Sport_Pilot

The government has shipping regulations but do not restrict the sale of nitromethane. Gasoline is more harmfull to the envrionment, and shipping regs are worse for methanol than for nitromenthane. That is because gasoline has more than one harmful chemical, and both gas and methanol is more flamable than nitro.

Nitro is more expensive because it costs more to make.

Hemikiller

My Feedback: (125)

Do a club buy or mix your own.

I can't tell you how many guys I see on RCU and RCG with their location as Palm Bay, FL. Get together with them and do a group buy. Last case of fuel I bought cost me $50 as we bought 12 cases in one shot.



You can get a gallon of nitomethane on eBay for $50 shipped

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Torco-RC-Fue...item2c662c8b8c

Sig offers castor in quarts and gallon, Klotz sells their lubes in quarts, you can get that and methanol at any karting shop. There's a kart track just down the road from you...

http://www.hurricanekartinginc.com/

J330

My Feedback: (3)

That is quite true. I avoid calculating the total expenditures to keep my blood pressure in check.


Too serious to go to the LHS? I doubt the hobby shops that have been in my area for the last 35 years made it on non-serious customers. One of the best parts of visiting "Hogie" at Riverside Hobbies in Sebastian (25 miles each way) is to chew the fat with the guy, talk about the best crash last Sunday, and try out whatever new came in to the store. You can't get that kind of relationship mail order. He matches Tower, so I think he's a sharp guy.

J330

My Feedback: (3)

THANKS!! I think I'll give it a try. Alcohol has to be local to me too, speed shops in every town around here. A race track is in Bithlo FL. I bet I can get it cheap. Methanol, nitromethane, and oil, that's it, aside from pink, red, or green dye?

Sport_Pilot

Nitro is also made by Angus of the US. However they will no longer sell the fuel to drag racers because of the liability. But will sell to the hobby market, but diluted with methanol. It's the lawyers you know.

Sport_Pilot

If you call Morgans they will sell you their oils for cheap. Fox sells castor oil by the gallon for about $20+ bucks. Methanol is cheaper than gas.

crash1ace

I dunno, I still get Cool Pwer 15% nitro for around $18 a gallon. No complaints, its a fair price for me, and will continue to fly glow untill thet stop making them. I have no desire to move to gas anytime soon.

jetmech05

I don't defuel my gasser and I don't have a gas smell...I close the choke and install a plug in the vent line....good to go

grotto2

My Feedback: (2)

Don-
Some of the guys in our club were buying drums of 15% at considerable discount. You know I was doing it for years until I switched to electric for the pattern plane. Now I burn less than 5 gallons a year. It helps to plan on a bigger scale than onesies-twosies.
-Ron

predman

My Feedback: (7)

Once I went big gas was the way to go. I have one glow plane, it's a .40 size, the rest are gassers. When I start a new plane I always size the engines up and $3.75 a gallon wins every time for me. Also the cost, a Saito 180 is close or more $ than a gasser of equal or bigger size. Now the companies are producing smaller gas engines to fit smaller planes. It's the way to go now.

kochj

Nitro/glow fuel has always been about the same price....
IT just goes up slowly but it goes at a steady pace....

Benifits of glow.....GAS STINKS>... litrally... smells horrible....
I just got done running my 100cc twin, and having to tighten up the fuel dot, had fuel on hands....
Craps stinks all day....NOT NITRO....

Smaller planes are easier to setup at the field for me, and I can run 4 strokes at a nearby feild w/o getting peaple upset...
Try that with the china gasser and even if you place a proper muffler on it..... the 4 stroke is less irritating....

Where the price of GLOW becomes high...... IS when you fly a pattern plane w/ a YS 170 on 30% nitro all day long and fly every wk end ....
That is when you can start complaining about high Glow fuel prices.....

Look at it this way....
Grab a drink at a bar.,,, spend an easy 8$.....
Just don't go and buy any boose, or go to a bar, and you will have pleny left over for Fuel....

FuzzyDice

My Feedback: (6)

I just boughta16 quart case of Red Max 10% runs very well .http://www.fhsoils.com/model_prices.html

Model Fuel Sale
Fuel-Up With our REDMAX
Fuel-Up & Save the GREEN Sale
4 Gallons in 16 Quart Cases
10% Nitro $99.00-Save $50.00
30% Nitro $129.00-Save $57.00
50% Nitro $149.00-Save $81.00
Shipping Included to the Lower 48 States
Similar Savings on all Fuels
CALL 1-800-742-8484 FOR DETAILS

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

I don't have a problem with the gas smell at all. For me, the main reason to switch out was to get off of some of the glow costs throughout the year. I was dumping about 10-16 a day in glow fuel flying and with gas the cost is hardly even noticed.

Also if one plans their builds accordingly the cost to get into gas can be curved a lot and kept at a minimum. If you are running a sizable four stroke engine then a gas engine is about the same cost so the difference would be any cost in the airframe.

Today gas engines are much more readily available second-hand and makes getting into gas a cinch. Some guys say they would never fly glow once they get into gas, yet I don't hold to that. I still fly some glow and enjoy it, however I don't fly any costly glow anymore and I still have a couple glow engines that are almost new that I plan to put on the market soon.

It will leave me four glow planes left and three gas planes and I plan to get rid of one more glow plane leaving three of both gas and glow. I have two 30cc and one 50cc which for me is a fantastic fleet. I know I am not a serious RCer as most guys have dozens of planes [X(]

avidflyguy

My Feedback: (48)

i have too many small glow powered planes that i can't let them sit because glow fuel is too expensive, (25+) i tried electrics for a while and i don't really care for them because of their prices to me are too expensive compared to comparable glow engines. It pays to shop around, last year i stopped at a hobby shop i normally don't shop at to pick up some glow fuel for the flying season, it was 26.00/gal, because i was crunched for time i didn't drive 15 more minutes to my usual hobby shop that has the same fuel at 17.00/gal. needless to say that other hobby shop won't be seeing me again.

geeter

My Feedback: (110)

just for the sake of saying so,my fuel which is s&w 10-15% nitro costs about 20.00 a gallon. i have five planes a .46 os engine, a .47 gms engine, a italian st 61 engine, a .72 os supass 4 cycle and an 1.00 cu. in. evolution motor. my fuel costs are not high but are high enough for me. as the gas engines get smaller i may switch but the cost of the engines is to much right now. i have have had 50 cc gas engines and like them. they vibrate alot and like you say for bigger planes there great. believe me the 1.00 cu. in. evo 2 cycle is my limit in glow engines...........RON

asmund

Wow! You guys have inexpensive glow fuel "over there"[X(] It is ALOT more expensive here[] Will I continue to fly and burn as much as I can when the opportunity to go flying occurs? He.l yeah

kochj

I would be lucky to be able to go through a Gallon a day of glow fuel.....
That would be great..... I went through 1 gallon of fuel last year.... that 20$ spent wasn't a issue...

I do see the point though....

I have a q' for you guys....

If Someone had a website that offered new crank shaftw w/ bearings and a walbro carb and the hardware to mount it.... WOuld you purchase this??

Allowing you convert all the popular glow engines to Gasoline.... and do so properly.... 32-1 ratios..?????

hsukaria

I think that there is another option that has not been considered in this discussion; dropping the % of nitro in your fuel. It is achievable, I have migrated from %15 down to %5 nitro. You have to retune your engines, maybe use hotter plugs or increase compression. I even ran one of my engines on 0% without ill effects. That would cut down your glow fuel expense considerably. Plus, it is a lot less work and money than converting your existing fleet to gas.

kochj

The issue is more difficult w/4 strokes...
Saitos don't have a option to take out gaskets....
Patern flyers have been hit hardest with the fuel costs...
OS is comming out with a 40cc gas 4stroke that may fit the bill for patern...(I hope)
But in the end, electric is very reliable...and no one wants to see there 3000$ patern plane rip
it's gear out our worse, due to dead sticks or some other issue that comes up with IC engins...


I am a die hard fan of IC engines but have taken a look recently at lost or damaged aircrafts, and
90% of the time, it was due to a engine out that caused it....I lost my 1/3rd Cap, due to the da100
quiting at the worste time.... It was on it's 4th flight....
It was likely a lean bottom end setting.
Some believe that NY-rod will stretch when warmed/hot
and will cause the change in throttle settings... ( I doubt that was the reason though)
I switched my throttle servo to mount in the engine mount, and used metal rod with a robart connection.

Sport_Pilot

Does the $3.75 per gallon include the oil? If not how much does the oil cost per gallon.

tony0707

deleated the post

p-80

My Feedback: (1)

electrics will not replace glow for a while, i think glow still has its place . still heavier than comparable glow settups. flight times are short ,but you can buy a ton of batteries if you have the cash i suppose. It just doesnt do it for me no sound , I cant fly around at full throttle unless i want like 3or 4 min flight times then i may or may not overheat and burn something out , My flying style just doesnt include putting around much , for me glow is here to stay. The problem with the small gass motor again they lack the same power and they are heavier and larger then a comparable glow engine which for me is a big drawback having to gash up that brand new cowl for less performance,I will admit lately gass is getting much more appealing in these sizes especially with the inroduction of the mintor 22 and 33 .we will see, but for now glow is still attractive for alot of modellers.I think the rise in electrics has resulted from those that recently got into the hobby and are afraid to go glow and or have crazy noise restrictions were they fly . everything has its place at the end of the day

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

What engines did you do this on and what changes/adjustments did you do? I do have one larger glow I would like to keep if I could get the performance out of it on 5% that could be a consideration.

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

Remove head shims and increase compression. Europe has no nitro, hence FAI rules do not allow it. Nitro is not necessary. Look at Rossi engines.

I think glow fuel is way overpriced. Other than shipping costs, the componants are not that expensive if you keep the nitro content low. I am running almost all gas now, and it sure feels like I am being gouged everytime I buy glow. Since I now mostly fly large aircraft, gas is really the only practical way to go.

hairy46

My Feedback: (1)

Use to love Fig Newtons till they went up to near 5 bucks for half the cookies so I stopped buying them sometime ago. If glow fuel keeps going up then I will go a diffrent direction on fuel or diffrent hobby, I get so tired of hearing this went up for that reason or that went up forthis reason. Then nothing goes back down when made up problem goes away! I did stop racing when the metel for building a roll cage doubled inside a year. Just pure BS to me any more!