Don't like the smell of glow fuel?

workaccount

Try this http://www.modelflying.co.uk/news/article/mps/uan/339


Now my question is related to model technics. I bought a gallon off a new supplier there recently and it was already opened and there's abit gone out of it.
I tried smelling it and it smells like orange.

Anybody ever hear of model technics having orange smelling nitro? I'm half afraid to put it into my engine.

T-Maxx

I wouldn't chance it if it was me. If the container was tampered with, who knows what might be in it. Also, Model Technics don't have an orange scented fuel AFAIK. Take it back and ask for a replacement/refund.

coolwings

I like the smell of castor oil based fuel after it has been burned and comes from the exhaust. The synthetic has not got the same tangy stir fied veg smell that the natural racing bean oils make. Like the high performance race fuels at the Grand Prix. But that's beause the synthetic is a better oil!

One of the budget Model Technics blends is an orange colour, due to the dye in the oil used. It's Dynalo or Duraglo .. not sure which because I use the GoGlo, Bekra and Expert blends. But orange is the right colour of that blend due to the oil in it.
Not using that blend I can't speak for how it smells or what odour it has. Sniffing the stuff is bad, real bad, the methanol vapour is poisonous.

Are you worried that somebody added orange juice? That would be crazy. Why would a shop do that? Sellers don't mess their product unless they want to be closed and go out of business. So I think your imagination is running away with you!

But if someone did do that it would be easy to test for. Orange juice has sugar in it, and sugar burns into a caramel black tarry substance under great heat.
So put a teaspoon of it over a flame and burn it away.
A castor oil fuel leaves a tiny black soot deposit.
A better synthetic oil fuel burnt away leaves no deposit other than a blue heat discolouration of the teaspoon.
I would expect orange juice would leave black burnt caramelised sugar sticky tar depending on how much sugar was in it, test with a spoon of sugar, and then pure orange juice over a flame and see for yourself.
So a fuel sabotaged with orange contaminant would be obvious when tested with heat.

workaccount

coolwings wrote: »

I like the smell of castor oil based fuel after it has been burned and comes from the exhaust. The synthetic has not got the same tangy stir fied veg smell that the natural racing bean oils make. Like the high performance race fuels at the Grand Prix. But that's beause the synthetic is a better oil!

One of the budget Model Technics blends is an orange colour, due to the dye in the oil used. It's Dynalo or Duraglo .. not sure which because I use the GoGlo, Bekra and Expert blends. But orange is the right colour of that blend due to the oil in it.
Not using that blend I can't speak for how it smells or what odour it has. Sniffing the stuff is bad, real bad, the methanol vapour is poisonous.

Are you worried that somebody added orange juice? That would be crazy. Why would a shop do that? Sellers don't mess their product unless they want to be closed and go out of business. So I think your imagination is running away with you!

But if someone did do that it would be easy to test for. Orange juice has sugar in it, and sugar burns into a caramel black tarry substance under great heat.
So put a teaspoon of it over a flame and burn it away.
A castor oil fuel leaves a tiny black soot deposit.
A better synthetic oil fuel burnt away leaves no deposit other than a blue heat discolouration of the teaspoon.
I would expect orange juice would leave black burnt caramelised sugar sticky tar depending on how much sugar was in it, test with a spoon of sugar, and then pure orange juice over a flame and see for yourself.
So a fuel sabotaged with orange contaminant would be obvious when tested with heat.

I'll do that test. Sounds like it should work.

The orange juice thing does sound crazy I know but why would nitro smell like that - and it was already opened - there was no film over the opening when I took off the lid and the level of nitro is lower than pictures I've seen of model technics gallons on the net.

coolwings

Actually, the nitromethane itself has no smell. It's like water in it's pure form. Methanol has a faint sweet smell. Methanol is not good to breathe. It is also clear as water. What you are smelling is the oil, and what you're seeing is the dye in the oil.

The special blend that Model Technics make for GreenHobbyModel in Dublin, GoGlo Plus, is the most popular fuel.
it's a purple colour from the dye in ML70 oil in it. This suits nitro from straight 0% up to 16% best.
Bekra has similar engine performance characteristics and suits high nitro over 20% well. It's orange colour due to the red dye in the Klotz oil which is mixed with pale yellow EDL2 oil.
These usually come in containers overfilled by about 3%. That normally brings the level about 2 - 3mm over the line moulded into the container.

But that's us,I can't speak for what other people do. Many regard fuel as a black art, but it's really quite simple. There is a lot of BS about it on the net unfortunately.

I'm guessing that you have Dynaglo, which is a 50:50 castor:synthetic blend. It's orange colour too. We call those syntho blends, they cost less and have some of the benefits of fully synthetic fuels.

Have fun. ( and don't be sniffing that juice! )

workaccount

Right tried that at the weekend and after burning it all that was left in the spoon was oil. The fuel I have is propower actually. Wonder where that is on the scale of things?

Haven't actually ran the engine with it yet.

It's 16% and seems to be up high on the list http://www.modeltechnics.com/glowfuel/glowfuel.html
http://www.modeltechnics.com/glowfuel/propower.html

coolwings

Their website says Propower is 18% synthetic oil. Makes it very similar to Formula Irvine and GoGloPlus both of which I use.
The EDL2 in it is good. I myself used that particular oil to make fuel containing very high nitro levels of both 35% and 65% with no problems.

workaccount

coolwings wrote: »

Their website says Propower is 18% synthetic oil. Makes it very similar to Formula Irvine and GoGloPlus both of which I use.
The EDL2 in it is good. I myself used that particular oil to make fuel containing very high nitro levels of both 35% and 65% with no problems.

What would you use 65% nitro for?

coolwings

Beating the other guys on water in 1/4 scale Formula One!
Target speed 95mph+ with this sort of engine:

11cc K&B Outboard

Here is some 1/12th scale with 3.5cc outboards 40mph+ to give you a flavour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSozi75_gnU&feature=related

Another kind of modelling I used to be into .....

MooseJam

what is glow fuel if you don't mind me asking, is it petrol ? whats the diff, can you not just put petrol in these cars, would probably work out cheaper

workaccount

MooseJam wrote: »

what is glow fuel if you don't mind me asking, is it petrol ? whats the diff, can you not just put petrol in these cars, would probably work out cheaper

It's a mix of nitro, methanol and oil. It's called nitro or glow fuel - the reason it's called glow fuel is because a glow plug is used to ignite the mix rather than a spark plug. (technically the glow plug doesn't ignite it though - it's creates heat which is enough to light the nitro/air mix.)

Petrol only becomes useful in an engine above a certain size - this is why you never see petrol engines in 1/8th scale +. You start seeing petrol engines being used in 1/5th scale. The bigger 1/5th using petrol won't necessarily be faster than a smaller nitro engine.

Nitro is a fuel used to create lot's of power from a small displacement.

coolwings

When the engine size goes below certain dimensions, petrol won't do unless you had extreme compression, and that costs money. Also petrol needs an ignition system, which adds weight and more cost.
The glow engine can be run diesel style using a glowplug, and is extremely light, and compact for the power it puts out.
You get more bang for your euro with glow/nitro fuel.

If it is over 26cc petrol comes into it's own vs glowfuel, and over 30cc you would be right.