Nitro Fuel To Deliver to fiji Islands

balogh wrote: I think only  methanol burns self sustainably in the presence of platinum and iridium on the glow filament, as these materials act as caralyzers in the burning process of methanol... ethanol will have a flame out after the glow plug is disconnected from the battery, if ignites in our engines at all.

Actually Ethanol can work fine in a glow engine. In some cases it can be used to completely replace the Methanol component. It's often used in fuel designed for range/economy in control line glow motors. I've tried it myself in B Class Team Racer engines. It's a myth that only Methanol responds as a catalyzer in glow fuel. It's something that happens with all the Hydro-Carbons. In fact that's why our catalytic converters work in cars.

Compared with Methanol, Ethanol requires more compression and a hotter plug. A little extra Nitro methane may also help.

None of this is likely to help the OP with his Fiji problem. Can I suggest trying a range of New Zealand Hobby Shops to see if any would post to Fiji. NZ is the closest first world nation to him and holds the most likely solution. Are there any model fliers on New Caledonia, Tonga or Samoa?

Thanks for the clarifications, I thought ethanol was not working...but if so, and because it may be cheaper and less toxic than methanol and needs only a bit higher compression ratio, I wonder why it has not replaced methanol in glow engines?

balogh wrote:Thanks for the clarifications, I thought ethanol was not working...but if so, and because it may be cheaper and less toxic than methanol and needs only a bit higher compression ratio, I wonder why it has not replaced methanol in glow engines?

It's not cheaper than Methanol. Where I live it's at least double the price. Engines and glowplugs have been developed to suit Methanol. Ethanol can give a little more economy. The down side is it's almost invisible fires.

the kamtechnik heads will give the extra compression

OS produced a few ethanol engines for a time. https://www.os-engines.co.jp/english/2007spring-summer/max55axbe/index.htm They did use unique glow plugs, but I'm not sure how they differed.

balogh wrote:I wonder why it has not replaced methanol in glow engines?

I wonder why as well… There must be some practical reason…. Interestingly, Ethanol has a higher btu content than methanol….

Methanol is cheaper, air fuel ratio is more tolerant, vapor pressure is higher (easier starting), latent heat is greater (more fuel cooling), BTU/ air fuel ratio makes more power. Supposedly there is a catch with selling ethanol based fuel and not being taxed as liquor in the US. Overall, it's much easier to start, tune, and keep an engine alive. I messed around with E85 and spark in some .40 size stuff years ago, it worked fine. I only tried E85 and glow once in a stock FS-52, and it was low on compression. Same setup with spark ran great.

Glow even works with gas. OS currently makes a few engines for gas glow. I setup an FS-120S with a Walbro carb and the G5 plug. It also needs more compression.

Engines can burn a lot of hydrocarbons, but need to be optimized for the fuel. I have converted four strokes to diesel.....

I don't think Ethanol has been used as a model fuel outside of B Team Race. https://members.optusnet.com.au/~smithlw/Site%202/Fuel%20Developments.html

The OS BE engines were supposedly for the South American market where ethanol fuel for vehicles was common. Maybe people there ran ethanol in model engines enough that OS thought a specific product was worth it. Anyone have any practical knowledge? When these engines were released, I remember reading on a forum that ethanol was fading in Brazil and people were buying gas cars.

I'm visiting Rarotonga in the south pacific. Just thought I'd mention fuel prices here $3.08/liter in New Zealand dollars. No idea if there is any sort of modelling community here.