Dummy Rotary Engine Kit - Part 1 - The DB 1/4 Scale Bleriot

The process of selling our house is occupying more of my time than I had anticipated and other more enjoyable pastimes have had to go onto a back-burner. But... things are now returning to some form of normality and blogging will commence once again :)

So on that note here is how the dummy radial engine progressed for the DB 1/4 Scale Bleriot.

The pending move to the US has meant the reduction of model related items, leaving only an absolute minimum of paraphernalia to ship, so...alas the Bleriot is just one of many aircraft that I have reluctantly parted with :(( But on the up side it is going to a good home and will spend its foreseeable future on display, hanging from a ceiling somewhere.

The engine in this particular Bleriot was the 7 cylinder 50HP Gnome Rotary, hence the side cheeks to allow  the engine to rotate freely within the fuselage.

 DB Bleriot with RCV120 up front prior to installing the

dummy engine and propeller. One of the side cheeks is clearly visible.

The new owner of the Bleriot wants a dummy engine and propeller fitting so this work was duly undertaken. 

I thought I'd show you some of the dummy engine kits that I have in stock. There are many others available and mine are just a selection of whats out there.

 I have 2 supplied by Arizona Model Aircrafters of the USA. One is the 7 Cylinder Rotary Gnome and the other a 9 Cylinder Rotary Le Rhone or Gnome.These kits are OK but you have to supply your own nuts, washers, bolts, screws, wire and tubing. Sourcing these additional items can slow up the built time whilst you find appropriate fixings etc. But with  their inclusion of laser-cut acrylic components you can add extra detail to areas such as the cylinder heads and manifold pipes. Some of the cylinders, heads and push-rods supplied with the Arizona kits are manufactured by Williams Bros. and some cylinders they have machined to profile from plastic tubing and the heads are from laser-cut acrylic and the builder supplies the metal push-rods etc.

 Arizona 7 cylinder Gnome - 1/4 Scale.

Arizona 9 cylinder Le Rhone or Gnome - 1/4 Scale.

Then there are the Williams Bros. Rotary Engine Kits. These kits are excellent and really do look the part when completed. However, the Bleriot is 1/4 scale and Williams don't do a 'full' rotary engine kit at this size but they do supply the cylinder heads. So that just leaves the model maker to make up a crankcase and fit the 'off the shelf' cylinder heads and 'job done'

 William Bros. 9 Cylinder Le Rhone Rotary Engine Kit - 1/6 Scale.

The other rotary engine kits I have in stock and have often used are made by Mick Reeves Models from the UK. They represent good value for money and they are 'very' complete leaving nothing for the builder to source. So all you have to do is follow his instruction sheet and you'll soon have a very convincing dummy engine to install into your latest model.

 Mick Reeves 9 Cylinder Le Rhone Rotary Engine Kit - 1/4 Scale

can be converted to the Gnome Rotary Engine.

 Mick Reeves 9 Cylinder Clerget Rotary Engine Kit - 1/3 Scale

This one will be going into the Nieuport 17bis.

Here is a completed Mick Reeves Clerget Engine Kit that I made for a 1/4 scale Sopwith Pup. As you can see it looks quite convincing when complete. I will include details on painting and detailing the Bleriot finished engine kit later.

Close-up of engine and aluminium cowl.

Complete engine showing push-rods and spark plug detail.

Close-up of crankcase, cylinder and push-rods.

Reverse of engine showing construction.

Finished engine behind  the aluminium cowl.
The rivet detail and 'engine turning' was also added to the cowl.

The chosen engine will be the Arizona 1/4 scale kit of the 7 cylinder Gnome rotary. I will show the build in the next post.

To be continued...