Model Airplane Engines

As most remote control airplane hobbyists know one of the key elements to provide a good flight distance for their plane is that of the airplane engine. While you may think that you need to have just any old airplane engine installed, you will be far off the mark. There are two types of model airplane engines that can be installed. These are the 2 stroke and the 4 stroke engines. These engines are also referred to as 2 cycle engines and 4 cycle engines.

The engine firing cycle is not the only difference to be found in model airplane engines. You have the physical appearance and the engine size to be looked at too. In the physical look the 2 stroke is the easier to find and cheaper engine type. These types of model airplane engines are generally the ones that are used for beginner airplanes hobbyists.

The 4 stroke engine will give your model airplane a more realistic sound as you pilot the plane. They also produce more torque and noise at lower levels than their 2 stroke counterpart. Now apart from these you will be able to identify the model airplane engines which are found in these planes by various methods.

One of the ways that you can identify the different model airplane engines is by the size of the engine. This engine is given a number that indicates the capacity of the engine. This size is stated in cubic inches. Sometimes the model airplanes will also be identified by the same number as the model airplane engines.

Now model airplane needs the use of glow plugs. These glow plugs are used to help power up the model airplane engines during the initial ignition phase. Once the model airplane engines have become fully heated, you will discover that the glow plugs will remain hot for the entire flight from the heat that is already in the engine chamber. There is however a problem which is known to develop with these glow plugs.

This problem is a possible failure which can occur at any time. For this reason when you are flying your model airplanes it is wisest to have some spare glow plugs on hand. As with all vehicles even model airplanes have a need for a carburetor. The carburetor for model airplane engines is called a venturi. This is the place where the air and the fuel mix.

The opening and closing of the venturi provides your model airplane with the speed that it needs. As you see while model airplane engines may seem complicated at first they are really simple once you take the time to look the details over and understand what is happening.