In article ,
Peter Stickney wrote:

(snip)
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.

I had a model Diesel in the late 1950's. It did not run on kerosene, but
ether, with castor oil as a lubricant. They were a true Diesel, as they
did not have a glow plug or any other external source of ignition.

The glow plug engines used methanol/castor oil with nitromethane as a
kicker. I used to make some homebrew fuels for the glow plug engines
with methanol/castor oil. It worked but needed the nitromethane to make
the engines run well.

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