Voila-diesel here we come-an email to David Owen had an MP Jet Classic winging its way to us, and eventually it turned up, along with its radial mount and was installed on the model. Needless to say nothing was working! He planned to fly it on the nicely mown grass heli landing pad opposite our compound.Īs part of my initial inspection of the facilities I discovered in the very large and amazingly well equipped (for the location!) workshop was a large supply of 'tropical engine start'-boxes and boxes of the stuff. I don't know what the odds are of two aeromodellers winding up together in the same 12 man team in a multinational peacekeeping mission-but they must be millions to one.anyway he didn't know much about fuel and was attempting to run a Black Widow powered simple C/Ler on some weird concoction he'd managed to cadge from the medical facility at main HQ. My mechanic was a kiwi but serving with the Australian army-and unbeknownst to me when I arrived as his new OC, was a bit of a closet modeller who'd dabbled in C/L. I was in charge-as a major, of one of the operational monitoring teams in the west of that wild and primitive country. Quite true Martin-I've probably told the tale before-but in 2001 the NZ Army deployed me to Bougainville as part of the multinational peacekeeping force monitoring the Bougainville peace accords following the long civil war there. So while Jet A-1 may not be any better than kerosene, it is certainly no worse.and gives you bragging rights at the circle.!-) About the only advantage (assuming you have a mate who can supply you with the stuff, is that it is likely to have a much more rigorously specified formulation than run of the mill kerosene-and so should not show a lot of variation from batch to batch.and the latter seems to be one of the big issues with 'supermarket' or 'car accessory store' chain bought kerosene. He found no detectable difference whatsoever in performance and handling between the kerosene in use at the time, and Jet A-1. On the subject of Jet A-1, in the mid 1980s one of NZ's top TR fliers, Mark Elder, did some exhaustive testing on Jet A-1 as a replacement for the kerosene component in our diesel fuel. There have been enough threads here and elsewhere (eg Barton) to indicate that not all kerosenes work well these days for our current applications. It would be a surprise to me now, with EPA, catalytic converters, emission control and WHY if the kerosene currently sold as kerosene has the same formulation as that marketed in the 1950s and 1960s.anymore than the petrol now is the same as that of the 50s and 60s! Obviously 'kerosene', just like petroleum, is a mixture of various boiling fractions and equally a mix of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. I also recall that for 'our' use, such authorities as 'Aeromodeller' and the 'Model Aero Engine encyclopaedia recommended the 'power' grade be used. The latter was often colored blue, regardless of the brand on the tin or bottle. Traditionally-back in the 50's and 60's-the heyday of diesel-there were two grades of kerosene for domestic use-'lighting' for kerosene lamps (which was a lighter, cleaner burning grade) and 'power' for kerosene heaters and those other devices (Lister pump engines, some tractors etc) that burned it. Whether feed stock and formulae for this fuel have changed significantly since those times (discounting advertising hype from Oil Companies) is not a matter I can comment on. That being, british speak for diesel motor spirit. Martin, until the 60's, many UK model diesel engine manufacturers recommended "Iranian Gas Oil " and "DERV" as the base stock for model diesel fuel. Then again, it may contain fungicides, anti-statics, flame retardants and other additives that could be worse for our purposes than butyl alcohol. I have been inclined of late to obtain some Jet A-1 to try. Ray did some research on this some years ago. I have also read that butanol is a road diesel fuel additive to reduce soot emissions. That said, if competition fliers here use standard retail package kerosene, it can not be such a problem. Tertiary butyl alcohol ( aka butanol) is added to Australian kerosene (0.5% b/v) to discourage its use in fuel for diesel engined road vehicles, and preserve it not being taxed as a road fuel.
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