From the Editor - November 2022

Greetings once again! Hope you’re all doing OK in the crazy world in which we now seem to live! Here in British Columbia on Canada’s usually Wet Coast we’ve been kept waiting far longer than usual to finally see the beginning of the long-awaited shift from scorching dry summer heat with associated wildfires, poor air quality, etc., to the familiar cooler but wetter Fall (or Autumn if you prefer) season.

This is finally happening now, but far later than usual - Vancouver has received less than 10% of its usual rainfall amount since the beginning of July. We actually set a new record for the number of consecutive days without rain - not good for our reservoir levels or for the salmon trying to get up our streams to spawn. As a result, we have officially been in a Level 5 drought until very recently. Moreover, the wildfire problem persisted throughout much of October - an unprecedented situation.

However, there’s a price to pay for relief from this cycle.  As a result of the increasingly unstable climatic conditions prevailing around the globe, we’ve gone straight from Level 5 drought to rainfall events of Biblical proportions - no more easy transitions! The effects on our infrastructure and our environment in general can best be imagined ……………….

Looking at what’s been happening around the world, it can’t be denied that we live in difficult and very worrying times. Still, I suppose that all we can do is carry on as best we’re able, which is what I’m doing. 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! My statistics reporting system has now settled back to reporting far more rational (but still very encouraging) visitation figures than it was doing for a while.

It appears that despite the now-endemic Covid-19 situation (62 new related deaths in BC yesterday, to which no-one seems to be paying any attention), the ongoing Ukrainian disaster, the various crackpot politicians and political activists who increasingly insult our intelligence and threaten our well-being, the unchecked trend towards climate catastrophe and the growing levels of accompanying societal dysfunction, a significant number of folks are clearly seeking an escape by remaining very much engaged with our hobby. I’m with you, guys!!

Confirmation comes from the fact that the mail box has remained quite active. Despite the many distractions now before us, I still heard from quite a few of you during October, including (in no particular order) Peter Valicek, Jesus Ortega Delgado, Don Imrie, Sten Persson, Gordon Beeby, Bill Wells, Ron Hiltz, David Burke, Stewart McLaren, Luis Petersen, Maris Dislers, Dean Clarke, Tim Dannels, Alistair Bostrom, Shane Alce, Kelley Crozier, Christian Farcy, Neale Gentner, Kevin Richards, Hugh Blowers, Bob Beaumont, Bob Christ, Alan Strutt, Tom Coletta, Alex Phin, Alberto Parra, Miles Patience, Ingemar Larsson, Peter Rathke 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.

A very welcome arrival in my mail box was engine no. 02 of a limited edition of the 5 cc WOHM TBR diesel constructed to a superb standard by Dean Clarke of Cre8tionworx Engineering in New Zealand. At my request, Dean initially sent it to my good mate Maris Dislers in Australia. Maris put it through a full review and test for publication in an upcoming issue of “Aeromodeller” magazine, after which he sent it on to me. I’ve had it on the bench myself, finding it to be a fine-handling unit with an excellent performance. Dean makes an amazing variety of engines to the same very high standard - have a look at his website and see if anything tempts you!

Some more exciting news will soon be forthcoming from Cre8tionworx. Dean has been working on the creation of a replica of a very rare British 2.5 cc diesel which has never been replicated previously. Watch this space for further news ……….. or go to Dean’s website and have a good look round!

Some of the articles on this website seem to have longer legs than others!  A case in point is my 2016 article on the H-P engines from 1940’s Britain (not to be confused with the far later Hirtenberger offerings from Austria). My valued friend Gordon Beeby of Australia undertook an unsolicited search of his “Aeromodeller” magazine collection and came up with a number of references which had previously escaped my notice. He was kind enough to assemble a summary of this information. Using the results of Gordon’s research, I was able to go through the article to significantly improve its representation of the chronological history of the Atlas and H-P ranges - the fourth update since the original publication of this article. My very sincere thanks to Gordon for his ongoing enthusiastic support!

There are a couple of new additions to the Gallery this month. The arrival of a couple of rare and interesting engines for review and test has enabled me to plan the inclusion of detailed articles about both units in upcoming editions of this website.

The first of these is the very unusual 2.48 cc Premier Lionheart “dummy twin” which was actually a single-cylinder design - the second cylinder served as the fuel tank. This unique side-port model was very cleverly arranged to be operable on either compression or glow-plug ignition. Preliminary testing has shown that it was a good runner, albeit not particularly powerful. Production was confined to the period from late 1948 to mid 1949, during which time the engine was manufactured in very small numbers, explaining its present-day rarity. It forms a fascinating subject for present-day study. A detailed report will appear in due course on this website.

The other unit which commands attention is the 3.5 cc Weston Stunt Special diesel of 1949. This is another very rare unit, the production of which was confined to the year 1949. To a large extent, its rarity has been brought about by the fact that it fared rather poorly when tested in mid 1949 by Lawrence Sparey, consequently disappearing rather precipitately from the market - only around 20 examples ended up being manufactured. It has suffered from a very poor reputation ever since that time. However, my own initial testing has revealed that it was a far better engine than Sparey’s test report implied, hence fully deserving a better fate. I hope that a detailed review and test will do something to restore this engine’s reputation. Such a review will appear on this website in due course.

This month’s all-new lead article reflects my perception that it’s about time for me to blow the horn of my own adopted country of Canada once more!  I already covered the Queen Bee range from Vancouver in my own back yard as well as the very rare Monarch 600 racing engine from Toronto. Time now to take an up-close look at arguably the most successful model engine range to originate in Canada - the Hurricane series, also from Toronto. This well-known range stayed the course for some 6 years, with many thousands of engines being produced and sold. I’ve used one myself with complete satisfaction. The Hurricane range forms the subject of this month’s all-new article on this website.

The “Model Engine News” (MEN) transfer article for the month takes us all the way Down Under to one of my favourite countries - New Zealand. I’ve prepared a revised and updated edition of my article on the Katipo series of 1.5 cc diesels which first appeared on MEN way back in October 2010. Not a great deal of new information has surfaced since my original publication, but I’ve taken the opportunity to re-organize the material and improve the quality of the accompanying images. I hope that you’ll enjoy the result!

Next month’s edition will appear just as the festive season gets underway. That being the case, I intend to provide some extra reading material to give you all a little more content than usual to mark the season! Call it a Christmas bonus if you like!

The all-new lead article for the month will see us return to Italy for the first time in a while to look at one of the pioneering diesels from that country - the Delta 2 diesel of 1946 from Busto Arsizio in Northern Italy. This very well-made 2.1 cc side-port diesel had the unusual distinction of having seemingly been introduced simultaneously by two different companies! It’s an interesting story which brings into focus some of the challenges faced by early post-war model engine manufacturers in countries which had spent many of the war years as battlegrounds.

The MEN transfer article will lay out the story of one of the forgotten American diesels of the early post-WW2 era - the Thermite 34 model. This very distinctive unit was created  by Jim Brown, who later went on to manufacture the Vivell engines. It displays a range of unusual features which set it well apart from most of its contemporaries, regardless of origin. Unfortunately, it never appears to have advanced beyond the prototype stage, making it a mega-rare engine today. Thankfully, my possession of the only presently-known surviving example places me in a position to set down the very interesting history of this creation.

Now I promised you a little extra reading for the holiday season! First off, I’ll include a review and test of the O.S. K6 replica sparkie which served as the company’s 50^th anniversary commemorative release back in 1986. This fine near-replica of the original 1940 O.S. Type 6 unit has been reviewed previously by others, but I thought that some of you might appreciate having an on-line source of information on this engine.

But wait - there’s more!! I’ll also include an addition to my Technical Topics pages in the form of a rational and completely practical approach to the selection of an appropriate airscrew for a given model/motor combination, as well as a means of comparing the relative efficiencies of different props. I think that some of you at least may find it to be as useful as I have - hope so, anyway!

I think that about does it for this edition. All being well, I'll be back to you with another edition on or about December 1^st, 2022 - the final one of the year! Meanwhile, please accept my best wishes for continuing the process of learning to live with the various challenges which now beset us so as to get the best of what life still has to offer under present circumstances. Take care and stay well - keep yourself informed from credible sources and trust your own informed opinions rather than the fantasies of others whose focus is entirely on themselves, not on you. Ignore them and the misinformation that they spread, 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 having conflicting agendas decide it for you and for them!

Cheers,                                                                       

Adrian Duncan 

British Columbia, Canada

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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:

1. No commercial use of any kind is to be made of any of the images or text posted on this site without my express written consent.
2.  No use of any kind, commercial or otherwise, is to be made of any material published in any form on this site without full and open acknowledgement of the source.

Adrian C. Duncan

British Columbia, Canada