Glow plugs

[Martin McIntosh]

Just what has happened to the price of these? I have run out of OS 8`s and Enya 3`s so went to ebay for some more. Last time I bought a card of 10 they were £2.50 each, now between £9 and £15, same with OSF. The cheapest I found were £7 from Lithuania. Has the price of platinum/iridium suddenly gone through the roof, the Japenese not currently making them or are we simply being ripped off in the name of covid, brexit, the £ or what?

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Yes.

[Ron Gray]

@Martin McIntosh PM me if you want OSF or 8's

[Engine Doctor]

Usual thing of supply and demand I suppose. Since electric power took off ,no pun intended, the need for glow plugs has fallen so manufacturers stop making them then the opportunists Jack up the prices. 

I would love to see a manufacture re start production at a reasonable cost and see all the jack the lads who have been buying up any glow plugs they can find left holding them and make a loss .

There have been adverts for "Glow plugs wanted " on the BMFA  classifieds recently 

Human nature unfortunately, a bit like the profiteers and spivs that popped up in war time.

All to easy o blame it on the pandemic.

[Nigel R]

Try Model Technics plugs, around £5 a throw from UK suppliers.

 

I would use a Firepower F6 warm or Maxflash M6 warm, depending on pipe or not. Supercat for four strokes.  I haven't actively bought anything else for many moons.

 

[Keith Berriman]

I have good reliability for years with the Just Engine No 4. Still a reasonable price 

[Jon H]

not seen an OS8 at those prices in 20 years. Last i remember (probably 10 years ago?) it was about £5.50 for an 8 and about £7.50 for an F but its clear i am a little out of date myself. I dont replace plugs very often. 

 

The supercat 4 stroke is no good in our engines for some reason so im afraid you will need to find some F's for your Lasers Martin. 

[Peter Miller]

I have some new plugs,assorted.A few Taylor etc.  IF     I could find the "for sale classifieds" I might list them at civilised prices

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

3 minutes ago, Peter Miller said:

I have some new plugs,assorted.A few Taylor etc.  IF     I could find the "for sale classifieds" I might list them at civilised prices

https://www.modelflying.co.uk/forums/index.php?/forum/111-marketplace/

[Chris Bott - Moderator]

Peter you could follow John's useful link to the classifieds section.

 

Or to help find your way around, click the word "Home" top left. This will take you to the main index of the site, very much like the old one.

 

 

In the main index you'll find all the forum sections, starting with:-

 

USING THIS FORUM

MAIN TOPICS

GOING PLACES

MARKETPLACE

     Marketplace has sections called
     FOR SALE

      WANTED
 

 

[Peter Miller]

Interesting. When I go to that it says "Start a new Topic"  Now is the "New topic" a new advert?

Or is it a new topic on the subject of selling and advertising.

 

I suspect a lack of clarity here

[Ron Gray]

I was fortunate enough to buy up a few from a deceased modeller’s estate, so have some ‘spare’. I did sell some a while back on the BMFA classifieds.

[Martin McIntosh]

Thanks for the offer Ron. I have managed to order 5x Enya 3s for about £33 on ebay and have five or six OSFs spare. I do find that leaving a model unused for a long while means that the plug deteriorates. Should take them out really but my models do not normally lie dormant for this long.

None too keen on the Firepower or Taylor ones because they just do not work on a piped motor but will keep them in mind for other things.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[Don Fry]

4 hours ago, Ron Gray said:

I was fortunate enough to buy up a few from a deceased modeller’s estate, so have some ‘spare’. I did sell some a while back on the BMFA classifieds.

I’ve got lots of nice stuff, but Glow plugs were not on the list until now. I will not even tell Beloved, her jewels are compared with an OS F plug. I wish to breath tomorrow.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

6 hours ago, Peter Miller said:

Interesting. When I go to that it says "Start a new Topic"  Now is the "New topic" a new advert?

Or is it a new topic on the subject of selling and advertising.

 

I suspect a lack of clarity here

For topic read thread - just a different word for the same thing.  All you need to do is list your for sale item(s) and give it a suitable title.  Anyone interested can PM you or ask questions more publicly.

[Peter Miller]

OH Well, I will give it a try

[Nigel R]

16 hours ago, Martin McIntosh said:

None too keen on the Firepower

 

do not work on a piped motor but will keep them in mind for other things.

 

What problems have you found with the firepower plugs used on a piped motor?

 

[Don Fry]

Gettin back to the first post. The United Kingdom has a trade agreement with Japan. It’s a straight cut and paste of the agreement in place when it was a EU member.  
But the prices have gone up, should be IRO, 20 odd percent, the worlds view of the post Brexit value of the pound, is it has lost 20odd percent of its value. 
They are still being made, RC Japan, do no 8 for £5.30 ish, and Os F for about £7. I had ran out of OS F plugs and got half a dozen in the winter.

Which brings me to a penultimate point, I bought from RC Japan because there were not available at my normal nearer to home sources, because the disruptions to world shipping caused by the lurgy and resulted in all the shipping containers being in the wrong place. And costing more to ship a container. They are available now, same price they have always been. But they don’t seem to have No 8 plugs now.

And you have a few sharks trying to rip you off. Greed is good, is that not the mantra.

I reckon by next winter we will be back to normalish transport systems, so no need to panic.

To be clear, my local sources are in France and adjoining EU countries.

Edited April 13, 2021 by Don Fry
Clarification of local

[Nigel R]

Don, that fall in pound vs euro, from E1.40 down to E1.10, happened a few years ago. Immediately after the referendum as I recall. The Yen rate had a larger change at the same time. Around 190 pre referendum, around 130 post referendum; USD did much the same, approx $1.45 to the pound, down to $1.30. We now pay lots more, for, well, most everything. At some stage the traders must pay the piper and pass on that cost to us consumers.

 

PS Model Shop Leeds want £11 per OS8, are they sharks or a local shop to be supported? I play devil's advocate of course. They are a business, end of day, bottom line must be maintained.

[Don Fry]

Miniplanes in France, OS no8, in stock, minimal postage , £7.56, at today’s exchange rate.  I have no idea is that is the cheapest, first shop I looked at. They were out of stock a while ago. Miniplanes is a run of the mill shop and internet trader, nice people, good service, similar to Model Shop Leeds. 
That is a big price difference. I have no idea where the price difference  comes from in the food chain, but someone is eating well. France is not noted for retail cheap.
if you want to look, a plug is “bougie” in French. I still think the basic cause is disruption of supply chains. 
 

[Martin McIntosh]

Nigel, when we started to use proper tuned pipes in the 70`s to get the power up and the noise down, the motors would instantly quit on throttling back, probably due to the vacuum sucking out the next charge of fuel and allowing the plug to cool ( usually Taylors or similar then). Virtually all F3A flyers had to use Enya 3`s which had (have?) a platinum element which would stay hot.

I remember watching Wolfgang Matt practicing and although he was already on Enya plugs it quit every time he went to idle. The British team went to the USA W/C`s without a single spare plug between us and of course the Japs would not sell us any until the competition was over.

The OS 8 is about as good now.

[Don Fry]

I think, not stating with authority, that back then, the plug had platinum/ platinum alloy wire. The wire, has been replaced over the years, with a copper/alloy electroplated with platinum coil. 
A tougher wire, does not shatter as much, but I see nowadays, matt white coils, ( me overheating the poor thing, I think), copper showing through, (worn out, or just corrosion)

On balance, not complaining, you could get into a cycle, plug shattered, change, the debris from the last shattered the new plug...until you washed it out. But the plugs have evolved, just the name does not. 
I like the concept. If a motor does not run nicely on an 8, or a F plug, it’s not for me. Keeps the spares box simpler. 

 

 

[Peter Miller]

I believe that the methanol (alcohol) had a catalytic effect when in contact with the platinum. This helped ignition. That was back in the late 50s I heard that

[Nigel R]

18 hours ago, Don Fry said:

I still think the basic cause is disruption of supply chains. 
 

 

I agree.

 

Although reading back, that probably isn't clear from my post. I think the effect of the B word is mostly long since baked in to our supply chain pricing at this stage.

[Nigel R]

15 hours ago, Martin McIntosh said:

Nigel, when we started to use proper tuned pipes in the 70`s to get the power up and the noise down, the motors would instantly quit on throttling back, probably due to the vacuum sucking out the next charge of fuel and allowing the plug to cool ( usually Taylors or similar then). Virtually all F3A flyers had to use Enya 3`s which had (have?) a platinum element which would stay hot.

I remember watching Wolfgang Matt practicing and although he was already on Enya plugs it quit every time he went to idle. The British team went to the USA W/C`s without a single spare plug between us and of course the Japs would not sell us any until the competition was over.

The OS 8 is about as good now.

 

Interesting. I must admit I've never seen or experienced that effect. I guess the motors were all crossflow at that time?

 

Perhaps maybe my tuned pipe setups have not been that tuned. I've never aimed for high revs or any setups where it cannot peak whilst static on the ground. Either way I have had good results with firepower plugs in them.

 

Were Firepower plugs around in the 70s? I thought they turned up mid 80s.