Model twin-cylinder engine: made using aluminium products

Machining expert

Congratulations to Andrew Carstens, the winner of Edcon Steel’s inaugural projects competition for his twin-cylinder model engine project using aluminium products.

The New South Wales south coast resident has a background in mechanical engineering as a qualified fitter, machinist and motor mechanic.

He spent decades perfecting his machining craft, and despite retiring more than 20 years ago, Andrew still loves to ‘tinker’ with engines and motors – he even builds them himself!

The project

Andrew has always been interested in engines and motors. A regular visitor of online model engine forums, he is often found building quirky machines or admiring the work of others, like scale Merlin engines, 28-cylinder radial motors and even single-cylinder steam engines.

While he built his first single cylinder engine back in the 1980s, Andrew thought he would try his hand at it once again. But this time he would try a twin-cylinder engine and show his work on the forums.

With no plans or models to work from, Andrew set to work to create his own model created completely from memory. “With such a long background in engineering it’s relatively easy for me to put it all together in my head when I sit down and think about it,” Andrew says.

The final product

Deciding what products to use for each component was a fairly simple part of the process.

Aluminium was the natural choice for some of the key components because it is so easy to work with.

“While the cylinders are cast iron with brass cooling fins, I used aluminium for the cylinder heads because there is a lot of machining involved in making the heads,” Andrew explains.

“Aluminium is just the easiest to machine.”

He used both aluminium flat bar and aluminium round bar for the engine base and cylinder base.

The result is a beautiful, intricate and well-crafted two-cylinder model engine.