I remember a gent that used to buy old Victas off me from Ebay to do up and resell and he thought the "half crank" engines were an excellent design and said they were perfectly fine compared to the "full crank".
I used to like the distinct harmonious sound a near new powertorque used to make over a full crank. Only when they age they sound the same as a FC.

Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!