wisp of fuel vapor. 

 

I need to get the (very old) 19 mounted to something next. 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

3 hours ago, Paul Marsh said:

MDS - have a few...

Actually have a mk1 MDS 40 and always been a good engine. remember it was in a Flair Cub and had a huge tank in it, enough to fly an hour - which it did and ran the tank dry after an hour.

You posted in the wrong subject,,,,

 

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

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.