I’m starting to build a 1/4 scale Bristol Hercules 14 cylinder sleeve valve radial engine. There were 57,400 of these engines built, mainly during WWII where they powered several of the Royal Air Force bombers and fighter bombers.
The scale model plans were created by Lee Hodgson of Ageless Engines and although not released yet, he will make them available for purchase once all the kinks have been ironed out. In creating the plans, Lee took measurements and worked of a full size engine.
As part of an effort to validate the plans for Lee, my first step was to create a 3D computer model of the major parts to check for errors, fits, interference etc… Below are some of the rendering from the modeling process.
The completed engine will be about 18 inches in diameter and weigh in at around 50 lbs.
This front view of the engine shows how clean and streamline it is.
The estimated build time for this engine is around 2000 hours. I plan to post my progress on this blog. Feel free to follow along, it should be a fun ride.