There are some very active modeling sites on the web so I'm sure a lot of the fellows from here visit them but to have almost -0- activity here is surprising. I stop by every time I do my browsing and sadly I haven't seen anything in quite some time. What's up? gbritnell
Not yet, here we are. Here are some news - Been lucky to travel to Japan for Work, have met with Ken Ichi Tsuzuki, you can admire some of his work in this website or google his name and find his web site. we have spent some very nice time talking engines, approaches to machine stuff, he is great to spend time with and his workmanship and dedication are great.
I have finished a 9 cylinder radial engine, which is what made me contact Tsuzuki San in Japan.. will send some pictures of engines I have made over the years so they can get added to the Gallery.
Have a new project, I'm working on, old 5 cylinder radial engine, based in the old drawings from Sam Hodgson, this started as a collection of semimachined parts from an old engine builder who ran out of time to finish. This will be certainly a Challenge, some of the parts are of great quality while some others are not usable, will develop a Work in progress folder and try to take pictures of the progress.
It's not dead for me. I check by frequently. I am slowly but surely building the Howell V2 in what spare time I have. It is quite a challenge for a beginner like me but also quite satisfying. I have gotten a lot of inspiration from the "Gallery" section.
If you are nearby some other fellow builders, make an effort to try to pay a visit, it will be worth your time.
I have learned more from talking to fellow builders for half an hour that I will learn on my own in a month.
Have not built the Howell twin, have the plans for the 4, his designs are very well made, built a beam external combustion from his plans and it is a very nice engine.
Best of luck and let us know how you do, will try to help when and where possible.
Hopefully, we can get things moving once again, now that I offered to assist David in getting thing posted in a timely manner. I'm not quite sure as to just how all of this will help him out but, I'll do my part. Like many of you, I hate to see "FAME" die as it has been doing for so mmany months now....
I am and have been interested in getting with other HSM's building engines in my Orlando, Fl. area but I can't find anyone doing this. I mentioned in the past to David that he could let me know of any members in my area but this never happened. Privacy concerns?
Hi Bruce, I designed and built a 5 cylinder radial aircraft type engine. I based it on the old Morton design but made extensive changes to it. I'm still having teething problems with it but hopefully over this winter I'll get them sorted out. Thanks for asking, gbritnell
Just finished a 5 cylinder radial based in the old design from Clyde and using some of the modern ideas from Hodgson (Father), I inherited some plans and parts from a fellow engine builder, The treasure had original plans for the 3/5/7 cylinder designs and some documentation of changes and errors in the plans, great ideas but needed a lot of corrections, so used some of the ideas and made my own changes.
Made some "Improvements" and now I'm paying the price for doing so.
Ball bearings instead of bronze bushings, roller tappets, which are a work of art but are a pain in the back end. Cam profiles modified for smoother ramp up ramp down ( based in the Clyde designs) and adjusted for the change from round tappet to roller tappets. Heads and cylinders are based in the Hodgson design for 9 cylinder, pistons are domed to increase compression.
Well it runs nice and sounds terrific, but ...
Major trouble in the jack-shaft gears, the ones matching timing from crankshaft to camshaft, engine brakes the pin securing the gears. working in a new shaft, Dowel pins instead or roll pins (1/16 diameter), replaced springs in valves just yesterday to reduce load and drag in camshaft, which runs in a aircraft quality bearing and is smooth as it can be. If this fails only option left will be to make a new camshaft with more transition and smoother ramps, I wanted to keep the original Clyde profile, I like the engine sound with it, lower RPM's with a high compression sounds great. Will take some pictures later on and send them.