Fuel for Cox .049 in Europe

Pelikan of Czech Republic sells FAI fuel in some European countries which is 80/20 methanol/castor. You need to cocktail it up with nitro if you can find somewhere.

There is a Dutch member here, you can screen him in Memberlist by country, he may also advise you.

I blend my fuels at home. Methanol and castor are sold in chemicals' shops and I stocked up from nitro back when it was sold in hobby shops.

It is an ancient and recurring discussion topic here if all castor or castor and synthetic mix are best for COX. I prefer all castor and most of my COX engines will outlive me.

Got a Litre of fuel coming tommorow , will update with specifications then .

Update aboput fuel available here in the Netherlands .
I have bought some Merlin Fuel which is manufactured in Spain .
What I have now is 1 liter of Merlin Lube MF-325 which has a composition of 25% Nitro , 18 % oil ( mix of Castor and Synthetic ) unknown what percentage is what . Sent an email to the factory .
The proble know is that this fuel is not nomally available here and I think I may have been sold an out of date fuel . Shelve life is 2 years .
What is readily availble is Merlin Expert MF-225 which is 25% Nitro and 10% oil mixture of Castor oil and Synthetic oil , Again I sent an email to factory today to find what composition of Castor and Synthetic . Knowing this will allow me to add more castor oil to this fuel .

When I have more Info I will post this .

Update on Merlin Fuel MF-225 .

25% Nitro
5% Castor Oil
5% Synthetic Oil

GpBear wrote:Update on Merlin Fuel MF-225 .

25% Nitro
5% Castor Oil
5% Synthetic Oil

Add 120 cc castor oil.

https://www.coxengineforum.com/t12624-oil-percentage-formula

GpBear wrote:Update on Merlin Fuel MF-225 .

25% Nitro
5% Castor Oil
5% Synthetic Oil

GpBear:  more castor oil please. Some say 10% minimum, some say 20% minimum. I think it was earlier in this thread. You reread and decide. A little castor oil won’t reduce Nitro % much.

Happydad

Nitro lowers to 22.32% from 25% by adding 120 cc castor oil.

If I cannot get the MF-325 fuel and have to buy MF-225 as all the hobby shops stock this , then I will add another 5% . 50ml of Castor Oil per litre to give a mixture of 10% Castor Oil and 5% Synthetic Oil .

Waiting for a email from the Local Merlin Rep to let me know if there is anyone stocking the MF-325 anymore .

you can also order this
https://eurol.com/en/products/eurol-racing-1-ricinus/
and mix it yourself
I use it for all my diesel engines and it works great

Are you suggesting that Ricinus can be used in place of Castor Oil in a fuel mixture .

its the dutch name for castor oil
also you can get the medical grade in any drugstore/beauty shop
(used to get it at the DA)
but the medical grade is expencive
and dont drink the medical one its a laxative

Yes , Wonder Olie at the DA & Trekpleister .
I used to use it 25 years ago for a fuel additive my Serpent Vectors .

Now to find someone who stocks it in the North .

just go with the bigger package its cheaper in the long run

http://merlinfuel.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/lube_tds_en.pdf I would not worry to muchabou t the shelf life if stored correctly . Just a data sheet , if you can bee at 18% castor would bee ideal with the 5% synthetic Extra = Oil content 23% Nitro as close to 25 % for good start and performance . What kind of flying are you into ?

The MF-325 would be ideal , but none of the hobby shops want to stock it as the volume that they have to buy is too large for the demand .
The hobby shops here in the Netherlands have gone to MF-225 as the demnd is large enough that they will stock it .

So I think I will buy the MF-225 and add extra lubricant ( Ricinus ) myself .

Flying is Electric now , might try later once I get more experienced again with the .049 .
Last time I ran a Cox engine was about 1981 .

Fuel guide of Cox International:

https://coxengines.ca/files/FG.pdf

Levent Suberk wrote:Nitro lowers to 22.32% from 25% by adding 120 cc castor oil.

Overall net affect IMO is of little consequence, because oil is inert, just means opening needle a touch more to allow more fuel mix in for maintaining same combustion level. Engine still "sees" the 25%, with a touch more oil mist exuded out of the exhaust. OTOH, if methanol is increased, then it will decrease nitro content. Anyway, my 2 quid.

GallopingGhostler wrote:

Levent Suberk wrote:Nitro lowers to 22.32% from 25% by adding 120 cc castor oil.

Overall net affect IMO is of little consequence, because oil is inert, just means opening needle a touch more to allow more fuel mix in for maintaining same combustion level. Engine still "sees" the 25%, with a touch more oil mist exuded out of the exhaust. OTOH, if methanol is increased, then it will decrease nitro content. Anyway, my 2 quid.

I'm not good with chemistry, so I don't know about this.

Levent Suberk wrote:

GallopingGhostler wrote:

Levent Suberk wrote:Nitro lowers to 22.32% from 25% by adding 120 cc castor oil.

Overall net affect IMO is of little consequence, because oil is inert, just means opening needle a touch more to allow more fuel mix in for maintaining same combustion level. Engine still "sees" the 25%, with a touch more oil mist exuded out of the exhaust. OTOH, if methanol is increased, then it will decrease nitro content. Anyway, my 2 quid.

I'm not good with chemistry, so I don't know about this.

I'm not a chemist, either, although was required to take a chemistry class and a couple thermodynamics courses in college, more of a common sense position. There was one engine guru, can't remember which now, who also brought this up in a discussion on fuels may be a couple years ago. And, it makes sense. Plus, been adding Castor to model plane fuel for ABC's, the iron piston in a steel sleeve engines seem to run fine without loss in power.

Wasn't meaning to disagree, but discuss a point to consider. So, I guess ignorance (mine that is   ) is bliss.

Apart from the goo it leaves on the plane - which is no issue for me - the only disadvantage with castor is  that it absorbs a lot of heat and the engine spits it out. Synt oil burns - I am not sure if in an exothermic or endothermic fashion i.e. dissipating or adding heat the the hot gases - but it robs less heat from the cycle than castor and hence improves, compared to castor, the not really shiny efficiency of the 2 stroke engines .

Nevertheless I will still stick to castor...or castor will stick to my hand, no matter.