Amazing radial engine models

[DICKEYBIRD]

http://barronaviation.com/Default.aspx?tabid=130&pid=0

My apologies in advance if someone has posted this link elsewhere. What an incredible talent and awesome willpower this gentleman has.

I think I'll go throw all my machine tools in the dumpster. :cry:

 

[rake60]

That IS impressive work!

As for tossing your machine tools out, NAAAAAAAAAA.

It's not a competition by any means.

The feeling YOU get, when an engine YOU built comes to life
for the first time is something NOBODY else can duplicate...

Rick

 

[Bogstandard]

I thoroughly agree with Rick on this issue.
What would the world be like if we could all work to the same parameters, totally boring.
These people are just artists, like good musicians or painters, all you can do is try to be like them and do the best you can and be proud of what YOU have achieved. People will admire you in the same way, because they can't make the same little engines as you do.
Be happy with what you can do.
By the way, the engines he has made are not runners, just display models. Getting them to run is a level above what he has achieved, so he most probably feels the same way as you do.

John

 

[DICKEYBIRD]

Just kiddin' about throwing out my machines. I'm having WAY too much fun with 'em!

Heck I've even started talking to 'em like they're my kids. Like my kids, I try not to cuss 'em when they don't do what I want.

I'm just an average sort of craftsman I guess. I'm never happy with the stuff I turn out but I think it is improving as time goes on. Those radial engines are at or near the top of our hobby.

My other hobby, r/c model planes has it's gurus as well. Some of the scale models built by the masters are incredible. Every detail is massaged to the nth degree. Some even have operating, scale control linkages connected to the little stick & rudder pedals! Funny though, many of the master-level builders can't fly worth a darn. They put in a zillion hours on them, go to a contest and either get too slow on landing approach or horse them off the ground before they're up to speed and stall/spin into the ground in a heap. That would pi$$ me off, big time.

 

[mklotz]

John wrote:
"be proud of what YOU have achieved. People will admire you in the same way, because they can't make the same little engines as you do."

How true that is. Our club puts on presentations in a number of local venues and I'm constantly getting questions like...

Where did you buy the kit to make that?

Did you buy those on Ebay?

The vast majority of people are not only absent the talent to make things, they're absent the very CONCEPT of making something from scratch. (A growing small business in SoCal assembles knock-down furniture and Xmas toys for gormless yuppies.)

The questions I really hate, though, are:

So, you have a machine shop? (No, I gnaw them out of old bed frames like a crazed beaver.)

Are they for sale? (Sure, I'm having a special today. Any engine on the table for only $5000.)

What are they good for? (They calm my mind so I don't go postal and murder clueless twits like you.)

I've also discovered that most people think that perpetual motion is completely possible if only enough engineering attention is applied to the problem. These yuppies are entertained for hours by LTD Stirlings, sitting on a saucer of ice in the hot California sunlight, and spinning gaily. "So, it doesn't need any energy at all to run? Could you use that to power an SUV?" Sure, but you would need a 300HP V8 to power the DVD viewer and the electric cup heaters.

I have a model of Elmer's donkey engine pump that pumps mineral oil from a clear plastic container through the pump and back into the plastic container. One engineering-challenged yuppie was convinced that the oil was making the engine turn over. (He had to speak quite loudly to be heard over the din of the club air compressor running in the background.) When he toddled off to his next encounter with his own ignorance, I had him convinced that I had invented the magic oil and I'd inform him when I went public with it so he could get in on the ground floor of what was sure to be a real moneymaker.

 

[Tom T]

That is some really nice work. but do you think he ever ran them . They have no propeller . :lol: Tom

 

[wareagle]

I have a model of Elmer's donkey engine pump that pumps mineral oil from a clear plastic container through the pump and back into the plastic container. One engineering-challenged yuppie was convinced that the oil was making the engine turn over. (He had to speak quite loudly to be heard over the din of the club air compressor running in the background.) When he toddled off to his next encounter with his own ignorance, I had him convinced that I had invented the magic oil and I'd inform him when I went public with it so he could get in on the ground floor of what was sure to be a real moneymaker.

I didn't know you had met my neighbor! :lol: