Steven Webb (Steve Webb Models)

Very collectible . Have you seen the prices they go for on eBay? There’s less 1.3 s than .75 Irvine Mills. They are all the standard ones Irvine brought out . The deluxe gold head version with the ,75 and 1.3 in the same box is very rare . One sold for a lot on ebay quite recently . I mean the ‘set’ anodised gold or bronze depending on what you see Steve

yes a mills of some sort. Probably Indian . Does the back plate have ‘India’ on it ? or if not CS or Russian usually. It doesn’t come in a Jar , I think that’s your own receptacle. Mills in a Jar ? maybe worth showing at the Tate. It would sure beat the work ‘ brick in a jar’ for me Steve

Hi Ron Not forgotten intentionally Ron, I think Laser are an excellent very British manufacturer and distributor. The only engine I wish I had got is their Diesel Laser as I collect Diesels and that’s an engine that really appeals. Before SWM quite a few guys were into Lasers from around 1980? 1982? A big selling point was the etching of your name as the owner of the engine you purchased . It’s a tradition they kept up I hear. I didn’t really see much of laser after SWM started . I’d see the occasional new model but I think as they were a company that sold direct and not to shops I don’t hold them in my head like all the makes we have sold. But for the record I think they are damn fine engines Steve

The latest in the Millish Series by Alex Phin of Red Fin engines. I truly believe Alex to have followed his dreams and become an engine manufacture / Distributor. Initially Red Fin were made in China . Not always the best quality if ran on correctly they were OK. The CS factory closed and Alex went to Eastern Europe for the manufacture of his new engines and since then we’ve had a new Mk 2 Millish in various Sizes . We’ve had a Kompish , Twin engines with 030 cylinders the 060 Twin and the last Twins the .99 . Super engines that need very carefully ran and operated . Run to rich or over compressed or with the cylinders so far out of whack the engine can suffer mechanical failure . Ran fast and not rich it works fine. The danger is the rear cylinder revving more than the front . Worthy of a mention is the Twin Finn twin axle tether car engine. A bit like an Olly Tiger 2.5 , you can order with Alex , fit to a Car and run it at the BMFA national site . They have. tether car track! The Last Millish 030 RV Rear Induction high performance , high revving , although variant on the Millish series. It’s a different engine. The gold or bronze finish is just total bling! You can’t get them from model shops ( they are only from Alex Direct ) I had 10 and 11 on order months and months ago . The engines went missing. Alex must have nerves of steel as the Box seemed to have entered customs and vanished . Enquiries got no where. So 10 days ago I got an email . ‘ Steve your RV 030s are here , they’ve been found’ . I’ll be honest I didn’t think they’d turn up. So pleased they have. I did buy one months ago - maybe 9 months ago when the Box with my numbers was lost. I’m going to run that little fella at some point .I got. throttle from Alex as the engines respond well to throttling. Ideal for a bat out of hell shark face or ‘fast’ vintage . I think it’s reviewed in Aeromodeller this month or last Months. July or August? Because of its shape / looks it’s getting referred to as the Red Fin 030 Hunter by some. My advice . Get one if only as an investment . These engines go up in value all the time. It’s rare they lose any value . Unless run and treated badly . Direct only from Red Fin . The last Millish variant . Steve

oops I forgot to say the seller I purchased it off also put it in a reproduction box . The Box in the is not original . The throttle ? it’s possible it’s not original . The prop nut could be off another Mills or a reproduction . Perhaps originally this had a original tank and venturi ? originally? Any info received with thanks Steve

An engine we’ve all heard of? The Original English Mills P75 . Except this one is slightly odd and if anyone should have information as to what this engine is and is it a variant or special in anyway? One one lug it has the number 1 and on the other lug EXP ( presuming to be EXP for Experimental ) . It’s very of its time ‘EXP’ . My dad would often make a change to a models design and put on the registration ‘EXP’ . The language is of its time. The casting on the EXP 1 is quite poor in places. Could it have been an experiment in materials? or perhaps the Throttle ? If it’s the throttle then Ii suspect 1962 /63 . Could that have been the reason for the labelling on the lugs? Any ideas , theories or even what variant it is? would be so interesting. I came by it on eBay . The previous owner ran it with a standard Mills Tank and Venturi. Started easy and ran well . He had purchased it seized up in a job lot on eBay . I bid a little higher than normal because of ‘exp’ and ‘3’ on the lugs. The fact a couple of others bid high making it quite an auction made me feel better as I wasn’t the only one speculating the engine could be very special ? Steve

Worth revisiting this as for years the great debate that ASP were different to SC and separate factories was finally answered when the Chinese Factory closed. But along with it went the majority of other brands as it turned out almost all two strokes came from there and also four strokes . One shock I had was the futuristic Evolution engines by Horizon were manufactured at the ASP /SC factory. ASP were the name given to The Chinese SC factories out put when U.K. distributor Macgregor Industries first introduced ASP to the U.K. Market. Acceleration Speed Performance (ASP) eventually we’re disguarded by wee Mac Gregor and I think Just Engines took them up . The difference being Just Engines imported and sold direct , where as ASP at Macgregor had been sold to stores who then sold it to customers through a net work of 100s of model stores . SC Super Custom were handled by JP right up to the Chinese Closure. I really did not realise the amount of engine makes the SC/ASP factory were involved with. Horizons rep used to claim Evolution not to be made in a cheap Chinese factory. A totally more expensive and well made product. Of course they were made by AsP -SC . A friend in China sent me a picture of loads of evolution engines tipped in a massive box , assembled and loose , not in boxes . I presume the boxing was done in house by Horizon. JEN were made there. Kyosho Fourstrokes ( I have a 52 Kyosho Fourstroke - It’s the SC 52 with Kyosho badge. Sharks, loads and loads of different badge heli and car engines. Sometimes I think the SC factory made the parts , which were then assembled elsewhere . I think OS may have had some Chinese manufacture engines . Super Tigre we’re Italian but the last engines produced were at the SC factory and so on . When SC closed in China it’s like they were calling ‘ time’ on IC engines. Electric Flight is the reason . Less and less engines being used. Some of the rare ones Paul’s listed are from the SC factory . I have Magnum engines that are obviously SC factory . But I have other Magnum more like Thunder Tiger ( Taiwan) . But studying a late Thunder Tiger Fourstroke it looks like it shares some SC parts . When Irvine were manufactured by OS ? is it possible they were made from parts manufactured in China and assembled elsewhere? As years and years of cheap manufacture ‘saw off’ Enya OS , Yamada and so on. When china closed SC /ASP there’s not many manufacturers with a range to take over . We are still Enya s U.K. distributors but we have very few engines . I wish we had SS40 engines ! To have a 40 size engine in store we are buying FORCE engines via JPerkins . It’s a great shame OS could not manufacture the FP range and Enya the SSrange. OS could manufacture the FSR engines and SF engines . The cheap alternatives that caused those lines to cease are no longer available . We have managed to get a few 36 size two strokes from a model reseller in China . Any original manufacture still manufacturing and doing well? YES Saito - more popular than ever. Glow and Petrol /Gas four stroke specialists . Fantastic engines. Steve

Hi Paul , This is a very late AM engine , it was distributed by a company called Premier that also distributed Merco ( last manufacture) and some balsa kits and a range of model accessories . One of our ‘boards’ was 2/3rds Premier Fittings . There was a model agent called Richard Simonds who it a very 80s style named his company after a car he had ‘ Qautro Marketing ‘ after his 4 WD Audi. Richard had a big white van and would call on shops selling off the Van . He was the Agent for the Premier AM you have there. Early AM engines dating back to the 50s had a more domed appearance . The bottle green one was an AM 10 and the Blue an AM 15 . Very confusing as the AM 10 was not a ‘10cu’ it was 1cc an o60. The 15 AM was a 1.5 cc blue head . The AM 25 was a 2.5 cc so that s a 15 cu and the was Black I think. The AM 3.5 was a 3.5 cc and usually a red head . The 3.5 cc is fetching good prices because of a resurgence of interest in Tether Cars . I’m told. The early engines were Allen Mercury - the Partnership of Allen and Mercury. I’m not sure how much Allen was involved with the Premier engines . We had quite a few problems with ones we sold . They didn’t seem to be up-to the standard of the original AMs . If you can get your hands an AM 10 bottle green dome head , give it a go it starts easy and is very powerful for its size and considering it was a mass produced Diesel Engine The old dome headed Blue AM 15 would spin you the same story . The square headed anodised and none anodised were made by Forest Engineering . They also manufactured late Merco engines. I remember by the early 90s the AMs were not available any more . Maybe 1992?? I know I sold one to a regular who we still see today and he was back with it several times . I think Richsrd credited it with balsa off his Van. He used to sell that lovely white Australian balsa. I ran a Forest Engineered AM 15 about 6 months back . It was not an easy engine to start , probably as it was new unrun. After several fast lean/rich runs very hands on bedding it in , it ran well but was a poor starter until warm. I think the majority of the Forest Engines were probably manufactured on modern CNC machinery , but not tested or ‘fit’ like they would be in the old days . This resulted in tight engines and if they were run on a large prop and rich and over compressed they soon wore out and wore out the conrod and piston pin. With careful fast running in I do believe they are quite viable . CS suffer very similar characteristics actual having a tapered piston liner more seen with performance competition engines . But CS do it on a Mills copy and it doesn’t lend itself to easy starts as you’d expect from a Mills. Yet take the time to run in fast and rich / lean - up down , up down abd you can hear the revs increasing . Once you finish the manufacturing process you have some more like a Mills. So if you run the AM ( premier) don’t let it labour. Run it in as you would a tapered ABC engine. Not sure what happened to Forest Engineering , I have no idea of Mr Allen’s involvement if any with Forest Engineering and the late AMs - I always presumed he’d be involved . Mr Allen was to reappear distributed by Irvine Engines . The engines were called AE Allen Engineering . This time they did the tiny AE 010 and 02 a .5 cc and a 1 cc , 1.5 cc , 2.5 and very rare - 3.5 Apart from the the new smallest engines the other AE engines followed the same size as the original AMs. I think Allen Mercury ( AM) must have been owned elsewhere as maybe AE s would have been AMs ? But they were AE Allen Engineering . AE differed in construction - the main difference was machined from solid crank cases . No longer cast . Like AMs were. AE s are quite collectible . Even the little 010 runs, but it also runs out quickly if used a lot. their 1.5 cc would go on forever . not so sure about the 010 and 020 they do run, but ‘tired’ examples surface on eBay now and then . Hope you are well and keeping safe Steve

G Mark 30 Twin , Strange glow , quite collectible . Now a days . I once flew quite a large 65 inch span Luton Minor for a Clun member. It had one of these in swinging a 12 x 4 prop. Performance was sedate and the model flew in a very scale manner. Of course it looked right with the twin cylinders like the full-size I guess. steve

Freddy was in the position many have been . He was working 30 to 40 hours before the pandemic and Furloughed at his 12 hours contracted . So as time marched on he applied for 3 jobs was offered 2 and took up one two weeks ago. I think display stands have halted , apart from those he’d done with me. It was something to keep sane with ‘ Steve

An engine not everyone will have heard off. A recent 'win' on eBay. An Engel 1.5cc ( Angel) Hungary is the country where it was made. And ALAG 2.5. I have a refurbished one. The best I have seen. Its called an X3 . Ripmax brought them in back in 1959 to 1961. There were a 1cc,1.5cc and 2.5cc on eBay last week. I bid on all three and won another 2.5 cc and didn't get the 1 or 1.5. The 1cc almost hit £200 which is bonkers. Needless to say I bid like Arkwright and so I didn't win it. I came across and early Frog BB2.49 - Its probably another engine people may not know about. They were a change in direction for Frog. Made by Davies Charlton it was said to be superior than the Rapier and so DC dropped the Rapier while it was in production. There's an excellent part 2 of Davies Charlton the rise and fall in this months RCME. It's a terrific article - part 1 was the month before. I give you the X3 2.5 ALAG and the Engell (Angel) 1.5 The Anodising is fading on the Engell An early Frog 2.49 BB

Hi Brian, So good to hear from you. You often get a mention, gone but not forgotten. The shop has reopened and I just learned 'Dear Prudence' on my 'Vintage' acoustic. I never thought I'd play again, but lots of pain and finger exceeding and I can play guitar again. I think I got a compliment of young Jack, he said I sounded like Johnny Cash. I said I always thought that was change from the...... machine... Stands- Yes home made. I developed loads of different types. Made myself and also Freddy ( my son) has had a go. He's just sold some of Freddy's Frogs to the SWM store, which we put on Cobbewebb eBay. Basically a model engine stand with a brass Frog. Ideal for Frog Engines. He tried some on the family eBay and they sold. But he /we need to standardize on a design. The best ones take too long to make. The one on the Saxby Nipper is a brass stand with a Depron Base. Works well not scratching tables etc but too time consuming to make to sell at a reasonable price. Having said that lots of the various prototypes have been sold on the family account on eBay. Quite a few made by Fred without me. He's had good feedback . He's got design's with a Brass Heart, Cross, Frog and so on. So not really a retail item. Not at this moment in time, but maybe one day. Brian knows Freddy but not everyone else will. I'll try and post a few pics of some of the different ones. The Cross is so stable. Coming up with a name for that one, there has been a few funny ones. Fred tells me he's going to make a load of those. But that was some weeks ago. Now the lock down is over the call of the wild and his new girlfriend seem to have halted production. LOL. I have manged to post some pics. Only the Frogs have made it commercially, he flogged me two sets to sell. LOL... The Cross - our prototype. Its brass with a balsa base. Again, it takes a long time to make by hand. Pictured here on a Webra. incidentally The Red Headed Frog. Someone butchered the mounting holes ( my big hate) and the crankshaft is not standard. Its very long. I wonder how or why this engine happened. The mounting holes are filed out so much you can see the crankcase back plate bolts down the mounting holes. Butchery. Steve

I remember Royal , they must have come out around 1985 as I remember seeing them in Alpha Models at Ellemere Port. Before SWM existed. I was never offered them by any company and we started in 1987 and so they were not around for long. Unless prior to 1985 I had never seen them, but they existed. Its possible.

Alive , but working on the kicking -- LOL, I have been at home with Pandemic and all that, suffering from being Immune suppressed. The store has stayed open and never stopped regard Mail Order and Click and Collect in the last lock down and I'm pleased to say re opened on 12th April. Monday to callers. Its going well, we've had a slight refit improving the down stairs store to allow customers around it this time. The first lock down was severe with the counter across the front , but I think such measures proved correct when the 2nd wave hit. Now there's still perspex on the counter but at least the shop is open. Our upstairs showroom is closed. Most people understand ( not all do) that it has to be that way. Because of social distancing the upstairs can't be used. The mail order office is small and works fine, unless all the staff a need to be 2mtrs apart like now and so upstairs has been taken into office / mail order temporary until the all clear gets rid of social distancing. These measures are not optional and anyway people expect SWM to do the right thing and we do as far as I know. Its all about keeping staff and customers safe, while trying to stay open. One reason I came to post this is I heard from Paul Marsh via my personal face book pages ( Facebook at SWM is taken care off. Its not my realm) . Earlier this thread Paul mentioned he got a Force Engine from China , it was cheaper than the UK and apparently no UK stores had them at the time. BUT Paul said that his was a different colour to the ones we advertised. His was Black / Purple and ours had a silver head. At least you would think it had as our website had a pic of it with a silver head. This prompted me to say to Paul that sometimes there are European/ USA versions and there's Home Market for China. Its easy to understand this happens because when this is done in China we see it as copies the Chinese Government see as capitalism. A company like Tower Pro makes 9g servos. Everyone knows the ones and yet I would gamble that many 9g servos that at Tower Pro are not made by Tower Pro at all, but by many different factories. It can be like that with any product. Often the home market can sell things the European market cant . Like decent solder. LOL Hence when Paul said his was different that ours I presumed it must be that. Turns out our website had the wrong picture. So we could not fulfill Paul's dream of a Silver Headed one as they don't seem to be available. That's not to say that Chinese market version might be different than the UK market version. I don't know. I only found out about the website error and like Paul I believed we had silver headed ones as servoshop had that one in the main pic. How could his happen!! Heads will roll... seriously we had got the picture from the J Perkins website the UK distributor and so there was no reason to think it was wrong. The staff at SWM have been happily selling Force not realizing the ones we had were different than the picture. I should assure Paul the Anodizing wont effect he performance. I think he wanted the silver version as well. That might not exist it would seem. Its possible the engine JP photographed was a sample? Its possible its a later model? I dont know , the store will call JP on Monday and try and find out. Strangely most other UK stores have the silver pic. I guess they all used the distributors picture like we did. What could go wrong? Well it could be a different colour apparently. I just wanted to clear up one possible why it was different was it could be a different European version and now I'm not sure it is, If I find out I'll post back. Of course I have substance here that removes anodizing. We could always make one silver... LOL. Keeping on track with the subject of the thread. I have acquired and Super Tigre 2000 glow. Its such shame the low prices these go for on eBay. I picked up a hardly used version for £61. I had forgot what a huge lump of metal they were. I was after a 2500 , but the 2000 will do. I posted some of the Diesel Conversions Peter Tarn has done. I have quite a few 40 FP and I have Fox 60 Dieselized. That's my largest. I said to Peter ' could you dieselize and Super Tigre 2000. The answer was yes but it might not work and so we are going to try and see. If this works I want a Super Tiger 3000 next... LOL.. Why dieselize one? To see if it can be done I guess. I think what might let us known is it has a ring and ring engines dont convert as well to Diesel as ABC or plain Iron Piston/ Liners do. The SS 25,30 and 40 all Dieselize great because they have Iron Pistons/ Liners. I have an SS 40 Diesel and SS 25 Diesel. My Latest engines going into the collection are some I had for a while but they've been refurbished my a pal. A ED 2cc - not a Comp Special. The way to tell is the Comp Special has cut outs on the lugs. The 2cc doesnt it has straight Lugs. There's always Comp Specials for sale with Broken Lugs. I do wonder what a scallop out of the lugs did for performance? It seemed to make lug breaking easier. An Alag X5 - 2.5cc (15 cu in) and a Jenna 1cc (060 cu inch). Hopefully you will see the pics. I finally got a Saxby Nipper 030 also! Hopefully you can see the pics. Steve

Sorry I missed this. So funny. The AM - while on lockdown my son was having a go at eBay with much help from Dad. We repaired the lug on the AM10 and it looked in great nick. Now I've had many diesels pass thorough my hands and there's something I got wrong. When we repaired the lug it was perfect but a different colour and so we coated it with the black cylinder paint. Very honestly we ( put it on sale on the family eBay account. Very honestly I wrote up with my son it was a dead engine , an Ex parrot of an engine. It was bidding up and continued to reach £37/ An engine that didnt work, but had a Black Shadow box. I thought £15 anyway. I looked at the photos after the fact and I could see liner in the ports. Yep. I put the liner back wrong. The winner must have noticed. But then so did someone else! Damn. I've done that twice to AM in the last 6 weeks. I know better as well. We dont sell diesels in the SWM store . We had a handful of Red Fins but that was a one off. I would like to see PAW back in the shop but that's another story for another time. I keep meaning to contact Tony. The diesel thing is something of my own hobby. I just love them. I used to have some long chats with the late David Boddington as he was as enthusiastic about diesels as I am, if not more so. I do miss those chats. Some lovely stuff came from them. Such as when he found out my Dad gave away his comp special ( when he went on National Service) and he was after one, but had failed to get one David sent him a ED Comp Special from his own collection. My dad was bowled over. My dad passed away 5 years ago, but on the shelf in his bedroom , two weeks before his passing he asked for the Comp Special to be put on the side so he could see it. More than just an engine to my dad. My dad was in the Glorious Gloster's in Korea. He never ever spoke about what occurred, but they had a rough time of it from what I can figure. My dad always told me he was there slightly later than he was actually there and that my Uncle Sam had it bad, he was there before him. At my dad's Funeral Uncle Sam said your Dad had it bad in Korea. I said he said you did and it fairly obvious he didn't talk about it directly, but I think what he said about Uncle Sam, really was what happened to him. I never knew. It was 1951 - Dad always told me he was there in 1952 and Uncle same was there in 1951 and Uncle Sam said it was the other way about. I think DB knew. National Service comrades , although DB crashed an Vampire and was subject to Court Martial. That's what he always said. Flying low impressing the Camp Commanders daughter he said. I think it could be true.. Lol. So when putting AM's back together. The liner lines up with the 3 pillars, You cant get it wrong , unless your me. LOL Steve

Hi Simon, Time does that. I had a strange thing happen last night. I bought a Industrial Desk Top Ultrasonic cleaner. I had a Jewelry one from Maplins ( another good retail establishment no longer with us) and it did OK at cleaning the occasional part, but my new one ( had it 18 months now) seems brilliant. I had a couple of catastrophe's one was I had a grubby Comp Special and I chucked it all in and the tank melted. They are prone to misshaping but the US cleaner made it melt. Magnesium crankcases dont do more that a few minutes or for some reason makes the crank case lose a layer. I now have a couple of old Mills where the very important 'Mills Bros England' on the crank case no longer is there. The Ultrasonic cleaner removed it. But I had cycled it for 90 minutes. I probably would have got away with 10 minutes. Anyway I had a very grubby Rapier turn up and underneath the grime looked promising and so I put it in the bath, which had cleaned a number of other engines and so was looking murky. I took the Rapier out and he Anodizing was ruined! At least it looked like that. There was a few patches of faded red and the rest looked like the crankcase in colour. I had ultrasonic'd the anodizing off. I use a carburetor cleaning additive that to date has not causes any issues. In fact its so good I have a few mates who also use it. Maybe I put the additive in twice? Maybe that it . The I put the engine down and there was shiny anodizing where my fingers had been. It came back? Eh? It turned out that colour of the crankcase a very fine powder had come off and been attracted to the anodising, making the whole engine look grey with anodizing removed. I've called this effect the ' don't scare me like that again' effect! Sorry I dont have a pic of it yet. I dont suppose you have a cylinder head for a DC Merlin. Early plain Aluminium? I picked up a couple of DC Merlins and one has horrible head damage. Really nasty. I didn't spot in the photos. Steve

Hi Paul, That's quite a buy , I hope you were wearing a mask when you did that. I have a used one that cost me £220 and I thought I'd done well. NIB one went for $1600 a a while back in the states? Is that around £1400? I was shocked, but spoke to another collector who had purchased on a few years back for £700. So the Mark 1 with Carb that looks like Enya and a Machined head as opposed to cast is the mark 1. One of my worse buys in the last few years was a Saito 30 Mk 1 Open Rocker brand new in the box. I got it from the states on eBay and it arrived looking new. The seller said it had only ever been mounted to a stand and on display at his home. Probably had, as it had not run and the mounting holes were huge. Something like 5mm across. Most Metric bolts were slack or too tight. Turned out to be an American size. I expect the original bolts would have been 3mm to 4mm. I cant recall which. One was even off center. I complained it wasn't as described but he'd covered it as he put the engine had been mounted on a stand. Quoting that to eBay Robots was not going to help as they probably thought they had to be drilled. Looking back at the pics there wasn't a pic where the bolt holes were in shot. I plan to use it as its not a collectors engine anymore. Cost £300 getting it and into the UK. Tax. I was as annoyed as I can get which is less laid back than usual. Nothing I could do about it and the seller is doomed. The Karma Police will get him, mark my words.? So how did you manage to get a classic Mk1 collectible for £100 ? and did you know what you were getting? Keep an eye out for the Karma Police ? The first day Open was a super success, better lay out then re opening Mk 1 - Very difficult as we have to stay within guidelines to keep the public safe and the staff. My duty of care to the staff is mega important as they will see a lot of possible contacts in ones days trading. If you going over, don't forget to wipe your feet, we have a new carpet as well ? better still take slippers ? Thanks for the continued support in advance Steve

Oops I might have done the quote wrong. Good stuff Simon. The AM - 1965/ 167 model I think. Blue head, but the blue on yours is unusual. Faded or maybe reanodised. The OS Open Rocker Mk 1 60 Open Rocker was 1976 ( I think you have typo for 1966) . The Mk 1 had a machined metal head and a mint version can fetch a good price. Mark 2 and 3 changed to a caste head and featured carburetor changes. The Mk1 was more like an Enya regard the machined head and also the machined metal body of the Carb. Mills never wear out, they just fade away. I've yet to come across one that wont run. The 1.3 looks nice. I'm calling shotgun on that one if you ever want to sell ? Sparkies - not my thing. AM are incredible engines 1950's and 60's and 70's . I actually managed to sell the Forest Engineering ones / Premier label in 1990's they started manufacturing Merco also. We didnt do well with them, they had a high return rate. The AM 1 and 1.5 looked nice, but were not as nice as the originals. Like yours. Steve

The Sparey 5cc Diesel Heavy Weight home build from 1946 ( The UK’s first homebuilt model aircraft diesel). Here is another engine that not many will know off. It is the first published home build engine in the UK. It was published in Aeromodeller 1946 and made by quite a few lathe operators that months before were making Spitfire and Lancaster parts. The engine design was attributed to the AM staff. Occasionally a nice one ( Sparey) comes up in auction. It’s a big slogger of an engine. Best ona big prop as smaller props tend to back fire and bite. This one is the picture is not a very nice one, in that its not fully finished off. Some finishing has been skipped. The engine has not had the fins machined, the back plate is to proud and uses a lash up of o ring and GF tape to seal the casting. The NVA looks to have been removed from some other engine. Possibly an ED of later manufacture? Or even a Static Petrol Engine. The insides of Big Black Sparey look good. It feels OK. The casting had not been machined off and so looked dreadful. My son filled and sanded the case a little like with a car body repair. The filler (metal epoxy) has been painted over with Cylinder Block heat proof black from Halfords. It’s said to be fuel proof, be we find unless it gets very hot then raw fuel does seem to take the coating off a little. If raw diesel is on the engine a wipe with your best white hanky will result in a dirty black smudge. The NVA on this one was attached with a terrible bit of welding or soldering (leaking around the pipe). As anyone with a leaky pipe would agree it does not help an engine run. I am not equipped here at home to be able to solder it as my Iron is too small and my pipe too big and its really a blow torch and flux Job. The rough job it was not sealed and its been sealed with metal epoxy. It does look better, but with the right type of model engineer it could be cleaned up and attached with the appropriate metal. Techno Weld? Or is that a kind of music? When we say it looks better, we mean better than it did. Not better than any other properly attached pipe fuel inlet. Shockingly the engine does turn over with compression and a plop, it feels like it could run. Maybe if someone does run the engine they might be spurred on to look at the NVA, machine the Crankcase better than is and fin the head as it should be. See yellow pic of what a Sparey could and should look like. I cannot run it now as Covid has neighbours working from home and others on night shift. In the interests of neighbourly relations, no running at the moment. This has caused unusual tension between myself and the Mrs. As in order to check some smaller engines my son and I fired them up in the living room. While I find diesel fuel a lovely smell, no one else seems to like the living room smelling of it. Tell you want. It does not go away. There is a scented product required. Never mind the nose blind advert, diesel smell never goes away. Neither does one go nose blind to it. I’m thinking Diesel away.. spray or candle? http://modelenginenews.org/sparey/five.html http://www.hemingwaykits.com/acatalog/The_Sparey_5cc_Engine___L_W_Sparey.html The links above. Model Engine News. A fantastic website which is slowly dissolving into pixel decline. The editor and creator passed away some years ago and the site is slowly slipping under. One day they’ll be a Microsoft update of some kind and it will vanish , so have a good ready before it does! I also found while looking for the Model Engine News Link Hemingway kits. With details of the Sparey Kit! Drawings etc So maybe the Big Black Sparey 5cc could get a renovation. I did have a nice one in my collection and sold it and as usual regret that I did. If anyone does have a nice Sparey going for a low price I’m in the market. I think I paid £85 or £95 for my last one that ran and looked good. See Pics. Do look at Model Engine News. There was a article on DC in RCME ( I notice DC engine prices on eBay seem a little higher than usual) I wonder if that was RCME mentioning DC as some of the second hand diesels are just to well-priced. I picked up a Sabre 1.5 DC for £12 a few years back. Complete with a very poor cylinder head (Plier re tightening or held in a vice by the head, mounting holes drilled out etc. it was abused but it was one of the best Sabre’s I’ve run. It went like an Oliver Cub! While mentioning Merlin? DC? The Dc .75 Merlin Engine. I had added a pic of the red anodised one, later than the other one. Which is an Allbon Merlin. These were sold in the 50's under the DC name. I have picked up a couple on eBay and found the early one to be a better runner, better starter . There are differences , the early one is lighter regard piston , crankshaft and pin and conrod. The later model was made more robust and also less revvy. Steve

Did you manage to get over to SWM when the new look store opened yesterday, better this time than the first re opening. We've been able to take what we learned and fit in an extra customer! Now 3 customers can be in store at the same time. If you didn't get over steve webb models facebook or the news page on servoshop has pics. One shop fitting and counter move in 33 years and then two shop fitting-outs and counter moves in 12 months all part of the crazy retail Covid Train . It was a huge success re opening yesterday. I hope it keeps up. Its been a dreadful time for retailers and their staff. Keeping on Topic. Here's engine customized by my son and I for family eBay, not shop eBay. This would never be allowed for business eBay! The AM Black Shadow 1cc. This started life as a AM 1cc ( AM 10) with a broken lug. I shall load the auction pic as it explains the broken lug and repair. Very good repair. Some great stuff I found on eBay. A specialist glue and black powder. Dries like meta ( almost). The Lug was repaired and then the engine coated in heat proof cylinder paint, renamed the Black Shadow AM 10 from the Never was AM Series. The spoof listing does say it really is for sale 10% going to Versus Arthritis but it also says that it has a small problem. It wont go. Depending on what your planning to do with it? Its could possibly not be a problem at all. For instance if you want it as an Ornament or Paper Weight or Spoof Engine to fool club mates? Then not running isnt an issue. How ever if you want to fly a control line model or RC assist model its not going be any good unless you fly off a slope. This is definitely an engine that no one will have heard of before because it never really existed. Despite the 'themed' vintage box. The compression is down. Its needs a rebore. Not sure if Tony at PAW might be able to accommodate a rebore of if he only does his own brand? PAW of course.. One of the pics or a couple of them show the old 1950's AM 10 with bust lug. The other AM on the bench was from a Job Lot. A very powerful little Runner. I sent that one of to a pal in Australia. Not sure if that will work for him as he' ll be running inverted ( In Aus... think about it...) Enjoy the pics? Oh the name some say its from a Condom called the Black Shadow that was available in the 1980's in vending machines in men's public toilets. I hung around a lot of toilets when I was younger and I never saw one myself. Others say the name the black shadow is because it sports a yellow prop and its painted black of course. Steve Hope taken in the spirit of humour no offence intended.

Hi Paul, I wasn't having a moan at you. I read it back and it might seem that way. I just saw an opportunity to explain some stuff about Chinese trading. The servo issue is one we've come across. If there's 10 servos for £2.99 plus £6.00 post most people would think that sounds dodgy, but you'd be surprised the amount of people that fall for it. Then when they don't work the genuine manufacturer gets the moan. I've found when dealing with the 'genuine' manufacture in China the quality is usually excellent. Do you know that we sell more Tower 9g servos than any other and we get the least back. Less than all other makes. We do get servos people have bought elsewhere, they try to pass off as those sent to them. Why does it have to be like that? Its not something I would ever think of myself. Surprisingly to those that do that sort of thing , its funny how they think they are the only one to have that idea. LOL. At least your post forewarned me that they were on eBay. I've checked the listing on eBay and they do not look the same as the UK version. The colour is different, but I think the NVA might be also. When you get a UK/Europe version could you let us know what differences there are if any? At the price on eBay £109. plus eBay Tax and Shipping - I think was £13? there is no need for UK stores to worry as they are slightly less than direct from China . That was a pleasant surprise. Of course it could be different with an eBay voucher. You can't ignore a gift of £20 off. I occasionally get vouchers and everything I try to use them eBay says its not eligible for what ever I'm trying to buy. The only one that ever works for me is the Packing Voucher. There's £10 voucher comes every month because of the steve_webb_models eBay store. Its very difficult to convey and news of pricing off eBay on eBay as its not allowed. What I would say is that if you see something on eBay check the model stores in the UK as often the prices can be cheaper than eBay. It makes sense as shops have to recover that commission eBay takes. We put a disclaimer on our eBay that prices differ on eBay than our other selling platforms. Hopefully modelers check prices. eBay store has become a necessary evil. All the main model stores are on there. I must admit I've been thinking about Amazon for a couple of years, but can't bring myself to list there. Have you got one of the West Diesels Paul? or any RC diesels? The Peter Tarn conversions are quite collectible. He's a talented model engineer and each engine is tried, tested and if any issue is found it never makes it to sale. He's a very straight person. Super chap. Have a Happy Good Friday. Good to hear you've survived the Pandemic. Knock on wood... I got lost of pictures sent me of the first days back flying. Wowee there's some activity on the flying fields at last. I think these four pics say it. The Biplane is a Miss Tally - from grey fish on eBay. I have a large one built and a small one built and a mono plane version built. All need RC and finishing. But I do plan to fly some diesels in them. Best Wishes Steve

I made some cracking typos and missed a few words in the Post, is there any way to edit a post on this new forum as that's one I should have read before clicking. Paul - Not having a go at you for buying from China, although it might sound that way. I just think certain things have put a another nail in coffin of the hobby and while people talk young people not joining and the various reasons for the decline in Clubs the big thing that stares in the face is the local model shop. The more that vanishes the more the hobby shrinks. I'm sure there's a link. Unfortunately it will make no odds you getting an engine from China instead of a UK supplier as the damage is probably already done. It happened earlier in the 2000's when HK and Giant Cod avoided VAT on orders. Do you remember GC? Plus traders on eBay on mass avoiding tax. It was a totally unfair playing field for UK retail ( all not just the model trade). Finally eBay has eBay Tax and customs have cracked down on people avoiding tax. Its makes for fairer trading. Plus China is catching up and maybe surpassing us in some areas regard living standards. There's a Car industry, there's wealthy businessmen and well paid employees. The costs go up, the field levels. Some say Africa is the next cheap manufacturing place. Imagine that model engines from Africa? They really did cause some damage to retail. The same thing was happening in all retail trades, not just modelling. My thinking is nothing knew I was talking about this back in the 80's. I started SWM because I firmly believed in a good local model shop. Turned out to be very different than I imagined and SWM is mainly Mail Order now a days. The cracking service making good the slightly dated web site. I recently bought something from Australia and the eBay Tax and carriage put around £80 on the £140 product. No idea how it works. It was more than I expected. I thought around £64 Vat/Duty, but I guess eBay are putting a charge in there for handling it. Parcel Force do similar with the £12 to £18 charge for handling a product through customs. Fortunately SWM have a good following and I'm thankful for that. Especially during this pandemic. So much was unknown and still is. I got lots of pictures from one of the local clubs that got back out flying end of lock down. It was fantastic to the guys back out there. Hopefully a return to a type of 'normal' will follow in the next 3 months, 6months? 36 months? I think the Covid effect will be with us for sometime. When this started off 14 months ago for us I really had no idea what would happen. Pleased to say I can't wait to get my next vaccine and see my store! I really miss that smell! LOL. West Diesels An engine you can get only direct from Weston UK. The West Diesels. Its such a shame they don't sell them through stores, but I guess the cost is just to high to carry a margin for model shops. The West Diesels various sizes for RC well worth a look at. I should think not many down the flying fields yet. I hope that changes. This is my own West 38 I got from Alan and June at Weston. Super People and Alan's been serving the model trade since for ever. He goes all the way back to early ED engines. I have to fly. Sorry about the typos. Hope the jist of it is understandable. Steve Back on topic

https://www.jperkins.com/products/FORE-5201 J Perkins are the UK distributor, they could be the European distributor. So UK stores get then from J Perkins. Don't forget that when you buy from a UK store there's 20% Vat in the price. The Tax man takes that. So from China with 7.5% Duty and 20% Vat you would be looking at £115 approx. I think SWM are around £112/£113 - I'm not at the store currently. I expect they are not much more than £124.99 retail in the UK and when customers get discounted prices from model stores I always say ( as Paul would know) that they get a better deal than the shop do. I'm not quite sure of the logic buying direct from China for retail customers as all the stuff they've fought for warranties, service, quality, retail law does not apply to a Chinese Import. It arrives bust, try sending it back to China. But that's not the main concern. I'm not yet familiar with Force engines but if a Chinese Company , then similar companies can request to manufacture. An example would be the Tower Pro 9 g servo. We sell 1000's and they are from Tower Pro, but there are a zillion other traders in China that sell the same servo design. Some call it 9 gram, some call it Tower, some call it Tower Pro. We might call these copies, but they are in fact the when Chinese industry works. It puts factory against factory. It is communism's take on capitalism. So that's great for the consumer. No it isn't because the Factories that don't usually make servos and make electronic parts for Alarms or Phones make servos and get it wrong, so they dump them and you can buy 10 for £2.99 on eBay. They are not Tower Pro. They look the same. So, unfortunately when buyers of such servos get their 10 9g servos for £2.99 and surprise surprise ( thank you Cilla) they do not work ? Do they take it on the chin? and buy some from a reputable supply? Some do. But some buy 10 from a reputable supply and then the 10 they got for £2.99 they send back to that UK retailer and try to pass them off as the 10 proper real servos. It does make me quite angry to think that model stores go to the trouble of importing the genuine product and customers want it cheap so buy alternative production. I don't thing copies is the correct term. Its the same product from unknown manufacture, but when they get bit for the 10 servos at £2.99 they think they can get £29.90 of servos from a Bona fide UK supplier by sending them to them as a return. Anyway whats that got to do with Force? It would appear JP stock is a different colour and could also be different spec. Often the Chinese will have a Chinese Spec and the European/ UK dealer with have a European Spec to take care of all those rights that the retail groups have lobbied for over the years. Warranty, trading standard etc etc. Apart from that, I make no bones I'd love to see model stores in every town. Independent model stores, with beginners finding them and that fueling the hobby. New blood. people wine on about it all the time how club numbers are decreasing, the hobby is losing suppliers. Look at Solarfilm. A british modelling institution and they could not survive. So maybe 80 stores are fueling the new blood in the UK . in 1987 when i started there were probably 1500. The Northwhich Club reached 80 or 85 members, i know SWM sent lots of beginners there. The Club has 11 members and one is me with an Honorary membership. I think there's a direct tie with model shop numbers and beginners. But then again what do I know... ? Paul See pic for UK version. Steve

Hi Paul, Was that direct from China? Before eBay Tax happened? Steve