Anybody remember Nitro X fuel...???

Back when I was a kid, (in the late 50s) some of the neighborhood teenagers used to fly controline in the school yard across the street from my house. The fuel that everyone seemed to use was Nitro X. It came in a can with a dark blue label and Nitro X on a white background. I think that it cost $1.00 per quart, or $4.00 for a gallon. And not many of the kids had the money to ante up for $4.00 at one time! For the 1/2A engines, there was Nitro XX. I've never seen any other references to this fuel. Has anyone else ever used it?

I remember it being advertised in Midwest Models adds in the early 60's or thereabout. I never saw a can of it in my neck of the woods.
dennis

Used a lot of it at Ft. Benning, GA in the early '60s when I was flying F/F and a bit of Combat. Pretty good stuff.

Mike Keville

Used whatever was cheapest at the LHS. Sometimes it was Nitro-X. Seemed OK to me. Don't remember the Nitro-XX and AFAIK, never used it.

George

Yes we did.Lockport,NY We walked to the city parks,about a mile,and high school to fly.No one drove us.A quart was all we could afford,and was darn glad we had it.Had a lot of fun back then. George Eckhardt, Flyingdutchmen model plane club

>
>Yes we did.Lockport,NY We walked to the city parks,about a
>mile,and high school to fly.No one drove us.A quart was all we
>could afford,and was darn glad we had it.Had a lot of fun back
>then. George Eckhardt, Flyingdutchmen model plane club
We enjoyed (As kids) reading the O&R fuel cans which listed the
proper fuel for the proper engine.
Such names Arden, Bunch,Dennymite , Howler, Barker, Thunderbird ;
Foster 99 --WOW! imagine an engine that big!
It seemed strange that O&R had so many different fuel blends
when the good old Testors 39, was right for all engines.
We found out later!

Sure, I remember NITRO X !!

Also,

Francisco,
Blue Blazer, and
Testors'.

Fortunately, the elders of the hobby advised us to stick with K&B 100 and keep our valuable engines healthy.

If you needed speed, the fuel of choice was RoGo from Dayton. It came in several grades:

Big Hammer,
Sledge Hammer
Rat Hammer, and
All Hammer.

Yep, back in the 60's we flew Francisco, Blue Blazer, O&R, K&B and for a while something called Itchyban (SIC). Itchyban was made in some guys garage the neme was Japanese or Korean for "Very Good". Gallons were only bought by rich people, if we could get a quart that was a major score. The really good thing about back then was all the people we would see at the Jr. High School the city let us use to fly at.
Andy

>
>Yep, back in the 60's we flew Francisco, . . .
> . . .
>Andy

It was Francisco ("nose memory" test here) that had a good splash of nitrobenzene? Green and yellow can?

Whatever it was, we always added a bulb of it to combat and rat race fuel to make clothes, airplanes, cars, toolboxes, and underarms all "smell" a lot faster. I don't think we could find it in the stopwatch, but we thought it was good psychology.

Larry Fulwider

I seemed to stick with K&B 100. I ran mostly Torps while the others were fans of Fox and McCoy motors. (circa 1950) I figured that K&B fuel would work best in K&B motors. It did.

Floyd

It was Francisco ("nose memory" test here) that had a good splash of nitrobenzene? Green and yellow can?

Whatever it was, we always added a bulb of it to combat and rat race fuel to make clothes, airplanes, cars, toolboxes, and underarms all "smell" a lot faster. I don't think we could find it in the stopwatch, but we thought it was good psychology.

Larry Fulwider

I think Blue Blazer had nitrobenzene also (with that shoe polish smell). One flying buddy came up with some Blue Blazer that must have had bad castor or something, the exhaust spit out a deposit that looked like chewing gum.

The first whole gallon can of fuel I bought was "Exothermic 28". I have no idea what was in it.

George

Actually, the fuel you refer to as Francisco in a green can was called Hi Thrust made by Francisco Laboratory. They also made the Blue Blazer fuel. I mostly used Hi Thrust as that is what the hobby shop stocked mostly. $1.65 per quart 1953-1956 is what I remember. Cheers......

Hey Mike!! Did you use a Austin Craft pump to get the Powermist out of the can and black neoprene fuel line??? Ah, the good old days and they are looking better and better, me thinks. Cheers......Roy

Roy: Austin Craft pump, yes.....but our neoprene fuel tubing was the clear stuff that turned kind of yellow and rock-hard after repeated exposure to fuel and sunlight, often popping off the spray bar at the worst possible moment.

Remember those 1.5v Burgess and Eveready dry cells and alligator clips?

Good Old Days??????? The only "good" thing about them was the Navy Nats!

(Edit: oh, wait...there were two other good things: genuine Ambroid before they added whatever it was to deter the glue sniffers, and the delicious aroma of Testors STA.)

Mike Keville

...oh, wait...there were two other good things: genuine Ambroid before they added whatever it was to deter the glue sniffers...

Mike Keville

Oil of Mustard??

George

>
>Yep, back in the 60's we flew Francisco, Blue Blazer, O&R,
>K&B and for a while something called Itchyban (SIC).
>Itchyban was made in some guys garage the neme was Japanese or
>Korean for "Very Good". Gallons were only bought by
>rich people, if we could get a quart that was a major score.
>The really good thing about back then was all the people we
>would see at the Jr. High School the city let us use to fly
>at.
>Andy


Andy,
I think it is Japanese for #1 (the best). Seems like we had a restaurant near a base in Texas with that name. Although I am not a native Korean speaker, I am fairly certain it is not Korean
John

Hi John
You are right, I went out for Sushi tonight and there on a bottle of Kerin beer was the word Itchiban. By the way you really got some great kids there my friend, everytime I turn around there's another picture of your son and daughter winning something.
Andy

Andy,
Thanks for compliment on the kids. It probably helps that the old man takes shots of them and shamelessly spreds them across the e-world.
John

Yes,

Nitro X fuel was the fuel of choice for most local control line fliers in Green Ridge, Missouri between 1953 and 1960 or so. We purchased it at Johnny's hobby shop in Sedalia, Missouri. I used it in K&B Torpedo Green heads..29 and 35 as well as my sandcast Fox .29 and Forster .29. Seemed like good fuel at the time and was relatively inexpensive. It went well with Testor's dope, Top Flite and Tornado plasticote props, veco kits, wheels, belcranks and elevator horns....oh yes, and the Sterling S-1 Ringmaster in the yellow box, the one with Matt Kania's picture. I must admit that some of my flying buddies who had contacts in Kansas City hobby shops favored K&B 100 fuel though.....TDurrill, now in Platte City, MO.

I am not absolutely sure but somehow Nitro X seems to invoke thoughts of ethanol or something similar rather than methanol as the main ingredient. Powermist Hi Thrust with added castor oil was the fuel of choice when the budget would allow it!!!! I believe the Powermist was about 12% nitromethane and did use nitrobenzine to help mix the ingredients. Smelled good, but healthwise, bad!!!!

Still have a can of the "Hammer" fuel around here somewhere and it had a bright green label., I recall they had various Hammer names ranging from 40% to 80% nitro. Some other go-fast stuff was Glen Fairabends "This is It and Stardust "H". None of which were good for stunt but great in McCoy,Dooling,Rossi,and later the Supertiger G65RV's. And who could forget an eyeful of freshly added Propylene Oxide when launching one of the above????

Don Boka.

I used that wonderfull smelling OK fuel in my OK cubs. Thats probably what is wrong with my memory now. I also used to clean my engines with carbontet. Also good for you. Guess my memory is not to bad as I can still smell that great shoe polish smell. According to the state of Califoria, I should be dead. In Kansas it won't hurt you much. Of course there are people that think I do have dain bramage, but what do they know

Jim:

Yeah, Herkimer's (OK Cub) fuel was good stuff -- 15% (?) nitro and plenty of castor.

Regarding pleasurable aromas, I've said this before, but as a young teenager c.1953-54 I often launched George Moir's '54 Nats-winning 'B' Team Racer (Rambler IV) on test flights at Haddonfield, NJ. His fuel included a significant percentage of Nitrobenzene --- the 'shoe polish' ingredient. Loved it!

Notwithstanding the usual dire warnings from places like the Peoples' Republik of Kalifornia, I'd gladly whiff it again....and, unlike Bill Clinton, I'd inhale.

I do, however, acknowledge that some may say inhaling nitrobenzine fumes 50-plus years ago may have contributed to my current state of...uh...hmm, I can't remember.

Mike Keville

Nitro X was all I used in the years 1952 to about 1955. The main reason was that the guy who got me into control line was a salesman for Midwest. His name was Jerry Schwartz. He was older than me by about ten years and I idolized him. He brought me to do inventory at Midwest in Chicago and I met Wally Summers and I got a free dinner out of the deal. I was about 16 and I thought I had died and gone to heaven.He also brought me to Mishawauka Indiana and Tony Grish took me on a tour in his factory and showed me how Grish plasticote props were made.What a really nice guy Tony was.The only thing I wonder now is what percentage nitro was in Nitro X? Anybody know for sure?

Joe Connelly

Excuse my last post where I reffered to Wally Simmers as Wally Summers. Gettin old I guess.

Joe Connelly

I remember Power Mist, Fox Super fuel, and K&B 100 and 1000.I never used Blue Blazer as it seemed like a cheaper fuel than Power Mist.
RAF

Hi Rich,

Jim Gorny at Parkview Hobbies (5410 W. Fullerton in Chicago) would often stock different, off-the-wall fuels. Being a poor kid, I mostly ran the Nitro X cheap version, "Piston Power."

Where Nitro X (10% nitro) cost $5.95 (same as Fox Super Fuel), the Piston Power retailed for $4.25!! Then, you'd get a 20% discount for being a Chicago Skyknight member...

I tried several Franciso fuels. They were usually sold in pint cans. The Blue Blazer tended to melt the clear dope off my 1/2 A combat models. (They were "Swifties" powered by Cox Space Hoppers.)

"Nitrol" was specifically NOT recommended by Francisco as a fuel, but rather as an aditive to "doctor-up" a milder fuel. I remember blowing up a Fox Stunt 35 one winter on Nitrol. The con rod snapped in two, and a "picture window bypass" was opened up, just under the exhaust port.

>I remember Power Mist, Fox Super fuel, and K&B 100 and
>1000.I never used Blue Blazer as it seemed like a cheaper fuel
>than Power Mist.
>RAF
We used Blue Blazer exclusively in our McCoys and Foxes etc. Excellent stunt fuel. Should have been named "Blue Smoker". Must have had 40% castor.

I use to have an empty fuel can, I saved it for many years. All the paint eventually pealed off the metal can then it looked like any other metal can. I threw it away a few years ago.

Yes Nitro X was the good fuel, we used TESTORS 39 it was good enough for the people in PORTSMOUTH VA.

Bob

The smell of power mist is still there.