Engine Doctor Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 We have a "Whats your favorite engine" post so whats your least liked or hated rubbish engine ? I'll kick off with the " Flash 35" they were clapped out before getting run in ! Internals made of butter and low quality butter at that. A very dhort lived "Flash" in the pan. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J D 8 - Moderator Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 Friend had a Frog 80, all it did was bite your finger unlike my Frog 100 which was a singer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff S Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 I'm surprised that it's gone this far (3 posts!) before someone mentioned MDS 40. The one I had probably delayed my learning to fly RC by about a year. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Hearnden 1 Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 (edited) I bought a Matador as my first radio model off someone in Basingstoke Model AIrcraft club. It had an OS10 on it & I never, ever had it started. I suspect it was worn out. The radio got transplanted to a Banjo with a Frog 3.49 on it which was much better. Edited October 6 by Jim Hearnden 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
payneib Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 Evolution 15cc Petrol, seen here hauling my massively overweight Acrowot round the sky. It's one of the old ones, with a "glow style" non-pumped carb, and she's been an utter pig to get right. She starts easy, you think it's running well, good access to "glow style" HS needle tuning, until you hit max chat in the air, and nothing happens. It just doesn't go fast. Semi regular dead sticks. Mostly tracked down to a "vibrating plunger thingy" that sits in the carb sandwich and vibrates between two plastic membranes - it sticks. Most two strokes I can tune by ear, four strokes I need a tacho for, but once theyre set, they're set (glows usually need a tweak as the weather changes). I have to tacho this engine before every flight because running perfectly, and no power in the air sound exactly the same, and it's only a 250rpm difference between the two conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J D 8 - Moderator Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 2 hours ago, Geoff S said: I'm surprised that it's gone this far (3 posts!) before someone mentioned MDS 40. The one I had probably delayed my learning to fly RC by about a year. MDS 40 [mk2 I think] only engine I have ever chucked in the bin. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedBaron Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 My Frog 100 never even fired. I wore it out just by flicking and flicking!!!!!!!!!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 Most frustrating engine? My first Cox .049 fitted to my Cox Stuka when I was a youngster - only rarely got it to do more than give a brief burp, certainly never managed to run it for more than a minute, but it did inflict a number of stinging cuts, even using the spring starter. Could have put me off aeromodelling for good, but didn't. Didn't know anything about high nitro fuels then, but in later years had much more success with those wee Cox .049s, eventually being able to get them to run well, even on low nitro fuels. Have still got at least one of them somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul De Tourtoulon Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 I had so many of them, till I learned that it has been me who didn't know how to treat them. One exception already named here, now replaced by this. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Hilton Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 Mds 61 There isn’t room for a full description!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry Mark Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 47 minutes ago, Alan Hilton said: Mds 61 There isn’t room for a full description!!! ‘Many Dead Sticks’. Remember more than a few, never again. 🤣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry Mark Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 RCV58. Tried so hard to like it and form a relationship, never happened. 🤣 Don’t even know where it went, thankfully still not in the attic collection. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon H Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 RMX40 2 stroke. Just trash The OS LA series. Liners fell apart after about 2 minutes. Never owned any, but all 2 stroke petrol engines as the sound is offensive 😉 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 Would be RCV 58 for me also, huge disappointment. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff S Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 IIRC this P38 flown by a club member back in 2006 was equipped with RCV engines. Luckily, Dave is very good pilot and managed to get it in safely on one engine. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.4g Shaun Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 Like ED. The Flash 35 I owned was run out before it was run in. 😆 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J D 8 - Moderator Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 I have been running a SP 60 in my SNJ many years, only issue is it liked to loose mufflers so now it just runs without. Exhaust not that noisy anyway but rattles like an old radial engine, quite apt for the model. Cooling not an issue if baffles set up as per instructions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Hilton Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 2 hours ago, Merry Mark said: ‘Many Dead Sticks’. Remember more than a few, never again. 🤣 Metal doorstop or more damn stress 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 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. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Wolfe Posted October 7 Share Posted October 7 Indian Mills .75 😒 Conrods made from cheesium chewed oval at the big end after a few runs and thankfully the poor thing decided to commit hari-kari mid flight by shearing it's crankshaft. It was not pushed hard, just nowhere near the quality of the original or some of the better clones. Sad but true 🙃 * Chris * Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken anderson. Posted October 7 Share Posted October 7 1st engine i bought....ME Heron/1cc Diesel...couldn't get it to go,took it back to the model shop where i bought,lad behind the counter said"it'll take a couple of weeks before it'll run decent"... ken Anderson..ne....1.....heron dept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Wood Posted October 7 Share Posted October 7 A couple of early 80s/90s Thunder Tigers - a 20 & a 40. The 20 seized in flight & the 40 never ran reliably. Later TTs were more reliable. A DC Spitfire was my first motor & it took an age to get running. The contra piston seemed to be stuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul De Tourtoulon Posted October 7 Share Posted October 7 11 hours ago, john stones 1 - Moderator said: Would be RCV 58 for me also, huge disappointment. Oh dear me too, I thought that I had a dud one, so I bought another, just as bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Engine Doctor Posted October 7 Author Share Posted October 7 15 hours ago, J D 8 - Moderator said: MDS 40 [mk2 I think] only engine I have ever chucked in the bin. But you could have damaged the bin 😉 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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