Bike Build Off - Radial Engine Style

[curt raitz]

My buddy John Teresi and myself have been talking about building a couple of motorcycles with a "Radial Engine". Ya know the kind that prop driven airplanes use. John wanted to build one to compliment the "Radial Engine Plymouth Pick Up" he built last year. 

With the help of our other buddy Steve Allemand (he's got a 3D printer) printing  a 3D radial engine and a bunch of other parts, i.e. carburetors, front control pedals, tombstone tail lights, etc.. 

And Andy Martin from "Model Martin" sent us a couple of his big fat rear tires and extra parts.

John's gonna build a bike kinda like this:

I'm gonna build a bike like this:

This should be fun, gonna have to step up my game to run with "Southside Johhny"

I've got about a two week start on him, cuz he is just finishing the "Jet Van" ...so that means he'll catch up to me by Friday!

More posts to follow...thanx for lookin'...

[Art Laski]

Looking forward to this, Curt! You and John will make some crazy rides, I'm sure.

[curt raitz]

I built some wire spoked wheels for front and the rear for John and myself.

Here's the rear wheel inside Andy Martin's Rear tire:

We were not sure what size front wheel/tire to use so I made John and myself two sizes:

I'm using the front forks, chain drive and disc brakes from the latest Revell Chopper kit.

After playing around with different photos of the bike I was able to print out a 1/12th scale photo of the bike to establish the size of the engine and frame. 

I  then decided to build the frame in brass:

Frame with mock up engine:

More to come, thanx for lookin'...

[89AKurt]

When I first saw radial engine bikes, it was those exact photos!   Have fun!

[David G.]

These are awesome!

They're almost as scary as the drag bike I saw a few years ago at a Phoenix Desert Scale Classic.

I'll be watching this one for sure,

David G. 

[curt raitz]

Got some more work done...added handle bars and hand controls to the Revell front forks.

Mocked up with wheels/tires on frame. I'm going with the larger front wheel/tire.

Carved a gas tank from balsa wood, will be making a rubber mold and resin casting it later.

Made a seat using the kit seat and milliput.

Then covered it with some really thin suede leather.

John should be showing up soon with his build...

thanx for lookin'...

[cobraman]

Very cool and interesting.

[misterNNL]

Great project! Have you considered making the engines available in 1/25 th. I would definitely be interested in that. Thanks for sharing your talent with us.

[Mooneyzs]

Cool Build off Build you guys are doing, I am sure you guys will have a blast with it.

[bbsbase]

That´s the way I love a bike built. I will follow this thread. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[crazyjim]

I'm gonna follow this build.

[curt raitz]

22 hours ago, Mooneyzs said:

Cool Build off Build you guys are doing, I am sure you guys will have a blast with it.

Thanx Chris

John' starting on his bike...now if he can just get photo-bucket to cooperate!

[curt raitz]

On 6/15/2020 at 10:09 AM, misterNNL said:

Great project! Have you considered making the engines available in 1/25 th. I would definitely be interested in that. Thanks for sharing your talent with us.

The engine is printed from a stl. file and can be 3D printed any size one wants.

when one knows the size of the engine in 1/25th scale it can be printed as such.

I don't have a 3D printer nor do I ever want one, but my buddy Steve has a couple of them.

I will ask if he can 3D print one in 1/25th scale just for giggles...😎

[misterNNL]

8 hours ago, curt raitz said:

The engine is printed from a stl. file and can be 3D printed any size one wants.

when one knows the size of the engine in 1/25th scale it can be printed as such.

I don't have a 3D printer nor do I ever want one, but my buddy Steve has a couple of them.

I will ask if he can 3D print one in 1/25th scale just for giggles...😎

Thanks!

[John Teresi]

Hello.....well, I`m in the game....... thank you Curt for including me in this Air Radial Bike build off...... I will be starting my build today......thank you Steve A. for 3d printing the engine and a bunch of other cool stuff that I will be using......thank you Curt Ratz for the laced wheels and some other goodies......my plan is to make 2 bikes......one with Curts laced wheels and the other bike will resemble the all metal finish bike......here is a  pic of what the first bike will resemble......thanks for looking

 

 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2020 by John Teresi

[cobraman]

That bike must sound awesome !

[Codi]

Curt/John.   FANTASTIC!!!!    That's all I've got.  Love the different designs and approaches and without a doubt these are some of the most unique builds on the forum.   Cheers, tim

[gasser59]

This will be epic, actually it already is. I do have one question though. How is it a build off when one of the builders is building stuff for the other builder?

I'm following this one to completion.

[Cool Hand]

Definitely following along with this thread, radial choppers are crazy cool.

Excellent work on the frame and build so far Curt.

Been waiting to see someone build Jesse's James radial chopper in scale and being that J.T is taking on the challenge im looking forward to watching it be built.

Edited June 19, 2020 by Cool Hand

[John Teresi]

12 hours ago, gasser59 said:

This will be epic, actually it already is. I do have one question though. How is it a build off when one of the builders is building stuff for the other builder?

I'm following this one to completion.

😳

[curt raitz]

John has joined the fun...

Here is an update on my bike...

Frame has been primed ready for some color.

Little bit of alclad work on some pieces of the puzzle

Frame painted and stuff already hanging on it

Some goodies from RB Motion...time to get going on the motor.

Thanx for lookin'...

[John Teresi]

Curt....looking goooood!!!!😀

[CabDriver]

What a great idea for a build-off!  I’ll be watching!  
 

Yours looks great already Curt - and I’m excited to see John’s take on one of my favorite WCC bikes!

[curt raitz]

Got the engine plumbed, wired, oil pump and carb installed. Forgot to take photos of engine before installing it in the frame.

The pulleys are aluminum which I turned on a lathe.

Now it's time to build the exhaust...

The fuel tank, rear fender and frame are painted Tamiya TS-55 Dark Blue.

Thanks for lookin'...😎

Edited June 25, 2020 by curt raitz
forgot the pulleys

[Danno]

A-freakin’-mazing.  

Boy howdy! The judges at DSC-17 (next April) are gonna be wanting overtime pay when these two creations hit the table in the Motorcycle Category!

Fantastic work, Curt!