Lawn mower repair will help you eliminate some of the fears you have for 1/5 gas cars. The motors are both classified as small engines. The concept of how they work is the same; it’s just one is two-stroke and the other is four-stroke.
Yes, both can be a little feisty or temperamental but that’s what makes them fun and unique. Everyone has an electric RC car these days, you can pick them up at any store. You don’t see a gas RC car that often, it raises eyebrows because of it.
When you learn to fix or repair something like an engine it’s a different feeling. It’s a challenge of its own that most people will never experience.
I remember the first time I walked into my first technical school class. I didn’t know anything about engines at all. I wasn’t good at fixing anything; completely terrified. The first assignment was to find an old lawn mower that doesn’t run and bring it to class with you. I found an old Brings & Stratton 3.5 engine that had been sitting in a shed for years.
The second assignment of the class was to start tearing the lawn mower apart and completely dismantling the engine. Once it was apart to understand that if you had fuel, ignition, and compression you could get it to run. That’s the rule for any engine, I still go by that when troubleshooting.