That glow engines became NITRO engines? I don't know why but it really bugs me when people refer to a GLOW engine as a NITRO engine! I blame the RC guys myself because it seems like they were the first to call it nitro, I guess to distract themselves from the fact that their choice of RC model is so lame compared to airplanes and helicopters!

Seriously though, these small engines burn methanol, not nitro. The nitro is an additive, an oxygenator. Ask a guy in Europe what he calls it as many of them use FAI fuel with NO nitro. And of course years ago these models were called gas powered. We just can't seem to get it right!

OK, I'm done with my rant! Pretty soon this miserable winter will be over and I'll be able to get some serious flying in and won't have all this time on my hands!


Mike

I don't know about you, but I run 82% Nitro/18% castor in all my engines.

Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed? I hope this is the biggest thing you have to worry about all week

So how do you feel when someone advertizes a "gas" plane for sale and it turns out to be a glow engine?

Originally Posted by ChillPhatCat

I don't know about you, but I run 82% Nitro/18% castor in all my engines.

Now all readers know what to use.

Where do you buy that fuel or the ingredients to mix it yourself ?

Perhaps I should just like your sense of humor

Zor

Originally Posted by scootrb4

Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed? I hope this is the biggest thing you have to worry about all week

I hope so too!

I don't know why it bugs me so much, but it does. Maybe because I've been flying model airplanes for so long. I get the impression that the ones that say nitro when they mean glow are noobs who haven't been in the hobby long. I have a hard time believing someone in their 50's like me would say nitro.

Now don't even get me started on all the people on these forums that need to go back to school to learn how to put together a sentence!


Mike

Originally Posted by 600Bob

So how do you feel when someone advertizes a "gas" plane for sale and it turns out to be a glow engine?

People do not always mean what they write nor to they always write what they mean _ _ _ _

Zor

Actually and technically, I don't believe its a "glow" engine either. The "glow" is merely the means that ignites the fuel mixture, comparitive to "spark"... inwhich most cases of "spark" we call it "gas"... or something derivitive. IE "gasser"..

And... If I'm not mistaken..(I'm not, as I have mixed my own "glow-fuel" several times").. the fuel used is a simple alcohol, the same used in alcohol burning dragsters, or high-performance go-kart/motorcycle applications. The nitro is only an additive to boost the chemical reaction... lower the flash-point, and provide a much more efficient burn... The oil additive is specific to the application, and can be varied depending on the lubrication needed to keep the engine at optimum temperature..and optimum performance...

I'd first heard the term "nitro burner" when I was heavily into RC cars back in early '90's.. and those tend to run VERY high on the nitro side, comparing to the airborne powerplants. Some car fuels run 50-60%... where a mainstream airplane fuel might be 10-15%.. give or take... this is all in generallity here of course... nothing to get one's feathers ruffled.. haha.. hang in there.

Originally Posted by Zor

Now all readers know what to use.

Where do you buy that fuel or the ingredients to mix it yourself ?

Perhaps I should just like your sense of humor

Zor

lol I have no idea where I would find that much Nitromethane.

Originally Posted by DGrant

Actually and technically, I don't believe its a "glow" engine either. The "glow" is merely the means that ignites the fuel mixture, comparitive to "spark"... inwhich most cases of "spark" we call it "gas"... or something derivitive. IE "gasser"..

Well, they've always been referred to as glow engines, just as the early gas engines were referred to as spark ignition engines. But then this is akin to the way roller coasters are designated. Technically a wooden coaster should be referred to as steel, and a steel coaster should be referred to as urethane, because it comes down to what the wheels are made of. They both have steel track whether it be flat steel or round tube steel. What differentiates them is their wheel composition not what their structure is made of. And then there are what I like to call hybrids that from a distance look like a wooden coaster but in fact have steel tube rail and urethane wheels.

Originally Posted by DGrant

The nitro is only an additive to boost the chemical reaction

Which is what I said in my initial post. The nitro is an oxygenator, not the fuel.

Originally Posted by DGrant

I'd first heard the term "nitro burner" when I was heavily into RC cars back in early '90's.. and those tend to run VERY high on the nitro side, comparing to the airborne powerplants. Some car fuels run 50-60%

Maybe in the case of high nitro content RC car fuel it could be referred to as nitro if the nitro % exceeded the methanol %.


Mike

Well it bugs me a little too....particularly since most of my current "nitro" engines do run on fuel containing no nitromethane .

And calling glow engines gas is more irritating but then over here even "gas" engines shouldn't be called that...the stuff they run on is called petrol and it's a liquid not a gas .

But I'm still going to call model compression ignition engines "diesels" because I always have and anyway it's entertaining to see people trying to run them on automotive diesel fuel (which will sort of work, but barely).

Steve

"NITRO" is a big, bad, explosive sounding "xtream" word that sells, just like "turbo" was 20 years ago... blame the marketing douches for running with it.

another word that pisses me off is "billet", i see someone using that word to describe their product and i'm no longer interested.

It doesn't really matter, people still will call them gas engines, glow engines, nitro engines. But the RC car people tend to call them nitro engines, as it sounds more powerful. You just have to go with the flow.

Originally Posted by slipstick

Well it bugs me a little too....particularly since most of my current "nitro" engines do run on fuel containing no nitromethane .

And calling glow engines gas is more irritating but then over here even "gas" engines shouldn't be called that...the stuff they run on is called petrol and it's a liquid not a gas .

But I'm still going to call model compression ignition engines "diesels" because I always have and anyway it's entertaining to see people trying to run them on automotive diesel fuel (which will sort of work, but barely).

Steve

Yeah, I hadn't thought of that but gas engines in the UK are really petrol engines. And I also was aware, although I've never run one, that diesels don't actually use diesel fuel. If memory serves it's a kerosene, oil, ether mix? Do people actually try to run them on auto/truck diesel?

But then gas is kind of a generic term. Remember in the movie Top Gun one of the pilots talks about being "way low on gas". I also remember watching a a program on Discovery Wings where an AH-64 pilot, talking about all the stuff that can be hung on the hard points of his Apache, referred to extra fuel as a "bag of gas".


Mike

I must admit the term "nitro engine" has always bugged me too because, like some others, I never use nitro. Ordinarily an engine is referred to by the type of ignition used so we have glow, diesel and sparkies. The type of fuel used is then inferred. There are grey areas of course. A sparkie can use either methanol or petrol and "diesel" is just easier to say than "compression ignition" because they're not a true diesel. AFAIK the term "nitro engine" was started by the sellers of RC cars to attract the younger guys into buying something that sounded tough because most would have been aware of nitro burning drag cars.

And the 82/18 all nitro was a joke because castor won't mix with nitro over around 50-60% .