TampaRC

If there is a massive trend to gas engines for .40 sized planes and larger, I wonder if the cost of glow fuel would plummet with the demand dropping. Would this ever happen?

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

I get a little shudder any time I have to review anything thats not gas or electric any more.

thailazer

With so many gassers and electrics flying, I would have expected the demand for glo to already have dropped. Maybe not a massive drop like you inferred, but it must be significant. I've been tempted to switch to gas but the smell really annoys me so I stick with glow power. I think I did too much tinkering with two stroke engines when I was young.

Rotten40851

My Feedback: (2)

It seems to me like Nitro got more expensive, I would think if the demand was less the prices should be decreasing. my 2 cents

hookedonrc

After several years off, I am getting back not the hobby. I am back to 8 planes.... 5 electric, 2 gas, and 1 glow. I am moving to gas or electric depending on what size the plane is. And the one glow plane will be the only 1 as long as the cost is upwards of $25 to $30 per gallon. We used to have a hobby shop that mixed it, but now it is closed. So as long as the technology advances where glo is not needed, I won't be looking back. Maybe the truth is that the less it is required, the less is made, so the cost stays high or rises.

Live Wire

Every one in the line wants more money so there is no way for the price to go but up. No one wants to take a cut in pay to bring the price down and overhead keeps going up. Just like all the prices, they have to be raised to meet the demand for higher wages. The never ending ladder of life

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

Nitro methane is no longer made in the USA. It has to be shipped in from China with hazardous shipping rates. Its not going to get cheaper.
I am going to gas even for the small stuff. Horizon sells a 10cc and NGH makes a 9cc.
You can use Coleman gas on the small engines if you don't like the smell. It costs $10/gal though

eddieC

My Feedback: (2)

"Nitro methane is no longer made in the USA. "I found 2 US Manufacturers with a quick google search.NZ (previously Norvel) have a .40 gas engine on glow ignition. Neat engine, there's a lengthy thread on it on this site.We are a miniscule user of nitro. It's used as an industrial solvent , cleaner and to make other chemicals. And don't forget drag racing, where they run 90%+ !The retail hobby shops charge what the market will bear. Our club buys from Ritch's Brew by the case, and get it for $16-$22 per gallon in all different oil blends and percentages. It is about half the cost at what I see at some LHS.Sorry for the run-on sentences, it won't let me edit.

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

OK if they are selling it, I wonder where they get it?

OK I found a US manufacturer. Do you suppose this might have something to do with the price?


Nitromethane(NMâ„¢Nitromethane)fromANGUSChemi calCompany(ANGUS)ismadeintheUSA.Astheglo bal
nitromethanesupplyleader,we’recommittedtoi tssafeandeffectiveuseinthemarketsweserve. 
.ToreceivenitromethanefromANGUS,
customersmusthaveapprovedapplicationsandthe appropriatesafetyandsecuritymeasuresinplace. Beforewe
approveanewcustomer,wereviewtheenduseappl ication,chemicalcompatibility,handling,storage ,safetyand
security.Aspartofthiscommitment,we’vedeve lopedthisshortguidetohelpensuresafehandlin gandstorageof
yournitromethanesupply

Sorry for the presentation. I cut and pasted out of the ANGUS brochure. and the punctuation did not come along.
BTW years ago I bought glow fuel for $2/gal from a speed shop in LA. How does that grab you?

macdona

My Feedback: (3)

You gotta be kidding. they will up the price to make up for losing sales. Common sense doesn't exist anymore. The shorter the demand the higher the price.

eddieC

My Feedback: (2)

'They' are listed as manufacturers, not importers or distributors. Shipping from China is costly. If you can beat their cost by a few pennies per gallon, with a fresher product, makes sense the local manufacturer can clean up. 

Bill Vargas

My Feedback: (5)

What I have seen recently in the club that I am a member of is they buy the Ingredient’s,,, methanol, oil, nitro,,, to make their own club fuel. This was once a popular thing to do back in the day


BV

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

As far as nitro goes, we are a drop in the bucket compared to what the racing folks use

perreback

Nitromethane (NM™Nitromethane) from ANGUS Chemical Company (ANGUS) is made in the USA. As the global nitromethane supply leader, we’re committed to its safe and effective use in the markets we serve. To receive nitromethane from ANGUS, customers must have approved applications and the appropriate safety and security measures in place. Before we approve a new customer, we review the end use application, chemical compatibility, handling, storage, safety and security. As part of this commitment, we’ve developed this short guide to help ensure safe handling and storage of your nitromethane supply

You're welcome.

eddieC

My Feedback: (2)

" BTW years ago I bought glow fuel for $2/gal from a speed shop in LA. "

Still pretty cheap here for methanol. Did that fuel include nitro and oil?

acerc

I left Nitro two years ago because of the cost and oil all over the plane. Had to replace most of my fleet but it was worth it. I buy 5 gallons of gas at a time and mix 50-1. And I have not had to wipe an airframe down because of oil since. I just picked up 5gal and oil this morning, it was $34.06 total. That is 1-1/2 gals of nitro with all the mess.

Wagon1

I would love to move to gas, and for sport planes I will. The problem I have, is seeing a beautiful scale bird at the field, with every amazing detail, and being totally impressed. Right up until the pilot starts it up and it sounds like a piece of lawn equipment. The sound of gas engines is awful (not loud....awful). That is the same problem I have with electrics. We make our planes look like scale birds... but they sound like toys. Give me a nice, big sloppy glow 4 stroke any day.

DadsToysBG

My Feedback: (35)

When did a real war plane fly on a sloppy 4-stroke. LOL.

eddieC

My Feedback: (2)

abelard

Methanol, the principal component in nitro fuel, is one of the major chemical feedstocks on this planet, and world production is measured in the tens of million tons per year. And it's used in making some gasoline additives, which means the exploding Chinese automobile population will be sucking up ever more of it. The RC hobby could quit buying it tomorrow, and the producers wouldn't even notice unless they read Model Airplane News.

Nitromethane? All the nitro your RC club uses in a summer might power one run in a Top Fuel dragster.

Don't get your hopes up.

thailazer

That is good to know so Thank You for the tip. Are there any downsides to using it besides the price?

wheelan

right with you on the noise and smell of gas engines but the biggest furfy going is the need for nitro, glow engines just dont need it , i am running 10 glow engines at the moment from 120 4s to 2 super tigre 4500 and use no nitro in any of them and they all will idle right down and have plenty of power, just buy some methanol and mix some klotz 200 at 15% and your away, not very expensive either, i add a bit of castor and have no rust issues with bearings, been doing it for years, and yes when i was bored i did static tests with props and fuel and found little or no differance, also with no nitro you can lean the mixture and get better economy, a friend of mine runs smaller engines 55/90 size with the same results, just my 2 cents worth

abelard

That story has grown a bit in the telling. There was a serious shortage of nitro for model use a decade or so back, when one of the only two US plants making it blew up. RC suppliers were buying it at "when available" discount prices that put them at the bottom of the distribution priority list, and prices shot up as they ordered from overseas.

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

We seem to be comfortably immune to all of this here in Nebraska. Wildcat bottles a house-brand fuel (Patriot RC) for Hobbytown USA that I buy locally for $13.50 per gallon. It's 10% nitro with 80/20 synth/castor mix for the lubrication. I think they get $14.99 or $15.99 for the 15% stuff.

I drive a Toyota Corolla, so I don't fly anything bigger than a .60-to-.90-size airframe because anything larger wouldn't fit in my car. I've got lots of nice glow engines, fuel is still quite affordable here, and I don't even have to pay for the paper towels I use to wipe down my airplanes.

If I can just figure out how to buy new Enya engines direct from Japan on the cheap, I'd be living in paradise!

jcpenney

enya engines are sold in ENGLAND.......