Hi Bill & Derek,
Sure you do get failures with both systems ......no argument at all. Electric has "different" problems, but of course Murphy's Law still applies. The difference in reliability shows up more in bad weather where you it is a lot easier to set up and know that you will have a good motor run without fuel mixture problems. Lean or rich will cause a lousy flight. Set and electric system a bit fast or slow and it will stay as set and fly pretty well either way. On the price story, a system like Igor's with active regulation is the best you can get and will cost quite a lot. A constant rpm setup like Bob Hunt was flying did pretty well (or what??) and is very predictable in wind and mucky weather, and costs a lot less. Let's now take a system to replace your PA 61 and pipe:
E-Flite Power 32 $75.00
50 amp ZTW esc $50.00
KR Governor timer system with programming card (you only need one programming card for any amount of timers) $49.50
Total = $174.50
The "fuel" for this system will be a 5-cell lipo, and the prop could be an APC 12 or 13" E-prop. Batteries, like fuel are not part of this equation for the power package. Some get 150 to 200 flights on a pack, and other like Igor get over 400 flights. That setup will fly your existing stunter as well or better than the PA 65. If you really want a top class motor like the MVVS 8,0/680 with Swiss quality military spec bearings and workmanship 2nd to none, I see that you can buy them in the USA for around $145.00. Lets just say it all costs $250.00, this is half the price of your suggested $500.00
Bill, the prices you paid for the PA engines are from a while back, and as far as I know, you cannot buy PA engines any more. Be that as it may, let us take the popular .40 sport setup with the standard LA .40 or .46. A basic electric motor like the E-Max/Arrowind 2820 will outfly any LA or FP 40 setup for very much the same price. I have done a lot of work with this size of setup and there are loads of customers out there who will attest to this fact. So sure, you had great value from your PA engines over the years. They were the standard for top class engines. Henry Nelson engines with superb mods by Randy Smith really lead the way and set a standard that was hard to beat for that time. Electric brushless outrunner motors are straightforward things with no spinning armature and only bearings to pack up. Sure some magnets do come loose but on the better quality motors, this is not a problem.
In the last world champs, Loren Nell from New Zealand and I both used cheap E-Max 2826 motors with APC 12 x 6 pusher props and 4-cell Nanotech lipo's. We had plenty of power and control in the bad conditions. None of us were blown out in the violent wind in qualifying. He was flying a Thundergazer, and if you take a kit from RSM plus a basic power package like I've just mentioned, you are not talking about big bucks, but you will have a high performance system that is basically Plug n' Play. Sure....... Loren and I only placed somewhere in the 30's but that had little to do with our power packages! I felt really pleased about placing in the middle of the bunch with such a low cost system. I paid around $45.00 for my E-Max and used it to show what could be done with a low cost motor and simple electric system. I had an MVVS motor as well, so it wasn't that I did not have a high quality motor. A real bonus for me was that I did not have to put up with lousy fuel from the contest organizers! That is my 10 cents worth!
Keith R