I went out to fly this afternoon in what I thought was pretty decent weather for mid-November in Nebraska. It was in the low 50's and sunny today, so I took my Tiger Stick out to the field for a little flying.
The Tiger Stick has a Magnum XLS .52A 2-stroke engine on it that is well broken-in and normally quite reliable once I get it started. I flew the plane last Saturday and Sunday without any problems, but the Magnum 2-stroke can be a bit stubborn to start initially when it's still cold. Once it fires up, it's just as easy-starting and reliable as my O.S. .46 FX engines are.
Long story short, I never got to fly this afternoon. The XLS .52A never loosened up enough for my electric starter to spin it. All I managed to do was chew quite a bit of rubber off of the spinner grip. I tried my glow ignitor and electric starter, as well as the glow igniter and electric starter of another club member who happened to be out when I was attempting to fly today. Fuel was flowing, but trying to prime the carburator a bit didn't seem to help either. I also tried a couple of different glow plugs.
Does anybody have any tips for getting cold-blooded engines to fire once the cooler weather sets in? How can I loosen up the engine so the starter can turn it? What can I do to reduce starting frustrations in the future? Thanks in advance for your advice!