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Hodgson-9 Radial Engine
Tinkerer extrordonaire Kurt Bjorn built this miniature 9-cylinder radial engine from plans in his home machine shop. He thought of an improved cylinder head design that he wanted to try out, so he built a foundry furnace and taught himself metal casting in order to fabricate the heads.
Kurt has also built a miniature turbine engine complete with homebuilt ECU. He publishes serialized accounts of these and numerous other equally amazing acts of model engineering under the 5 Bears Research moniker.
I have been watching Kurt’s site for a few years and have been inspired to construct my own foundry furnace.
This is exremely impressive!
I can’t get enough of these radial engines! I want to see more video! I also like the various turbines at this guys site. I wish someone would come out with a DVD for model engine enthusiasts with good quality video of these things in action.
The skill levels here are very impressive.
when you construct your foundry furnace, post your diy on it, I’m thinking about the same thing, but not sure what I want yet.
Hey Rob,
I have already built the furnace and some plinths, but I have yet to make the burner. I will post it when I do.
I followed Kurt Bjorn’s projects for several years before my own situation took me to other tasks. Now i find the 5 Bears site no longer being tended. Do you know why? Hope nothing has happened to Kurt. He is a master in the shop.
Dave
I am humbled by the number of people who have enjoyed my “5 Bears” site and the projects it contains. I am still active, but I found that maintaining the site, and the correspondence it generates, was simply too much, time-wise.
After a bit of a hiatus (raising kids!) I hope to begin updates once more. I’ve found that even years later, the site still gathers hits. And it still doesn’t have a single advertisement on it, which was a goal from the beginning.
The engine is run frequently and I enjoy it thoroughly!