Greetings from Cedar Rapids, in Eastern Iowa. I really started trying to build models about 1950 while in still in grade school, working in my father's implement dealership and working as an apprentice mechanic in his shop. I got in to electrical engineering pretty directly from trying to fly radio controlled model airplanes using the hearing aid tube technology of the time. With an MS in electrical engineering, Collins Radio actually paid me to work with all kinds of avionics systems on all kinds of aircraft.
My machining adventures started around 1990 with the Christmas gift of a brand new Unimat from my wife. Serious engine projects started with a Titan 60 model airplane engine from Home Shop Machinist magazine and a Red Wing 1/4-scale hit and miss in 1999. Along the way I made an Atkinson Differential and an Otto-Langen, amongst other things. John Vietti go me excited about model engine magnetos with his construction article in Issue #4 of Model Engine Builder in December, 2005. I learned a great deal from John as we collaborated on some research and testing over the years, and I developed a low-tension magneto-igniter combination for my Red Wing, published in Model Engine Builder in issues #23 through #26 in 2010, and have run this at numerous shows ever since. Now designing and building an original 4-cylinder Atkinson Cycle engine inspired but not modeled from the Toyota Prius engine.
I'm taken aback at the wide range of skills and experience show by contributors to this forum, and look forward to participating and learning from all.
My machining adventures started around 1990 with the Christmas gift of a brand new Unimat from my wife. Serious engine projects started with a Titan 60 model airplane engine from Home Shop Machinist magazine and a Red Wing 1/4-scale hit and miss in 1999. Along the way I made an Atkinson Differential and an Otto-Langen, amongst other things. John Vietti go me excited about model engine magnetos with his construction article in Issue #4 of Model Engine Builder in December, 2005. I learned a great deal from John as we collaborated on some research and testing over the years, and I developed a low-tension magneto-igniter combination for my Red Wing, published in Model Engine Builder in issues #23 through #26 in 2010, and have run this at numerous shows ever since. Now designing and building an original 4-cylinder Atkinson Cycle engine inspired but not modeled from the Toyota Prius engine.
I'm taken aback at the wide range of skills and experience show by contributors to this forum, and look forward to participating and learning from all.
