Motor Boys
Model Engine Plan Book

Last Update: September, 2012



Background

In 1997, word of the plans developed by the Motor Boys became general knowledge through articles in the Engine Collectors' Journal and the now defunct Model Engine World. This quickly led to contacts from people wanting to "distribute" our plans. After serious discussion, we decided that what we were doing would cease to be fun if we opened it to commercial distribution. But as we did not want to prevent people from gaining access to the plans, we hit on the idea of having them published by the AMA. All proceeds would go to a worthy cause: the various Juniors encouragement programs run by the AMA. This removed us from the loop while providing everyone access to the plans at a reasonable price.

But all good things must come to an end, and in 2008, the AMA decided against ordering yet another print run. But prospective builders still wanted the book and in desperation, contacted us with pleas for help in assisting them find a copy for sale. Luckily for us, like time, technology marches on too, so it was decided to prepare a second edition of the Plan Book that could be distributed as Portable Data Format (PDF) on optical compact disc (CD). The new edition would allow us to correct all the drawing errors that had come to light over the years, and add two new plan sets for engines that had proven popular on this web site.

The pdf format can be viewed on your computer screen, or you can print as much or as little of it as you need to A4 or US Letter size paper to be taken down to the workshop. I should point out that viewing and printing requires a pdf reader such as Adobe Acrobat®Reader®, but to-day, virtually everyone knows this and has a copy. In the unlikely event that you don't, use the link below to download a free copy.

We still don't want to be in the selling business, so the plans are licensed under a Creative Commons, "Some Rights Reserved", Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. For more information, refer to:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
The cost is purely to cover media, post, and packaging. If it all becomes too much, we'll simply pull the plug let it die with dignity.

Contents

The plans included in the second edition of the book are:
 

Dyno side port diesel
Fig Tree Pocket Twin diesel
Gotham Hobby Deezil 2cc diesel
1939 M&M .29 (Ignition)
Mancini 3.64cc side port diesel
Mite 09 diesel
Nova 1 4.5cc side port diesel
Owen "Mate" 2cc FRV diesel
Scrapper .29 ignition
Trojan Jr ignition
Vivell 09 diesel
Weaver/Ransom 1cc diesel
ED 0.46cc Baby diesel

Each entry in the book comprises an introduction page with a photo, followed by between three and fourteen CAD drawing pages in either full, or twice full size. You won't see a better deal! Castings for many of the engines in the book are available from Roger Schroeder's Classic Model Airplane Construction Kits.

Ordering

Sorry, the MEN CD is no longer available.

First Edition Update Downloads

*Groan* We checked those drawings six ways to Sunday before committing to the printers, but still found errors as soon as copies hit the streets. Fortunately, the Internet provides a great way to distribute updates. Click the link(s) below to download replacement plan sheets in pdf format. You can print these and paste them into your book. And before anyone gets too excited, no complete plan set will ever be made available this way, so you'll still need the book . But don't let that stop you taking the download. Consider it as a "sampler" for what you will get when you order the real thing!

Download #1 (2006-03):      [Click Here to Download]

Download #2 (2006-10):      [Click Here to Download]

Download #3 (2007-08):      [Click Here to Download]

Download #4 (2012-10):      [Click Here to Download]

Second Edition Update Downloads

In the unlikely event that errors are found in the second edition, details will be posted here. How's that for famous last words!?

 

 

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