Irvine 20. When was it first produced?

[David Davis]

My entry for this year's light-hearted and thoroughly destructive "Coupe Des Barons" has been accepted. This is a competition for the "Baron 1914" a French three-channel trainer from the 1970s.

This is my No 1 aircraft and I am in the process of building another wing for it as ailerons are not allowed in the competition. A club colleague has given me a partially completed Baron as a reserve aircraft should I crash this one while practising!

According to the competition rules you can gain extra points if you use an engine which was available in the 1970s. I have three engines, possibly four engines, which appear to be eligible: a Merco 35, an HB 20, an Enya 19X and possibly the Irvine 20.

The Irvine was my first R/C model aircraft engine and I first flew it in my Junior 60 in 1988 but does anybody know whether it was available in the 1970s.

[J D 8]

Hi David,I still have my Irvine 20,it was my first RC engine with a throttle. Purchased in 1979 for £41.94 still written on the box. Good luck in the competition. John.

[Former Member]

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[Nigel Dell]

David

Same here for the Irvine 20 November 78 for mine.

[David Davis]

Thank you gentlemen, the Irvine's in the running and a clear favourite. I tried to get the Merco going yesterday without success. Anybody want it for the price of the postage?

Somewhere along the way Percy I've lost the Irvine's original silencer but I remember the difficulty of trying to bolt it in place with a cut down allen key.

However, I bought a car-racing silencer for it years ago. It's a chrome plated dustbin silencer with a two-trumpet exhaust. With one of the trumpets blocked off it's not too noisy. I know it's not the original carburettor either but the French won't know that!

On the other hand I might just wimp out and fit an electric motor. .

Thanks for the good wishes JD8, I'm looking forward to the competition and hope to finish in the top 30% but knowing my luck I'll probably crash in the first round.

Edited By David Davis on 01/04/2018 10:53:43

Edited By David Davis on 01/04/2018 10:55:07

[Former Member]

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[J D 8]

When I lost the exhaust from my Irvine 46 I drilled the holes all the way through and fitted an ASP one with cap head bolts and nuts.

The old nylon body carbs of the mk1 could be a pain gumming up but the later black metal body one's were good carbs.

[John Lee]

Posted by David Davis on 01/04/2018 08:46:08:

The Irvine was my first R/C model aircraft engine and I first flew it in my Junior 60 in 1988 but does anybody know whether it was available in the 1970s.

David, for proof here's a copy of the October 1978 edition of RCM&E giving the announcement of the launch of the Irvine 20:

[gangster]

I had one of the first Irvine 40 and the 20 came out not long after Pretty sure the 20 appeared in the 1970s as for the carbys The original 40 had an aluminium carb The plastic carb did not appear until The Mk2 Irvine 40. I cannot remember if the carb on the first 20 was plastic or not The mk2 Irvine 40 was a magnificent engine and I don’t recal any problem with the plastic carb Except... I bought a plastic carb for an engine I rebuilt fired it up on the bench and even with the needle taken out it was still starving I put a tube on the inlet and blew ,almost blocked, sucked instead and a bit of plastic award hit me in the back of the throat After that it was a perfect carb

[Former Member]

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[gangster]

Yes Percy 1978 would sound about right for the first Irvine engine. I bought one as soon as they appeared. Not a great engine in my opinion due to a very fragile crankshaft . The mk2 was however a fabulous engine. I infact upgraded mine with Mk2 front housing and bearings and Mk2 crankshaft. That was a fabulous engine

[John Lee]

This is the first reference I can find for the Irvine 40 from the October 1977 edition of Radio Modeller. It may be a month or two out from the actual launch, I have some gaps in my library about that time:

Edited By John Lee on 01/04/2018 21:29:46

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

I'm fairly sure I bought my 40 no later than autumn 1977 as I started gliding in October that year and model flying went on hold soon after. It has the Irvine carb so it wasn't one of the pre-production versions.

I'll certainly concur about the strength of the crankshaft Gangster - I bent one on mine (I'm sure I was shot down by a CB'er ) and bought a replacement - which I bent while fitting it!

It wasn't as bad as the accident damaged one so I straightened it but never ran it in anger...until, fast forward to 2002, when I dug it out of the loft and popped it into a Ripmax 40 trainer for my return to (fixed wing) model flying. It started and ran fine but failed the club noise test. A couple of hours on my lathe and I knocked up a middle chamber for the silencer and proceeded to use it in the trainer until I moved on to better things.

[Former Member]

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[gangster]

I disagree Percy. I broke a couple of crankshafts on my mark1 and my mate broke at least one Maybe this was due to running them on Dynaglo and an ED pipe The MK2 however was able to resist our abuse

[Former Member]

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[gangster]

Surely the piece of studdingin the end was a feature of the Mk2. Which was a much stronger item than the original. Much bigger front bearing too

Edited By gangster on 02/04/2018 09:38:52

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Yep - my Mk 1 has a one piece crank.