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How to do the P &W R-2800-10W in the Airfix kit part 1


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Hey all 

  Ok here goes,  this is going to be an informative post for all those who want to understand the intricacies of the Pratt & Whitney radial engine. My reason for doing this is after watching and reading many how tos on how to do the P&W R-2800-10 or R-2800-10W I've noticed that most people don't know what all the different parts are on this amazing engine. I'm not trying to put anyone down, far from it. I just want to put out some knowledge that I have accumulated over thirty some years in the automotive & aircraft engineering field. 

  For those that don't know the radial is a basic internal combustion engine. It has a piston with a connecting rod incased in a cylinder. It has a intake valve and an exhaust valve with springs these are operated by rocker arms incased in the cylinder head and operated by push rods in tubes. This setup is very similar to a Harley Davidson motor. In the case of the P&W R-2800-10 or 10W there are 18 of these.

  I also want to show the correct way to paint this engine to make your models look that much more accurate and improve your modeling skills. I'm going to start by showing the kit instructions that I've marked up with the correct (as far as I've been able to discern) names for all the parts in the kit that correspond with the real thing. So here is the first picture. OH!...and by the way don't follow the instruction manual for painting this its totally wrong.

 

Page 39.jpg

this page shows J3, J4 &J5 which make up the crankcase and front supercharger section that contains the mounting surface for the Bendux PT-13 carburetor. It also shows part J6 which is the part of the engine crankcase that the intake tubes from the cylinder heads mount to, also it is the mounting area connection to the engine mount structure.   [NOTE]

Go to the third installment of this post for what to do about Parts K13 &K14

It also shows part J8 which is the rear engine push rod tubes. It shows parts J9 & J12 which are the rear engine halfs with the oil cross-over tubes. Finally it shows part J2 which is the baffle ring with the engine cooling baffles and a small oil collection tank. The kit doesn't contain all the cooling baffles. If you research you can find out what they look like and decide whether or not you want to scratch build your own.

Page 40.jpg this page shows parts J10 & J11 the front engine halfs with the oil cross-over tubes. It shows part J7 the front push rod tubes. It shows part J20 the front gear case. This case contains all the gears for the distributor, front oil pump and propeller reduction gearing. It also has the front push rod tubes part J7 and the pressurized ignition ring part J25. This part is missing some mounting braces on each side that attach it to the part J20. If you look at pictures of this engine on the internet you can see what I'm talking about, I'll cover this later when I get to the actual build.

Page 41.jpgthis page shows how to create all the ignition leads (spark plug wires) from 0.7mm dia. or 0.0276" dia. Wire. The actual wires back in the 1940's were covered in a woven cloth. The best way to represent this is to use braided line, the kind that modelers use on automotive models. Detail Masters makes some #DM 1301 0.020" dia. You will need two packs to get enough to do all the wires.

Page 42.jpgthis page shows part J13 which contains part of the front gear case and the front oil pump. It also shows part J26 an oil line that goes from the small collection tank that is part of J2,  the baffle ring, to the oil pump J13. The rest of this page contains parts J30 which are the intake tubes from the cylinder heads to the supercharger housing part J6. Thats it for know I'll pickup with page 43 next.

Ron G 

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Ok here we go again. These next four pages cover the rear of the engine.

 

Page 43.jpgthis page shows part J19, J21, J15 and J16. Part J19 is the rear half of the supercharger housing and part J21 is the rear gear case. Part J15 is the electric starter and J16 is the hydraulic pump, this would be for the landing gear mostly. I'm not 100% sure that this is the hydraulic pump it could be a generator.

  This page also shows the Bendix-scintilla magneto and the port and starboard Scintilla distributors. You can see from my photo there are leads from the distributors to the magneto. These should be woven cloth covered like the ignition leads. They are about twice the size in 1/24 scale that would be 0.035"/0.045" diameter I plan on replacing these with braided wire like I'm going to use on the ignition leads. The ones that go from the distributor to the ignition ring my be ok I have to see when I get to that part.

Page 44.jpgthis page shows the rear cowl ring and inter-cooler  mounts. It also shows the exhaust pipes being put on.

Page 45.jpgthis page shows more of the exhaust pipes being mounted along with the exhaust end pieces. 

Page 46.jpgthis page shows the last of the exhaust being added with the remaining end pieces. Ok soak this in and I'll be back with page 47 and more.

Ron G 

 

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17 minutes ago, SapperSix said:

Ron,

Thank you VERY much for this.  I am looking forward to your build log.  You can bet I will be using this information to build my many future kits. 

 

-Sapper

Thanks Sapper

 If you have any questions please feel free to ask. I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.

Ron G 

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We continue on.

 

Page 47.jpgthis page shows K6 DON'T USE THIS PART!!! this is only if your not going to put the engine on the plane. It also shows K17 & K21 this is the duct work that attaches the carburetor to the inter-coolers. It also shows parts K18, K19 and K20 which makes up the Bendix PT-13 carburetor. It also shows how these parts attach to the rear cowl part K8.

Page 48.jpgthis page shows K13 & K14 which make up part of the supercharger housing.  [NOTE]

  After investigating how all of these parts go together I have found out that these should be put on in <SEC. 152> on page 39. This is so you can add filler as needed in the gaps between these and the crankcase assembly and be able to smooth out the joint before you paint them.

This page also shows parts K10 & K22 the engine mounting structure tubes along with part K7 which is an accumulating tank.

Page 49.jpgthis page shows part K2 & K11 that makes up into a air intake duct for the supercharger and oil cooler (supercharger upper hole oil cooler lower hole. Parts K4 & K12 make a intake duct for the supercharger. Then <SECS. 201 - 204> made of parts K8, K23, K40, K41 and K44 make up the port intercooler.

Page 50.jpg On this page are <SECS. 205 - 208> made of parts K9, K24,K30,K32,K39 and K45 make up the starboard intercooler. <SECS. 209 & 210 show how to mount the intercoolers to the supercharger housing. Parts K15 & K42 make up the port connecting duct from the port intercooler to the carburetor duct. Parts K16 & K43 make up the starboard connecting duct from the starboard intercooler to the carburetor duct. WOW!...These things are more complicated then plumbing a turbocharged Promod...lol. I'll finish this off with pages 51, 52 and 53.see you in a bit.

Ron G 

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Ok final set of pages

Page 51.jpgThis page shows assemblies 210 and 212 from page 50 being added. It also shows parts K25, K27,K28 and K29 that make up the main oil tank. It also shows part K26 which is a armor plate for the oil tank.

Page 52.jpgThis page shows parts M14, M15, M16 and M17 that make up the lower intake duct from the cowl nose to the supercharger and the oil cooler. It then shows parts M9, M10, M11 and M12 that make up the cowl nose piece.

Page 53.jpgThis page shows parts K33, K34, K35, K36 and K37 that make up part of the oil collection system. It also shows parts F7 and F8 which are cabin air intake tubes and various hydraulic lines. Ok that pretty much covers this fantastic engine. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask I'm always up to helping.

Thanks Ron G 

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