WW2 Japanese engine

[Shinhoto]

Hi,
I am an RC Tank modeler and recently I have been toying around with the idea of putting an actual internal combustion engine in a tank. I am looking for a 1/6 scale 4 stroke 6 cylinder inline diesel engine. If anyone is up for it or has any suggestions for me please let me know!



-James

 

[Kaleb]

Diesel is going to be tricky in these small sizes, but a petrol version would be perfectly feasible. There are others on here that know more about building these kinds of engines than I do. Depends on your skills and facilities as much as anything. Not to say that it can't be done, but it won't be easy.

 

[Swifty]

Hi,
Since no one seems interested in this request does anyone have a similar engine or can anyone point me in the direction of someone else or another club that could help me?



Thanks,



-James

I'm not so sure that no one is interested, but to come on with your first post requesting help without much of an introduction is regarded as bad form. We don't know what size machines you have to build this engine, what your background is etc. This is a very helpful forum, but to come out and say no one is interested is not helpful. Someone may point you in the right direction, and that's the last we hear from you.

There is a welcome area where you can properly introduce yourself, and after a few postings from yourself you might find someone to help with your request.

Paul.

 

[Shinhoto]

Hi,
I think the two of you may have misunderstood me. I only deal with electronic motors and such; I came to this forum to ask if someone was willing to build an engine and sell it to me or had a similar engine that they were willing to sell.


Thanks,


-James

 

[stevehuckss396]

Hi,
I think the two of you may have misunderstood me. I only deal with electronic motors and such; I came to this forum to ask if someone was willing to build an engine and sell it to me or had a similar engine that they were willing to sell.


Thanks,


-James

Hello James. I, and i'm sure a lot of others understood your request. I don't know of anybody that builds engines for sale. That is the root of the lack of interest. They take a lot of time to build and most people are not willing to pay a fair hourly rate to have one built. A multi-cylinder engine can take 1200-1500 hours to build. At 20 bucks an hour that would translate to $24,000 to $30,000 to build one. I also don't know anybody with the skill to build a running model that would work for 20 an hour. It's just not economically feasible. You could keep your eyes pealed for an estate sale or a sale on ebay. I have seen some engines go for cheap. By cheap i mean 4-6K for a V8. Also there is an auction at the cabin fever show every year. There may be something like that there.

Good luck with your search.

Steve

 

[Omnimill]

Hi James, you may be better off using something like this:

http://www.osengines.com/engines-airplane/osmg1330/index.html

There are others out there as well such as flat fours.

 

[Jasonb]

Also its not just a case a dropping an IC engine into the hull, you will need to be able to monitor the engine perameters remotely so nee dto send things like temperatures and pressures to your control panel to avoid cooking the engine.

Even if you could find someone willing to make the engine what would you do about spares and running repairs, there would need to be a lot of developement work and testing which all take time and cost money.

Have a look through this guys videos of his home built V12 inside a 1/5 scale tiger to get an idea of whats really involved. He made several oter engines before this one in various configurations but could not get the right sound until he did the V12.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQvJCJIFl03n75moQcXTU6w

 

[Shinhoto]

Hi guys,
Thanks for being so helpful! I think that I'll actually go with the engine that Omnimill suggested or a similar one; thanks for posting that!
I think I'll hang around on this forum and just watch you guys, its pretty amazing what you guys build.


I'm off to the introduction page...


-James

 

[Omnimill]

You are most welcome James, enjoy the forum. Wouldn't mind seeing some pictures of your RC Tanks if you get a minute!

 

[Shinhoto]

You are most welcome James, enjoy the forum. Wouldn't mind seeing some pictures of your RC Tanks if you get a minute!

Actually the tank I'm building is the only RC tank that I possess, and even then it's in bits in pieces. But I'll be sure to post some pics of it once things really get going, but for the moment I'm still trying to get all the necessary equipment and materiel.



-James

 

[petertha]

Hi guys,
I think that I'll actually go with the engine that Omnimill suggested or a similar one-James

This looks to be the home page for the Wimmera Tiger project with some V12 & other construction pics. Impressive project, that's for sure.
http://www.thewimmeratiger.com/

Re the OS inline 4-S engine, you're probably aware, but just in case...likely going to require some liquid cooling retrofit being inside a confined space installation vs. its normal application behind a propeller.

 

[Shinhoto]

This looks to be the home page for the Wimmera Tiger project with some V12 & other construction pics. Impressive project, that's for sure.
http://www.thewimmeratiger.com/

Re the OS inline 4-S engine, you're probably aware, but just in case...likely going to require some liquid cooling retrofit being inside a confined space installation vs. its normal application behind a propeller.

Actually, thanks! For some reason I was assuming it was aircooled!



-james

 

[Henry]

Hi, welcome to the forum.

This has been always my dream, tu build a WII tank at scale 1/6 or 1/8 as functional as possible.

It will be very interesting to me to watch anything relative to this project.


This site sell engines.... They are gas engines, diesel engines are more complex to made a scale. I am not sure about anything but it looks nice.



HERE

 

[SixSixSevenSeven]

Actually, thanks! For some reason I was assuming it was aircooled!



-james

it is aircooled, but that engine is typically mounted to the front of a plane and directly drives a propeller. It relies on the heavy airflow it gets from both the plane moving through the air and the propeller also forcing air back over the engine.
Mounted into a tank it won't have a propeller forcing air over it. It won't be moving through air at high speeds. Instead it will be nestled inside a box without a fresh air supply. Maybe vents cut into the tank (potentially in places not quite fitting to scale too) and some fans blowing air through will alleviate the issue, perhaps they won't, hard to tell without just trying it unfortunately

 

[Shinhoto]

it is aircooled, but that engine is typically mounted to the front of a plane and directly drives a propeller. It relies on the heavy airflow it gets from both the plane moving through the air and the propeller also forcing air back over the engine.
Mounted into a tank it won't have a propeller forcing air over it. It won't be moving through air at high speeds. Instead it will be nestled inside a box without a fresh air supply. Maybe vents cut into the tank (potentially in places not quite fitting to scale too) and some fans blowing air through will alleviate the issue, perhaps they won't, hard to tell without just trying it unfortunately

oops, double
I plan to have a fan and there are two vents on top of the tank and on the side where the engine is to keep it cool. I will probably do some tests with it inside a closed box and see how long it takes or it to almost overheat. If it is a long time, I won't worry to much about it; not like I'll be running the tank at full speed for thirty minutes (or will I...). If it prone to overheating then I'll try a computer fan first and then move up from there if that doesn't work.



Thanks for clarifying,



-James

 

[Jasonb]

I really would not consider putting that into an enclosed hull, even though its a 4-stroke its still a glow motor running on a mix of methanol and nitro methane so will get seriously hot, you can easily burn your fingers by touching the cylinder heads and thats on ones out in the air with a prop.

You want something with water jacketed cylinders and maybe even heads, waterpump and fan cooled radiators, same as the one in the videos that I linked to.

What sort of scale are you thinking of for the tank so we have an idea of what you could fit inside

 

[Jasonb]

You will also need to make a flywheel for it as the prop acts as the flywheel. Unlike an electric motor you cant stop it when the tank is idle so it will need a clutch and also a gearbox as it won't run backwards like an electric motor and the main gear ratios will need altering to suit the rev range of the engine. Onboard electric start would also be a good feature to have

Best to sort out how you are going to do these things before splashing out $3000 on the OS engine

 

[Shinhoto]

I/6 scale. The dimensions will be around 2 feet five inches ( .73 meters) long, 1 foot 1.5 inches ( .34 meters ) wide, and 1 foot 2 inches ( .36 meters ) high. The engine compartment will be about 10 and 5/12 incheswide, 12 and 1/6 inches long, and 6 and 1/3 inches tall.



-james

 

[Omnimill]

I've seen model aero engines fitted inside RC race cars so cooling can't be too much of an issue.
Fitted with a fan and with some vent holes in the tank it could work fine. Time to experiment I guess!

 

[Shinhoto]

Yeah,
I'm toying around with the idea of converting the engine to diesel with these things http://www.davisdieseldevelopment.com/gallery/closelook.htm, not sure if they will work though, I will have to look into it more.


-James