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BIG scale P-47!!


RNoAF

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Well Steve, to be fair, no aircraft kit manufacturer has gotten the R-2800 right. We will see how good the Tamiya R-2800-8 is on the F4U-1 when it arrives. I'm thinking that it will be pretty damn good. Those "oil pipes" have been omitted from the majority of ALL radial engine aircraft kits and they're actually called "intercylinder rocker box drain tubes". The drainage pipe on each cylinder you describe has me scratching my head trying to imagine what you're referring to. Can you please post a picture or a diagram of the area you're referring to? One must be careful when calling out the manufacturer for screwing up the rocker box covers. The B series engines and the C series engines have different cylinders and consequently, different rocker box covers. As far as the pushrods are concerned, I have an idea of what you're talking about but I'm not sure I agree with your analogy. If you look very closely at the case of the 2800 (any series) you will notice that the intake pushrods are slightly forward of the exhaust pushrods when viewed from the side of the engine. The reason is because of the intake and exhaust cams on the wheel are mounted one behind the other inside the case. It's been a few years since I've played with the 2800 but I believe the aft row of cylinders is just the opposite. The photo below shows the pushrod arrangement.

 

As far as Trumpeter/Hobby Boss R-2800 is concerned, I have built the R-2800-8W in the Trumpeter F4U-1D and found it severely lacking in shapes and details. The prop reduction housing is completely missing the oil sump although it does have the scavenge pump at the rear of the case....Go figure. I have not dealt with any Hobby Boss R-2800's yet but I'm not expecting them to be a whole lot better...we shall see; I hope I'm pleasantly surprised. The most accurate 1/32 R-2800 engine available as of this date is the Vector offering, hands down.

 

1024px-Pratt_%26_Whitney_R-2800_engine_U

 

 

Image taken from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pratt_%26_Whitney_R-2800_engine_USSMM_4.JPG

Edited by TimC
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Hi Tim,

 

Didn’t really mean to imply that the Trumpeter or Hobby Boss kits are ultimate renditions of the R-2800 (although I do think for the most part they are pretty good), but I was using them as examples to demonstrate the discrepancy between the count of 32 parts for a fairly detailed 1/32 R-2800 cylinder bank and only one part for what should be the more detailed 1/24 VFS version. The oil drainage pipe I referred to is the U-shaped pipe connecting the rocker boxes at the top of each cylinder and called out as an “Inter-ear Drainage Pipe” on R-2800 diagrams.

 

From the photos I have seen of the Tamiya Corsair engine, it looks pretty nice, but I expected more. They have gotten the asymmetry of the cylinders correct (which Trumpeter, Hobby Boss and even Vector didn’t), but have left out both sets of oil pipes and, like pretty much everybody else, the ignition wires. These may be pre-production images and what’s actually in the kit may be different, but it appears that while the general overall configuration is good, some rather obvious details have been omitted.

 

The 1/24 VFS rocker box covers do not resemble those on either the B or C types engines. They are very narrow and the sides and tops are very straight, with no curvature or roundness to them at all. It appears to me that this was done to facilitate removal of the single piece cylinder bank from the mold. The push rod issue I was referring to is seen from the front of the engine, not the side. An R-2800 cylinder flares out from the crankcase to the head and the exhaust and intake pushrods angle away from each other. On the VFS engine the cylinders do not flare out and the two pushrods are parallel. To me, this gives the engine the overall look of a WWI engine. This can all be seen in the sprue photos of the engine accompanying Brett Green’s review from a few years ago over at HyperScale:

 

http://www.hyperscale.com/2008/reviews/kits/vfs2404reviewbg_1.htm

 

None these kit engines (or engine kits) are perfect and I certainly do not claim to be any sort of R-2800 expert. My point with regards to the VFS P-47 was that, in spite of being a very welcome kit and having many good features, the engine is, in my opinion, a very weak effort. It falls far short of what one would expect in a 1/24 kit and is markedly inferior to any of the newer 1/32, and even some 1/48, versions in both general configuration and detail.

 

Steve Sobieralski

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Hell guys I'm not even sure Kinetic is still in business. I went to their "website" looked just like the Lucky Model store to me.

 

Kinetic is owned by luckymodel

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