"Peter Stickney" wrote in message
...
Sorry for jumping in late - I'm replying to Bill Kambic, too.
(No Offence, Bill, Finger Trouble on my part)

Gord Beaman wrote:

wrote:

On Tue, 31 May 2005 04:35:22 GMT, Gord Beaman
wrote:

"R Leonard" wrote:

And for what it's worth, there were even diesel model airplane
engines,
at least in the years immediately after WWII. I've a couple of
flying model airplanes my father built in the 1946 to 1950 period
so equipped.


Rich

Sure...aren't most model a/c engines Diesel?...I've had several
way back when I was young...(in the fifties) they all had
glo-plugs for starting and none had an ignition system...mine
were all two stroke cycle Diesels... much simpler.

I had 'em, too. They did function on the same principle as diesels,
but were powered by a form of gasoline. They were not powered by
diesel fuel.

Model Airplane Glow Fuel is usually Methanol, with something (Usually
Castor Oil) added to make it lubricate better. High performance
fuels used to have Nitromethane added in as well. I don't know if
they still do that.

AFAIK, the model diesels did run on kerosene.
I've never run one, but I've seen a couple. Neat little widgets.
There isn't a whole lot of difference between them and a glow engine
in construction, save for the head. Instead of a glow plug, they've
got a screw that adjusts an opposing "piston", allowing you to change
the combustion chamber volume and therefore the compression ratio.




Yes, thanks Bill...I knew that they didn't use diesel fuel,
smells much more potent to me...someone mentioned here that they
use the heated filament as a hot-spot for ignition (for the
running phase) rather than compression heat (as in a true diesel)
which makes sense.

That's the way I understand it. The glow plug's wire must not
transfer heat to the head very well.



--
Pete Stickney
Java Man knew nothing about coffee.

AFAIK the glow wire is made of/plated with platinum - some kind of catalytic
effect on methanol keeps the wire hot.