Price of castor oil

[Matt Curtis]

Castor oil will cost me over 30 .00 a bottle if I order it from brodak.   Is it expensive everywhere now? Mixing fuel yourself is not cheaper if I have to pay that much? How much is ritch's fuel 10 percent nitro 25 percent castor per gallon? What about 5 percent nitro?

[Dave_Trible]

Not sure what a 'bottle' is in quantity.  Two sources I use are:

Make your own Buzz .com    $ 31.00   a gallon
Wholesale Supplies .com   $$35.00  a gallon

Sometimes shipping charges affect which I order.


Dave

So I looked at Brodak.  That's about $16 per QUART and $16 shipping.   These above will be VERY MUCH cheaper.  Another source could be HyperFuels.  They also sell and ship nitro by the gallon.   Methanol by the five gallon.

[Fred Quedenfeld jr]

this is where I get castor
https://www.bulkapothecary.com/raw-ingredients/bulk-natural-oils/castor-oil/
runs fine
Fred Q

[Dave_Trible]

this is where I get castor
https://www.bulkapothecary.com/raw-ingredients/bulk-natural-oils/castor-oil/
runs fine
Fred Q

Thats a good price.  Just ordered four gallons.  Shipping cost is the same as one gallon.

Dave

[Perry Rose]

I've run several gallons of castor from Bulk Apothecary it's very good stuff. Lots cleaner. I mix it with Klotz Original Techniplate 50/50 in my home brew.

[Reptoid]

Even better price and quality is excellent;https://www.amazon.com/100-Pure-Castor-Oil-Cold-pressed/dp/B097HP7DQ6?pd_rd_w=DTJir&content-id=amzn1.sym.b46c8fe2-d558-44b6-a291-82096c829da9&pf_rd_p=b46c8fe2-d558-44b6-a291-82096c829da9&pf_rd_r=B3BP0HKZHSA9Z25K3D7A&pd_rd_wg=D9NG8&pd_rd_r=62b8b31a-17d1-4fbf-9cf0-644b4202eebb&pd_rd_i=B097HP7DQ6&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_1_ec_pd_gwd_bag_pd_hp_d_atf_rp_4_t

Been using it for several years.

[Motorman]

I've run several gallons of castor from Bulk Apothecary it's very good stuff. Lots cleaner. I mix it with Klotz Original Techniplate 50/50 in my home brew.

+1

MM

[Paul Smith]

Castor oil will cost me over 30 .00 a bottle if I order it from brodak.   Is it expensive everywhere now? Mixing fuel yourself is not cheaper if I have to pay that much? How much is ritch's fuel 10 percent nitro 25 percent castor per gallon? What about 5 percent nitro?

I buy my fuel from Ritch's Brew.  I have bought gallons of castor oil and gallons of plain methanol from him, as well as custom blend fuels.  I never bother asking about unit prices.  I just pick up the cases at Toledo or Muncie and pay the total.

[Matt Curtis]

Thanks everyone for the info . The fuels I want from ritch's brew are 25.00  a gallon so I may just order from him as I would prefer not to have to mix fuel. Not saving very much by doing it myself?

[Dave_Trible]

That depends these days on shipping cost.  $25 sound quite reasonable on it's own.   What I mix is pretty close to that.  One difference though is if you mix your own you can experiment with different brews and in my case I have many different kinds and types of engines that require different fuels.  I think right now I have three or four different mixes in my vehicle for whatever I'm flying.   Very hard to do if not making it yourself.


Dave

[Matt Curtis]

I am only interested in 2 fuels. 10/22 for os and other similar engines that I have and 10/25 or 29 all castor for fox .35 richs will mix different fuel at your request. Want to keep this simple.

[Colin McRae]

Matt, not sure what OS engines you are running, but if LA or FP (ABN) series, the OS owner's manual recommends 20% oil (but the manual says don't go lower than 18%).

I am fortunate to be able to get VP Air fuel at a hobby shop near me. VP Air fuels are 18% oil (20% castor / 80% syn mix). I add a small amount of castor to bring up the oil from 18 to 20% for my LA and FP (ABN) engines.

You can probably lower your oil from 22% to 20% to save a little castor. 

[Dan McEntee]

Thanks everyone for the info . The fuels I want from ritch's brew are 25.00  a gallon so I may just order from him as I would prefer not to have to mix fuel. Not saving very much by doing it myself?

      If you don't mind me asking, what are the shipping charges and hazmat fees? He doesn't have prices listed on his web site any more. Others on the list here have had problems communicating with him and communication is as important as prices. I know he makes good stuff, and the hobby shop I used to work part time at here in the St. Louis area used to carry it years ago and I used it quite a bit then, but can't remember why the shop stopped carrying it? Probably when Morgan Fuels came along with cheaper prices and that's what the customers wanted.
  Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee

[Matt Curtis]

Will have to call back to get shipping and hazmat costs? I could just buy fuel from hobby Town here in Tulsa for 27.00 and add castor. I already have some castor as well .

[Colin McRae]

About a year ago I did some fuel price research for our club. Both for RedMax (no longer available) and Rithes Brew. For 5 and 10% nitro fuel shipped to my home in California, in both cases it would have cost me around $35/gallon delivered including hazmat fees. Then after I pay California sales taxes, $39/gallon.

Then I found a hobby shop near me that caries VP fuels. The VP fuel including sales taxes is the same $39/gallon. So, I just get my fuel locally.
 

[Dan McEntee]

Will have to call back to get shipping and hazmat costs? I could just buy fuel from hobby Town here in Tulsa for 27.00 and add castor. I already have some castor as well .

      The shipping is the rub for many of us. the farther it has to go the more it costs. $27 is a good price to just walk in and buy it. I think the 10% Morgan fuels are up over $30 at the hobby shops here now, for both Cool Power and Omega. I/C flying even in R/C has really slowed down in this area so the shops don't stock a lot and that may affect the price they pay. I think we are down to just two hobby shops in the St. Louis area now, mark Twain in St. Charles and Schaefer's in South County. I'm not counting the trains only stores. It used to take me all day on a Saturday to make the rounds of them all!! At Mark Twain we used to stock Fox, K&B, SIG and Rich's Brew fuels back in the day. I remember the winter and early spring in 1993, we got in a huge order from Rich's brew, and we had a big pyramid of fuel just built up in the middle of the store . The owner was planning on having a big fuel sale and some other promotions centered around it. then the floods of '93 came along and it shut down every R/C club and flying field within a 50 to 75 mile radius and that lasted all summer!! It must have taken a whole year to sell off that stock!! My how things have changed!! I would love to have my hands on that pyramid now!!
   Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Paul Smith]

I see fuel economics like this:

Professionals like Ritch's Brew, most likely, buy nitro and oil 1,000 gallons at a time and methanol in lots of 10,000 gallons, thereby beating any one, five, or ten gallon deal by a huge margin.
They can mix and package the fuel and sell it at profit less expensively than you can do for yourself.

In "the good old days" around here we had Logghe Brothers Pro Power Fuel located in Roseville within seven miles of my home.  I saw his fuel mixing building.  It was a "don't try this a home, kids" deal.  He had his worker carry the four-gallon cartoons to my car.  He could judge nitro content by weight.  When hefted a box of 40% he would say, "you got the good stuff".

[Joseph Lijoi]

I see fuel economics like this:

Professionals like Ritch's Brew, most likely, buy nitro and oil 1,000 gallons at a time and methanol in lots of 10,000 gallons, thereby beating any one, five, or ten gallon deal by a huge margin.
They can mix and package the fuel and sell it at profit less expensively than you can do for yourself.

In "the good old days" around here we had Logghe Brothers Pro Power Fuel located in Roseville within seven miles of my home.  I saw his fuel mixing building.  It was a "don't try this a home, kids" deal.  He had his worker carry the four-gallon cartoons to my car.  He could judge nitro content by weight.  When hefted a box of 40% he would say, "you got the good stuff".

Those Logghe Brothers were drag racing legends. They fabricated many significant winning dragster and funny car chassis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logghe_Stamping_Company