Wednesday, October 12, 2016

The ETA 1.5 D's Final Production Run



The ETA name is synonymous with fine measuring instruments and model airplane engines.










ETA of Watford England manufactured measuring equipment and other precision things as well. As with the case of the Oliver engines, only the best was good enough for ETA .






In 1951 Ken Bedford and his brother Eric were also developing a small 1.5 cc diesel. There were already a few powerful 1.5 engines on the market like the:












The ETA 1.5's Specifications:
bore 12.95 mm;
stroke 11.20 mm;
weight 85 g;
power 0.15 BHP; with
Vandervell racing bearing.

The ETA 1.5 D was tested in 1952 and was found to be at least as powerful as the FROG 150 R, but powerful as it was this engine never made it to market and to this day; no one seems to know why it didn't.










The late Ken Bedford the brilliant creator of the ETA 1.5 D.

To read the full story of how a batch of parts and along with some production tooling survived after the cancelled in 1951 was transformed into a final batch of 10 new ETA 1.5 diesels.



 Get the Full Story!




Time for a short test run.



Sunday, August 14, 2016

Running Classic Russian Model Diesels

I ran a few of my old stand-by Russian diesels or as the Eastern Europeans call them "Compression Engines" at the cottage again this summer.
From Clockwise Left - MK 12B, MARZ,  KMD, MK 17



MK 17 1.5 cc Very popular in Eastern Europe.

Watch it run on homemade fuel (1/3 oil, 1/3 Kerosene, 1/3 Quick Start with a dash of  diesel additive) and a 8 X 5 cut down propeller fitted.

KMD 2.5 cc


This is a very nicely designed engine with super good starting and running qualities and with some minor tuning it can be made to really perform.





MARZ 2.5 cc


MARZ 2.5 cc - Inexpensive easy handling popular in Eastern Europe.

Watch it run on homemade fuel (1/3 oil, 1/3 Kerosene, 1/3 Quick Start with a dash of  diesel additive) and a 10 X 7 propeller fitted.



MK 12B 2.5 cc

 Make-shift venturi insert to improve fuel draw.
Low compression on this particular engine make it almost impossible to hand start.



Watch them all do their thing in this edited video clip.