From the Editor – August 2024

Greetings to one and all! Well, here I still am, just getting on with life while continuing to undergo treatment for my medical issues. So far, things are continuing to go very well, and I still have every hope of a complete recovery down the road. I’d like to extend my very sincere thanks to all of you who have written in over the past month to wish me well.  Means a lot to me ………….

There have been a few new arrivals this month which will end up as subjects for future articles. One of these is a beautifully-made early Italian 2 cc diesel of clearly 1940’s vintage which is proving to be very challenging to identify positively. It looks like an Antares …… but isn’t! I’m still working with friends in Europe to try to confirm the identity of the maker of this fine model diesel – he deserves our recognition!  So far, the front-runner is Uberto Travalgi, who was an Antares dealer in addition to being the manufacturer of the Atomatic diesels, but that’s still not firmly established ……….. I’ve added the engine to the Wotizit page on this website in the hope that some reader may be able to enlighten me!

My Aussie mate Gordon Beeby has been very busy over the past month!  He sent along some highly relevant information regarding the marketing history of the D-C Tornado Twin, allowing me to update that article. In addition, Gordon came up with some additional references relating to the marketing of the Mite diesel and its Go-Mite spin-off which have added some valuable details to that article too. Assistance like this is always greatly appreciated – thanks, mate!

As noted in last month’s Editorial, being largely house-bound due to my currently-collapsed immune system does have the advantage of giving me more time to spend finishing articles for this website. I’ve never worked on one article at a time – I always have at least half-a-dozen pieces on the go and just chip away as time, inspiration and opportunity offer. The first one to get finished in a given month goes up on the site.

As matters stand, I’ve been able to complete not one but two all-new articles for this month’s edition. The first of these deals with a category of engines rather than with any particular make or brand. I’ve prepared a detailed summary of one of America’s most notorious contributions to model engine development – the slag engines of the 1940’s. These marvels of mediocrity were characterized by the absence of a cylinder liner – they featured aluminium pistons operating in unplated aluminium bores! Not a recipe for longevity!  However, some of them were actually quite well made and most of them would run, at least for a while.  It’s an interesting story which I’m sure you’ll enjoy!

My other all-new article deals with one of the more ephemeral model engine ranges to appear in England – the Dydesyne marque which made a very brief appearance in 1961. This trade-name is best remembered in the context of the wonderful little 0.81 cc (.049 cuin.) twin ball-race Dynamic .049 diesel which set a new standard for model diesel performance in this displacement category. It’s less well-remembered that there was also a plain bearing model called the Tutor which appeared in both beam and radial mount configurations. With the advantage of having discussed these engines in depth with their designer, the late Gordon Cornell, I’m able to present the full in-depth story of this outstanding but all too short-lived range.  

The MEN transfer article for the month is a bit unusual. It began life as an attempt to transfer an article written by my late and much-missed mate Ron Chernich on the E.D. Baby 0.46 cc diesel over to my own site. However, I soon realized that Ron had missed a few important points and had also failed to include any first-hand performance data. Since I was able to make good these omissions, I reworked the article fairly comprehensively, retaining all of Ron’s comments while adding a number of my own along with some new input from my mate Kevin Richards. I think that the article is now pretty comprehensive – hope you agree!  

But wait …… there’s even more!!  As is so often the case, my valued friend and colleague Maris Dislers of Australia contributed to my efforts by sending along his thoughts on the somewhat anomalous aluminium-case exhaust stack-equipped Mills 1.3 offering which has been generally termed the “Anniversary Model” ever since it was first referred to as such by the late Roger Schroeder in 1991. Maris’s contention is that there never was an “Anniversary Model” by that name and that these engines are in fact retro-conversions of the mega-rare but well-attested Mills 1.3 Marine model of June 1948. I found his arguments compelling, to the point where I have rolled some of my own comments into Maris’s text to create a short jointly-written article on the “Mythical Mills Anniversary Model”. Good revisionist stuff which is well worthy of an airing! Read it and form your own opinion!  

Not only that, but Maris also contributed a second article on the Mills Marine models, including the later Ripmax marine conversions of the Mills diesels. My very sincere thanks to Maris for his efforts in clarifying this subject for us!

That’s about all for this month. I can’t make any firm promises to get anything out for September, but I will promise to give it a try. Given my medical situation, it seems quite likely that the site will become frozen at some point, at least for a while, but I’ll keep going as long as I can – doing so helps to divert attention away from less positive issues! I’ll keep you all posted on any significant developments. In the meantime, I really appreciate all the expressions of support that I continue to receive from so many of you! 

Take care, and I’ll see you again soon!

Adrian Duncan 

British Columbia, Canada

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