Which 3.5 Nitro Outboard To Buy???

[rcguy76]

PLANNING ON BUILDING A 30-32 INCH TUNNEL HULL
WITH A 3.5 CC (0.21) OUTBOARD AND WANTED SOME RECOMMENDATION FROM YOU ALL ON WHICH COMPANY TO BUY THE OUTBOARD FROM

K & B WANTS $190 FOR THEIR 3.5 SS OUTBARD
ACE HOBBY WANTS $180 FOR THEIR 3.5 OB
AND OS WANTS LIKE $280 FOR THIER 3.5 OB

SO ANY RECOMENDATION, SUGGESTIONS, OR PROBLEMS YOU HAVE HAD WITH ANY OF THESE BRANDS WOULD BE APPREICATED

IS THE OS WORTH THE EXTRA 100 BUCKS???

ALSO..WHAT KINDA SPEED CAN I EXPECT WITH THAT MOTOR AND THAT SIZE TUNNEL HULL

THANKS
CHRIS

[Kris Flynn]

newer 3.5 tunnels are usually within the range of 27" to 29", im pretty sure 32" length tunnels use 7.5 outboards (maybe a bit longer than 32", not exactly sure)
anyway the the K&B 3.5 Aircooled or SS version is supposed to be a very good engine, but just going on what ive heard :)
im not sure that the ABC hobbies OB is very competative (someone correct me if im wrong) and not to many racers use them
the OS ob is definitely a nice OOB but the price is way too high IMO

i was/am thinking about getting into 3.5 nitro tunnels (when i find a lake to use it in) and i would go with the K&B 3.5 SS...were you going to use your own design tunnel or one from someone else plans?

Kris

Also, would you be able to let me know of where i can find some pictures of the ABC hobbies OB leg?

[rcguy76]

THANKS....K&B WAS PRETTY MUCH WERE I WAS HEADING ...WANTED TO MAKE SURE FIRST

THAT ABC OUTBOARD CAN BE FOUND ON ABC'S WEBPAGE:

http://www.acehobby.com/acehobby/products/engines/boat/index.html

OR TOWER HOBBIES AT:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p.pgm?Q=1&I=LXKG04&P=7

AS FOR PLANS....I HAVE A OLD MRP BUD LIGHT HULL WHICH I'M GOING TO COPY ONTO AUTOCAD AND CREATE PLANS WHICH LETS ME CREATE BULKHEAD TEMPLATES, ECT

[twmaster]

RC Guy,

The K & B is the best choice in my opinion. There are a zillion of them out there so there are loads of parts and accessories. I have seen them run very well on 29" or so tunnels.

[Dan Chase]

I have a Dumas tunnel with a almost new gold head K&B SS 3.5, I'm selling for $200 + shipping. The hull needs a new hatch cover made for the radio box (easy to do) and you would need to order a new cowel. It comes with a Giant scale servo to drive the OB and all the rigging. You also need to add a throttle servo. I have pics if your interested. Danimation@aol.com

[Kris Flynn]

Hey Dan, im looking to get into nitro (now that i have found other who run and a lake to run at) anyway would you sell the K&B 3.5 SS O/B separate to the boat? if so how much and how much have you used it?

Thanks
Kris

[DavidJ]

Actually you might want to stay away from K&B unless you find a great price or some good info on the fate of the company. Also just trying to get an engine can be near impossible, I waited almost a year for a K&B engine before I gave up. There are lots of used ones out there, but I've heard that getting parts can be very tough.

RCBoat.com would be a better place to ask this question there is a thread on it right now about K&B
http://www.rcboat.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Tech;action=display;num=1036021566

Hope the link works, good luck.

[vicman]

Not too long ago, K&B went through a change in ownership which left its employees in disarrey. I dont know how true this is, but with my experience trying to get parts for older K&B OB's its very likely true or at least partially.

Story is that during the change the company was going under and a Cal. Co. took possession, leaving people high and dry, who then packed up most of the stocked items and disappeared with them. Thats the fishy part of the story. The rest is that they did file an extreme loss during this time, and the marked was influxed with new engines that were not accounted for in sales. To combat this, they required reciepts just to get replacement parts outside of normal wear items such as shafts or bearings. This I know is fact cause I coudnt get a new rudder for mine without the reciept. Furthermore the design was changed slightly and the new parts were incompatable with the old one to prevent the thousands of "stolen" engines from being serviced. As to the stories entirety, I think it has some resemblance to a tall tale but, I have recieved the same story from more than one source. Keep in mind that is the very short version and like I said, sounds somewhat fishy.

vicman

[Ron Olson]

You might see the K&B's back out again around February with the key word being "might". They are supposed to have a newer motor that is better than the SS version also and I think that is going to be water-cooled. The OS outboards are going out of production, so if you want one of those you'd better grab one up soon! The Thunder Tiger has carb problems and isn't very fast from what I've seen. I've got a Dumas Hot Shot with an older K&B hanging off it with a radio that belongs to a friend that is for sale for around $200.00, e-mail me at owetpaintaol.com if anyone is interested.