The Smithsonian deserves enormous credit for making this bird available, we definitely got the better of the deal when we swapped it for the Hurricane. RAF Hendon has it, entry to the museum is free, but the car parking charges are a bit on the high side. It does look the part though.

Looking forward to seeing it running as it's my favorite engine. Wishing I could make make a half the cylinders version with variable compression 😊

Its people like this who keep the dream of one day in the future, hearing one of these engines running again. It will be done and the saving of the parts and to a lesser extent, the research will all pay off. The question appears to be time and money now, but it will happen I'm sure.

An animated instruction is hundred times better than a printed one so the single steps are self-explanatory as you watch the video. Like someone else here mentioned earlier - you can always rewind and watch again. :) What I find confusing, though, is the labeling "level 2" or "level 3". Are they intended to indicate a sub-step within a step of the build? I haven' t ever seen such nomenclature in a manual of a scale model and I don't think it's helpful here. I'd find it less confusing if the "step" were named "stage" and the level were a step. Anyway, due to the nature of a video the order of the build is very well explained and I think it would be sufficient to show the part number only within the given step. General question, as I can't find any info on your blog or website: Are you planning to release a 1:8 scale model of the entire engine? That would be brilliant. There are't enough quality models of aircraft engines. Oh, how lovely would it be to have a model Merlin or jumo 213 ... or a Sabre :)

Brilliant thanks Ian

Beautiful

The Typhoon was not an easy thing to deal with even when there were squadrons of them. I'm both excited and terrified in equal amounts about all the work being done and just hope you can make this wild monster reliable and safe.🤞🤞

Internals are not replicated, only exterior of components is depicted. Thus the model is useless as educative. You can only feel proud about your painting skills. Connection ends might be too short. So you have to CA glue pipes to hold. Instead of press fit which can be disassembled at wish. For education and/or playing with dioramas. Functionality is totally missing. You can't move and rotate components to see what's happening. Installing on base plate is okay. How about installing on engine and into fighter itself when someone bothers to release 1/8 scale kit? Bolt heads etc alike. In 1/12 bike kits world, bolt heads usually are cut off and replaced for PE for more natural look. If you could do steel bolts in 1/8 (not threaded ok) and provide holes in parts to connect, it would be great. Scale 1/8 looks unusual. No idea how to accompany this kit on shelf. There are some 1/9 bike kits though. As for video instructions, I would refer to it only when I can't guess where the part goes. Printed static is totally sufficient. Parts moving linear in unnatural directions just to fit destination coordinates looks bad. Much better to watch real modeller hands assembling the kit, filmed from above. 3D rendered parts also doesn't look real. And the colors might be default not real. Good luck in further development!

It looks pretty straight forward. I think the test comes when you attempt to follow the instructions on the real thing but with a video you can always pause and rewind to make sure you get it right.

The Coffman was a few steps beyond that (in)famous Australian starting fluid. Can you still get the cartridges for the full size ones?

Can't say for certain until this is in your hands and actually building it. But the instructions appear to be quite clear. And I like the breakdown of parts. This will be a model to pre paint the parts as much as possible, then assemble to reduce masking. And it looks like that should be an easier task for the modeler based on what I see here. Good luck! I hope this sells out!

👍

Nice work, my father would often talk about the start ups on the Typhoon and how noisy it was!

I would be a bit hesitant to permanently attach the lines to the starter that don't get attached to something else. I have had it happen where the instructions said to glue a line on something and when the sub assembly is later installed the line did not fit properly.

This is very cool

A lot of reverse engineering CAD work went into this. Well done.

Maybe the 'firing' part of the Coffman could be retained, but triggering a pneumatic valve instead of the engine.

Ian, I am glad to see another video on the Sabre and the unsurprising plans for the future. These were discussed in the comments of an earlier video and now, just as then, there was really only one course of action that could be followed. I know money is an issue (it always is) and I don't know what parts you are considering for healing and which parts need to be heeled, but I suspect that you may have to recast most of the sectioned parts for a MkVII. I would think, crankcases, blocks, junk heads, supercharger casings and the front prop gear reduction casing - at least. The elephant in the room (ready to stomp on you) is a complete, in perfect order, set of sleeves. I assume that Napier were making their own for the later part of the war as they had acquired the centreless grinders, but I wonder whether they were casting their own or still getting raw castings from Bristol. Do you have documentation on the complete end-to-end process for creating the sleeves? There were a few unconventional steps in the process. Everything else in the engine is easily remade using modern equipment to tolerances Napier could only dream of, as long as the metallurgy is known. But the sleeves... And yes, you are going to have to test that engine A LOT (as many quality videos of the running engine with good quality sound as possible - sell them off to crazy engine guys like me), considering its fuel consumption is quoted as 230grams/hp/hr the fuel bill alone will be a shocker. Then there is the issue of engine oil, the sleeve valve engines used an oil specifically designed for purpose and not used by any other engine. AFAIK none exists, is there a solution? I have never been able to find an official service rating for power higher than 3055hp for the engine and that rating was specified as low altitude military power at 700m. I had a discussion with Bill in the comments of the Old machine Press article on the Sabre about output power and he provided a detailed listing of quoted power levels. Ian, if it is not a Canadian State Secret, what documentation do you have for the various Sabre marks, I mean service manuals, mod listings, specifications, drawings, that sort of thing?

Changing the engine to one with a different propeller rotation direction generally causes issues with take-off and landing. A good example of this happening was when the Rolls Royce Griffin first appeared in the Spitfire. Has this been considered with PR533?

A very interesting and well produced video. If like to ask if you anticipate any issues with operating an early modded Sabre? Or will you be exploiting the benefits of modifications made in the later series of engines? Thank you.

I am a 78 yo Dutch male and have a book LJK Setright , "The Power To Fly" , George Allen & Unwin Ltd. 1971. He was a big Fan of the Sabre. He mentioned even a Bench Test of 5500 hp. The sleeves had the same dimensions as the Bristol Hercules' sleeves. He infected me with the Sabre bacteria. Still suffering. Somebody familiar with the book? I would offer the book to Ian free.

I seem to remember reading that Curtis had retractable tail wheels on the hawk series from 1935 onwards . I also seem to remember in a documentary sometime back that the carbon monoxide problem came from within the cowling from the Napier sabres H 24 cylinder engine!

At risk of stating the obvious, running with the choke out must have seriously shortened running time and surely caused bore washing problems..thats not even mentioning spark plugs

We need to try and get the story out there re those lost engines

Could do extensive taxi tests then on maiden flight only fly with thought to engine out emergency landing. Then after proper break in and proving it will receive flight ready status. The sound and experience of it will be amazing.

Nicely fielded on the everything was wonderful romanticised Spitfire notion and the but there were so many issues with the Typhoon notion 👍

Absolutely brilliant stuff you are doing and an excellent and informative interview. Many thanks 👍

Napier finally made progress with the Sabre V & VIII.

Tonnes of Cleco fasteners at the beginning!

The intricacies of the engineering on these engines is amazing . A great and difficult undertaking is being manifested . Thankyou . 😊

The engine will be the deal breaker in this .

Thanks!

Ian is a savant of engineering knowledge.

Great interview. The Sabre is my absolute favorite power plant. I knew the Merlin had dev problems, but I thought not so with the Griffon, which had the benefit of all that was learned with the Merlin. The Sabre looks huge, but it's about the same swept volume as the Griffon. If I understand correctly, the main problem with the Vulture was the decision to use master and link rods, whose caps suffered from fretting. The arrangement does not require staggering bore centers which slightly shortens the engine. Developers said that pairs of blade and fork might have worked better. But that, ideally, requires staggered bores. I get most of this from Graham White's "Allied Aircraft Piston Engines of WW2."

Wartime Sabre engine recording for those interested..... kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2iYhKuDoddrnbs

Excellent.

Regarding Centaurus, RAF were forced to revisit their developed prejudices against high power radial engines in fighter airctaft after the FW190 came into service and a fairly early example accidently landed in the UK.

Having visited the shop I can say that Ian is doing an amazing job and yes the engine is really big

Thank you gentlemen. An excellent update and historical lesson.

Huge respect to you Ian, following this awesome dream and making it happen, one bolt and rivet at a time. Love your work.

You have to be obsessed to rebuild a old war bird ,but this is on another level ,Ian is the right man for the job ,hope I get to hear it one day

pitty sound is not good

A very erudite and educational video, many thanks, Ian!

Wow Ian really knows his subject, Also i wasn't aware there were any RR Vultures left, you learn something everyday.

It makes so much sense to just build a new engine and test it as discussed here. Most warbird accidents stem from engine failure so building and testing a new build engine its a no brainer in my view.

The Vulture was originally rated at 1,750 hp.

nice work you guys love the podcasts

Wish you luck. Sincerely hope that we will one day see a Typhoon in the air with the Napier Sabre power plant.

Thank you for sharing this with us. Ian is just a wonderful to hear him speak about this wonderful project.

I worked at Bristol Engines as an apprentice. Some of the older guys remember Centaurus engines being built, tested, part stripped, rebuilt and proof tested. They would then be inhibited and packed in crates. They where taken to North Wales and dropped down an old anthrecite mine shaft. Sad.