Dave Massey wrote:
> I find this thing absolutely amazing! The amount of detail that went into
> a scale model (and a one of a kind at that) is phenomenal. A four cylinder
> engine made from scratch! My are we jaded these days. This thing looks as
> advanced as some of the cars offered for sale circa 1905 - 1920.
> (actually, more advanced)
Maybe part of seemingly ugly appearance (according to some) is due to
the absence in the repainted form of bumpers and the headlight pods. It
might have much more resembled a small-mouth with the inclusion of
those, and if it were fully trimmed out.
The engine seems very European in design, and is typical of what was
being done in the `50s there. There is an excellent set of books by a
man (whose name escapes me now) in England on making working gasoline
and steam miniatures, with lots of set-up information on doing it all on
just a lathe, which I find quite amazing. 1/5th scale is actually quite
large compared to some of the examples he showed in his books. He
showed, for instance, one working 4-cyl. water-cooled pancake engine for
use in a boat which was perhaps 4" x 5". Lots of details on things such
as making one's own piston rings and hardening and tempering them,
making valves (even for winding and tempering one's own valve springs),
etc.
Working miniature models are reasonably popular in the U.S. (there is
one guy selling kits for Chevy V-8s about six inches long), but nothing
like the popularity in Europe, particularly in England. Miniature
replica steam locomotives seem to very popular there.
> But what can you do with it? Well, these days you could pack it with RC
> servos and drive it by remote control. Wouldn't that be a hoot! I'll bet
> you could do commercials with lizards and stuff.
RC is an excellent evolution for such. Years ago, when I had lots of
shop space and machine tools available to me after work, I'd
contemplated building a 1/8th scale DeHavilland Mosquito for RC, with
1/8th scale Merlin engines. Had even started some of the design work in
CAD, but by the time I'd sort of figured out how get around the problems
of making one engine for two contra-rotating propellers, making twelve
sparks every two revolutions with a tiny distributor without
cross-firing (power mower ignition parts and an advance system working
off the crankshaft were the bits that would have worked), and how to
grind an 8" long 12-cylinder crankshaft on the lathe, the company folded
and all that shop equipment was no longer available. The
high-temperature ovens in the analytical lab were great for
heat-treating small parts.... But, even as design exercise, it was a lot
of fun.
Cheers.
--
Michael D. Porter
Roswell, NM (yes, _that_ Roswell)
[mailto:mporter@zianet.com]
Don't let people drive you crazy when you know it's within walking
distance.
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