Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow

at the minute im a bit restricted model making wise

my compressor died 2 weeks ago and i cant afford a new one at the minute, too many other things having to come first
which means anything that needs air brushing is on hold.......such as the Brumbar.........my modelling for a while is either rattle cans or hairy brush ................................or no paint at all!

so im going to start something that requires no paint

its an Airfix 'Engineer' kit of a 4 cylinder internal combustion engine............basically you get all the bits to make a see through inline 4 banger which is powered by a small motor so you can see the crankshaft rotating, pistons and valves rising/falling......the spark plugs fire.....all in slow motion of about 30rpm......theres even sound!

apologies for the American Contingent as i will be using English terms for the bits

i used to work for a certain japanese car company and a gang of us were on a week long Technology course........part of it was a trip to the engine plant on Deeside......in reception there was a beautiful cut away engine where you could rotate the crank and see everything moving.....the guy teaching us didnt know how an engine worked!!!!....i casually dropped in 'suck, squeeze, bang, blow' and got a funny look.......ended up having to explain to the group how an engine works

i think this one might be fun since theres no painting and its a subject i know



to give an idea of scale, here is the crankshaft, manifold and fan with a pot of tamiya paint for size





cam belt cover, cylinder head and rocker cover



engine block



valves and dipstick



pistons and con rods



the 'starter motor' that drives it all



power/sound pack and spark plugs



bag of screws and head gasket and valve springs

Looking forward to this one Paul. I've always been tempted to do one of these engine models.

Looks like that would be very interesting to build !

piston and con rods attached to the crank



and in the block

to be honest i think i could have put this all together in 90 minutes but im enjoying it so much im going slow

cylinder head........valves are in, cam shaft and rocker arms fitted

Things haven't changed that much. I have a "kit" of a flathead 4 banger made in Germany long ago. Many screws and little bolts and nuts. I wish u well, don't lose any pieces!

head attached to the block........rocker cover on the head.........cam belt on and cover over it all......starting to look like an engine now..........its an 'old fashioned' engine cos that grey thing on the right is the dizzy

That must be a timing chain Paul?

also called a cam belt

A belt is a belt, a chain is a chain.

Just yanking your one Paul

water pump on, fan and belt on, 'starter motor' on



the end is in sight, not much more to do

and finished........more pics in the finished thread

Nice design! I'd be tempted to do it with some paint and some clear exposed areas. You're right about how vastly different the engines are now. I wonder if someday we'll see hybrid engines in the future as big scale kits! That would be interesting.

Great I have built several of the Visible engines. All active models. I like this one a lot.