30100~Le Rhone Rotary Radial Aircraft Engine

1
July 20, 2022
9 cylinders completed - that's Step 1!
2
July 20, 2022
Close up shows 2 securing rubber bands, after which I used capillary action to glue stuff together, from the inside.
I then used the same approach on the points on top of each cylinder, before clamping them with those mini-clothes-pegs!!
NOTE: there are NO locating pins of any kind on these parts, so it's vital that they are "sight-aligned" before being glued.
I think they're OK......
3
July 21, 2022
Now painted all the spark plugs - SMS Off-White
Might need to go over them to scrape off some excess......Chose SMS "Advance" paint as I want to see how these work as a brush paint.
Impressed with the coverage.
4
July 21, 2022
Now to work on the Crankcase Front where you have to drill out No. 38 holes???? WTF - translated that to 2.58mm.
So as not to damage anything, I started with 0.5mm. I think I've centred them pretty well inside the "circle" on the casing.
5
July 21, 2022
Then stepped up to 1.0mm
6
July 21, 2022
Then up to 1.5mm
7
July 21, 2022
Then the big jump to 2.5mm, but very carefully.....
8
July 21, 2022
Turned out that 2.6mm was the best size, so I started working on the Push-Rods.
BloodyHell - Lotsa flash where you would expect seamlines, so I think I've just spent 2 hours cleaning the 9 push-rods up, with a combination of scalpel, ceramic scraper, and "Infini Models" Medium clear sanding stick. Impressively the sticks return a near gloss finish when working on black plastic. Inserted each one into the crankcase to ensure fit.....and keep track of them.
9
July 21, 2022
The instructions state that the placement of the cylinders on the Crankcase Front must be precise - In the absence of any "keys" in the parts I had to measure 90 degrees from the cylinder seam - ribbed superglue cap to the rescue - blackmark is the seam - red mark is 90 degrees, on each side.
10
July 21, 2022
Here you can see the resultant 'nick' in the cylinder base, at 90 degrees from the seam, making for accurate alignment.
I used the capillary action gluing method again, with 3 finger vices.......
11
July 21, 2022
as it would appear from the front - also proving that all is square & level - sits FLAT!!!
12
July 22, 2022
No locating pins so I've zip-tied them together in prep for gluing - of course, after removing injector pin stubs & de-flashing them.
13
July 23, 2022
The intake manifold are supposed to be "Copper" - Trialing a "Bronze" Sharpie, and will check with some reference photos
14
July 23, 2022
Used a Silver Sharpie pen on the Push-rods - now to do the other ends of the Intakes
15
July 24, 2022
Parts getting ready - Rocker arm & springs, Pushrods
16
July 24, 2022
3 main parts for each cylinder- all painted with Sharpie "Bronze" or "Silver"
17
July 24, 2022
6 nuts for every cylinder, but they're all very heavily "flashed" and bloody small - here laid out on the sticky side of masking tape, till I decide how to achieve that cleanup - Any tips would be gratefully considered
18
July 24, 2022
Thats 2 hours down the gurgler......DONE!!
19
July 25, 2022
Test Fit time - some fine tuning, but getting there
20
July 25, 2022
Some more work on the "Copper" effect required, before I go mad with putting the nuts on!
21
September 4, 2022
Sorry about the long delay here - My PC died & it took me a good 2 weeks to get everything back as it should!!
Here is the repainted (yes I stripped off all the 'sharpie" silver & bronze as it wasn't working as hoped) most parts with Tamiya colours - much better!
22
September 4, 2022
After a 2nd coat of Tamiya - Hand brushed.
23
September 4, 2022
Then to put on the rear crakcase cover - I had to use a clamp on each cylinder, so I did that 3 at a time. This allowed the cylinder face to be pulled back to the crankcase fully. Very fiddly.
24
September 4, 2022
Only just enough of the cylinder top to get a grip on, but you can see the difference between the clamped & unclamped cylinder bases.
25
September 4, 2022
Then moved on to the build of the "intake" tube - a very robust tube too, as it also proovides the engine mount to the aircraft. This picture shows the throttle slide assembly (very crude, but it was 1910!) just beside the intakes.....
26
September 4, 2022
This is the Air/fuel inlet, with air intake pipes coming from each side to the exterior of the aircraft. Looking through the inlet you can see the throttle "slide" about 1/2 open. The fuel intake is at the bottom of the throttle slide casing.
27
September 4, 2022
The rear of the assembled firewall, showing the (unpainted) magneto supply pin, and the 2 accessory drive gears (magneto & oil pump) The way in which each of these originally appeared through the firewall was messy & unsatisfactory, so I decided to file them flush & drill holes & use small screws instead, to hold these gears in place. Much better
28
September 4, 2022
Side view showing the gears in place & meshing well - I had to grind down the heads of the screws so they cleared the spark distributor ring.
The Engine Bearing Shaft (here still protuding from the crankcase cover) also had to be extensively files & adjusted to fit properley.
29
September 4, 2022
The complete fuel/air/spark assembly
30
September 4, 2022
Ready for mating with the previously built crankcase assembly
31
September 4, 2022
Onto the spark distributor ring. There are areas to be painted copper on the top side of the ring, which will contact the magneto spark supply pin when assembled (not painted yet)
32
September 4, 2022
Some days later, almost completed
33
September 4, 2022
Side view showing the spark supply wires in place, and on the painted display stand
34
September 4, 2022
Close up of the spark supply system - spark is fed from the magneto to the spark supply pin, which contacts with the brass panels on the spark distributor ring, direct wire connection to the sparkplugs.
35
September 4, 2022
The back of the engine
36
September 4, 2022
close up of the spark distributor ring. Tricky wire installation, as the engine has to be assembled before you can do this. I started with a knot in the brass wire fed through the ring then to the spark plug, trying to straighten the wire & get some tension on prior to securing it with a bend at the spark plug.
37
September 4, 2022
with the bend in place, I superglued the wire in the spark plug cap hole. After that had set, I carefully superglued wire in the engine-side of the spark distributor ring. With that secure, I cut off the knot in the wire on the opposite side, and superglued there too!! Happy with that methodology!
38
October 18, 2022
Sorry for the long gap......Life!!!
Heer is the completed model, on a flash timber base
39
October 18, 2022
Rear view, showing Magneto
40
October 18, 2022
Close up of Oil pump
41
October 18, 2022
RHS
42
October 18, 2022
Above
43
October 18, 2022
Full Frontal
44
October 18, 2022
LHS
45
October 18, 2022
Rear Overview

Comments

17 20 July 2022, 09:02

bughunter
I'm in!
Normally my rotaries are six times smaller, but I have the Hasegawa 1:8 Le Rhone in stash, and build also the rotary included in my Hasegawa Fokker Dr.I.
Suggest a piece of real wood airscrew, may be only the middle part (like in this kit Wright Cyclone Engine (Revell 8881, 1:12))
See New Airscrew for the 1:8 Fokker Dr.I | Album by bughunter (1:8)

20 July 2022, 09:35

Roger Trewenack
Ooohh!! - That's a long way away!!!
but I do like the idea of the chopped airscrew!!
That's more research to do - thank you Bughunter!!

20 July 2022, 12:28

Michael Kohl
Watching this.

20 July 2022, 18:15

Roger Trewenack
shit! the pressure's on!!!

21 July 2022, 03:19

bughunter
I'm glad you like the idea!
A lot of work needed on this kit. Luckily on my Hasegawa kit the seam is on the side and the push rods are brass. You can replace them too with wire.

21 July 2022, 10:49

Roger Trewenack
Hoping someone can offer some ideas as to how I can trim/shape the hex nuts that I have to place on various parts - 6 nuts to each cylinder - 9 cylinders = 54.
see picture 17!

24 July 2022, 08:15

bughunter
I would not clean the hex nuts!
What is the real size? There are miniature brass nuts available, M1, M1.6 ... One example:
https://ebay.de/itm/272820055151
If you need them a bit longer I would by a brass hex profile and cut pieces.
Here only a example shop, available 1, 1.5, 2, 3 mm .....
conrad.com/o/profile..V_MATERIAL_any=Brass
See also minischrauben.com/?refID=minischrauben-2

24 July 2022, 11:28

Roger Trewenack
Thanks Bughunter - I thought of using a punch - didn't think of a brass hex profile - spent a couple of hours with 3.5X lenses, sharp scalpel & chisel & they came up OK - That included dropping 4..........and finding them again, defeating the carpet monster!!!

24 July 2022, 11:56

Roger Trewenack
Sorry about the delay in updates - PC dies on 13th August - took 3 weeks to recover fully!

5 September 2022, 13:09

bughunter
Is the paint on the main engine parts black?
I will go with dark and other aluminium tones on mine.

5 September 2022, 13:15

Roger Trewenack
I'm lazy, so its the natural plastic Black!! LOL
I've sort of decided not to pain the cylinder heads on account of the joins being at the front of the model. Would have been better if the joins were across the model. Not sure if painting woud hide or accentuate the joins.

5 September 2022, 22:31

Album info

I feel the need for ....................................GLUE!!!!
9 cylinders glued together, using the capillary action method with Tamiya Ultra thin glue.
Crankcase Front drilled out 9 holes
9 push-rods de-flashed................I get the feeling I'll be doing things in NINES for a while!!! LOL
Lots of sanding of base of cylinders & removal of flash on Crankcase front.....x 9!!
Happy with the test fit so far.
Tutorial delayed by total computer death....
Now up to date again (5th Sept)
Missing updates due to.......other stuff!!
Now completed!!

Le Rhone Rotary Radial Aircraft Engine

45 images

1:8

Completed

1:8 Le Rhone Rotary (Williams Brothers 30100)

All albums

View all albums »