Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Modela #3700/Russian DP-30 CO2 motors...


Picked these up at the R/C swap meet. One is a Czech made Modela model 3700, one is a Russian DP-30---as soon as I find a translator---and the third is an unknown maker. I had never heard of CO2 powered engines until Saturday and the price was way too good to pass up for an old tinkerer like me...

Photobucket

Photobucket
This is the Czech Modela #3700, new in box and complete with motor rebuild kit and CO2 charger. Both engines came with chargers that use 8 gram, rather than the more common BB gun type 12 gram, cylinders, found in most liquor stores to power drink chargers.

Photobucket

Photobucket
This is the Russian. I'm wondering from the way the manual is written if it isn't perhaps Soviet era. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

UPDATE: It's been pointed out that the copyright "CCCP" supports the pre-Federation Russia, making it a Soviet era item and all the more fascinating. Even the Styrofoam container is a high quality product normally reserved for only the best merchandise.

Photobucket

This is the unidentified model. Though it is brass sleeved, from the plastic cylinder head, I figure this one is probably a lower end model. It was a freebie (always a nice price, no matter the quality) and came with a broken expansion tube that was easily repaired by drilling out the head and re-soldering in a fresh, clean end. Because it's expansion tube is rather rumpled from use, it won't be used to power a model. I'll simply build a stand for it and use it as an operating desk piece.

UPDATE: Thanks to some help over at R/C Groups, this one has been identified as a Humbrol "Shark", from a line of Telco knockoffs from the mid 1970s.

CO2 engines are expansion engines that require a kick start in the right direction, much like most Mamod steam models. They apparently were popular free flight motors in the late '80s and early '90s until the arrival of much easier to control micro electric motors. They are still popular with purists who prefer the more realistic putter to the whine of electric motors...




Here is one in powered R/C flight...

2 comments:

Cristake1974 said...

On the box-set of the Russian engine (двигатель = engine) is written "Sdelano v SSSR" which means "Made in USSR". I wonder why it's not "Made in Russian Federation" or something like this, as USSR has ceased to exist about two decades ago. Could it be an old product from that era preserved somewhere and bought by you now? I think so, as long as there's not multilanguage user instructions.
Under that line is written "Rukovodstvo po expluatatzii" which means - i think- "Guide of user". This is all I can help so far, as my Russian language consists in no more than 100 words - I can read all, but I don't understand all. Perhaps an international forum on internet (with aero-modelists) would be a better solution.

Br'er Shaygetz said...

It's all in Russian so I would have to agree that it's pre-Federation, making it all the more special to me. Thank you for what translating you could do for me. The small price being asked was simply too good to pass up and they just grow all the more fascinating as I learn more about them.

I definitely side with the oldtimers---the putter they make is so much better sounding than micro electrics and well worth the limitations.