1/25 Jet Turbine

[91blaze]

There is also a gas-turbine automotive engine kit, quite highly detailed, available as a vintage Revell Parts Pack. It doesn't seem to be in very high demand, and I've seen it pretty cheap on ebay.

I can't seem to find any of these Revell Parts Pack turbine engines on Ebay.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I can't seem to find any of these Revell Parts Pack turbine engines on Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-25-Revell-Parts-Pack-Turbine-Engine-/200795082950?pt=Diecast_Vehicles&hash=item2ec051d0c6#ht_500wt_1413

[Casey]

The Can Am engine is what I need, but looking at the instruction sheet, they way the engine's output shaft and the trans mate seems very odd? Hard to say, as my turbine engine experience is pretty much non-existent.

[91blaze]

http://www.ebay.com/...6#ht_500wt_1413

Thanks, I was searching under "Models and Kits" where I usually find my model stuff.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Casey, right off hand I don't know what engine the Can Am is supposed to be. The PT6 has the power takeoff on the exhaust end, and the Huey output shaft goes through the air filter. The ST6 in the Lotus used a chain-drive transfer case to get power to the 4WD, but it didn't look like what you have there.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Aha !! It's apparently based on the turbine in the first Howmet turbine car (of which there is a kit also), a Continental TS325.

Edited July 25, 2012 by Ace-Garageguy

[Mike Kucaba]

If you have the bucks I've seen a 1/24th Harrier jet. Can't vouch for the accuracy of the jkets though. I always seem to get out bid.

[Casey]

Aha !! It's apparently based on the turbine in the Howmet turbine car (of which there is a kit also), a Continental TS325.

Yep, same kit.

I guess I need to do a bit more research as to how the turbine connects to the transmission, but it should work fine for what I have planned.

[Ace-Garageguy]

From the wikipee entry Howmet TX:

"A two-stage setup used an internal power turbine to drive the rear wheels through the use of reduction gearing. Due to the wide variable output of the turbine and the high level of torque, a standard gearbox was not necessary, leaving the Howmet TX with only a single gearing speed. However, the gearing ratios were able to be quickly changed in the differential, allowing the car to be adapted to various circuits. Due to the use of a single-speed transmission, there was no gearing for reverse. Although Heppenstall initially wished to do without reverse, the FIA mandated its use and a small electric motor powered by the turbine was installed, allowing the car to move in reverse. "

There doesn't appear to be a lot of data on the engines themselves, or the power takeoff design, because apparently they were prototype helicopter engines that never made it to production. BUT, in the photograph, there is a cast-aluminum unit that appears to be a differential. On the rear of the differential, there appears to be a bolted-on housing that more-or-less lines up with the rear flange of the turbine hot-section. This housing most probably is for the reduction-gear-train coming off of the mentioned "internal power turbine". The reduction gearbox has to be #4 and #5 in the transmission instruction sheet.

And I was thinking of the Howmet closed version, the earlier body style.

Edited July 25, 2012 by Ace-Garageguy

[Casey]

I see now there were two versions, a coupe and a spyder, but they're both fascinating vehicles. I wonder what it's like to ride inside one...

[media=]

Here's a good image showing how the output shaft and trans are connected, too:

[zenrat]

_{By all accounts the Revell Parts Pack Turbine is a pig to build.}

[Ace-Garageguy]

Great photo of the power-takeoff from the turbine, Casey. I had to look at it a while to see exactly what was going on, but it's now apparent the designers brought the output shaft between the exhaust stacks, so it would be concentric with the turbine main shaft. It looked in some of the pix I'd found like they brought the PTO through the left side of the hot section, which made no sense at all. Now I understand why they split the pipes the way they did. The bearings and seals in the top-end of the gear-train must lead a very difficult life.

The large dark gray casting at the front of the engine probably houses the starter drive and adapter (pretty sure the end of the starter can be seen immediately to the right of the large vertical part of the engine stand, probably #7 in the instruction drawing), accessory drives, the drive for the fuel metering unit, and probably the first compressor section. This does not appear to be the same forward casting as the one shown installed in the coupe, but it's hard to be sure. It doesn't look much like the version depicted in the instructions either.

I would tend to believe the electric reversing motor would be installed on the reduction geartrain housing.

[Casey]

I just picked up the MPC Can Am Buyer's Choice re-issue, and their do appear to be extra parts from the coupe (Mark I?) version still on the sprues. The instruction sheet was a direct copy of the original, too, so not much help there.

Thanks for all the help so far. I'm learning about turbine engines on the fly.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Although this is a diagram of the Pratt & Whitney PT6 (probably the most popular turboshaft engine ever, various versions being installed in helicopters, racing boats, production airplanes and retrofits, and automobiles) it's a pretty good depiction of what happens in the Continental TS325 as installed in the Howmet.

This shows a PT6 with an output shaft offset from the turbine centerline by a reduction geartrain, similar to the TS325 setup in the Howmet. In operation the exhaust ducts would be rotated 90 degrees from what is shown here, to place them on either side of the gearbox, again as in the Howmet installation.

The PT6 variants are often set up with an output shaft that is concentric with the turbine centerline, with a planetary-style reduction gearbox instead of the spur-gear reduction geartrain shown, and in some cases a torque-converter style liquid coupling.

Edited July 26, 2012 by Ace-Garageguy

[Casey]

This page has a basic diagram showing how the turbine engine works, too: http://www.autoconcept-reviews.com/cars_reviews/howmet/howmet-tx-lm-1968/cars_reviews-howmet-tx-lm-1968.html

57,000 rpm

[Ace-Garageguy]

Yup. I was primarily illustrating something very similar to the actual component layout and the reduction-gear setup, and how the power is transferred from the turbine shaft to the gearbox, since that was more-or-less the original line of inquiry. I'll stop now.

[Casey]

I'll stop now.

Please, keep going. Lots to learn here. I am still mesmerized by the 55,000 rpms.

[Casey]

_{By all accounts the Revell Parts Pack Turbine is a pig to build.}

Was this engine supposed to be part of a car kit at some point? It seems odd Revell would create such an odd engine as a stand alone parts pack style kit.

Is it a replica of a particular gas turbine engine? I can't find much info about it:

[Ace-Garageguy]

^^^ I've researched this extensively, and had second-hand corroboration from Revell. The engine doesn't accurately represent anything real.

[Casey]

On 6/18/2012 at 8:01 PM, tim boyd said:

the engine from the AMT "Turbosonic"

[Ace-Garageguy]

There are also three small turbines in the AMT Amtronic. One is sorta a scaled-down version of the Chrysler turbine-car design, with regenerators on the sides (if I remember correctly).

There are two more little guys on a common drive housing (upper right in the photo below) that I reworked some time back for a turbine-electric hybrid dieselpunk thingy.

 

 

[Big John]

Better late than never?  When I was in search of a P&W turbine to stand alone with a curbside 67 Indy STP car I used the engine form the 68 Lotus, cast the bottom half and with a little 'slice and dice' action was able to get rid of that ugly motor mount.

[Casey]

In case you're ever considering buying the Testors Turbo Corvette kit for the "turbine" engine...don't. 😆