wildcat ducted jet fuel

LAST EDITED ON Aug-06-03 AT 10:49 PM (CDT)
 
hello would this fuel work in a old fox,os or the red head mccoy any info would be great they dont sell fuel here with just castor it is synthetic with castor i beleive its 5%nitro 23% castor synthetic blend fuel

What?

Probably not the best. I've tried Sig fuel 20% oil, with caster added to 25% total oil content and have had mixed results. The old lapped engines seemed happiest with caster oil content 25-28%. The O. S. would be ok, or a FP would be great. This might be a good fuel for the new abc, abn engines. I can't remember the ratio of caster to synthetic, it say on the back of jug.

Sig sells quarts of castor oil. Get some and add castor to bring total oil content up to 28%. At least half should be castor, preferably more than half. Better yet, order some Sig fuel with 25% castor. You can run 25% oil if your SURE your needle setting won't go lean. If your not sure, bring that up to 28% as well.

Mike,
The Fox, McCoy red head, and OS (if it is REAL old) have iron pistons and steel cylinders. One of the characteristics of an iron piston is that some of the castor oil becomes varnish and fills the porous iron to provide extra compression. As a matter of fact, advertisements for Fox Superfuel used to stress reclaiming some compression on a "tired" engine.
One of the characteristics of synthetic lubricants is to clean the engine. For an iron piston this can mean removing that extra compression and you will find out how really worn your old engine is.
Not to worry. Running with all castor will restore the seal eventually.
I guess you can see where this is going. If your engines have a lot of run time DON'T use ANY synthetic. You can usually get a hobby shop owner to order you a gallon or two of all-castor in the 25%-28% range.
OR...perhaps a smaller percentage of all castor and add extra castor as explained in previous postings.
For newer ABC and ABN engines, the high silicon piston does not hold a castor seal like the iron...when it's worn out, it's worn out.

George

>hello would this fuel work in a old fox,os or the red head
>mccoy any info would be great they dont sell fuel here with
>just castor it is synthetic with castor i beleive its
>5%nitro 23% castor synthetic blend fuel

Isn't the ducted fan fuel higher nitro as well as less oil? Just because it has "some" castor doesn't mean it has much. Usually 2-3% is all. If it is higher nitro and lower castor and..., well it is usually not worth messing with.

You can order a case of good fuel (I know, you have to pay hazmat fees and all, but you will have good fuel) from one of the mail order suppliers. We get ours, 10 or 11 cases at a time, from Rich's Brew, but there are other good mail order suppliers around as well. Choose one where you can get the exact blend you want and get 4 gallons if you can't get your local hobby shop to order it for you.

And, yes, for the older iron piston engines (I still like these) you should use all castor. Not half, not "some", not "a taste". I have had engines totally destroyed in one flight testing some of the other stuff that was "guaranteed" to work in my engine (talking to the manufacturer direct).

LAST EDITED ON Aug-07-03 AT 09:48 AM (CDT)
 
>hello would this fuel work in a old fox,os or the red head
>mccoy any info would be great they dont sell fuel here with
>just castor it is synthetic with castor i beleive its
>5%nitro 23% castor synthetic blend fuel

According to the Wildcat site at

http://www.wildcatfuel.com/fuel_jeta.html

their description of their ducted fan fuel is:

"WILDCAT JET-A is available in 5%, 10%, and 15% Nitro formula's. Specifically designed for ducted fan engines. WILDCAT has a Ducted Fan fuel for your every need. JET-A contains a scientific blend of synthetics and degummed racing castors for a total oil volume of 23%."

It appears that they have some castor in this fuel. You could contact the Wildcat people and ask what amount of castor they have in any of their fuels. They might or might not give an answer.

Wildcat also discusses the oils they use at

http://www.wildcatfuel.com/fuel_oilpackages.htm

They have a forum that might be interesting to some.

I endorse Leonard's recommendation that you can order fuel that will be totally satisfactory from any number of sources. PowerMaster will go out of their way to get you the fuel you need. The only problem may be that they ship in 6 gallon cartons.

Mike edited his origianl post to state the exact fuel he is looking at (Wildcat, 5%). That makes a difference. However, I would very much feel that he needs all castor fuel, and 25% minimum for the engines he is talking about. I don't believe Wildcat has any such. SIG would, Fox would, as would many of the other mail order suppliers. Now the idea of shipping in 6 gallon cartons to spread out the hazmat fee that UPS charges is appealing if ordering in that way. Fuel can be stored over time, so even if you don't burn that much in a year, it can be used over a longer time.

LAST EDITED ON Aug-07-03 AT 10:38 AM (CDT)
 
I use Wildcat Jet-A fuel w/10% nitro for OS LA engines.
The oil mixture is 20% castor, 80% synthetic.

>I use Wildcat Jet-A fuel w/10% nitro for OS LA engines.
>The oil mixture is 20% castor, 80% synthetic.

That's a little light for my taste. These are still plain bearing engines, and if you go overlean (just a little dirt in the needle will do it), ouch!

Matt went to a contest on Sunday. Second flight won it for him. He came home and first flight up on Monday went lean--dirt in the needle. He cleaned the needle and all was well again. Still, it can happen to anybody at any time. (And for the record, he has two filters on his fueler and one on the plane.) I say this just to emphasize it doesn't pay to play with inferior amounts of the right oils in our fuels.

For what it is worth, I have been using Wildcat JetA exclusively for two years, and have had no fuel related problems. I was at first very wary of the light oil percentage and checked the wear and temperature of my motors regularly. I was suprized to find that some motors actually ran cooler on the Wildcat then on standard high castor stunt fuel. The manufacturer was quick to answer emails and phone questions about his product, and explained his choice of synth. and degummed caster oil is designed to run cooler, especially in the overheated environment of a ducted fan engine. Call them up if you have any problems, they are egger to please.
Jim Damerell

hello thanks for the info im going to order some straght castor fuel just to be safe

Mike,

You might want to check with Powermaster first, they used to send fuel in quarts to dodge the hazmat fees. the have some great stunt blends.

The quart thing is kind of a rip-off. They charge so much more for the quarts that you might as well buy it in gallons. Even with the hazmat fee it is cheaper.

This was 4-5 years ago, I ordered 4 gal. in qts. It was typical hobby shop prices, maybe things are different now.