Guys I am not putting anyone down with my comments, I just wonder how you feel about spending $4oo+ for a motor with almost no contest to use it in. Then maybe destroying it in the first minute off use. I fly stunt and I see guys spending $700-800+  on a power set up but it last for years. I flew combat back in the 1950-70's and it got to expensive for me back then.   
  Why I brought this up is I saw the guy buying combat motors in the for sale section and he said he bought 6 motors for $? . Are you all very rich or is this just someone who has to have all there is. The flyer is more important that the motor. what is the point in $500 motors
Ed

Hey Eddy, no offense taken at all.

I simply collect & don't fly the rare ones, only display for me only

At this stage of my life I tend to spoil my self just a little.

P.S. I still have my Cox Peee Wee .020 that I bought when I was 5 in 1960

Mike

When Nelson engines came out at the prices of $175 for FAI and $275 for Fast, I thought it would kill combat.

But the opposite happened. Before Nelson you could buy an engine for $50 to $80 and have it reworked by professional machinist to get competitive. 
So the events were in the hands of about five people.  While Nelson's prices were high, they put ready-to-run contest grade engines in the hands of anybody who cared to buy them.
Coupled with Ukrainian airframes and hardware, a person can now step into the arena with bona fide World Champion equipment for as little as $800, but absolutely NO personal building skills required.  A lot of people have bought into this deal.

In my short 64 years I have observed that: Most competitive enthusiasts desire best of best equipment....some try to buy it ---some adapt what they have....does not matter the hobby discipline

Most of us grew up in the " Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday" racing world....this did NOT just apply to Drag or Circle cars:
Motorcycles
Sail Boats
Sports cars
Reno full scale airplanes
Tether cars
Super turbo hydrofoils
Jim Walker Fire babies with hot rodded engines on 40~60% Nitro

The list is endless

I suspect the OP was busting on me for my acquisition of 3ea N36C combat engines for $375 a piece back in 2014....

There are many many unobtanium* items in our hobby these days now...... $375 for a state of the art combat engine is not as obscene as $65 for a used McCoy red head 35....

And for those who claim combat can be done cheap in speed limit of F2D....yes it can be...but the top dogs are NOT running ASP $45 21~25 engines.... in speed limit....ask them what they desire to be competitive

F2D is constantly adapting to newer and newer Eastern engines that the FAI restricts exactly like NASCAR restrictor plate races..... a shame really to have to spend $275 + for a Cyclon or Fora to be choked down well below its potential power output....

Speed is competitive, and usually the  equipment is very expensive as is the learning curve
Stunt (PAMPA) is Expensive at the top levels...just a fact...yes Joe Gilbert can win with a $45 Fox 35 and a 100  buck Ringmaster...but few others can...
Scale done right can get darned expensive in a hurry

Same with restoring a 1972 Triumph 650 Bonneville or a 1976 Kawasaki Z1B 900 or a old 1957 Chevy Nomad...

Hobbies can be very inexpensive---- or horrendously expensive....

It is ONLY YOU who can assign a cost benefit analysis to you expenditures.....

I will always send a lot more on childhood grins than I ever spend on my teeth or current cars....

* No way a Prather Pitch gage is worth $450 or a Adjusto jig for over $300....yet when every they are offered the bidding war is fun to watch

what something costs ME is NONE of your business--- and quite frankly I am not interested in your opinion about if I am or am not insane, dumb, ignorant , or stupid.....all attributes I infer from your implication in the OP

I've been in and out of the combat game since 1960.

The inability to get the best equipment has generally always been at factor.   

The were a few brief "golden ages" when everybody had a good chance, but they didn't last.

The advent of the ST C35 & G21 was a happy time.  Later on, 1977, when Duke brought out the Fox Mark III.  F2d had some good times with the Cox Conquest, Nelson, and now the FORA.  In addition the the chance of competing in WC, F2D has offered more first rate equipment that runs off-the-shelf than any other event, with the possible exception of 1/2A when the TeeDee was king.

Fred;
      I was not trying to say that some of the top competitors don't spend $$$ on their equipment. I was trying to point out that you don't have to spend big bucks to have fun flying combat or model aircraft of all types. I repeatedly see people complaining about the cost of "being competitive".
     Here's the truth: The average modeler will never be a "top competitor" for many reasons and that's fine. I just get tired of hearing people claim that expensive engines and models is what's keeping them from being a "top competitor" or keeping them from enjoying the hobby. That's like claiming the cost of a set of golf clubs and a couple golf shirts is whats keeping someone off of the Pro golf Tour. A serious combat competitor "someone who wants to make the USA F2D team, or wants to shoot for MACA #1 will come to realize the cost of engines and airplanes is a small part of the budget. The real cost of competing will include hotels, airline tickets, entry fees, gas, and time (lots of time) practicing, trimming airplanes, repairing airplanes, rebuilding engines, etc., etc. There were 60 sanctioned combat competitions in 2019 that counted toward the "MACA TOP 20". The guys at the top of the heap went to over 50 of them. It's not for everybody and that's OK.
     People can have a lot of fun flying "combat" type airplanes at their local club field on a pretty small budget if they want. The "speed limit" event was started for that very reason. You can run any engine you want and any airplane you want as long as it's safe, goes at or under the speed limit, and is flown on 60' x .018" lines.
   The same can be said for Stunt (or PA if you insist). You don't need a RO Jett, a PA, or a Stalker 76 to learn the pattern and compete in beginner thru advanced or even expert at a local contest. You can use any number of inexpensive glow engines or you can get a complete electric set-up for a 35-46 size airplane for under $150 from RSM.
    By all means, if you want a top of the line engine and have the $$ buy it and enjoy. I just don't want newbies or retreads to be discouraged by posts like the OP wrote.
   Enjoy those Nelsons Fred, they are like model engine jewelry or art.

When Nelson engines came out at the prices of $175 for FAI and $275 for Fast, I thought it would kill combat.

But the opposite happened. Before Nelson you could buy an engine for $50 to $80 and have it reworked by professional machinist to get competitive. 
So the events were in the hands of about five people.  While Nelson's prices were high, they put ready-to-run contest grade engines in the hands of anybody who cared to buy them.
Coupled with Ukrainian airframes and hardware, a person can now step into the arena with bona fide World Champion equipment for as little as $800, but absolutely NO personal building skills required.  A lot of people have bought into this deal.

I'd have to disagree, Paul.  When anybody could buy a plane and engine for $400 or so they still couldn't wing contests flying a match at 125-130mph.  Most of the top pilots never aimed for much over 115.  The Nelson could pull a much bigger plane and outmaneuver a smaller, faster in level flight plane easily.  A Fox Mk VI ABC was a pretty good engine and didn't need much difficult reworking and you could get 2 or 3.  But in the end the best pilots kept on winning and the less enthusiastic flyers kept quitting until Fast pretty much died.  Plus combat flyers were never very good at recruiting.  The event really takes flying a LOT of matches against someone better to learn, and that can be hard to come by.

Fortunately, F2DFast is just as much fun, the planes and engines are usually very evenly matched.  From the pilot's POV the action is faster and the planes tighter turning so it's more exciting.  The costs are a lot lower than F2D, but the avid F2D flyers can easily fly it as a warm up event for a full blown F2D event.