Video: Miniature Flathead V8 Rumbles Like the Real Thing

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Readers at Mac’s Motor City Garage are absolutely crazy about operating scale model engines, and who are we to deny you? So here’s another really cool miniature , a quarter-scale flathead V8 created by master builder Ron Colonna. 

 

 

According to Colonna, this engine was built early in his scale building career, using a set of Challenger plans and castings his wife gave him for Christmas. A  liberal 1:4 scale flathead V8, the Challenger resembles a Ford but routes both its intake and exhaust ports out the top like a vintage Cord or Cadillac L-head V8. As with all Colonna’s engines, the craftsmanship is stellar.

Colonna has also built scale Gnome and Bentley rotary radial engines, a Harley Panhead, and a a 270 Offy that MCG has previously featured here. Colonna is generous about sharing his expertise via his website, ronsmodelengines.com, and a YouTube channel featuring his creations in action. Colonna also offers a book, Building The 1/4 Scale 270 Offy: A Workshop Manual, which is available here for USD $40.95.

Of all his engines, audiences enjoy this one the most, Colonna says. We’re sure that’s due in part to its great sound. In response to all the requests he receives to hear it run, he’s demonstrates the engine so much that he’s already had to rebuild it twice. Here’s our chance to hear it roar.

 

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5 thoughts on “Video: Miniature Flathead V8 Rumbles Like the Real Thing”

  2. A radial rotary engine? The two types may share a similar appearance, but the distinctly difference operation of each determines their classification. Assuming the vehicle is an aircraft:

    The cylinders of a radial engine are rigidly mounted and turn a crankshaft which spins a propeller. The engine itself does not move.

    The crankshaft of a rotary engine is rigidly mountede and does not turn at all. The propeller is attached to the engine and the entire assembly rotates about the stationary crankshaft.

    One or the other, but not both definitions for an engine.

    • Radial rotary is a traditional, accepted term for a radial engine in which the crank is stationary and the cylinders rotate. The term also serves to differentiate from more recent rotary engine types such as the Wankel.

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