# My first IC engines



## Ramon (Oct 24, 2011)

Hi, This is my first post here (other than in the Welcome section).

Up until about two years ago I had had a long several year layoff from all matters machining. A good friend encouraged me to make an IC engine after lending him all the information I had gathered over the years. The 'Nova 1' below is the result. The drawings, copied from a 1946 edition of Model Aircraft, were a joy to work to and the engine performed well from the off. The crankcase on the original was cast but this one was machined from solid and that cylinder head/liner was made from EN1a free cutting steel.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-
eHwcfbdzEmM/S1zHHM_wk9I/AAAAAAAACxw/Z8PsE5LjyMo/s720/DSCN1809.JPG

Fired with the success of this thoughts turned immediately to another potential project and I decided to scale up a well loved British model aircraft diesel engine the ED 2.46 Racer to twice capacity. Again the cases were machined from solid but these had liners made from cast iron and a hi-tensile steel respectively using cast iron pistons. I ended up making two as I set out making two cases incase of a mishap.







These also ran well and really inspired me to continue in the same vein which lead to making scaled up 5cc versions of another British diesel engine the Eta 15d .






The Mk 1 is on the left, the Mk 2 in the centre and the one on the right is a modified version to the specifications in a 1967 Aeromodeller magazine by the American Team Race world champions Stockton and Jehlik

Currently I am drawing a scaled up version - 5cc - of the Italian Super Tigre G32 1cc diesel which will be the next IC project after some long overdue work on a stationary steam engine but more on that at a later date. 

Hope that's of interest - any questions please ask

Regards for now - Ramon


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## mu38&Bg# (Oct 24, 2011)

Ramon, it's nice to see you here. Someone posted a link to a photo of the ED build in your Picasa gallery and I found myself looking through all of them over and over. I did follow the ETA builds over at Barton. These engines are gorgeous.

Greg


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## ShedBoy (Oct 24, 2011)

WOW they are some nice looking engines Ramon! :bow:
Brock


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## stevehuckss396 (Oct 24, 2011)

Extremely nice work!!


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## rudydubya (Oct 24, 2011)

That's some beautiful work, Ramon.  :bow: How did you get that satin finish on the cases?

Regards,
Rudy


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## bearcar1 (Oct 24, 2011)

Hi Ramon, WOW!!  Some beautiful craftsmanship on display there. I ussally do not go in for this style of engines but WOW and DOUBLE WOW! Do you have any in-progress photos you would care to share with us? You know how we love the pics. th_wwp

Cheers

BC1
Jim


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## Ramon (Oct 24, 2011)

Hi guy's thanks for your encouraging comments.

For those that might have an interest there are some build pics on my Picasa album.....
The Nova
https://picasaweb.google.com/Tug423/NovaEngineBuild?authkey=Gv1sRgCIGQ3tbZssrYEA#

The Racers
https://picasaweb.google.com/Tug423/RW29DieselEngine#

The Eta's
https://picasaweb.google.com/Tug423/ETA15BuildPics?authkey=Gv1sRgCN2t3sfK3Oqmdg#

As I get older I find it harder and harder to remember how I went about something. I used to keep notes but since the advent of the digital camera find it easier to take pics as I go. By keeping them open on Picasa I hope they can be of use to others as well as to jog my old fading cells.

Regards for now - Ramon


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## steamer (Oct 24, 2011)

Ramon,

Was that your article in ME?.....looks familiar... ;D

Nicely Done!

Dave


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## jonesie (Oct 24, 2011)

welcome ramon. thanks for sharing, they are real nice looking engines. jonesie


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## Ramon (Oct 25, 2011)

Rudy, apologies but I overlooked your question.

The satin finish was achieved by bead blasting using glass beads. I have a good friend who has the facility but I'm currently extending the workshop so as I can install a small cabinet myself. It does produce a nice smooth and uniform surface but unfortunately it is easily marked. I meant to do a test piece when I did these engines and then anodise it to see if that will improve it's durability - that'll have to wait until the next one now.

Regards - Ramon


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## CMS (Oct 27, 2011)

good looking work you've done there.


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## /// (Oct 27, 2011)

They are some fine looking engines Ramon, thanks for sharing!
I purchased a bead blaster a few days ago(still not arrived), so it's nice to be able to see the sort of finish I can expect.
Cheers


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## danstir (Oct 28, 2011)

Really nice looking engines and great finishing work!


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## Ramon (Oct 28, 2011)

Hi guy's thank you for all your kind and encouraging comments. 
I was thinking (coo bet that hurt my wife would say!) that you might like to know a little bit more about them -particularly the Eta's 

The original Eta 15d was aimed primarily at the Team Race arena of aeromodelling around the late 50's. The early versions - Mk1's - apparently - and I say apparently as I have no personal experience in handling one until I built these engines - did not stand up to the rigours of racing very well, particularly the crankshafts. The Mk 2 soon came behind with a sturdier and longer front housing and a stronger crankshaft as well. The only other difference was the extra fin in the head. One of the versions I was loaned to copy had a steel plate set into the backplate held in place by the rotor screw. I believe this was for wear rather than any ability to slightly alter the point of inlet period and was apparently an after market part. The 5cc Mk2 is fittted like wise

All three versions run well and after the initial bedding in consistently turned a 12 x 5 wooden prop at just over 8000 revs. The Mk 2 appears to have the edge over the other two purely by sound alone - I have not been able to run them enough as yet to evaluate them or to compare them on a variety of props .
The engine used by Stockton and Jehlik was developed by replacing many original parts by home made and improved tems. They also made one major change which I'm told not only provided an increase in performance but in fuel consuption as well. This change consisted of a new back plate which incorporated a drum valve as opposed to a rotor disc and a plastic outer housing which was a front housing and venturi taken from a Cox TD 049.

This area was all machined from scratch on the 5cc, the Cox look alike machined from some very hard plastic which Parker pen bodies are made form and the venturi scaled up from that on an 049.


Here's a couple of pics of the rear ends










I'm going to have to stop this here. I don't know if there is a limit to what can be written but once the box is full the words dissappear downward out of view. Any attempt to scroll down moves the text up but immediately the keys are hit it all dissappears out of view again - Any idea what I'm doing wrong 


Perhaps a bit more later?

Regards - Ramon


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## dsquire (Oct 28, 2011)

Ramon  said:
			
		

> Hi guy's thank you for all your kind and encouraging comments.
> I was thinking (coo bet that hurt my wife would say!) that you might like to know a little bit more about them -particularly the Eta's
> .
> .
> ...



Ramon
I used to have the same problem when making a long post. At the time I was using Internet Explorer as my browser. I changed to FireFox for my browser and haven't had that problem since. Hope this helps. :bow:

Cheers 

Don


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## Ramon (Oct 29, 2011)

Thanks Don, I didn't have time last night as I was out but shall download it later and see if it improves matters
Regards - Ramon


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## compspecial (Oct 29, 2011)

These engines are beautiful Ramon every one of them, I am a great fan of ED engines, I only wish I had your rare skills :bow:
                       Stew


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## Harold Lee (Oct 29, 2011)

Ramon - Those are beautiful engines. You are a very talented machinist and should be very pleased with your work. 

Harold


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## Maxine (Oct 29, 2011)

Very, very nice.


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## Ramon (Oct 30, 2011)

Hi guy's back again but this time with Firefox .

I really don't know what to say to your very kind comments except it's most gratifying to think that you feel that way - thank you very much for your interest. 

Just to finish off on the Eta's the only 'Eta' engine parts on the original S and J version were the crankcase and piston and liner. The crankshaft was original but modified to take a K&B spinner. The cylinder head had four more fins than the scaled up version and was proportionately slightly larger in diameter. I decided against the extra finning to gain some strength in the machining ops and reduced the diameter slightly to improve it's appearance.

The anodising was a second attempt - the Racers being the first. The dye's used were Parker fountain pen inks which work extremely well and take almost immediately. Strangely the 'blue' on the Racers heads were from using green ink. BTW the rather out of character round head screws on the Mks 1 and 2 were as fitted to the original engines. Unable to obtain true Philips screws these were modified from stainless pan heads.

I'm not a time served person but changed careers around 1981 to train as a milling machinist. I was very fortunate to obtain work over the next twentyfive years in three jobbing shops where I had to learn very fast not to make mistakes if possible and to make the job pay. It was a steep learning curve as I'm sure you can imagine. I also spent some fourteen years in a factory environment building up and then running a machine shop supporting progression press tools for the electrical terminal business. Apart from just one job in all those years I never did anything that I could not lift into the chuck or onto the table by hand so I'm well used to small stuff and I guess that comes out in the engines.

I don't know how many model aircraft plus a few marine engines I have owned over the years but it's 'quite a few'. I'm not a collector - most have been quite transient - though there are one or two that 'have a place' and reside in my small but treasured 'nostalgia' cabinet.
So many aeromodelling colleagues have suggested at times 'Why don't you make your own engine?' but despite collecting so much relevant information over the years it had never appealed until my friend coaxed me to do the Nova. I can tell you when that ran I had a grin from ear to ear that lasted for days. ;D

I don't have anything special as kit - the ubiquitous Myford Super 7 which I've had since 1980 and an old, small, but totally serviceable Linley jig borer gradually improved over the years to do all the milling on. The workshop has slowly evolved since that first ML10 lathe in 1972, but it's still quite basic. 

I have several plans (ideas that is) for various small engines all scaled similarly in the coming months which I hope some may be interested in and on Friday a good friend passed along some large blocks of ally which are hopefully going to lead to something a little larger but not, it has to be acknowledged, before an awful lot of swarf is made .

Hope this is of interest and yes - thanks again 

Regards - Ramon

PS - the Firefox works Don


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## Trizza (Nov 3, 2011)

Lovely engines Ramon! IC model aircraft engines are my main machining interest, so threads like these are great to see 

Are you planning to fly any of these engines? I have an ML Midge in progress at the moment (on hiatus due to life getting in the way) that I'm planning to fly.


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## Ramon (Nov 3, 2011)

Hi 'Trizza'

It's good to hear of someone else with a similar interest in making these engines. What I enjoy about them is their small part count and short build time but that, if plans work out for next year, is likely to change significantly 

I have had considerable encouragement to put one in an aircraft but have to confess that is unlikely. I have flown control line actively since my teens but have not done so since 2006. I must admit it sometimes I think it would be nice to see one of the Racers in a similarly scaled stunt model - a '334G' or a 'Blue Pants' but there's insufficient drive to build for that to happen. 

They come out of hiding on the odd day and get a run - if nothing else just to refresh that smell of diesel fuel in their boxes ;D - but most of the time they hide in a drawer - no they are not on display, well not as yet.

Good luck with the Midge - is that an American engine BTW?

Regards - Ramon


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## Trizza (Nov 4, 2011)

I believe that the Midge's designer, Mark Lubbock, is British. I couldn't say for certain, however. Its a nice simple little engine that one.


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## litoweapon619 (Nov 12, 2011)

nice job man  :big: 

got to make one too


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## dethrow55 (Jul 14, 2019)

wow nice . i like the ed 2.46 racer. impressive job. would like to find some plans for that model .thanks james


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## Ramon (Jul 14, 2019)

Hello James- it's been a long time since I made those engines and the drawings were laid out on paper.

They were featured the build article in the Model Engineer magazine however so if you can source the issues that would be all you need.

Regards - Ramon


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## Chris Murphy (Jul 15, 2019)

The Mark Lubbock 'Midge' is a 0.5cc/0.8cc simple sideport barstock diesel that featured in 'Aviation Modeller International' in 1997 in the April and June issues.....quite a number have been made over the years: you can find more information here in the 'projects' section...      http://www.modelenginenews.org/

ChrisM


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## Ramon (Jul 16, 2019)

Hi again James,

I am certain I did the original engines from pencil drawings but have just found that at some stage I did these on CAD too so your luck is in.

I have attached the first three of ten drawings for you - I replied to your PM - did you see it? By putting them on here then others have access too.

I'll post the remainder in due course

Regards - Ramon

I must have done these when I first learnt AoutoCad. They are what they are, done for my ow use - I lay no claims to being a draughtsman and accept no responsibility for errors


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