Marvel's Hydra coupe 1/12 scale full scratch build

[Mattilacken]

Epic! thats just insanity! ;D Great work!

[François]

Thank you everyone! I took a week off to at the beach but I'm back at it. With the head done, I'm turning my attention to all the engine peripherals, pumps, generator,  fan, hoses...

[François]

Did a bit more work on the motor's 3d model. Fan is in place, waterpump, cooling pipes and front motor mounts. Here are a few screen shots. 

Motor

And motor in frame

[François]

Pretty much done with the design of the engine. I incorporated some viewing windows in the block so the crank and pistons can be seen. I should start printing soon. I'll also make a base to mount it on once completed while I do the frame.

Edited December 11, 2024 by François

[Big John]

So, how do you get air into the intake plenum?

[François]

By the blower as on the Bentley. The vertical pipe will be connected to the blower somehow.  Mucho "modeler's leeway " on all this!!

I did all 16 exhaust pipes, that was quite a job, space is very restricted at the front.

[François]

I printed a bunch of parts for the lower engine. Pistons, connecting rods,  caps, crank shaft, bloc mounting brackets,  distributer... the plate was almost full. Next print will be the bloc itself, oil pan and the covers for the head, all tall parts so the print will be very long.

[François]

I printed the engine bloc. The first try was a partiel success (about 70% good). I printed this part in a vertical position (crank shaft axis vertical) thinking this was the best position,  not so good after all. The top portion, where the head sits, wasn't totaly formed and the crank shaft support didn't print. All other features and mounting points/surfaces were ok. For the second try, I printed in a horizontal position (crank shaft axis horizontal) and I had about the same success rate.  But on this one the top portion was perfect, the head sits nicely but it's the lower portion that didn't make it.  The flange where the sump cover mates barely printed and the crank shaft support didn't print. For the third try, I still printed in a horizontal position but I redid the majority of the print supports. The print has just completed and is still dripping so it's hard to see but it looks promissing. 

First try

With sump cover in place

With the second try, hge head sits nicely but bottom flange is a mess

Third try fresh off the printer,  still dripping and full of supports but it looks good.

Test print of 1 of 16 exhaust pipes,  looks ok.

 

[absmiami]

Ooph

[Kenmojr]

Awesome 3D modeling...

[François]

All the parts for the engine are printed (and being a V16, there's a lot of parts!) And most are painted. I still need to do a bit of weathering, a bit of oil here and there but nothing too fancy. It took me 4 tries to print the bloc but the 4th one is flawless.

Here are some pictures. 

Lower engine components 

Exhaust (not painted)

Distributer

Water pump

Fuel pump

A bunch of hydraulic fittings. I painted them aluminium then applied a yellow wash to get a cadmium plating affect

A spark plugs with rubber cap and wire (I'll do the cadmium effect too the lower portion of the plug)

I made a sanding jig to precisely sand the end of each crank shaft segment,  there are 8 segments in all glued end to end so the lenght of each part needs to be a precise dimension in order to properly fit in the engine bloc.

The jig

The segment in the jig before sanding 

And after sanding 

Segments before and after 

[François]

Ok so, I have many goals on this build. One was to have a working V16 engine and valve train that would drive the rear wheels.  So far, as you're seen in my earlier post, the valve train is done and fonctionnal.  Today, I made another step towards this goal. I now have a fully fonctionnal engine. All 16 pistons move from the crank shaft while driving the camshaft.  I had my doughts but I pulled it off and it works very well, with very little torq needed to move averything. It wasn't easy to assemble but considering the precision needed but everything came together without a hitch. I more than pleased!!

Here are some pictures and videos,  enjoy!

 

 

[Big John]

You've got a fairly short stroke there, what do you think the RPM limit would be?

[François]

John, the stroke is 10.9mm (131mm scale up) compared to the 75mm stroke on the engine I based my design on. It had a top rpm around 4500. I would definatly not try my engine at that rpm. In the video, I used my dewalt drill at the low speed setting which has a top rpm of 600. I ran it at maybe half that? It's all plastic with a little bit of light oil for lub, so I won't be trying to run it any faster.

[François]

Now that the engine is done, I started on the transmission. And, naturally, I  had to complicate things. I thought it could be fun to have the choice of running the engine with or without the rear wheels turning. Do to that,  I incorporated a sliding gear mecanism that will be actuated be the shifter. Here's a little video showing how the thing will work.

 And a cross section of the engine with the transmission in place 

the printed parts

And mounted on the engine just to see what it will look like

That's it for now

Merry Christmas !!

[absmiami]

W 

O

W

[Codi]

Francois, one can only marvel at the talents you're displaying here.  It's been fascinating to watch and can't wait to see more. cheers, tim

[François]

Well, the Hydra Coupe 16 cylinder engine is done and it's a beast! You might think it's out of scale for a 1/12 model but it's not. Everything is to scale. Unlike some other large scale engine out there, If you were to blow it up 12 times,  this one would actually look like a very huge V16 engine. Althought I will admit I might have spaced the cylinder bores a bit more than necessary to fill the engine bay. I still need to put in the plug wires and fine tune the fit of the clutch but aside from that,  it's done. The transmission is mounted and the drive/no drive mecanism works well. I've ordered a few micro gearmotors (2 different ratios). The gearmotor will be hidden inside the starter motor housing and will drive the ring gear.  In the meantime, I can rotate the engine using the transmission output shaft. 

Here are some pictures of the transmission assembly, followed by pictures of the completed engine and a small video. 

All transmission parts ready for assembly 

The completed engine 

And some details 

Snd a small video showing the drive mecanism being engaged

 Next up, the frame, suspension components and front and rear ends.

[BK9300]

Very impressive, François, wonderful engineering!

 

[François]

Plug wires installed 

[lordairgtar]

All I can say is WOWWWWW. I have created things like intakes and transmissions out of styrene shapes but nothing like this.

[François]

I received the 6mm dia gearmotors in 2 different ratios but unfortunately, they won't do. One simply doesn't have enough torq.  As for the other,  it could do but it's border line on torq and I find the rpm to slow. It's to bad because the assembly was quite nice with the gearmotor hidden inside the starter housing.  I'll install the starter but it will only be for show.

Here's the too small gearmotor/starter setup 

So I had to rethink how to drive the engine. I found another type of mini gearmotor,  it has alot more torq but it's much bigger, too big to pass as a starter.  Instead,  the new motor will be hidden inside the blower and it will be inline with the crankshaft.  I even figured out a way to drive the rotating thingy in the front of the blower using the same gears I had planned to use to drive it in the first place. I ordered 2 different torqs,  hopefully one will do the job.

Here's what the new design looks like 

And here's the new gearmotor type

While waiting for the new motors to arrive,  I started the frame.  It's all printed and assembled,  a lot easier and faster to print and assemble than the engine.  I also test printed the radiator since the new gearmotor will be mounted in it. For a test print, it came out pretty good.  At the risk of repeating myself, this model will be huge !

The assembled frame (that's an 18 in ruler next to it)

With the engine

and the gas tank I printed last summer 

And with the radiator cowling and blower

I'm always impressed with what the printer puts out but like I said before,  garbage in,  garbage out. I guess I'm not giving it too much garbage !!

[BK9300]

Looks great, François.  How do you find the strength of your frame rails given their length?

[François]

Bk9300, the frame is suprisingly stiff. The engine when bolted in adds a lot of ridigity. I'll be adding some aluminium stiffener plates on both side that should also help. The problem I forsee is more torsionnal but the body should help a lot for this... I think.  The model, once completed,  will be in an enclosure of some sort so will be protected from inquisitive hands and will sit on support jacks like the Bentley. 

[Big John]

Fantastic engine work Francois, Hope to see a nice set of side covers with the Hydra logo incorporated, ala Bugatti. The can motor in the blower is a great solution.