Radial Rebuild complete: Videos up

[Swede]

At last! During the last few weeks, I've been doing a lot of fine-tuning to this engine, and I believe I am finally done with it. It has never looked as good or run as nice as it did today. Usually, a cylinder or two won't fire consistently, or there'll be some other problem. All it took was some carburetor adjustments, and I had several runs today with all cylinders firing, and the heads themselves piping hot, the way they are supposed to be.

I think the switch from the 20" two-bladed propeller to the much more massive 24" 3-bladed job did a couple of things... the additional mass forced the engine to "work harder" for lack of a better term - the running characteristics smoothed out hugely, and idle definitely improved. Plus, I think it looks better.

The oil pressure gauge was a bust. It's something I need to work on. This time, it didn't vibrate, it showed zero oil pressure! But I know the engine was getting oil, as I added a short section of clear tubing in the scavenge line, and I can verify oil flow by watching that piece of tube. Also, adding a condenser to the transistorized circuit did nothing that I could see, but it didn't hurt anything.

Anyway, she's got new paint, a new propeller, upgraded ignition, and all-around better performance. Sorry about the video quality, it was a one-man operation, but it gives an idea. The camera is zoomed in and not as close to the engine as it looks.

The videos: The first video shows a startup, some throttle movements. The second video shows what adjustments to ignition timing (the right-hand lever) does, as well as some bonus material. Enjoy! And feel free to comment. These are my first YouTube videos.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItYMiCU4iAo[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOLr-9cEKb0[/ame]

 

[metalmad]

Wow
just Wow
I need one of these :bow: :bow: :bow:
Pete

 

[Sparticusrye]

That is a beautiful piece of machinery. Love the sound of a radial.

 

[kustomkb]

That's a real beauty Kurt!

It looks and sounds great!

 

[lazylathe]

I agree with Pete!!

:bow: WOW!!!!! :bow:

Sounds and looks amazing!!!!

Andrew

 

[dsquire]

Swede

That is one beautiful engine. You should be proud of it. Do you have any plans to use it to power a RC plane? Congratulations on an excellent build. :bow: :bow:

Cheers

Don

 

[Catminer]

That is too cool !!!!
Well done. Thm:

Peter

 

[kvom]

Great build. I can imagine the man hours it takes to build one of those. I considered trying a 5-cyl Edwards before I settled on the loco build.

Now you need to make that prop variable pitch.

 

[GailInNM]

Swede,
Very well done.
Gail in NM

 

[cwelkie]

Truly a gorgeous build - something to truly take pride in. Congratulations!

I particularly appreciate the attention to detail you gave the mount, "firewall" and ancillary equipment.
(Too often we hurry through the extra bits in our rush to convert gasoline into noise.)

Cheers,
Charlie

 

[Swede]

Thanks for the kind comments... I have a castings set for the Wright Whirlwind tucked away, and I think I am close to getting my rear end in gear on that one. I need for this heat wave to break here in Texas, though. My hangar/shop is a metal building, and even with the doors wide open, the heat easily tops 120 f in there.

One other project I wish I had jumped on was the Bob Roach designed Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr in 1/6th scale. I don't know if the castings are even being offered any more. It's something to think about - when castings are offered, it's probably a good idea to pick up a set if interested in the engine, as these castings often are only offered for a short time. The demand just isn't there to keep producing them.

 

[mh121]

Superb piece of work, did you keep a tab on build hours? Can only imagine the time that went into a magnificent job like that.

Cheers,
MartinH

 

[Swede]

TY Martin. I didn't keep a log. Probably 1/2 of the time went into casting the heads and rocker boxes. The original head design didn't appeal to me. So I made up some patterns and since I had never sand cast before, I spent maybe a year teaching myself how to cast aluminum, and in the end came up with a design that worked. Another HUGE chunk of time was taken up with the ignition and carburetor. For me, at least, getting fancy with the ignition was a failure, and in the end, mechanical points worked where I could not get hall devices to work.

I also spent a lot of time learning to do simple things like making molds and patterns for the distributor:

It probably took three years to get it on a stand, and another couple of years of much less intense work to massage the mounting into something nice. The original mount was welded square tube that looked pretty bad!

Here is the first run on the tail of my P/U truck:

 

[ninefinger]

One other project I wish I had jumped on was the Bob Roach designed Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr in 1/6th scale. I don't know if the castings are even being offered any more.

If your interested in those castings they might still be available as the heads are the same as for one of the rows on the R-1830 if I recall correctly from my correspondence with Bob Roach. Bruce Satra's contact info can be found here http://modelenginenews.org/vernal/r1830.html as well as Bob Roach's for the engine drawings.

By the way excellent work on your engine. I hoped to get a set of those whirlwind castings too but had no funds when I first saw them - something about those round engines that I just love. Wonder if they are still available?

Mike

 

[Sshire]

Astounding! A beautiful piece of work. Is it coming to Cabin Fever??
Stan

 

[Swede]

Mike - I have the Roach prints for the Wasp Jr, but no castings. My buddy and I daydreamed of setting ourselves up with an investment casting bench like Bruce Satra described for SIC magazine, but we never got around to it. I'm not sure if we were thinking of trying to make our own Wasp Jr. castings, but the end result for both of us was prints, but no castings. I've really got to look into it and obtain them if possible.

Guys, I've said this a few times, but if there is an engine that really appeals to you, but you think it's something for the future, buy castings NOW when they are offered, as it is very possible that they will be unavailable in the years to come. Lots of these castings are done by older fellows in their back yard for the love of the hobby, and people (of course) aren't around forever. Put the prints and the castings in a box, and set it aside. You'll be glad you did.

Stan, TY but I have no plans to attend any shows. Maybe some day...