Bret1

Has anyone ever tried using an alternative fuel in their plane? Maybe something like Coleman lantern fuel or Rubbing alcohol? It seems like it would be alot cheaper if it worked!

Doug D.

You may want to discuss this with Clearance Lee with RCModeler. He can tell you the ins and outs of such fuels and if they will even work.
[&:]

swooper

1. Only alcohol will work with a glow plug, so you'd have to install an ignition system to use other fuels and thereby lose any possible $aving$.
2. Diesel conversion is a possiblity, but I doubt the fuel's much cheaper and is a lot harder to find.
3. The price of fuel isn't really very high, and it isn't a major part of the overall cost of flying r/c. Say you're flying .40-size planes and use a full 8 oz. tank per flight. These would be good 15-20 minute flights. You'd get 16 flights per gallon at about 1 dollar per flight. Burn half a gallon on a Saturday for 8 bucks, the price of a movie ticket. It costs me more to drive to the field than I burn in fuel. We generally spend far more wrecking planes than flying 'em, so the best way to save money is to fly more carefully and with better luck!

bhole74

The local gas stations carry it for $1.61/ gallon.


[quote][2. Diesel conversion is a possiblity, but I doubt the fuel's much cheaper and is a lot harder to find.

LouW

bhole74, the fuel mix for model two stroke diesel engines consists of a mixture of kerosene, ether and oil. Just putting automotive diesel fuel in the tank won't work. You can make your own fuel, but it involves obtaining ether, usually from starting fluid aerosols, blending it with kerosene and oil, and storing it in a metal container that will prevent evaporation of the ether. The commercially available fuel is priced close to glow fuel, but is not available at most hobby shops so shipping must be added to the price.

Bret1, Only alcohol will work in a glow plug type engine. The platinum wire of the plug reacts with alcohol to keep it glowing and ignite the charge. Other fuels like gasoline and coleman lantern fuel won't react with the plug. Rubbing alcohol is 70% water. If you could obtain 100% isproponol, it might work but it wouldn't be cheap. In the old spark ignition days I tried running denatured alcohol and caster oil and the engines would sometimes run but not very well.

As swooper said, fuel is not a major cost of operating a model airplane. Using fuel with 0-5% nitro would save a little.

bhole74

Thanks for clearing that up Lou. I guess all the hype about converting to diesel is B.S. in my book. I personally plan to stick with Wildcat, at $12.75 a gallon, it's an excellent fuel and easy on the pocketbook.

FHHuber

There are some advantages to converting to diesel... if you learn how to deal with the engines.[&:]

The diesel will idle slower and will swing a MUCH larger prop ata slower rpm. They also tend to burn less fuel per minute. (sort of like going to 4-stroke glow....)

The prceedure for starting a diesel is a bit different... you have to adjust the engine compression and fule mix for starting...w hent he engine gets going you have to coordinate changing the compresion and fuel mix to the running settings. This takes a bit of practice to do correctly.

Glow engines are easier to deal with.

Jarod

i have got a ? regarding this, i just bought a old plane for 75$ and it didnt come with any nitro, i wondered if i could alcohol, or just buy a quart of nitro fuel, if i could use alco how would i do it to not damage the engine, oh, the engine size is a .40 if that will help any.
thanks

DanPeoples

Has anyone successfully converted or produced a 4-stroke diesel model engine?

crownvic

Coleman or white gas works very good in gas motors and you get away from that gasoline smell

MERRY CHRISTMAS

lonnie

Dsegal

> Rubbing alcohol is 70% water. <

Nope, it is 70% alcohol.

bigchap

with reply to your question dan,the answer is yes you can get a lazer 4-stroke diesel,they are made in the uk.