What is the finest model engineering you’ve seen?

[vic francisParticipant @vicfrancis]

Posted by oilcan on 19/08/2022 14:36:21:

One deserving of a mention is the 1/30 scale horizontal Corliss engine of Jerry Kieffer of the US. Deceptively simple looking, until you realise that everything is scale, including the 1/4 diameter bolts on the original. How you go about making taps and dies to produce a 0.009" diameter functional bolt I have no idea!

Clem Tomlinson's Deltic Engine deserves a mention. i would love to see it close up.

Plus one for the engines of Commander Barker. I always made a point of visiting the Merseyside Maritime Museum to view them, but I believe they are no longer on display. Even more impressive when you realise they were made with treadle operated machinery.

Quite right Oilcan! oh and Jerry Kieffer’s workshop has no cnc machines, but have nc readout, I think he also was not Engineered trained… and a lovely guy. I have one of his tiny nut and bolts in a small case.He has made many remarkable models, I often wonder how!

[David SeniorParticipant @davidsenior29320]

Mike Sayers' Bentley engine and chassis is right up there in my view

Dave

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

Does anyone remember the chap who used to make working models of machine tools ie. lathes, millers, shapers and drills etc ?

Edited By roy entwistle on 20/08/2022 16:23:25

[Jon LawesParticipant @jonlawes51698]

I'm mainly filled with jealousy that I've only seen a few of the models mentioned myself.

[john fletcher 1Participant @johnfletcher1]

I'll second Dave's comment on Mike's engine, not only does it look good it sound like the real thing when it's running. John

[Gordon BullardParticipant @gordonbullard35804]

The Duke of Edinburgh competition highlights model engineering perfection

All winners deserve their awards but in my opinion the two winners made by Peter Dupen are just superb and demonstrate engineering at its best. The models were of a Midland 999 locomotive and a GER Y 14 locomotive

[BufferParticipant @buffer]

For me it has to be the late Gerald Wingrove. I can't imagine how it is possible to get any better at all round model making. He had such a range of different skills and was a real master craftsman.

take 10 minutes and see what i mean.

**LINK**

[ron vale 3Participant @ronvale3]

I Order of seeing

Como ( several times and still find something new)

Fred Beards Lord of the Isles Dean Single

Back in 74/5 spent many hours in his workshop just watching and chatting, new to the hobby so getting all the advice i could. This loco had 2 articles in EIM The wheels were cut form solid, the crankshaft with its iirc elliptical webs also turned forn solid As Fred put it he started out with an 10lb billet and ended up up to me knees in swarf ( although he didn't use 'knees&#39 and ended up with a pound and a crank that wont be seen!!

The only thing he didn't make was the GWR badge, but the small animals? each side he did do. Ran it one only on air.

the third and fourth are still under construction Greenglades Gresley A1 and Rogers 1500x

I have seen Peters in the flsh and it will be a winner, no doubt.

Rogers also i just hope they dont compete in the same year!!

Both have wll detailed build logs on the Model Eng forum. Rogers menthods have left me speechlees with some of the manching he does

Both well worth a few evenings reading

[Ches Green UKParticipant @chesgreenuk]

Not a model from the past but one from a possible future where a company is trying to model a human …

'Tesla AI Day 2022' (3 1/2 hrs long) … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODSJsviD_SU

Not a slick Jobs/Cook type presentation … Musk doesn't do those.

But what an insight in to the engineering challenges, and a carrot for young engineers looking for an amazing career.

Ches

[Bill DawesParticipant @billdawes]

Well a bit like being asked your favourite music of all time, as fast as you think of one someone will suggest one you had forgotten about but the model that made my jaw drop was the (unfinished) Napier Dagger engine, Norman Laurence I think.

Asked on here before without success but wonder if it was ever finished.

Bill D.

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

Roy Entwistle – you might mean Barry Jordan. Have not seen anything from him for many years, but his machine tools were great. Malcolm Leafe produced some fine machine tool models as well.

Barrington Hares' aircraft engines were superb too.

Lately, locomotives by Alan Crossfield are wonderful to see.

I have only seen these in Model Engineer, not in person.

[JellyParticipant @jelly]

A functioning 1/20th scale (simplified) replica of a Rolls Royce Trent 700 engine, that a former client of mine has in a glass case in his office.

Almost more impressive than that were the two paper-weights he had made from earlier attempts to make the same engine, sectioned to help show how they had (catastrophically and explosively) failed during testing then fixed in epoxy resin.

​

The chap in question doesn't actually know he's a model engineer though, for him it's a project he picked to be the culmination of the research he was doing as part of his (RR funded) PhD in Advanced Manufacturing.

From chatting to him about it (he's understandably quite proud of it) I believe several crucial components in the model would be effectively impossible to make without the use of "powder-fed directed energy deposition" 3D printing (which uses a stream of Inconel powder and an electron beam), whilst the failed attempts were made with various types of "selective laser melting" technology, which either couldn't achieve the resolution required or introduced defects into the parts.

​

In a way I feel like this somehow doesn't count, because it was produced with a budget in the tens of thousands, the backing of multiple massive organisations, and access to bleeding edge technologies which haven't even made it to wide-scale deployment yet.

But the chap still chose to make a model to prove his ideas, rather than the kind of sterile test-pieces I would more normally expect in and academic context.

Edited By Jelly on 02/10/2022 00:20:45

[Brian Baker 2Participant @brianbaker2]

The next model I build!

[Håvard HouenParticipant @havardhouen58310]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 19/08/2022 18:56:40:

Cherry Hill stands out for me because she deliberately researches unusual machines from the past, often poorly documented, and reverse engineers the design which she builds from scratch to an extremely high standard.

Done it several times too, and every model is a high-grade multi-layered achievement. Much harder than building a well-known type from a decent plan made by someone else. Quite a few brilliant Model Engineers have produced impressive quantities of superb work, but I can't of anyone who beats Cherry Hill for volume, difficulty, workmanship, and originality.

I could not agree more. Unfortunately, I have only seen her work in books and on the web.

I would be very happy if someone could point me to museums or other exhibitions were examples of her work is on public display.

Best regards,

Håvard Houen

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Her models are held by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Not sure if they are displayed but your best bet would be to contact them.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

There used to be a load of fabulous stuff in the Chambers Street museum in Scotland

Goodness knows what they've done with it all

We're talking jaw dropper stuff that worked when you pushed a button. All gone.

Edited By Ady1 on 18/08/2023 10:45:16

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Of equal standing and approach in model-engineering to Cherry Hill was Ron Jarvis, who similarly built working miniatures of pioneering or unusual engines. They did know each other, as model-engineering friends.

At one major show the toss-up between him and another competing for the Silver and Gold Medals, was whether the fine, complex castings on his Diagonal Paddle-Steamer Engine would have been painted. I wonder if the judges knew the "castings" were silver-soldered, mild-steel fabrications; finished in a home-made grit-blaster to give the correct sand-moulded surfaces.

His Newcomen Atmospheric Engine was complete to the point of Ron having made and wipe-jointed the lead pipes, and of course all bricks or masonry on those engines needing these were individually moulded and laid to the correct bond for the region, era and purpose. This engine's boiler is about the size of tennis-ball, if that, WP 2psi, its rivetted copper plates vacuum-caulked with epoxy resin, and given a finely-dimpled finish to represent the original's hand-forged wrought-iron plates. It is electrically heated with microprocessor-control: Ron, whose other hobbies included computer programming and bee-keeping, would joke about the 18C machine being computer-controlled!

He also modelled Church's phantasmagorical Steam Coach, a massive three-wheeler optimistically intended as a London-Birmingham omnibus; but too ahead in its engineering ideas for its stagecoach-inspired style and construction. It was far too heavy and too full of auxiliary machinery for its own, over-decorated, under-powered good. Despite its contemporary, glowing publicity painting showing it carrying many passengers in a suitably bucolic setting, I understand it never progressed beyond road tests. The bodywork of Ron's model is sectional along its centre-line, allowing displaying its interior and constructional methods, including timber chassis.

Those are just three examples of, I think, about 8 in all. Sadly, although I was, and still am, a member of the same model-engineering society as Ron; I don't think any of us in the club know where his models went after his death.

Ron also wrote a book about the original machines, illustrated with photographs of his models; privately published so a limited run. Unfortunately I can't find my copy so can't cite it properly, but its title is something like Old Men And Iron.

.

My blood still runs cold at one personal memory.

I helped carry his models back to his home from a local exhibition by our club. His Atmospheric Engine stands a good 20 inches tall, on a base over a foot square, and is heavy, as I found when carrying it. I was very relieved to put it safely on a table in the lounge.

For between the car and the table were several yards of crazy-paving and three steps up to the front door…

[Chris CrewParticipant @chriscrew66644]

I visited the Musée des Artes et Métiers in Paris recently and, although there are full-size artefacts including a replica (I think) of Cugnot's Fardier de Vapeur (steam dray) of 1770, the models on display are some of the finest I have ever had the pleasure to peruse. These include 'demonstrations' of the skill of the charpentier and menuisier in the supporting of cathedral's roofs etc. It was a very worthwhile visit, but if you have the opportunity to go there make sure you take the audio guide as the majority of the information accompanying the exhibits is in French only. I managed to read, or should I say decipher, about 70% of it but in hindsight I really regretted not acquiring the English guide upon entering.

Edited By Chris Crew on 18/08/2023 15:25:49

[BufferParticipant @buffer]

Young C Park has unbelievable talent.

Edited By Buffer on 18/08/2023 15:46:32

[VicParticipant @vic]

Maybe not the most complex but I’ve always liked this.

**LINK**

Also, the scale 18 Cylinder Radial Aircraft engine displayed at some of the model engineering shows many years ago. Sadly I don’t have any details of the engine or the maker.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Gerald smith must have gone half mad making all his cylinder heads, pistons etc

[BufferParticipant @buffer]

Good but if it's aero engines that do it for you I think Brian Perkins Hydra would take some beating. In fact he did an article titled something like Finishing the Hdra before it finishes me!

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Since Como has been given Honourable Mentions...

Model Engineer & Electrician, as it was then, published articles on Dr. Bradbury Winter's Como in or around 1917 – I happen to have a couple of bound volumes from then.

A description with photographs of the tender, is followed by an article about some of the jigs and fixtures Dr. Winter made for building this LB&SCR locomotive.

This included an ingenious, adjustable, angularly-oscillating drive for his Pittler lathe spindle. It used a length of bicycle chain between a crank slotted for stroke adjustment on the countershaft, and a weighted treadle-like board, driving a sprocket on the spindle; augmented by angle-stops. It was for machining arcs, for example, expansion-links; the main drive I think being by treadle.

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