Thanks for writing such a helpful article.
It's coming along nicely. If you havent already, you may wish to link to and put a link on the '1/2a all the way!' site.
http://groups.msn.com/12Aalltheway
Glad you like it. Good idea about 1/2Aalltheway. I will post a link there.
ORIGINAL: mclintock
One thing I noticed that you might add is some mention of the importance of castor oil in the fuel for use in cox engines.
For cox engines, I believe it's generally agreed here that at least some castor oil should be present, for the benefit of the ball socket mostly. I used to be tough to find fuel with castor, but i think there may be a trend for fuel intended for 'nitro' rc cars to now include castor oil, as those poor dirty hot car engines need all the help they can get to survive. The castor oil is also available separately from Sig.
I am probably going to catch flack for admitting this, but I only ever use sythetic fuels now. I cannot see with modern technology why a synthetic oil would be any less effective in lubricating an engine. Castor Oil certainly used to be the hot setup in racing sports, such as motorcycle racing, but has all but been replaced now with synthetics. In my Dads new motorcycle, it is REQUIRED that you only use a special synthetic oil in it. Yes I am aware these are very different engines, but it is still an interesting trend.
I know it is generally agreed that castor is necessary for 049s so I will not post my views on the website until there is more of a following. But I will say this - I have never had a problem from lack of lubrication in an engine yet.
I hate to admit, but in a pinch, I have rubber-banded the wires onto the battery! Works fine until the battery gets greasy in the exaust of the engine then the rubber bands sail off. Had to do that last Christmas when I also got one of those worthless 'cold heat' battery powered 'soldering' irons.
hahah, well I can one up you there - I often hold the leads onto a battery by pinching it with my fingers!