How to wire up a convincing radial engine (Updated 2017).
Hello all. I have been getting alot of requests to update this since Photobucket shafted all of us. I figured I'd wait until I did another radial then take step-by-step pictures. I finally got around to it. Here it is.
To me, a radial engine without its wiring harness is like a Kentucky Colonel without a white suit (KFC analogy...one does enjoy the orignal recipe). I never understood why manufacturers have neglected this area which is so visible, especially in the larger scales. I suppose its hard to reproduce convincingly in styrene without appearing over scale (Accurate Miniature Dauntless comes to mind). It has been addressed by the Photoetch people, but these tend to look one dimensional to my eye. In each post, someone comments about the engine, which tells me there is some interest in my method in recreating the harness. I thought I would take the time and share how I do it. Get a sandwich and soda because here it goes....
You will need: Fuse wire or solder, tweezers, superglue, .010, .025 or similar styrene rod, and an Exacto knife thusly...
1. Assemble the engine per the instructions. Here I have Tamiya's Corsair R-2800 in 1/48 scale. It's fairly nicely detailed and has the ring in place around the gearbox. This is a nice bonus on this kit and you'll see why soon. Here I have it test fitted (no glue yet) before I paint it.
We need ignition leads now. Most pictures of radials show these nubs coming off the ring, here's a good picture of them:
I found a way to simulate these:
1. Take some small .010 styrene rod and glue two long pieces together side by side, like the appearance of a double barrel shotgun (lack of better description?). Let this dry for a bit. Some engines only require one so adapt accordingly.
2. Slice the rod "salami or bread style" (again...lack of better description?) into small appropriate sized "squares" (tiny). Take your tweezers and add these to the ignition ring to simulate wire attachment points. This does take some dexterity (remember the "Operation" game?) and patience. To make this easy, use the aforementioned Tenax or similar type weld cement and glue these to the ring. Since we left this area unpainted, the styrene should fuse right to the bare plastic with little fuss. This is easier than it sounds. Use reference photos of the engine your building to get an idea where these should go. Let this dry for a bit too.
Once done with this, I usually paint it at this stage (separately). This involves shades of Alclad on the cylinders and case, light grey on the front gearbox housing, and black push rods. Then I glue the assembly together.
Strip an old stereo wire cord of its sheathing and expose the copper inner wires. This is what I use, but any fine wire or solder will do. This will similate your ignition wires. Since they are already copper colored, theres no need to paint them, but the colors may vary and may need paint (most I've seen are copper colored). I've seem black too, like this:
Chop the wire with an Exacto to the appropriate size and bend it, Keep chopping it down until it fits from the Ignition ring point to the cylinder head. You may need to experiment here and test fit until you get the look your going for.
Put a dab of super glue on an old pickle jar lid or similar surface. I find that the metal inner lid surface keeps the glue wet longer. Go with thin glue because you want it to set quickly. I use Lock-tite (Pictured above). With tweezers, Dip the ends of the cut wire into the glue then attach them accordingly. With the two fused styrene squares in place (spaced around the ring), I usually attach a smaller wire to the visible front, then run a longer one over the top out of view in front of that particular cylinder. The longer one can be glued to the top since it won't be seen anyways. Just work your way around. Again, this depends on the mill your doing and you may only need a single styrene square, making the fusing step unecessary, like a single row radial engine. Seek reference pictures. Here you can see that I'm working my way around.
Once done, hand paint the ring and styrene contact points. I usually paint this with Model Master Chrome Silver, but some are grey. Here we are all rigged up.
Now we have to make it look used. I start with a shot of Testors Gloss thinned with Lacquer Thinner to serve as a wash barrier.
Next I mix brown and black Detailer wash and give it a generous coat, letting it fill all the nooks and crannies. Use whatever wash you prefer, I like The Detailer.
After the wash has dried and the excess removed, I blasted it with a coat of Testors Dull. As an extra measure, I hit it with a shot of X-19 Smoke to give it that smokey used look.
That's about it. This process requires patience and can be tedious (especially if one were to do a 4 engine bomber...ouch).....but it is not difficult by any means. Once you get the approximate sizes on the length of the wire down, it starts to go quickly. I can get a harness added in about an hour now. I think it looks better than PE not to mention much cheaper. I personally will never go back to PE ignition wires.
Here's a few other examples done with the same technique(s)...
Pratt & Whitney R-2800 (1/32 Tamiya Corsair)
Pratt & Whitney R-2800 (1/48 Hasegawa P-47)
Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Wasp (1/48 Dauntless-single lead wire)
Inside the cowl it makes a world of difference...
BMW 801 (Fw 190 A)
