Wankel Rotary Engine

[unclescott58]

Just finished it. Entex's 1/5 scale Mazda rotary engine from the early 70's. This was one of those kits that came out about two years after I built my first Renwal Visible V-8 in 1971. This kit always intrigued me. I have a friend who built one back in the day. But, it didn't interest me enough to really go for one until recently. And after building it, I got to say I'm a little disappointed. 

Shorty after getting my kit a month or two ago, I called my friend who built one in the mid-70's, to see what he remembered of the kit. The first thing that came to his mind, was that he couldn't get the electrical parts of the kit to work. And this lead him to be disappointed with the kit. Well, guess what the main problem I ran across on this kit? Getting the electrical parts to work! Some of the problems may have come with age. It was a new old stock 47 year old kit. But somehow I don't really think that was the issue. It's more a series of bad design. The switch for turning it on. The gear reduction setup for lowering the electric motors speed. The way the wires connected together. Even the battery box, that seemed too small and too tight for the AA batteries. Too many little things, that sabotaged the whole. I assembled and wired things to the best of my ability. Nothing works. It's just going to have to be a static model. 

Interesting both my friend who built the Entex kit as a teen, and I, both successfully built Renwal Visible V-8s as very young teens. We both got our Visible V-8s to work. With the starter turning the flywheel, and spark plugs firing in their correct order. Why at the age of 16 or 17 in his case, and now 62 in mine, neither of us could get our Entex Wankel Rotary Engine kits to work? Maybe it's not us? 

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by unclescott58

[Flynlo]

Thanks for posting this! I was always interested in this kit but never to the point of procuring one. Now I don't need to.?

[DonW]

On 4/27/2020 at 1:52 AM, unclescott58 said:

Just finished it. Entex' 1/5 scale Mazda rotary engine from the early 70's. This was one of those kits that came out about two years after I built my first Renwal Visible V-8 in 1971. This kit always intrigued me. I have a friend who built one back in the day. But, it didn't interest me enough to really go for one until recently. And after building it, I got to say I'm a little disappointed. 

Shorty after getting my kit a month or two ago, I called my friend who built one in the mid-70's, to see what he remembered of the kit. The first thing that came to his mind, was that he couldn't get the electrical parts of the kit to work. And this lead him to be disappointed with the kit. Well, guess what the main problem I ran across on this kit? Getting the electrical parts to work! Some of the problems may have come with age. It was a new old stock 47 year old kit. But somehow I don't really think that was the issue. It's more a series of bad design. The switch for turning it on. The gear reduction setup for lowering the electric motors speed. The way the wires connected together. Even the battery box, that seemed too small and too tight for the AA batteries. Too many little things, that sabotaged the whole. I assembled and wired things to the best of my ability. Nothing works. It's just going to have to be a static model. 

Interesting both my friend who built the Entex kit as a teen, and I, both successfully built Renwal Visible V-8s as very young teens. We both got our Visible V-8s to work. With the starter turning the flywheel, and spark plugs firing in their correct order. Why at the age of 16 or 17 in his case, and now 62 in mine, neither of us could get our Entex Wankel Rotary Engine kits to work? Maybe it's not us? 

What an interesting subject, even though it sadly can't be made to run. At least there's no danger of wearing out those notorious rotor tip seals.

May I respectfully suggest you correct the typo in the Subject heading?

Cheers,

-Don.

Edited April 28, 2020 by DonW

[unclescott58]

7 hours ago, DonW said:

What an interesting subject, even tough it sadly can't be made to run. At least there's no danger of wearing out those notorious rotor tip seals.

May I respectfully suggest you correct the typo in the Subject heading?

Cheers,

=Don.

I think it's too late to correct the Subject heading. Plus, autocorrect automatically changes it to that spelling if you don't watch it. 

[DonW]

1 hour ago, unclescott58 said:

I think it's too late to correct the Subject heading. Plus, autocorrect automatically changes it to that spelling if you don't watch it. 

Spellcheck is such a joy sometimes!I just noticed a typo in my own comment, above! 'tough' instead of 'though'! 

Cheers,

-Don.

[unclescott58]

12 hours ago, DonW said:

Spellcheck is such a joy sometimes!I just noticed a typo in my own comment, above! 'tough' instead of 'though'! 

Cheers,

-Don.

Guess what? I was able to change it after all. Now it says the correct Wankel, instead of Wankle. 

[peteski]

20 hours ago, unclescott58 said:

Guess what? I was able to change it after all. Now it says the correct Wankel, instead of Wankle. 

You know, it  would have been funny if it auto-corrected to "Wanker".   Out British friends woudl have a good laugh.

[unclescott58]

7 hours ago, peteski said:

You know, it  would have been funny if it auto-corrected to "Wanker".   Out British friends woudl have a good laugh.

I know some friends here in the mid-western parts of the U.S. who would find that funny. Including me. 

[peteski]

By the same token, remember "Fanny Farmer" candies and chocolates?  Brits visiting U.S. found that name even funnier.  But you are right, I have heard "wanker" being used in U.S. too.

[Richard Bartrop]

I remember that kit, and never being able to get it to work.  All the individual components would test fine, but when it was all buttoned up, nothing.

[unclescott58]

10 hours ago, Richard Bartrop said:

I remember that kit, and never being able to get it to work.  All the individual components would test fine, but when it was all buttoned up, nothing.

Exactly.