Newbie Gasser Questions

[d-rudie]

Hey all,

I've been looking into buying my first Gasser. At the moment I'm focusing on the Spectra G, Predator NX or Maxum. (Any thoughts on these choices is very welcome ) However I have a couple of questions:

How do the gasser engines go in the way of maintenance? Do they need to be rebuilt or re-bored or replaced regularly? How much flight/life time should I expect to get out of a motor?

Secondly, most people seem to say that it's just luck of the draw as to whether you get an engine that vibrates a lot or only some. My question is, how accurate is this? How smooth can the gasser become? Is it enough for aerial video?

Cheers guys.

Blake

[DebianDog]

Hey all,

I've been looking into buying my first Gasser. At the moment I'm focusing on the Spectra G, Predator NX or Maxum. (Any thoughts on these choices is very welcome ) However I have a couple of questions:

How do the gasser engines go in the way of maintenance? Do they need to be rebuilt or re-bored or replaced regularly? How much flight/life time should I expect to get out of a motor?

Secondly, most people seem to say that it's just luck of the draw as to whether you get an engine that vibrates a lot or only some. My question is, how accurate is this? How smooth can the gasser become? Is it enough for aerial video?

Cheers guys.

Blake

Do not forget Bergen and Vario

I do not know anyone that has had to rebuild them other than because they wanted to.

When is the last time you rebuilt your weedeater?

Months of flight time. Heck the motor does not even start breaking in till your second gallon and that is hours of flight time.

The AP guy that are not electric run gassers. Most use a Hanson modified motor that is supposably smoother than the factory one.

[EricTheRed]

I evaluated the gassers a few months ago and I decided to give Josef at www.Airstarintl.com a shot. There were some hard feelings with Air Star as recent as Janurary, however they apper to have cut their ties to Vario and are moving forward. They are a bit slow on returning e-mail or voice mail, but the simple design and well thought out placement of all of the components appealed to me. So far, 2 gal thru the motor, and it is running strong. Very satisfied with the product.
-Eric

[gorn]

I have a Maxum, went with the Hanson tuned motor.
I have some vibes, but Im certain thats either from my amount of runout on the clutch and fan hub, or because she is still slobbering rich.
I get 21mins of slow forward flight, the odd medium paced climbout and some hovering.
The only maintenance I forsee is the constant tightening of the muffler lol and if I do something stupid and lean the motor out too much, possible rebuild.
These gas motors run without a rebuild for AGES.
I dont speek from experience here, but I have read so much that it did my head in lol.
The only time I saw rebuilds mentioned was from tuning mistakes or for upgrading the stock motor to Hansons latest spec.

[ArthurKnowles]

I have a Predator Carbon SE gasser. I sent the motor (23cc) in to Hansen to be trued and balanced. Plus I use a Z-Carb carburator insulator to better seal air leaks around the carb. I don't think my motor vibrates any more than a good 90 ~ 120 2 stroke. I did have a couple of screws (muffler and landing gear) vibrate out on the first hover, but I just retightened the muffler bolts and used a bit of blue locktite on the landing gear bolt and have not had any other problems to date.

My motor is also still breaking in. I'm using Saber synthetic at 50:1. It takes anywhere from 2 ~ 8 gallons to really break it in on synthetic depending on oil content, oil type, etc. Longevity really isn't an issue unless you run it too lean. One lean run can kill it if you are unlucky. Since the motor is ringed, if you are lucky a new ring, or an oversize ring, could fix it. A lot depends on how bad, if any, you score the piston & liner. No new ring will cure that problem.

[jfint]

I too have an airstar Mongoose, and its really quite smooth. As to rebuilds, I think you can expect over 100 hours on a motor, maybe more, as long as you keep it cool. I think your machine choice depends on what you want to use it for, if you want acrobatics/sport flying as the main thing then a machine running 710's might be your best bet, but if you want smooth lifting power, than an airstar or Vario style machine is probably a better choice. Just FYI, the Airstar will take any acrobatic abuse you can throw at, thats just not why I bought it.

[rbort]

The Spectra-g is a top quality amazing heli. The 3D performance is second to none and it will even turn nitro pilot's heads when they watch you wring it out! Stepping aside from 3D, its a very smooth machine that is precise, crisp and feels like its on rails, especially with the tempest head option.

I've had mine for almost 2 years now, 2 year aniiversary coming up on 9/21. Today I finished logging flight #361. 15 minute flights so just over 90 hrs in the air. Most of the machine is still original parts, I've had one "fender bender" from a hover and one boom strike on landing due to a failed elevator servo. Quality is certainly there and everything fits together nicely when you build it. I'll go out on a limb and say if you get one you probably won't feel the need to fly any nitros after that. Its become my #1 machine and I love the way cruises the skys!

For a motor, mine is equipped with a Hanson 26 3D plus. Definately spend the extra buck and get a balanced motor as it will be smoother than any stock motor. Worth the money as anything you can do to reduce vibrations in any machine is worth its cost for the longevity of the entire ship. Motors last forever unless you damage them by running too little oil and overheating them. I've had motors go over 400 flights no sweat. Actually the one is my Spectra now had over 400 flights on it before I pulled it out of my 1005 gasser and sent it in to Al to upgrade it to the 3D plus motor (it was a 26 Pro before).

The smoothest thing for aerial video would be an electric. Gas will work, many people have done it with several platforms -- the 1005 gasser, the Spectra (know a guy locally who uses it), varios, Predators, you name it. Generally speaking I think you can get the right camera equipment to hide any shakes by using a higher shutter speed, etc.

If I had to grade helis, I would say:

Spectra-g is the best 3D heli -- lightest, most maneuverable, but more expensive
Vario is best suited for scale. It is also one of the smoothest gassers out there but also the heaviest, Poor heavy 3D performance. The most expensive machine.
Predator is an all around heli -- good 3D performance, cheaper than most, lower quality parts, and many guys use it for camera work. Had isssues with parts availability and support, but seems like it may be solved now.
Maxum is the new kid on the block. Heavily pushed and advertised by "gorn", "shiru" and "pinoy". Those guys can sometimes have long conversations about it back and forth in a topic and before you know it there is 50 repies between them. Seems like a PCB board machine, a bit on the heavy side according to gorn, about 15 lbs. I'd say its close to the Vario weight though the Vario might be slightly heavier. Have never seen one in person myself, but those 3 guys will tell you maxum maxum maxum buy buy buy!

Hope this helps!

-=>Raja.

[d-rudie]

Thanks to everyone that has contributed to this thread; all responses have been great as usual! Thanks!

Well that certainly puts my mind at ease in relation to maintenance issues. And in regard to vibration, seems it's generally agreed that the extra money a balanced and well tuned motor is well worth it in the long run?

To be honest I think I'm currently leaning towards the Spectra G Gasser ship for a bit of all-round flying, as well as some photography.

Just a final question, how much could I anticipate the Spectra, or any similar gasser ship, to be able to lift/carry for a flight?

Thanks again everyone.

Blake

[Avi_Y]

I am not familiar with the new models, but as for vibrations, I fly an X-Cell 1005 Gasser, and it flies falwless ly, without vibrations.
By the way, you can balance your engine to some extent on your own, by taking the flywheel off the engine, and balancing it on a propeller balancer.

[d-rudie]

Another question :P : Where is the best place to look for a motor that has been balanced? For example the Hanson 3D, but any models capable of doing the job. I seem to be only able to find the stock models.

Where should I look for mufflers? I'd like the model to be as quiet as possible... I hear people use the Hatori SB12 with good results?

[gorn]

Rbort
I had a chuckle at your post.
I didnt realise how it must look from the outside.
Im just excited about my heli is all, and I get kinda talkative too :D