I’m working on a Hobby Boss f4f3 wildcat (weekend edition) and want to add a little detail to the engine, maybe some wiring and plumbing.
I’ve searched for some pics of other detailed rotary engines but I am just not finding what i’m looking for. Anyone have any build pics they can post of adding scratch built details to a rotary engine and cowling?
Ives ( MowerMech )
This do?
Maybe a search for “radial engines” might help. A “rotary” engine looks like a radial…rotaries were used on WWl fighters - they actually spun on their output shaft, and the propeller was bolted to the engine - they rotated as a unit. The do look different - maybe that’s where you’ve gone wrong.
The F4F-3 used a Pratt & Whitney R-1830. Maybe do an image search for that. There are lots of pics and websites for that engine…see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_%26_Whitney_R-1830_Twin_Wasp
Do these help?
Regards,
Tom, that engine is correct for an FM-2 but most Wildcats used R-1830’s. And, yes the correct term is radial, not rotary for this type engine.
Here is an R-1830. It is likely a B-24 or PBY engine as the magnetos are in the back, on the F4F they were in front, but they are nearly identical otherwise.
Wow, you guys are fast. Thanks.
Revised my search for radial instead of rotary and it made the difference. Jeaton1, that pic is just the ticket. I’ll be doing some engine work this week…[Y]
Ives ( MowerMech )
A little correction, please. (1) Why are you associating ME with misidentifying “radial” for “rotary”? All I wrote was “This do?” and attached a photo of a Wright R-1820. (2) I simply took a few seconds to respond to Ives (MowerMech), and I wasn’t going to rag him about “radial” vs. “rotary”. I’ve had limited experience only with a rotary power plant (and yes, I am using it correctly, a horizontally opposed, 24 piston/12 cylinder planetary engine is rotary, not radial — the engine spins). (3) Earning my BS in aerospace engineering, I dealt with jets and gas turbines insofar as I dealt with them at all. (I worked Clear Air Turbulence as a post-grad then found a job in computers.) So?
Hey Ives!
I just wired my 2 “Betty bomber” engines last night. Here`s a couple pics…
What I did was drill tiny holes through those notches on the cylinder heads and a little larger hole down by the crank case…so 2 wires would fit through. I fed the wires through the back of the cylinder and down through the hole by the crank case (?). I applied CA glue to the wires in the back of the engines. Pretty simple. I couldve used a little larger wire but its only a representation of whats really there so Im not sweating it. The wire I used was 36gauge beading wire…picked it up at Michael`s/AC Moore…forget which one.
Good luck, I`ll be watching so post some pics!
Len
Tom, sorry, I should have expressed myself more clearly. I meant only to reference you in the R-1820/R-1830 reference, not the definition part of the statement. I have worked on and operated many different types of engines too, so I guess we have that in common. I did not mean to be critical of you in any way.
I wouldn’t mind having more detail on that horizontally opposed rotary, it’s amazing how many configurations can work or be dreamed up.
Spasibo. The [whatsacominago] thing looked like some lunatic sawed the ends off a steel football, a doubly-truncated prolate spheroid if you want to be fussy. Air-cooled, 2 spark plugs per cylinder (one at each end), and as I said, planetary, the crankshaft was an inclined plane, actually an inclined torus that ran crosswise through all of the curved, that’s right, CURVED cylinders — that’s what makes describing the what-make’um-go a pain in the [dinkywongo] to describe adequately. One needs bent words. Have I confused you enough yet?
Well I would actually suggest Aluminum paint for the cylinders and burnt Iron metalizer for the valve covers to make it look realistic even going as far as a wash to “sludge it up” a bit. And if you have any Rust All I would suggest doing up the exhaust pipes in rust to also make it look real too as the real deal got so hot it started to oxidize pretty fast.
So, it wasn’t clear, and for the benefit of the rest of us who are ignorant abt radial vs. rotary a worthwhile observation by Jeaton1. BTW that planetary rotary sounds like a really big Wankel to me. I’d be interested in more detail. Sounds like one of those fantastic diesel aircraft engines the Soviets built, or more probably a Fairbanks Morse experimental submarine engine. I would love to know.
Thanks Mike
I already have it painted. Started with a gray primer and then a silver toned down with a touch of black. I then added an acrylic wash and really dirtied up. I probably need to tone down the wash a bit. I’m in the process of adding fuel lines using some armature wire i had laying around. Once the lines are done i’ll do some final color detailing. So far it’s looking good. I’ll post some pics when i’m done. This is only my second plane build (first was a disaster) and I am having a blast with the detailing.
Thanks for the suggestions. My paint selection is still pretty limited, slowly building up an inventory.
Ives (MowerMech)
Nope. Not a Wankel. Totally different geometry. Think horizontally opposed, 2 pistons per cylinder. Like somebody took one-and-a-half horizontally opposed flat 8s, warped each of the cylinders along an arc (like series of bows or a rack of ribs), then wrapped it into a torus encircling the driveshaft (like a crown rib roast only inside-out). As I wrote, to describe it properly, you need bent words.
Hmm, with the exception of the ‘air-cooled’ part, sounds like you’re describing a Wankel engine a lot there. 
Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas
A Wankle [above, for those who haven’t eaten one] can be described as a captive cardioid mechanism. This had nothing ‘cardioid’ about it. Also a Wankel (at least in theory) can be adequately described in 2-D.
“In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.” — Yogi Berra
OK so here’s a wild guess and I’m no expert.
The Bricklin- Turner Rotary Vee?
Dad was an Aero Engineer too. His thesis was a turbo-supercharged Allison V-12.
He ran the Concorde evaluation team for United Airlines, among many other things UAL oriented.
When they retired the DC-6 fleet, the aircraft were all flown to Tracy California and the engines returned to SFO.
I have a collection of Pratt piston heads, but thats not on topic here. Big old 6" ashtrays. (actually 5.75").
Humm, The Bricklin- Turner Rotary Vee? Que pasa?
Look, I have no idea what this monster was called (“Fred”?). I didn’t own it. The guy who did had it in his dune buggy. As I said, I am not an expert relative to radial power plants (i.e., the Wright R-1830). I dealt with rockets, jets, and gas turbines as an undergrad, not piston engines other than automobiles. Further, I think this sideshow is hi-jacking Ives’ (MowerMech) original query about the Wildcat. Fair’s fair, guys.
Actually, i’ve enjoyed the discussion. I’m a 25 year small engine mechanic and love all things mechanical. I have zero experience with any of the rotary’s or radials though so it’s been fun learning what your thoughts are on these. I’m not a fan of hi-jacking threads but in this case my question was answered and the subject is still related to engines, so hi-jack away guys…[Y]
Ives
Edit - By the way, Tom and Jeaton, you’re pics were a great help in getting my engine detail started, a big thanks…
What scale is this F4F-3 kit? I know the smaller things get, the harder the detailing gets. Here’s a 1/72 Hasegawa Rufe engine I detailed with bits of copper wire for the ignition wires and stretched sprue for the push rods, but it’s almost too small to see once you shove the cowl over it:
I know, I know, why do we bother? [bnghead]
mfsob (awesome forum name by the way )
That’s pretty much the exact engine but in a 48th scale. Mine has a little more molded detail. Great job on your detail work. I’m adding some small armature wire now, there’s actually 2 to each cylinder but at the small scale things can get a little busy real quick so i’ll probably just keep it simple. Going for the illusion of detail…
Thanks for the photo, i’ll post a couple once i get done, hard to find build time right now since the weather finally cleared up. The yard is calling me out…
Ives
p.s. - my wife has asked me several times “why do you bother” . Still haven’t come up with a good answer for her…