4-cyl gas engine article from 1952

[Brian Austin]

FYI, I have scanned an article in an old pulp book from 1952 called Hobby Craft Handbook that details construction of a small 4-cylinder "racing" engine.

It was built using castings (apparently from a company called Walls Model Engine Laboratory in Chigago), although there might be enough information in the drawings to machine the parts from scratch should you want to.

The book also contains similar articles for building other small engines. These old craft books are fun, though I may never get around to trying to build anything.

Any historical information on the Wall engines?

Brian Austin

http://public.fotki.com/BrianAustin/ref ... o/engines/

http://public.fotki.com/BrianAustin/ref ... o/engines/

[Doug_C]

The Wall engine has been around for many years. I'm sure some here can give a better history.

I have seen some of the casting kits from years ago. Very crude. The crank was pinned together in what looked like very rough handwork quality.

The heading in that article of this being a racing engine is laughable. I would doubt it could put out much power or longevity. Many improvements have been made since then though.

Here is a link to see one run.

Ken's Engines

DC

[Brian Austin]

Neat link. The Wall-4 sounds great.

A friend of mine is looking for a small multi-cylinder IC engine for his 7¼" gauge diesel loco to run a generator and traction motors. I wondered if the Wall-4 would work.

Brian Austin

[UnkaJesse]

Brian, I seem to reckomember that Cole's sold the Wall four castings at one time and still may so so. You might try them.

Unka(Strictly steam)Jesse

[Brian Austin]

I just found that site via Google. I'll forward all this stuff to my friend.


Too bad he doesn't have a computer. He's missing all this neat stuff.



Thanks,

Brian (I like just about everything) Austin

[Doug_C]

Hey Unka,

Aren't you forgetting that radial engine you have that runs on pure air? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif"%20alt="[/img]

DC

[steamin10]

Tell your freind that such generator/traction sets do not miniature well in the real world. The secret to success of a running locomotive that is FUN, is to follow all the steps of proven designs layed out in many years of trials in model RR magazines. Dont try to re-invent the wheel, there are many traps.

[UnkaJesse]

Doug, I ain't forgot the air fueled radial, but I am still waiting on that big check from the oil companies so I will keep it off the market. Maybe they forgot they offered me 10 million dollars for me to destroy it????

Unka(Yes indeedy doo, it runs on pure air, from an air compressor which gets its electricity from a TVA steam plant at New Johnsonville, TN, which burns coal. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif"%20alt="[/img])Jesse

[Mike Rehmus]

The Wall 4 is alive and well. It isn't easy to build because of a few casting problems but it does run.

We probably have 6-10 Wall 4's of various stripes in the club membership. OHC, OHV, F-head, and flathead variants.


You can see one here that was build by Dick Pretel.
http://www.baemclub.com/Images/photos1/ ... 20Wall.jpg

Best regards,

Mike Rehmus
Editor, Model Engine Builder
www.modelenginebuilder.com (when the website gets back up [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif"%20alt="[/img])

[Keith]

I got to looking at the albums and spent an hour there. I almost forgot how I happen to get there. Thanks for taking the time to share with us.