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From the Editor – July 2026
We outsiders remain amazed by the continuing willingness of so many Americans to tolerate the ongoing presence of Agent Orange (AO) in the Oval office. His request for an $87.6 billion allocation of funding to underwrite the ongoing war with Iran which he claimed to have won (some truce, eh?!?) is truly mind-boggling – this from an individual who ran on a platform of keeping America out of overseas wars and views himself as a legitimate candidate for a Peace Prize ………..!! As the British sitcom once asked – are you being served?
The suppression of the completely understandable protests surrounding this event and concurrent events elsewhere in supposedly free countries further shames those doing the suppressing. I have to confess to my own deep personal sense of shame at my own country of Canada joining with AO in suppressing such His raging at the Weather Network for having the temerity to issue an accurate forecast for his shameful White House UFC stunt beggars belief. As if the Weather Network controls the weather...........I ask you!! Falling asleep at that very event which he himself orchestrated as a so-called celebration of America’s 250th birthday speaks volumes to his view of America and its citizens as well as the true state of his health despite what his doctors say in public. Finally, his childish slagging off at the Italian Prime Minister once again showcases the total absence of any semblance of diplomatic skills in his microscopically limited repertoire. I remember a time not so long ago when America was blessed with competent and constitutional leadership and was a gracious host which welcomed visitors with open arms and was a pleasure to visit. Hopefully those days will come again - the world needs them to do so. Hasn’t anyone in authority in America ever bothered to read the 25th Amendment?!? Moving on to model engine matters, there was an interesting arrival this month which I thought was worth sharing in hopes of learning more about it. This is an odd-looking but very well-made barstock diesel which appears on architectural grounds to be an example of the numerous prototypes known to have been constructed in the mid-1940’s by the pioneering English diesel developer George Court leading up to his Like a number of George Court’s previously-identified diesel prototypes, this one is distinguished by the complete absence of any cooling fins – the need for such fins on a diesel was still a subject for debate in the mid-1940’s. It also features George’s “trade-mark” cylinder hold-down system using long studs, along with a bolt-on front end featuring FRV induction through an updraft carburettor. The fact that if leaned out it only runs for about a minute before clear evidence of overheating begins to present itself seems to settle the cooling fin debate quite effectively! That said, it can certainly sustain a long enough run for a typical free flight application, which was probably its anticipated use. Nominal bore and stroke of this engine are 0.875 in. (22.22 mm) and 1.00 in. (25.4 mm) respectively for a nominal displacement of 9.85 cc, making it an unusually large diesel. Starting it certainly challenges one's flicking finger! It weighs in at a very ponderable 449 gm (15.84 ounces). Court is known to have produced diesel prototypes of up to 20 cc displacement, making this by no means his largest such unit, assuming that I was very glad to hear from my good mate Maris Dislers of Australia. It turned out that the publication of last month’s article on the OTM range from Iron Curtain-era Russia was unusually serendipitous, since Maris just happened to have been engaged in a process of tinkering with his example of the little OTM Kolibri 0.8 cc diesel. Maris had to deal with a few manufacturing deficiencies, most notably a poor piston/cylinder fit. However, once his engine was sorted, Maris found it to be a “delightful” performer which was My good mate Gordon Beeby, also of Australia, has become one of my most energetic and unfailingly informative research assistants, always looking over my shoulder and finding references that had escaped my notice. Following the publication of my article on the genesis of model engines, he undertook further research which has enabled me to expand the coverage of pioneering American engines considerably. My very sincere thanks to Gordon!
Can’t let work of this calibre go to waste! I lost little time in putting what Peter had determined to be the faster of the two examples through a full bench test. The engine proved to be a fine-handling little powerplant which performed at an unexpectedly high level. I’ve added the results to my existing article on the Viking range.
Moving on to the trivia department, I will confess to not being a big fan of AI due to society's seemingly mindless rush to hand over so much of the human race’s intellectual and decision-making capacity to a collection of microchips, including an increasing number of life-threatening issues such as the direction of wars. However, occasionally someone uses the technology to create something which is both harmless and fun! The attached eBay image of a "Froggy 249" is a case in point – I just couldn’t resist sharing it with you!! Now, will the same creator please get to work on renditions of a King Cat, an E.P.C. Moth and an Elf-in??
Now, on to this month’s new articles! The first such article takes us back to early post-WW2 Japan at a time when the country was struggling to rebuild from the ashes of that unhappy conflict. We’ll be looking at the 10 cc O.S. Type 10 sparkie which was the first new model engine released by the famous O.S. company during its post-war rebuilding period beginning in For the second new article, we turn the clock back even further to visit pre-WW2 Germany, where we’ll share a look at one of the pioneering German model engine ranges of the 1930’s and 1940’s, namely the Kratmo range. Designed by Walter Kratzsch, this fine The MEN transfer article this month continues my coverage of the early years of model engine design and construction in Scandinavia. I’ve re-published my MEN article on the work of the immensely talented Swedish model engineer Harry Fjellström, who set new standards for the miniaturization of model diesel engines in the 1940’s. Harry’s work is very definitely worthy of our acknowledgement and admiration! That’s about it for this month, fellow enthusiasts. All being well and assuming that my neighborhood remains free from the sound of tramping Belleville jackboots, roaring Abrams tank engines and M7 gunfire, and that the mushroom clouds of WW3 don’t engulf us all courtesy of AO, I sincerely hope to be still on deck in August to present a few more reviews for your reading pleasure. In the meantime, I really appreciate all the expressions of support that I’ve continued to receive from so many of you! Stay safe ‘n sane!! Adrian Duncan British Columbia, Canada (the NATION, not a state!)
Greenland forever! 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 except when expressly otherwise stated. For the record, this material is made freely available to all upon two firm conditions:
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Greetings once more to one and all, and welcome to July 2026! I must confess to a sense of life proceeding month-by-month rather than year-by-year at the moment given the uncertainties which the world community is facing at present. The start of each new month is met with a certain sense of surprise that we’re all still here to carry on pursuing our shared interest, at least for now. Despite this, I’m still doing my best to continue living life to the fullest extent possible under the circumstances – what else can any of us do?!? Happily, I still seem to be holding my own on the health front – something to be thankful for.
The various controversies surrounding the soccer World Cup being hosted jointly by Canada, Mexico and the USA have indelibly tarnished what should have been an uplifting event bringing the nations of the world together to share a common passion. To start with, there was the unprecedented spectacle of an event which is supposed to bring the world together in harmony being hosted by a nation which is actively pushing the rest of the world away and is openly hostile to outside visitors. This attitude has resulted in multiple obstacles and indignities being placed in the path of those outsiders wishing to attend or participate in the event. Worse yet, the host nation is actually at war with one of the contestant countries in collusion with another participating country which has repeatedly broken a truce to which the host country is party and is widely seen as being actively engaged in genocide and other war crimes. These facts should have resulted in America’s withdrawal as a host nation – the fact that they didn’t speaks volumes about the mindset of the current “leadership”.
The USA’s shameful treatment of visitors, officials and team members from a number of countries is a standing and very public indictment of the principles (or more correctly, lack thereof) of US dictator AO as well as displaying the host nation’s flagrant biases and insecurities. Sadly, this total lack of any semblance of morality and ethics reflects upon AO’s country as a whole, since many of its citizens continue to tolerate his presence at the centre of American policy-making, thereby making themselves complicit. His vaunted “MAGA World Cup” (as he himself put it) was a flagrant attempt to politicized what should be a purely sporting event, while the servile obsequiousness of FIFA reveals that organization as totally morally bankrupt (as if the earlier 2022 Qatar slave labor-based event hadn’t already done so). Having previously presented AO with a meaningless “peace prize”, FIFA President Infantilo irredeemably shamed both himself and the sport which he is supposed to promote by making an Oval Office presentation to AO of his own “world cup” in advance of the event. Words fail me - do AO and FIFA really think that these gestures mean anything?? They certainly say something …………
protests. We are all contaminated by AO’s bullying self-serving immorality. I learned long ago at school that bullies are by definition cowards – all you have to do is stand up to them, and they fold. Why won’t America do so?? MAGA - Make America Grovel Again. AO is no exception to the “coward” rule, going back to his draft-dodging days and now hiding from his fellow citizens while nodding off behind bullet-proof glass at sporting events.
development of the FROG 100 diesel of 1946-47. It has spent a considerable period of time in the hands of my Kiwi mate Dean Clarke of 
it is his work. It’s quite true that the identification of this engine as George Court’s work can’t be substantiated by any direct evidence, but I’m unable to think of any more likely candidate. Can any reader do better? Pending further information, I’ve added this engine to the 
well worth the effort required to get it sorted. I’ve added Maris’s own account of his efforts to the Kolibri section of the 
A very welcome arrival during the month was a batch of engines which had undergone restoration in the very capable hands of my good mate Peter Valicek of the Netherlands. Among these was a pair of Viking Red Helm 0.75 cc diesels from Denmark which had previously been languishing in the form of an incomplete collection of components in varying condition. These had been provided to me years ago by my valued Danish friend Luis Petersen. Using these components plus some replica items, Peter managed to create two complete and fully operational examples of this relatively rare engine. 
We had a bit of a scare in June when the often-referenced 
This all underscores the inescapable fact that electronic media are not forever, and that includes my own website. For that reason, I always advise readers to download any article(s) in which they have a special interest rather than relying on my site to remain on line – it won’t do so forever! I’ll keep it going for as long as I can, but I’m not forever either! It’s only thanks to good fortune and effective medical intervention that I’m still here now!
Finally, I'd like to remind you all that Mrs. Anne Croft is currently selling off the wonderful assemblage of model engines constructed over the years by her husband, my late and much-missed friend Ken Croft of England. I've purchased a few of these myself and can attest to their superb quality. A fair number of these units are already sold or spoken for, but others remain available. Contact Anne Croft directly at 
1946. As we’ll see, this was a fine engine which reflected great credit upon its designer and manufacturer Shigeo Ogawa. 
series included both spark ignition and diesel models. The article includes bench tests of examples of both types. German modellers were well served by these engines!
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