30100~Le Rhone Rotary Radial Aircraft Engine
1July 20, 20229 cylinders completed - that's Step 1!
2July 20, 2022Close 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......
3July 21, 2022Now 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.
4July 21, 2022Now 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.
5July 21, 2022Then stepped up to 1.0mm
6July 21, 2022Then up to 1.5mm
7July 21, 2022Then the big jump to 2.5mm, but very carefully.....
8July 21, 2022Turned 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.
9July 21, 2022The 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.
10July 21, 2022Here 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.......
11July 21, 2022as it would appear from the front - also proving that all is square & level - sits FLAT!!!
12July 22, 2022No locating pins so I've zip-tied them together in prep for gluing - of course, after removing injector pin stubs & de-flashing them.
13July 23, 2022The intake manifold are supposed to be "Copper" - Trialing a "Bronze" Sharpie, and will check with some reference photos
14July 23, 2022Used a Silver Sharpie pen on the Push-rods - now to do the other ends of the Intakes
15July 24, 2022Parts getting ready - Rocker arm & springs, Pushrods
16July 24, 20223 main parts for each cylinder- all painted with Sharpie "Bronze" or "Silver"
17July 24, 20226 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
18July 24, 2022Thats 2 hours down the gurgler......DONE!!
19July 25, 2022Test Fit time - some fine tuning, but getting there
20July 25, 2022Some more work on the "Copper" effect required, before I go mad with putting the nuts on!
21September 4, 2022Sorry 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!
22September 4, 2022After a 2nd coat of Tamiya - Hand brushed.
23September 4, 2022Then 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.
24September 4, 2022Only just enough of the cylinder top to get a grip on, but you can see the difference between the clamped & unclamped cylinder bases.
25September 4, 2022Then 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.....
26September 4, 2022This 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.
27September 4, 2022The 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
28September 4, 2022Side 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.
29September 4, 2022The complete fuel/air/spark assembly
30September 4, 2022Ready for mating with the previously built crankcase assembly
31September 4, 2022Onto 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)
32September 4, 2022Some days later, almost completed
33September 4, 2022Side view showing the spark supply wires in place, and on the painted display stand
34September 4, 2022Close 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.
35September 4, 2022The back of the engine
36September 4, 2022close 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.
37September 4, 2022with 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!
38October 18, 2022Sorry for the long gap......Life!!!
Heer is the completed model, on a flash timber base
39October 18, 2022Rear view, showing Magneto
40October 18, 2022Close up of Oil pump
41October 18, 2022RHS
42October 18, 2022Above
43October 18, 2022Full Frontal
44October 18, 2022LHS
45October 18, 2022Rear Overview
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26 April 2025, 05:01 -
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!!
