Storing tin tanks - fill with oil?

[Dennis Toth]

Guys,
I have a few ships that are infrequently flow and have tin tanks. I want to have the tanks ready and not let them get corroded inside. I once heard that you should fill them with fuel and store them that way. Seems that fuel could be aggressive and cause other issues. I was wondering if instead of fuel you could just use synthetic motor oil that you could drain and do a light flush once ready to fly again?

Any thoughts?

Best,   DennisT 

[Bootlegger]

    Something  else that might work AT F automatic transmission fluid, and it should burn..

[Dan McEntee]

  Get some cheap camp stove fuel like Colemans. It won't hurt the tank or anything else it comes in contact with, will help resist moisture, and any left overs in the tank will blend with model fuel and burn out on the first run or two.
   Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[John Park]

Dan's right - lamp oil or kerosene (which we call paraffin over here) works well.  I once stored some unused tanks in a jar of old glow fuel - but they were diesel tanks, with brass tubing, and the fuel corroded the brass to the point where I had to scrap the lot.  You live and learn...

[Dave Hull]

Be aware that if you leave a tank filled or immersed in fuel, galvanic corrosion will leach the zinc out of any brass parts. It will first cause holes and then make it crumbly. It will first turn black, and then parts will turn green....  I ran a test with pure nitro just to see who's doing what to who, and it pretty aggressively attached the 1/8" brass tubing samples I used.

I have said before here on the 'Hanger than when I build a new tank, I squirt some air tool oil into it and on the outside and then store it in a baggie. Never sure how long it will take me to finish the rest of the airplane project and would rather not take a brand new plane to the field with a crappy, rusted out tank on it--even if it was "brand new."  Other guys here thought all that was unnecessary and a waste of time. Maybe that don't live where everything corrodes...?  The other likelihood is that they are used to some of the premade tanks that seem to have a much better plating job than the K&S stock from the store. Hope you find a method that works for you....

Dave

[Ken Culbertson]

I have had zero tank corrosion problems since switching to electric. 

Ken

[Dave_Trible]

I also haven't had any trouble with older tanks.  I do use only copper tubing-brass and nitro don't play well together-and use only electrical type solder where there is no acid flux involved.  The fuel has oil in it (remember) and coats the inside of the tank.

Dave

[peabody]

Winfred always stores tanks full of fuel...

[Jim Hoffman]

I do exactly as Dave Trible does and also have zero problems

[Brett Buck]

I do exactly as Dave Trible does and also have zero problems

  Me too, never have an issue with this.

    I would note that any sort of acid flux will start the process, and in particular *DO NOT USE STA-BRITE FLUX* to put the tank together. This will virtually guarantee problems with corrosion later. You would not believe some of the damage I have seen to tanks made with Sta-Brite, like, the entire body of the tank from one end to the other corroding so thin that holes started appearing right through the faces of the tank, right in the middle of a solid bit of metal.

   Use *rosin-core* solder, either 60/40 or 63/37, use a soldering iron,  NOT a torch, and you will be OK. If you absolutely, positively, have to use an acid flux (because you damaged the tin plate and now have bare steel), use Nokorode paste flux, and make sure you have access to both sides of the joint, and wash it extensively with soap and water.

      Brett

[BillP]

Never had a problem here either. I run all castor (25-29%) with low nitro and the tanks can sit for yrs between use. I took the end caps off a couple 20-40 yr old Perfect tanks with intermittent use and they looked fine. All my hobby stuff is kept in a non-airconditioned shop with high humidity.

[Ken Culbertson]

I have never done anything in order to protect the tanks or keep them clean, and so far all the tanks I have inspected have been clean after years of use.
So maybe unless you use full (bad quality-) castor and make sure the solderings are well neutralized, I wouldn’t worry. L

I had 4 tanks that were in my stash of stuff that survived my 35 years in the wilderness.  I did nothing to them and all were good.  I build all of them using acid-core and a big soldering iron with copper plumbing.  I used FOX fuel back then.

Ken