Another Life...

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Sticking with the theme of aero-modelling and personal nostalgia, the KeilKraft advert on the back cover of the December '66 Aero Modeller I mentioned - a slot they invariably held over the years - took me back to when my dad decided to accede to my less-than-subtle attempts to get my parents to buy me a model aero engine for my birthday. What I was angling for was a P.A.W, as these were the kit du jour amongst our crowd. However, the old man, perspicacious as he was, opted to get me an E.D Racer instead. E.D's star was no longer in the ascendant at the time, and I felt a momentary qualm of disappointment on its presentation, which quickly evaporated when I realized what a truly scrumptious piece of miniature engineering it was in reality. Displacing 2.5cc, the diesel sported twin ball-race crankshaft bearings and finished castings to die for: this demanded some serious care in running in.

I did this over a period of a couple of weeks of evenings after school, with the motor bolted to dad's saw-horse in the garden, using the oiliest diesel fuel mixture available, and an oversized, shallow-pitched propeller; running the engine on as low revs as it would tolerate. The end result spoke for itself: perfect compression - the 'pop' over TDC smooth and crisp - easy starting, and plenty of power. To showcase the thing - and this is the KeilKraft connection - my old man bought and built a KK team racer: pretty sure it was the Demon, as that fits their catalogue of the period, and my memory of the plane: 30" wingspan, fixed undercarriage, low wing, etc.

He did a beautiful job on the thing, which sadly only flew once, for similar reasons to the Halifax of last night's post, as the offset tab on the tail fin broke off at speed and the plane turned into the circle, out of control, to inevitably nose dive into the turf of the athletics field at our school fête. Subsequently, I lent the motor to a friend around the corner for a while, and which on return to me had the saggiest flat spot compression imaginable: he'd basically buggered it, so I sold it to him, as he obviously hadn't a clue about engines, and it was no longer much use to me. You live and learn from these apparently trivial events in your life: things come, things go; you just move on...

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