It is a beautifully made kit. It is unusual in the sense that it is all metal, pretty large and hefty.
BHPian Jeroen recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Those of you who have followed my posts over the years will know I like modelbuilding. In particular, building various engines. This thread is about my latest build. I am warning you, many of my threads are pretty nerdy and the model ones in particular. This one is likely to outdo all of them put together, in terms of Nerdiness. Lots and lots and lots of details, some might say nauseating level of detail, but that is what we nerds like!
Over the years, I have built various plastic kits, notably Betty the formidable V8, A VW Beetle engine, a Volvo F17 truck engine and a Mighty Wright Cyclone Radial aircraft engine.
I have also built several working engines from scratch using my lathe, mini mill and various other tools. Such as the little steam engine, wobbler, Debbie, a two-stroke engine and currently in the final stages of tuning, a Scuderi 4-stroke engine. You can find separate threads on all of these.
About a year ago, I bought a somewhat different model: A knodding donkey or pump jack. See https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift…-pumpjack.html
These knodding donkeys, as we call them, had a bit of a special meaning to me, as you can read in the above thread.
I am not sure what brought it on, but about two months ago, I thought, let me send the link to the Knodding donkey tread to the manufacturer of the kit. It’s a Chinese company that manufactures a whole range of very interesting models. https://www.techingedu.com
I gave them some background on my model-building. They replied immediately and enjoyed the thread and the little video I made of their pump jack. They offered to help me out with a special deal on my next project. I had hinted I was very interested in what is probably their most elaborate model, the Turbofan engine. They made me an offer, and the rest is history, as they say.
A few weeks later, a massive box, weighing almost 9 kilograms, arrived at my doorstep!
According to the box:
- More than a 1000 parts
- Several days of assembly time
- Degree of difficulty 5 stars
- Applicable age 16+
It wasn’t clear whether that 16+ age was physical or mental, but I decided to press ahead anyway.
When you start with a big, complicated model like this, I always find it makes sense to simply sit down for a few hours and slowly unpack everything, go through the manual, basically familiarise yourself with the kit.
Every aspect of this kit is of very high quality. The way it is packed and organised, the quality of the parts, the fit of the parts and then there is the manual, which is also excellent.
Inside this massive box are a number of foam trays holding all the various parts
All parts are made of aluminium alloy, zinc alloy and or stainless steel alloy. All bolts and nuts are metal. There are no plastic parts in sight at all!
I am attaching separate images of each tray. It will give you a good impression of how many different parts comprise this kit, how well they are made and so on. So here goes
The kit comes with two boxes full of smaller parts, various nuts, bolts and so on. Everything is labelled by part number and by size, and or name. Which can be referenced in the manual.
Here is a golden tip for when you are building a kit like this. Only take out the exact number of parts, bolts and nuts you need, as per each step as described in the manual. Close the little boxes that hold all the little parts and move them out of reach.
If you ever accidentally knock this little box with so many different parts of the table, it will take days to not only find each part, but you also need to sort them. It is a hell of a job. Ask me how I know!
Leaving too many bolts, nuts, and washers lying around isn’t very clever either. You might knock them off your workbench, or you might sneeze and blow them all away. Again, ask me how I know!!
The kit comes with a small set of tools. A screwdriver and three different sizes of Allen keys. There are also two small wrenches to hold the nuts.
I found I only needed a few other tools. One of the most useful ones are tweezers. To pick up the little bolts and nuts from the boxes, hold them in place when mounting.
I also had to use my callipers several times, just to double-check the sizes of some of these tiny bolts.
I also used a small set of pliers to help me hold and install some of the tiny bolts. The fit of all these parts is excellent. I only had to file the tiniest amount of a part twice.
As Ikea opened up shop in India some years ago, some of you will be familiar with the Ikea DIY furniture. They produce flat-packed furniture that comes with very good assembly instructions. We always call Ikea instructions foolproof. You should not think when you assemble an Ikea piece of furniture. You don’t deviate from the exact sequence Ikea tells you. Just shut down the intellectual part of your brain and follow the instructions to the letter.
Let me tell you, the guys of Teching could be teaching the Ikea folks back in Stockholm a thing or two on how to produce an assembly manual!!
The manual is not just about assembly, it also describes a lot about this Turbo fan engine and it provides all the correct technical terms for the various parts.
All text is provided in Chinese (I assume it is Chinese) and English. One thing I noticed is that the Chinese text is shorter/more compact than the English. Who would have thought or known that?
The manual is 128 pages, of which about a hundred are about the step-by-step assembly.
At the back of the manual is a complete list with photographs of each individual part, including the bolts and nuts. It lists the part number, name, size, and quantity. I found it very useful to refer to. With this many parts, some of which appear identical but could be different, you need something like this to ensure you pick the correct part. Testimony to this manual, I only made one mistake during assembly! More about that mistake later.
Look at all these different assembly steps to produce the various (sub) parts and assemblies that ultimately will be put together to become the full Turbofan engine.
Ok, so have an idea of all the parts, the manual, how the instructions work, we have the tools ready, so let’s start assembling this big boy!
Counting out and picking the first few bolts and nuts
Here we go, starting with the assembly of the front section of the central shaft and fan drum
Continue reading BHPian Jeroen’s thread for more insights and information.
