2 stroke oil/methanol in NZ

Glow/Nitro and gas engines, propellers, fuel and other stuff associated with making lots of noise and thrust.

2 stroke oil/methanol in NZ

Postby hohocc » Mon Dec 03, 2012 12:42 am

Gidday,
I'm considering brewing my own fuel, I've always used 80/20 methanol/castor, I have no objection to synthetic oils, but then I'm happy with castor as well, so either is fine by me, so long as any alternative to castor has some track record of being suitable for model aircraft use.
Do any kiwis know of any companies that will supply the required ingredients for retail sale? I haven't managed to find any castor oil apart from in small quantities for medicinal(?) use, so the cost doing it that way makes no sense. I have read Castrol R30 is a castor based oil, but supercheap have it for $30 per litre so that makes no sense either! Methanol I expect will be less difficult to find.
The local club sells straight non nitro fuel for $8 per litre, if that's about as good a price as can be done I'm happy to pay it and support the club, if I can do it myself for significantly less I'd like to brew my own. Currently my models are all .20 to .40 size, but if I'm going to go much larger it's worth investigating alternatives that can save some $.
By the way I'm in chch, local would be even more useful!
Thanks.
hohocc
 
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 8:39 am

Re: 2 stroke oil/methanol in NZ

Postby quarry44 » Mon Dec 03, 2012 6:02 am

Gday Craig,you would be hard pressed to get fuel any cheaper than the $8 a liter price.
The minimum quantity for methanol (and castor oil)is a 20L drum,but Mobil were never too keen to sell to private individuals.Also,if you're the only one using it,before you get halfway down the drum,it will have attracted water.The castor would be fine,but it's a big investment.
I believe Play Concepts sell mixed fuel,but don't know their price.I doubt it would be cheaper than the club fuel though.Just my 2cents worth.
quarry44
 
Posts: 383
Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2011 6:58 am

Re: 2 stroke oil/methanol in NZ

Postby RCModelReviews » Mon Dec 03, 2012 6:09 am

Yeah, any decent oil will cost you about $18-$20 a litre but I get Fuschs Oil which I can run at 12% so that brings the cost of oil per litre of fuel down to $2.40 and methanol (last time I bought a 206lt drum) was about $1.20 a litre so that's $3.46 a litre. Now nitromethane is another killer - usually costing $20-$30 a litre, depending on where you buy it and in what quantity.

So 10% nitro fuel will cost an extra $2-$3 per litre -- bringing it up to about $6 a litre.

Your club fuel sounds like a good deal -- by the time you factor in the hassles of buying in bulk and storing the "hazardous substances" involved.
RCModelReviews.com, just the facts.
User avatar
RCModelReviews
 
Posts: 2120
Joined: Tue May 04, 2010 3:40 am

Re: 2 stroke oil/methanol in NZ

Postby hohocc » Mon Dec 03, 2012 8:08 am

Thanks, I did think the club fuel was likely to be a reasonable price but thought it worth asking the question anyway. Club fuel it is then!
hohocc
 
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 8:39 am

Re: 2 stroke oil/methanol in NZ

Postby AshleyB32 » Thu Dec 06, 2012 12:19 am

if your still looking for castor oil i get it cheep here from farming stores thay use it for treating cows and it's about $10 for a 2lt bottle last time i brought it, though thats in Australia don't know what you guys have over there, i would think there would be something simmilar
AshleyB32
 
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2012 1:49 pm
Location: Warrnambool Vic, Australia

Re: 2 stroke oil/methanol in NZ

Postby hohocc » Mon Jan 14, 2013 4:45 am

Had a bit more of a look around today and managed to find a horse feed supplier in Christchurch that sells 2 litres of castor for $28.50 inc gst, have a couple of other places that I will call tomorrow but that price starts to look a bit more doable.
Apparently castor oil is given to horses and cows to fix constipation!
For anybody that is interested the business is Warrens Equine, in Main South Road. They mentioned they could likely get it in 5 and 20 litre quantities if needed.
hohocc
 
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 8:39 am

Re: 2 stroke oil/methanol in NZ

Postby TrueBuild » Thu Jun 19, 2014 5:57 am

Is there a review of the types of synthetic/brands of oil available for glow engines?

I have found this http://www.modelairplanenews.com/blog/2013/05/14/what-fuel-is-best-for-your-engine/ but what type of Synthetic are they using?
TrueBuild
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Nov 23, 2013 5:27 pm


Return to IC Engines

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests

cron