can't run won't run! please help!!!

[cornish crum]

Hi guys. Please don't be put off by the length of this! I really could use your advice and help.
About 14 months ago my wife bought me my first ever niro rc "build it yourself" kit (she's a keeper!!) and I spent the next while building it piece by peice. I'm completely new to all this but I really enjoyed the build process and the kit came with glow starter, fuel and plug so I thought I was ready to roll. To start with I had difficulty getting it to start but this was helped by the mail-order company telling me the stock needle settings. Started it ok then and managed to run in about 2.5 tanks through before it stopped and wouldn't start again.
Life then got in the way (house move, job change, etc) and so the car sat just there looking pretty for the good part of 6 months (sacrillige i know!). I've come back to it a couple of times since but have yet to get it to even sound like it was gonna start (I think the first time I blew too much fuel into the carb and flooded it) and now I've got a car that still looks brand new but hasn't run for pretty much a year.
It has sat with half a tank in it ( recently emptied it and washed it through with more fuel- no joy) and when I plug the glow charger into the plug the coil itself glows bright but only the initial coiled part and not the whole bit of tungsten (or whatever the coil's made of!!). Does this constitute a fouled plug? Has leaving residual fuel or not using after run oil in it done any damage to the engine? Does it need stripping down and starting again?
I need to buy a heat and temperature gun as it's winter now (in the U.K 40's) and the car itself is called "acme condor" (the single speed non-pro version) which I've researched and found that at worst it's chinese rubbish and at best some other folks have reported frequent reliability problems.
It'd be a shame to give up on it as I built it from scratch but I'm looking to enjoy my nitro hobby and wonder if cutting my losses and binning it to buy something more "recognised" would be the better option? Or would electric be better suited to someone who can only get out with his rig every now and then?

I'm a complete noob who's trawled the internet looking for a solution (youtube squirrel rc has some good videos) but with no joy. Any and all advice on the issues I've raised would be really REALLY welcome.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Steve

 

[bergoff]

Did you take the carb off and clean it? Fresh fuel will work good. I would get a new glow plug, clean the carb really good. If the engine is really new they will be hard to start. And since its winter also in the UK I wouldn't run it until spring. You can use a hair dryer to heat the engine I'm sure your wife has one that will help with a fresh engine and also when its cold out.

Sent from my Eris using Tapatalk

 

[Metalhead Matt]

When in doubt, always change the glow plug. A completely charged ignitor is a must as well. Don't rely on alkaline batteries. They can't supply sufficient current for very long. I agree with bergoff about waiting until spring. Nitro+winter=bad experience. The engines can't build enough heat to expand properly, adding excess stress to the engine internals. At best you could wear the engine out fast. Worst case is a complete failure, i.e., broken rod, bearings, ect...

 

[cornish crum]

cheers guys for the info, will give it a good clean (any ideas on what does a good job?) and wait till warmer times.

The glow charger included in the kit is a flimsy looking 1x AA battery type. Should I invest in a decent/better one? If so, any recomendations?

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Richie]

hot shot nitro glow plug ignitor and charger combo, your lookin at bout 30 bucks

 

[MattWadzRC]

I would try taking out the glow plug, checking it still gets hot by putting it in a fully charged glow starter, if it does, put a heatgun or hairdryer over the top of the head with no glow plug in, and then slowly pull the pullstart to heatcycle the engine, once its very hot squirt a little bit of fuel in the head, then put the plug back and it give it a shot, it should start.