Armstrong Siddeley engines

[JackG]

Would grafting two Armstrong Siddeley Lynx engines together result in a reasonable Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar?   It would require a certain amount of surgery - extending the rear of one engine, and then transplanting the seven individual cylinders from the second engine to achieve the staggered positioning.

 

Armstrong Siddeley Lynx

 

 

Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar

 

 

 

regards,

Jack

[dogsbody]

From Wikipedia: The later Lynx was designed using one row of Jaguar cylinders.

 

So I guess you could do it that way.

 

Are there no aftermarket Jaguars?

 

 

Chris

[72modeler]

19 minutes ago, dogsbody said:

Are there no aftermarket Jaguars?

The only two I  can recall in 1/72 are Aeroclub EP007, which also has the prop, and Engines and Things 72026, which has just the engine. Betting both of them are long, long OOP, but maybe one could be found at a trade table or auction site. I have 72026, and it is very nice...saving it for the Matchbox kit, whose engine can be made very presentable with some detailing and extra work.

Mike

[dogsbody]

12 minutes ago, 72modeler said:

The only two I  can recall in 1/72 are Aeroclub EP007, which also has the prop, and Engines and Things 72026, which has just the engine. Betting both of them are long, long OOP, but maybe one could be found at a trade table or auction site. I have 72026, and it is very nice...saving it for the Matchbox kit, whose engine can be made very presentable with some detailing and extra work.

Mike

 

Oh yeah! I forgot about the Matchbox Siskin. There's a so-so Jaguar engine.

 

 

Chris

[JackG]

Thank you Chris and Mike - yes those are the only two brands I could find in 72nd scale, and yes, it is for the Matchbox Siskin.

 

Was able to order direct the one from Engine and Things, but my sample was in pretty rough shape, with lots of air holes and extra chunks of resin in the recessed corners.  They need to either clean their molds or make a new one. 

 

Guess will continue to rebuild the resin one, since buying two of the Lynx would be over $30 with the shipping.  As it is, Hannants only has one in stock.

 

regards,

Jack

[JWM]

On 5/9/2019 at 6:05 PM, dogsbody said:

Oh yeah! I forgot about the Matchbox Siskin. There's a so-so Jaguar engine.

I would suggest to copy Matchbox engine in resin, just for case of any further needs....It is not as difficult as one can think about maybe.

Regards

J-W

 

[stevehnz]

Engines & Things are still listing the Jaguar in their current, 2019, catalogue, download the pdf here. If they're like the few of theirs I have they'll be rather nice, especially for the price.

Steve.

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by stevehnz

[RAS]

_{I thought Engine & Things was an American site- I am after a Bristol Jupiter engine but don't want to bring it all the way from USA.}

[JackG]

Engine & Things is in Canada - Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta to be exact.  Their price listing is in US currency, probably to take advantage of the fluctuating Canadian dollar. 

 

The owner passed away a few years back, so a family member (wife or daughter?) has taken over the reigns.   This could explain the varying quality of their products?  I had ordered four engines, all in 72nd scale.   The two Japanese engines were slightly better (probably because the double row of rotary cylinders were cast as two separate halves) though there still were some air holes on the tops of the push rods, and also requires some clean up between the individual cylinders.  As stated earlier, the Jaguar engine is in rough shape.  Pretty much all the corners at the top of the push rods had air holes, and some details and recesses were covered in excess resin.   The fourth engine was for the Curtiss Jenny, which I can only describe as one step away from a deformed blob of resin.

 

Back to their Jaguar, they also have some details different from what I see in photos, such as:

- Engine & Things have the push rods side by side at their bottom end, but really should insert one behind the other

- they have a single spark plug on each cylinder, but there should be a pair on each one

- the detail on the engine front only remotely portrays what is really there

 

regards,

Jack

Edited May 16, 2019 by JackG

[JackG]

Here's the front of the resin engine reworked, this includes adding a pair of spark plugs to each cylinder - but did not bother adding to the rear set of cylinders as they likely won't be seen.

Push rods are 0.2mm steel wire.

 

 

regards,

Jack

[JWM]

Broplan in Hover MF11 makes AS Panther as injected part (in vacu kit) - below with added camshaft rods from styrene sprue: 

A copy of it I have used it also in LF's Fokker CVd:

Cheers

J-W 

[vildebeest]

Jack, that's lovely work there. The push rods and rocker covers to me give the Jaguar its character. I am pondering at the moment what to do for one for a Flycatcher. Your photo does show how rough the original resin was, and although it is not expensive in itself , the cost of postage to the UK makes it unattractive if it is going to need a lot of work.

 

What did you do with the rocker covers? I assume on the resin they do not extend forward of the cylinders but that you have managed to build them forward.

 

Paul  

[JackG]

Hello Paul, thanks for that.

Yes, the front end of the rocker covers were missing - looks like there was dried resin inside the molds, so it obstructed the detail from forming there. 

 

What I did was completely remove the rocker covers.   Engines & Things also has tops of the cylinders concave shaped and ribbed like cylinder sides, but I don't this in photos of the real deal.  Even the Matchbox engine has the cylinder tops as flat.  

 

 

 

To make the rocker covers, I originally tried cutting up small bits of plastic sheet, but wanted a hole at the front end to accept the push rod.  Each time I tried drilling the plastic, it would just shatter the end, and then there's the problem of getting the hole decently centered.  So what you see above was the solution.

 

Basically a hollow 0.5mm aluminum rod (0.3mm inner diameter) is super glued to the edge of a strip of 0.4mm thick  plastic sheet.   Now because I didn't have the correct thickness of plastic, a thin strip of brass sheet  (0.12mm) is wrapped around to give a more ideal width to the rocker covers.  The brass also helps to hold in place the aluminum hollow rod.   Some final sanding is required to shape the rocker covers - curved front and across the tops, as well as a tapered rear, the bottom is flat.   Final dimensions:  width is about 0.8mm as I was wrapping the brass strip around a .06mm drill bit to create the front curve.  Length is about 4.5mm, but judging from photos they could have been slightly longer.

 

 

I would build two rockers at a time, adding the brass sections at both ends of a strip of plastic sheet 4mm wide.  This gives you something to hold onto while sanding to shape, and only after would I trim them off and sand smooth the bottoms.

 

Once there is some primer on,  will be better able to tell how smooth the transition is from the brass to the center plastic sections.  Might require an application of liquid plastic putty.

 

regards,

Jack

 

[vildebeest]

Many thanks for the detailed answer, Jack.

 

Now you mention it, it is obvious that removing the whole rocker cover and putting completely new ones on is the way to go. I also like the idea of a hole in the rocker cover to accept the push rod. I wonder whether that can be done by drilling the hole in plastic first then cutting out?

 

I see you also put in an extension at the front of the engine where the push rods go into the crank case which makes sense. Drilling a hole, then two holes within the hole, 14 times shows real dedication!

 

Paul

[JackG]

Paul, thank you for the continued interest.

 

I had considered drilling holes in the plastic sheet  first, followed by cutting out the rocker shape.  As mentioned in the previous post, I didn't have the correct thickness plastic sheet, but suppose I could have glued two layers together?  I think too, it would be quite the task trying to cut precisely the required width, while at the same time keeping the hole centered - but you can try it, maybe it will work out for you.

 

Yes, the base of the engine that accepts the push rods was also altered.  As it was, I find the resin engine is a bit long in the front, so it was going to be chopped anyways.  Those are 1mm rods (inner diameter 0.8mm) with a pair of 0.4mm rods inserted.  It's a tight fit for the 0.2mm push rods, and if I were to do it again, I would go slightly larger, using 1.2mm and 0.5mm respectively.  Doing this method, for me anyways, ensures better precision, and I plan to use the same idea to create seven holes at the rear of the engine - these would be to accept the pipes. 

 

regards,

Jack