Aircraft Engines in scale

[Flynlo]

A brief history of aircraft engines in scale:

1/8 th scale Le Rhone rotary engine. Until you have seen one run it is hard to believe that the crankshaft is fixed while the crancase and cylinders rotate around it.

1/8th scale Le Clerget. Still a rotary but now a whopping 130 horsepower!

1/9th scale Wright J-5. One of the first truly reliable radials, it carried Lindberg across the Atlantic.

1/9th scale Pratt & Whitney Wasp

1/12th scale Wright Cyclone

The turbines spelled the end of the big old radials...even if they did still have a prop on them! Still waiting for the rest of the C-130 to be released in this scale

 

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Flynlo

[Pete J.]

Very nice models!  The thing that sticks me about the Le Rhone rotaries was the lack of a throttle.  They ran at a fixed speed and the pilot controlled power by turning the ignition off and on.  I can't imagine the tension in a pilot's mind when he is on short final, killing the engine periodically to land and then if he has to go around, relying on the windmilling of the prop and engine to restart it.  Can you imagine trying to drive a car that way??  

[peteski]

Very nice models!

I see couple of Williams Bros. kits. I was thinking of picking those up. How do they build? Any major problems?

[Snake45]

Very cool! 

A friend of my kid's has this thing sitting around. Would make a cool model display. 

[shoopdog]

Thanks Tim for sharing your incredible engine pics.

[Flynlo]

17 hours ago, peteski said:

Very nice models!

I see couple of Williams Bros. kits. I was thinking of picking those up. How do they build? Any major problems?

The Williams Bros kits are not too bad to build. Thet are like a typical short run kit with some flash to clean up and sometimes vague parts location but easy to figure out and the large size helps.

The Wright J-5 comes with flexible vinyl tubing for the carb heat ducts. these have cracked over time. I would replace them with styrene rod or tube if building another,

[Flynlo]

9 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Very cool! 

A friend of my kid's has this thing sitting around. Would make a cool model display. 

You can build it Snake! Take the Merlin from the Airfix 1/24 Mustang (very detailed engine but the P-51 is blaaah) and build a trailer. Toughest part would be the radiator-looks like maybe an AVRO Shackleton unit?

Edited April 14, 2020 by Flynlo

[peteski]

1 hour ago, Flynlo said:

The Williams Bros kits are not too bad to build. Thet are like a typical short run kit with some flash to clean up and sometimes vague parts location but easy to figure out and the large size helps.

The Wright J-5 comes with flexible vinyl tubing for the carb heat ducts. these have cracked over time. I would replace them with styrene rod or tube if building another,

Thanks for the tips - you did a great job on them. They look very realisitc.

[Snake45]

2 hours ago, Flynlo said:

You can build it Snake! Take the Merlin from the Airfix 1/24 Mustang (very detailed engine but the P-51 is blaaah) and build a trailer. Toughest part would be the radiator-looks like maybe an AVRO Shackleton unit?

Oh I have no interest in building it. I thought maybe you'd like to, though. 

Here's my kid's friend showing him another one of his rare old toys, some kind of steam car or something.