ORIGINAL: GaryHarris
I'm glad this topic came up. I am considering moving up to large scale and gas, but would prefer not to use gasoline for two reasons. One I live in a small apartment and storing gasoline may not be an option if the manager knew. [X(]
Back in the 60s & 70s I raced mini bikes and mini cycles in Southern California and it was common practice to convert our bikes to Methanol and maybe a tad of nitro. The basic rule of thumb was to triple the jet size and cut the oil in half for two strokes.
I would be very interested to hear from those who have done this with the current RC engines.
I don't really see the difference between storing a gallon of gasoline conpared to a couple gallons of methanol based fuel other then the smell. Both are pretty much just as flamable. As for using one or the other in a large model engine there are many advantages to gasoline. First would be the expense of gas. For a gallon of gas with penzoil 2 stroke oil added I pay about 4.50 here in sunny CA. For methanol I would have to estimate it being closer to 15.00 not to mention the gas used to drive to the speed shop to get it. Being a special trip one my be prone to buying and storing more then one gallon at a time. On a 50cc airplane run on gas I carry a 20oz tank, good for 20 mins of flight. The same engine on glow would need a 40 oz tank and not get the same 20 mins. Alcohol also attracts moisture as it evaporates. This causes glow engines to rust internally ( Bearings, crankshaft). Gasoline engines run cleaner. IMO they are also safer to operate as the ignition tends to make them behave a bit better. If you don't agree, how many of you would hand start a 150cc glow engine?
As for the original poster, my vote obviously goes for gas but do yourself a favor and look at more engines that are available. The brands that you mention are some of the lowest power to weight ratio engines available. They also have magneto ignition which means they have fixed timing. That means difficult starting and less power. The new DL20 will out power your list and be much lighter.