Save the Mustangs?

Jay Honeck wrote:

I wonder if they're going to manufacture new Merlin engines, too?

The web page says no; they intend to use original engines and other systems.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

I wonder if they're going to manufacture new Merlin engines, too?

The web page says no; they intend to use original engines and other
systems.

Well, they're either not planning on selling too many, or there are a whole
BUNCH of Merlin engines out there that I haven't heard about.

I thought they were in short supply?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

Well, they're either not planning on selling too many, or there are a whole
BUNCH of Merlin engines out there that I haven't heard about.

Perhaps you should actually *read* that page? They say they intend to make 10
planes.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

Read a great article on turbine powered mustang last week, forgot the
name of the mag, while waiting for daughters at Borders. Not quite
original, 13" longer nose, but not noticable. Two exhaust outlets
instead of twelve, but looked really good.

Love them Mustangs...

Bryan "The Monk" Chaisone

They tried to sell this as a CAS bird in VN as I recall.

Big John
`````````````````````````````````````````````````` `````

On 26 Aug 2005 08:34:48 -0700, "Flyingmonk" wrote:

Read a great article on turbine powered mustang last week, forgot the
name of the mag, while waiting for daughters at Borders. Not quite
original, 13" longer nose, but not noticable. Two exhaust outlets
instead of twelve, but looked really good.

Love them Mustangs...

Bryan "The Monk" Chaisone

"George Patterson" wrote

The web page says no; they intend to use original engines and other
systems.

I had read that there are no machines left that are capable of machining new
crankshafts. True?
--
Jim in NC

On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 00:28:54 -0400, "Morgans"
wrote:


"George Patterson" wrote

The web page says no; they intend to use original engines and other
systems.

I had read that there are no machines left that are capable of machining new
crankshafts. True?
--
Jim in NC

While I'm not a machinist, I don't think this is accurate. There are
not a small number of V12 engines still being manufactured today. Ever
heard of Ferrari? There is, or was, also a V12 being used in
Scandinavia for a fishing boat engine. And then there's the "Thunder
Mustang" http://www.thundermustang.com/ which uses a Falconer V12
and is still being manufactured.

I think that any lathe designed to turn out crankshafts could probably
mill something with 12 throws as well as 8. It should be just a
matter of telling it to make four more. But I could be mistaken, the
length of the crankshaft might make it impossible for it to fit in the
most common machines. On the other hand, there are the large
locomotive diesels still being manufactured so someone can still do
big crankshafts.

6 years ago our library installed an emergency diesel generator in our
new addition. It was about 350 cubic inches in displacement, and was
a V12...

Back when V12's were common in the automotive world, in the 20's and
30's, the auto manufacturers didn't seem to have a problem milling
them out with the equipment available then. Ever see a straight
eight? It's a looonnnngggg engine.

Corky Scott

Morgans wrote:

I had read that there are no machines left that are capable of machining new
crankshafts. True?

I doubt that. I would think the stumbling block is the castings. Even there, one
could probably make new ones at a price of several million dollars.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

Morgans wrote:

"George Patterson" wrote


The web page says no; they intend to use original engines and other

systems.

I had read that there are no machines left that are capable of machining new
crankshafts. True?

That seems pretty hard to believe. I wouldn't be surprised that the
machines used for this originally aren't available, but I can't believe
that there aren't lathes available today that could do this with proper
setup and programming. Lots of large cranks are still made for
locomotive and other engines much bigger than the Merlins and others of
that era.


Matt

On Thu, 25 Aug 2005 22:58:12 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

So, after our long, drawn out thread (last month) about whether P-51
Mustangs should be flown, only kept on static display, and/or are worth
saving for future generations, it turns out to all be a moot point -- these
guys are gonna build new ones!

http://www.fighterfactory.com/

I wonder if they're going to manufacture new Merlin engines, too?

Anybody know for sure if the Piper "Enforcer" (I think) down at WPAFM
was a re-worked existing P-51 or a Piper-built P-51?

TC