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From the Editor - March 2022
In many ways, February was an extremely frustrating month. Having succeeded in engineering the transformation of the Covid virus from pandemic to endemic, the anti-vaxers have now further disgraced themselves with their truck blockades. Canadians are overwhelmingly and willingly vaccinated now, making these “protests” nothing less than a blatant effort by less than 0.2% of the Canadian population to impose their scientifically-unsupported views on the other 99.8%. The underlying issue is reduced to complete irrelevance - the true issue has To add fuel to the flames, the reports of book-banning and even book-burning from elsewhere are deeply disquieting - now where have we seen that before ………….?!? What’s happening to our societies is unsettling in the extreme - I confess to having serious fears for the future of our kids and grandkids. And finally there’s the appalling spectacle of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We should all spare a thought for our Ukrainian craftsman friends who have brought us so many fine engines over the past 60 years, from the RITM 2.5 cc diesel which was covered in last month’s edition to the more recent Redfin, Fora, Profi and Parra ranges. The broader spill-over effects of this sorry situation remain to be seen …………. For now, I’m doing my best to carry on even in the face of these deeply troubling developments, although I confess to finding it to be a growing challenge. It really does help to know that there’s still a continued interest in model engines among my valued readers - that’s what keeps me going! Indeed, the site usage stats for February 2022 show that the steady increase in the level of interest which I've reported over the past few months has continued unabated - in fact, it’s accelerating! The 497,245 total of hits in February was actually well down from the corresponding January figure of 604,558, but that didn't prevent the number of resulting visits from rising significantly to 7,841 from the January total of 6,611. It seems that people who hit this site are increasingly doing so as a result of a focused interest in its subject matter. However, the best news of all was the fact that these visits came from a very significantly increased 5,797 unique visitors - the first time ever that the site has attracted over 5,000 distinct individuals in a single These figures confirm that despite the now-endemic Covid-19 situation and the ongoing societal dysfunction, a significant number of folks are clearly remaining very much engaged with our hobby. Further confirmation comes from the fact that the mail box has remained quite active. I heard from quite a few of you during February, including (in no particular order) Luis Petersen, Dave Hipperson, Hugh Blowers, Alex Phin, Miles Patience, Tim Dannels, Gordon Beeby, David Burke, Steve Todd, Peter Valicek, Peter Rathke, Dean Clarke, Don DeMent, Luke Roy, Chris Murphy, Maris Dislers, Andrew Boddington, Chris Ottewell, Dave Zwolak, Paul Knapp, Jim Woodside, Richard Bould, Don Imrie, Ron Hiltz, Paul Denham, Geoff Rood, Andrea Doniselli and Neill McRae. Apologies to anyone whom I may have inadvertently missed in the crowd, and apologies also to anyone whose message(s) went unanswered - things do slip through the cracks, especially when I’m distracted! The blog site has continued to justify its existence by contributing a small but steady flow of relevant traffic - thanks for that. Although given the accumulation of years it wasn’t totally unexpected, I was nonetheless saddened to hear of the passing of the one and only Doctor Diesel - Eric Clutton. Eric passed away on February 5th, 2022 following a stroke at the grand old age of 93.
The good news for those wishing to learn more about model diesels (or about home-built aircraft) is that Eric's friend Jonathan Holt is still dealing with requests for Eric's books and other materials and intends to keep the business going. Let's wish him the best of luck!
I’ve been contacted already by a few individuals asking if I have certain minor components such as Woodruff keys and needle valves. Sadly, what I have is mostly major components - the smallest components that I have are piston rings. I intend to go through the stash and develop a listing of what I do have. A link to this list will then be added to my separate page on “Engine Parts Available”. The list will include all of the parts that I have. I hope to have it up on the site by the end of March. In last month’s editorial, I mentioned a tiny diesel engine constructed by a long-forgotten British model engineer named H. H. Groves. My good mate Hugh Blowers wrote in to draw my attention to a fascinating page about Groves which may be found on the wonderful “On The Wire” (OTW) website which Hugh and My valued mate Luis Petersen of Denmark sent along a photo of a really fascinating creation from the workshops which produced the well-known Viking engines. This is a twin-cylinder glow-plug model of a motorcycle engine. It looks like a fine piece of work and would doubtless run well. It may have been intended for mounting in a model motorcycle, although if so that model has not survived. I just though that you’d be interested to see this remarkable piece of model engineering! A particularly interesting contact came from Gordon Beeby of Australia. Gordon found some references to the cute little Dragonfly diesel which I had overlooked during the preparation of my earlier article on the classic micro-diesels. In a nutshell, the information supplied by Gordon confirms beyond argument that the Dragonfly first appeared in 1955, far earlier than the 1960 date which is generally cited. It also enjoyed a far longer production period than I had originally reported. This has necessitated a significant amendment to the portion of my original article which deals with the Dragonfly. My sincere thanks to Gordon for setting me straight!
Our best guess is that this is a very nice piece of work by a very competent model engineer. However, if anyone out there knows more, please get in touch! I’ve added this one to my “Wotizit” pages, just in case …………..
I should point out here that the Yulon article is a little unusual in that it’s as much about an aeromodelling genre as a model engine range. This is because the telling of the Yulon story is only possible in the context of an account of the British control-line stunt category as it was then evolving. The article therefore incorporates the full story of the development of stunt flying in Britain in the 1940’s and 1950’s. It’s also a story with a great deal of human interest, which always resonates with me!
In keeping with my current project of transferring some of my older articles from the late Ron Chernich’s no longer maintained “Model Engine News” (MEN) website, I’ll also present the full story of Luke Roy, Bill Husted and the legendary “Rattler” 5 cc racing engine. This is a story with an I think that about does it for this edition. All being well, I'll be back to you with another edition on or about April 1st, 2022. Meanwhile, please accept my best wishes for continuing to steer a safe path through the now-endemic Covid threat and the accompanying societal dysfunction to get the best of what life has to offer under present circumstances. Take care and stay well - don’t support the anti-democracy crowd, minimize your contact with the covidiots, get vaccinated to the max, continue to exercise caution and trust your own informed opinions rather than those of the covidolts and the democrappers. Their focus is entirely on themselves, not on you - ignore them, make up your own mind based on authoritative current information and act accordingly! It’s your future and that of your kids and grandkids .……….don’t let others decide it for you and them! Cheers, Adrian Duncan British Columbia, Canada ___________________________________ Note regarding material to be found on this site - unless specifically otherwise noted, all images and text which appear on this site are my own work, and I hereby assert my right to be recognized as the originator of this material. For the record, this material is made freely available to all upon two firm conditions:
Adrian C. Duncan British Columbia, Canada |
Hard to believe that we’ve somehow stumbled into March already, but here we are! Here in British Columbia, the weather has improved quite a bit, with some nice sunny breaks in between the rain showers. After the extremes that we’ve experienced recently, it’s nice to be passing through a more reasonable weather phase for this time of year. Perhaps too much better……. the continuing low snow-pack is still a serious worry relating to our summer water supply. 
month! Moreover, it’s done so by a massive 
Eric was born in England and lived there for many years before relocating to the USA, where he did much to promote the use of diesels by American modellers, acting as the US distributor of P.A.W. diesels. Over the years, he produced a number of out-of-the-rut model designs - anyone else remember “
I mentioned last month that a few years back I had taken over custody of a large stash of components for the famous British 
his wife Lynn maintain. For one thing, we now know that the initials H. H. stand for Herbert Harry. In addition, the 
Speaking of cute little engines, Tim Dannels sent along a few images of a compact 0.13427 cuin. (2.175 cc) sideport spark ignition engine. Bore and stroke are 0.520 in. (13.21 mm) and 0.625 in. (15.87 mm) respectively. The crankcase is particularly interesting, being formed in one single piece with a perfectly round profile apart from the integrally-formed mounting lugs. The cylinder installation base is also perfectly round - some nice workmanship to combine those features! The cylinder base, bypass passage and intake venturi are all very cleanly and competently brazed in place. You’ve got to love the angle at which the induction tube is set! The cooling fins are machined integrally with the cylinder. Finally, the timer appears to be hand-cut from bar stock or thick sheet metal.
This month’s lead article takes the form of a detailed review of the various 
In keeping with what has by now become a bit of a pattern, I’m also able to present yet another MEN transfer article. This one focuses on the deservedly famous albeit short-lived 
Next month sees a return to France for a look at a near-legendary racing engine from that country which is so rare that some have doubted its actual existence! This is the Allouchéry 5 cc racing glow-plug engine from Paris. This very well-made unit was constructed in very small numbers by Prosper Allouchéry, who was far better known for the series of diesel models which he produced over the years. There’s a considerable amount of mystery regarding the date and circumstances surrounding the appearance of this engine, which I’ll try to unravel in next month’s article. I’ll also prove that the engine undoubtedly did exist by presenting a full bench test!
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