Mixing your own stunt fuel- supplier sources

Flying stunt with old fox motors requires careful fuel selection. Getting back into the hobby and buying some RC fuel and adding castor oil was not the right thing to do. ( I found this out.) Consequently,I have found a source of methonol at $2.75 per gallon or $205.00 per 55 gallon drum. I have found a source for nitromethane neat or 100%, price yet not established.

Where can I obtain a source, at reasonable costs for Bakers AA grade castor oil? What are your thoughts and ideas.

I would estimate it is possible to mix a 7.5 gallon brew consisting of 5 gal methonol, 3 qts nitro and 2 gallons castor oil for a 10/26 mix for under $60. That would be about $8.00 per gallon plus container costs, travel etc. Do you suppose 7.5 gallons would last a season if properly stored and the air displaced in the fuel container with an inert gas?

Bob Smiley, A Lancair 360 builder and pilot trying to be a modeler.

Bob,

I will sometimes mix my own fuel, always have all ingredients on hand. However, I never do the home-brew routine to save money, it is always to mix a specific blend which is not available commercially or I simply don't need very much of the blend in question.

Methanol is not hard to come by, your prices are in the ballpark. Of more importance is the quality; we need the driest methanol we can find, and not everybody sells the good stuff.

I don't believe you will find true 100% nitromethane. The best we can do is 98%/2% methanol. Again, the stuff is readily available from any number of sources, but one has to be able to trust the seller not to cut the 98% further with more methanol.

SIG Mfg. sells Baker's AA castor oil, that's where I get it. In gallons. Some motorcycle shops still sell bean oil, let your fingers do the walking...

All of this aside, you're wasting your time. Find a commercially-available mix you like, buy it in case quantities, store it in a cool, dark place, keep the lids screwed on tight.

For what it's worth, I prefer and use SIG fuel. The 25% castor, 10% nitro blend for the Fox 35s, "Champion" 10% for most everything else.

Hi Guys,
For 10 years I mixed all of my fuel. I guess I saved some money and also enjoying the ability to easily vary my power and duration. I was burning up to 100 gallons per year. In 1977, I used all of a 55 and a 30 drums of methanol.
Anyway as to specifics, I bought methanol from Delta chemical in drums. I bought castor oil from a hospital supply house, Bakers AAA. I bought Klotz from a motorcycle shop and Nitro in 5's from speed fliers. I still have 4 gals on nitro which will be put to good use.
To mix fuel, I would first make a concentrate consisting of a gallon of nitro, a gallon of castor and a gallon of Klotz. I would shake the heck out of it each time I mixed fuel and began by adding 38 oz of concentrate to a gallon can and topping off the can with methanol. This would give a 20% oil, 10% nitro mix.
To adjust the length of my engine runs, I would adjust the amount of concentrate as needed from 35 ozs/gal to 45 ozs/gal. Some of the flyers who were running short used white gasoline which I think was kerosene. Coleman Lantern fuel was also used and was also considered to be kerosene. I did burn up a few engines trying to run less than 35 ozs of concentrate. I also tried Proplyene oxide for igniter and Sig Lubricine N-1. Nothing seemed to be any better than plain old concentrate. For a while I ran all synthetic but went back to castor/synthetic when I percieved that all synthetic left a disconcerting smoke trail which the flaps could blow around creating the impression of poor tracking in a hard corner when the corner was actually quite good.
Today, I would probably add a cap full of ArmorAll to my fuel to prevent fuel foaming though I can't say that I've ever had a problem with foaming. It can't hurt.
Mixing fuel is the height of simplicity. Three ingredients, simply measured and mixed.
For now, I'm not using enough fuel to justify any big time mixing, but I do add a bit of Klotz to each gallon because of the reputation of the supplier and nitro as necessary to adjust the length of my engine run. For my non-competition uses, I just make rough mental calculations and dope my fuel with whatever I think is necessary. Accuracy isn't necessary when you are only flying for fun.
For 4 stroke, I'd probably use a gallon of castor, a gallon of Klotz KL200 and two gallons of nitro for a 20/20 mix.
Hope this helps. I showed Frank McMillan how to mix and use concentrate, 30 years later he is still mixing his fuel.
Al

> Where can I obtain a
>source, at reasonable costs for
>Bakers AA grade castor oil?
> What are your thoughts
>and ideas.
>
>I would estimate it is possible
>to mix a 7.5
>gallon brew consisting of 5
>gal methonol, 3 qts nitro
>and 2 gallons castor oil
>for a 10/26 mix for
>under $60. That would
>be about $8.00 per gallon
>plus container costs, travel etc.
> Do you suppose 7.5
>gallons would last a season
>if properly stored and the
>air displaced in the fuel
>container with an inert gas?
>
>
>Bob Smiley, A Lancair 360 builder
>and pilot trying to be
>a modeler.

How much fuel you might need for a season is up to you and your amount of flying. Matthew had burned more than that before the first contest this year just getting his new plane in tune.

But as to a source of castor, as I mentioned in another post, just go to your mail order fuel supplier. If they make fuel, they have got castor. And if you are ordering just the castor oil from them, this is a non hazardous material, and is not subject to the hazmat fees that you would be paying additionally if you were to order the fuel from them.

Hi Bob

Wish I had a better answer for you than Danny Dirt, cause if I did I would have to hold it in ransom for a short cross country in your Lancair <grin> Unfortunately I have yet to find a better source for castor than Sig AA. Pricey, but well worth the protection. Leonard may be of more help. Also, must agree with the Dirt as far as economy factor. Blending your own only saves a couple of bucks over a reputable commercially available fuel. Not worth all the hassle in my mind. The real advantage is if you just don't have a viable source for the commercial stuff, eliminating the worry factor(if that is a problem) and easily trying different blends to see if something works. We are blessed here in Phoenix to have a couple of long time C/L guys who purchased Excaliber Fuels. They prefer build to order and will custom blend at little or know additional cost. To date the fuel has been great with not a single complaint from the local crowd. They also sell at VSC every year, and as far as I know, no complaints there either.

You can Email em if you like at [email protected]. Mark Smith is a PAMPA member and handles all the orders.

Mike Ryan

LAST EDITED ON Jun-21-02 AT 08:57 AM (CST)

Nitromethane and methanol are available from Sunoco, VP Racing and Price Chemical. Klotz sells a mixture that contains 80% nitro/20% additives. Here are the links:

http://www.racegas.com/Racegas/distributormap/default.asp

http://www.vpracingfuels.com/vp_01_fuels.html?mgiToken=D031D802E89DB4701#specialty

http://www.pricechemical.com/order/default.htm

http://www.klotzlube.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=SRCH&Store_Code=KS

http://www.klotzlube.com/support/pdf/price_list_2001.pdf

Try Ritch's Brew or Powermaster for castor, too. Good Luck! ...JimA

Mike,

Hey, I've ridden in Bob's Lancair. Still lookin for my stomach. But it's a lot of fun.

http://www.oldrhinebeck.org/

These folks were selling pure castor in bulk for a while.... I would bet that there is some around yet.

See Ya