Build Review -- 5 Cylinder Radial Airplane Engine Model from Stirlingkit !! 

The rotation of the prop and clocking of the front crankcase cover have been addressed. No Problem. ru-vid.com6Lm1J8lLBjE

I think that front cover is supposed to be clocked so the four ribs are at 45 degrees from plumb. One orientation does that (72 degrees CCW from current assembly). Very interesting project. Thank you for the fundraising effort, Joe. We always donate to ACS every year in memory of several relatives and friends.

Joe that was a really cool build, I’ve seen these kits but they are outside of my pay grade. Being a motor head for the past 55+ years the Radials are top on my list. When you consider they were designed way before CAD & 3-D modeling ever existed, vision and sharp pencils is what made it happen. A little fun with the numbers Pratt & Whitney produced the R-4360 Wasp, a 28-cylinder four-row radial piston aircraft engine. Howard Hughes used (8) R-4360’s on the H-4 Hercules (Spruce Goose), (4) per side, that equals a total of 448 Sparkplugs. Current price for a single plug is $48.00 or $21,504.00 for all 448 plugs ($65,744.00 if upgraded to the Iridium Fine Wires). Now if an A&P (mechanic) was able to remove, clean, inspect, test and reinstall 4 plugs per hour (which I doubt) it would take 112 man hours, that is (14) 8 hr days…

Really nice kit Joe, but after watching you through the years there is no doubt in my mind that you could build one from scratch and make it run . 😉 !

My OCD kicked in as you were clocking the front cover and said they all looked the same. There is one correct "balanced" rotation for that cover. It is correct at exactly 28:05. There are 4 arms and ribs radiating from the center, but 5 lockdown holes. The one with the best and most balanced and pleasing appearance is when the single lug that is centered with the cut-out in the cover is at the 6 o'clock position. The other mounting lugs line up at 1 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 8 o'clock, and 11 o'clock. The cross-ribs line up with 2, 5, 7, and 10 o'clock (closest hour positions). That way the cutouts appear balanced and symmetrical, north, south, east, and west with respect to the base.

I have looked at this kit several times. I never pulled the trigger because I was concerned about quality. I'm super glad to see a positive review from someone with street credit. Thanks. ~P

Gotta say, I first started watching your videos as an aspiring hobby machinist, but I’ve really enjoyed all your videos and varied content. You are obviously a very intelligent person but your explanations and instructions are always clear and easy to understand. Projects like this have always intrigued me, thanks for sharing!

That is a beautiful kit,Joe.Thanks for sharing it with us.

Well done and a great education since there are a lot of people who don't understand how a radial engine works. All your projects provide an education on ' how things work '. Thanks for posting.

I knew there would be an opportunity the "un-loosen". Makes me chuckle every time. Great video!!

Talk about oozing quality! Even the parts trays are top quality! Those late to arrive metric hex screwdrivers, do wrap them before puting into your Christmas stocking, then they will be a surprise! thanks for the content Joe, hope the just giving goes extremely well.

Outstanding! Thanks Joe.

Hi Joe, when you were assembling the crank case I noticed there is a symmetry to the front casting, only one of the screws is in the middle of the holes in the case, I'm sure you will notice this being the perfectionists that you are, always watching from the UK

Really a great kit. Thanks for sharing.

Again another NICE ONE! Smiling I bet you are.😃

A friend of our family, Fred Cornell was his name, was a machinist for Ingersoll Rand in the 50's- 80's. He had a home workshop. Fred built and flew RC (Radio Control) aircraft. In the late 70's, early 80's, he designed and hand made, a working radial engine in his home workshop. It ran on white gas. It was about the same size as the one you showed. It was truly an amazing piece of engineering! Unfortunately, Fred passed some months ago. Nice kit, very cool.

Hey Joe, That is cool, My dad and I flew RC for a long time. You should hear that engine on a RC airplane, it gives you goose bumps. Thank you Sir always good stuff.

Jeez what a gorgeous kit! Everything about it is amazing. I hope you're able to raise a lot for cancer research. Good on you.

hello Joe! that is a good toy, very nice to spend some time with a screw driver... however, for me, being an hobby machinist, doesn't have any sense.... my first real lathe job was a Boll Aero Diesel (compression/ignition) engine, fully machined with a Chinese mini lathe, learning some skinks, and making the piston fits the cylinder... of making a connecting rod that fit nicely over the crankshaft... and thanks to your videos, my skills become a lot better. now I had made about 15 real combustion engines, 13 are good runners... I hope you catch my point... anyway, have a great Christmas and happy new year, and hope you can get some good money for that cause. Cheers Rodrigo.

Beautiful piece of machinery. Fantastic fit and finish of the parts. Excellent assembly video. Super attention to detail but it needs intake and exhaust manifolds. Mesmerizing to watch it run. But it appears to be running backwards. Should be counterclockwise as viewed from the front. Thank you for sharing Have a great day and stay safe.🙂🙂

I remember working on radial engine's back in the 60's, amazing piece of equipment.

It is great watching a pro at work

What a Great Humanitarian Cause Joe. The kit is a master piece to say the least. I had to stop i/2 way into this morning, but will come back after PET scan to finish watching. The Wolf Spider on the West wall? Got have one, did I miss a video of you making it??

Thank you for posting 👍👍

Very nice assembly kit. Nominal need to clean. That is a Wow project.

Thanks again Joe

I have followed your channel for many years, I make knives as one of my hobbies but have a very well equipped workshop. Yesterday I picked up a “Powermatic Millwright “ knee mill. The machine is in pristine condition and comes with everything you could imagine including a rotary table, a milk crate full of carbide end mills many still have the wax on them, boring head and boring bars, slitting saws, hold down set, V blocks, collets and chucks, shell mills……. I got all of this for scrap price! The only catch was I had to remove it from his basement???? 45 years of rigging big electrical equipment in and out of places that it wasn’t supposed to fit came in handy. The 88 year old gentleman that sold me worked in the aerospace industry and had a hand in designing the guidance system on the Hubble Telescope. Sorry for rambling but I’m just excited about getting my first mill and will be putting some of what I have learned from you to use!

A model that can get Joe Pie to extoll the quality, fit & finish several times throughout a video HAS to be some top-notch stuff! I read a lot of the comments; flip the prop over and claim it was designed as a pusher mount! 👍

I fly Radio Control aircraft, and have friends who have both glow fuel and gasoline radial engines…..they sound exactly like the old round engines that I worked on for agricultural aircraft. Sweet! You don’t ever forget that sound.

Nice, pretty sure my dad will love that

Excellent work thanks

Nice video Joe, thanks. You had me laughing right from the start, after your mini rant the first thing you did was an unboxing!

Thank you very much for making the video for us🤩

That is an awesome little model, im sure the it would look lots better with some copper piping to the manifolds & wires to the spark plugs.

I made a too for those small e clips. I took a measurement of the dia of the clip, drilled a slightly larger hole in a piece of Delrin then milled the end and thickness so you can use it to pop on the clip. I had about 100 to install and didn’t want to chase them so I worked on a silicone bench tray which had the added feature of different size cups to hold small parts

This is totally amazing! what a nice video for those who have "self-made" or purchased this wonderful mother, Great Tanks again Joe! You're the best! (in machining, no doubt!) (comes from me with 40- years of experience.) Yes! we listen even to you, and still learn, Yeeh! I learned something new today. Jippy! You´re best Joe! Hope you're well for ever, I wan´t to meet you;-) /Totally Swedish

Joe.... be careful....there is a Texas-sized spider on the wall behind you. It might need help with junk wrapped in its legs! Looks like a fun one to build! Great vid and keep em coming!

Good one . They look like a quality kit . They approached me , but unfortunately i have way too much on at the moment . 👍

Amazing model engine Good cause.Thank you.

Wow - that's quite some kit... seems to have significant quality elements considering origin - definitely a 'high-end' offering. Parts packing is excellent. Easy to imagine a huge build time if everything machined from scratch - that would be a challenge. I would have had as much or more fun than you building that Joe ! :) Happy Christmas and all best wishes Joe to you and yours - Chris

Very Cool!

Looks like a beautiful kit love your videos Joe.

Whoa that is amazing 😲🤘🏽🔥

That's just too cool....! Hope you felt guilty for not machining all those part... LOL A Life time project....! I am in the process of machining a PM#3 Steam Engine, and I found you machining and setup processes to be invaluable..... Look forward to seeing more of that.... I never gets old....! Merry Christmas!!!

Would be an awesome model to have great video Joe🍰👍🏻

Brilliant close up camera angles - really educational seeing the part emerge from the round bar. I hope you won’t bead blast the door - although I understand the attraction of blending it in to the model!

Very cool model

Nice project Joe! I'd be thrilled to receive it from you.

Merry Christmas Joe

Nice. A ‘snap together’. ❤

Wow Joe! Just the packaging is enough to make me want to buy one! Not to mention super clean castings. Investment cast do you think Joe? Nevertheless it's a beauty for sure. Cheers

Did that turn backwards to the prop?

I always knew that things are big in Texas, but the spider in the wall is really big. When ARW was doing videos he commented that "Yes, things are big in Texas except in Joe Pie's Shop! I beginning to think he was right on. Love the videos, BTW. KOKO!

Hi Joe, That was an amazing assembly. Like you mentioned, how do they make any money with that level of fit and finish. You and your family stay safe.

Belated commit: Love the model and watching you assemble the myriad parts, but have to admit I was at first disappointed when I realized that all of the parts were finished: I was expecting a mammoth task for your shop!

The prop on engine shows from the front it's CCW rotation I would like to build one that runs on gasoline Nice model

The mainland Chinese, like the Taiwanese, have the ability to make some really nice products when they want to, it's just they tend to make things to a price and not a standard, this model was obviously made to some kind of standard, very nice. 👍 PS: Merry Xmas to you and yours

I’m a cancer survivor and I always donate to the ACS great video

Beautiful kit and great job showing the assembly. Am I mistaken or is the engine rotating in reverse for the prop pitch?

nice job

Thank you.

The motor whine is louder than i thought it would be. Nice mode, Expensive though, but nice.

The fit and finish of that kit are a sight to behold. I am BEYOND impressed. If only mainland China businesses would produce consumer appliances to that standard, I'd never have to call a repairman again. This kit proves that it can be done. I have no idea how they can sell this kit at a profit ! Thanks @joepie221 for sharing the build and good luck on your VERY worthy fund-raising.

Cool looking kit! Already donated to your charity 😊

I'm from Long Island NY and there was a gentleman that use to make, from scratch, radial air craft engines. His smallest engine had a 1/8" bore. Sorry don't remember his name.

All in this motor is amazing. However, I was surprised by the direction of rotation in the display: it is reversed! The leading edge of the propeller blades always is the thickest edge; the trailing edge, the thinnest. But, in the display rotation, the propeller's leading edges were trailing and, the trailing ones, leading. This mistake has two possible solutions: either reverse the electric motor assembly's power source polarity, or interchange the motor's wire terminal connections to the power source in the assembly. The final result should be to restore the right direction of the electric current, which would restore the right display rotation. Edit: typo and errata correction.

Well Joe I hope that if anything this model has piqued your interest in radial engine models. Let me direct your interest to the Forrest Edwards 5 cylinder radial. This is a proven design from FE and drawn by Robert Sigler. The plans are very nicely done and they are free to use for non-commercial purposes, a very generous contribution to the model machinist community considering the amount of work that has obviously gone into the design. I have seen videos and threads where people have missed details or otherwise have done things differently and yet the design still works. This would be a great build series for you although a big one and certainly one worthy of WWJPD. You could Google the design and I could email you a PDF or direct you where to download it. I can see the smile on your face now when it runs for the first time. John 🇨🇦 PS Full disclosure, my self interest here is that I just started my own build which would certainly be made easier following Joe

I stopped working on my Cole's American LaFrance steam fire engine and just sat and watched the video. I usually have the videos running in the background and catch interesting parts. Great kit!!. One suggestion reverse the polarity on the electric motor the prop seems to be running in reverse or is that the same video effect that makes a spindle on a machine look like it is running backwards? Dick B. USA

Wow That was a Great Build Tutorial I get adds from that company id really love to own the V8 they make some one built one and put it on his Paddle Board it worked really good you should Search for that Vlog as the guy made his own Clutch ect Thank You

Unloosen! 😊✔️

Those wolf spiders are getting big Joe. 😂

I like the idea, but I fear that giving the model to the highest donor somewhat limited the donations, as its already 'won' if people aren't willing to donate that much. Perhaps the other one could be raffled with more donation dollars = more entries?

Nice toy, It would be great to see the fuel type one to be machined /assembled😅,

It looked to me like the prop was spinning backwards. Is that just me?

I would like to see you build a hoglet, plans are cheap $6, its a V twin with a kick starter

I could not stop watching, great build. I would love to know if the valve timing is close to accurate so that this model could be used as a demonstrator. Cheers.

The kit is tremendous. Be wary of that big black spider😂

Hey Joe, your engine is running backwards. Notice the pitch of the prop while running.

It would be nifty to make it operational, but there are not many parts that would survive powered operation. I imagine it injection molded zymak or similar

You must’ve done something wrong, Joe, you don’t have any pieces left over! lol

Is the kit castings, machined or powder metalurgy? I work for a tier 1 and was blown away by the powder parts and their complexity these days.

If it ran that would be cool.

This is an insanely cool model. The only thing I noticed, though, is that the prop us running backwards.

Beautiful model, Joe. However, it looks as though it is turning backwards.

If the prop went faster, you could use it as a desk fan and cat deterrent.

When you said it was a kit, I assumed it contained castings that you would be machining, like the PM Research model kits.

But is the timing of the valves correct ? Ball allen drivers are great, just don't overtorque them, you can break the ball off, and no one wants broken balls ;)

It is a beautiful kit. It seems to me the prop runs backwards.

it's running backwards but otherwise really nice!

I apologize if this has already been asked, 1 - while assembling, did you think of how you would machine each piece? 2 - are you considering doing a video series of duplicating this model without the cutaways to run on compressed air or steam?

It appears that the propeller rotation is rotating in the wrong direction. The propeller is pushing air forward. Randy, Colorado

Great vid! BTW, what is yer spider's name?

The finish on the castings has been Aqua Blasted.

Belated Merry Christmas and hoping you have a Happy New Year. How would you machine the D shaped hole the gears?

Tell the naysayers that the prop rotation is intended to back the plane into the hangar.

Aww, didnt see you putting on the piston rings.

Hey Joe! I teach a High School Precision Machining class in rural Alabama. We're looking for some ideas for making something kind 0f like this from scratch as a program project. Do you have any suggestions for something like this but just prints and material lists? I don't want to go overboard and burn 'em out with an overly intricate one, but I don't want to be too soft on them either. We've got Bridgeport mills, small gap-bed manual lathes, a Haas TM-1P VMC, and a little Tormach 8L lathe. Any ideas are appreciated! From anybody!

How many rotations before the cuckoo makes an appearance?

I was noticing...isn't the prop turning backwards?

Cut away? 😕 I was hoping to see you gas it up and have it run under its own power. Martin Model has a number of casting kits for IC engines, but quite pricey. That front end of the housing that holds the planets in place appears to be clocked one position off to the right. There's an axis of symmetry with the two holes closest to the x shaped ribs, and i think those two holes should be at the top opposite the base mounting.