Hasegawa 1/8 Le Rhône 110HP
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
One of the most popular engines of the First World War was the Le Rhône 9J, a 110-horsepower rotary engine. With regular production in France, license production in Great Britain, and copied examples produced in Germany, the 9J was a very common sight on all fronts. Some of the more notable aircraft that used the engine include the French Nieuport 17, the British Sopwith Camel, and the German Fokker Dr.I.
The Kit
This kit, marketed as a stand-alone model, was once part of the very impressive Museum Series model of the Fokker Dr.I that Hasegawa put out a while back. While those models were absolutely amazing in the amount of detail presented, they were also very complicated, challenging to assemble, and understandably expensive. For those who just wanted a taste of that detail, Hasegawa has released just the engine, and included a nice display stand and plaque. Molded in gray and black plastic, this kit also includes some metal rods to use as the pushrods. Given that this is 1/8 scale, there is quite a bit of detail provided, and much of it needs to be built up. Each cylinder is split into halves, with a separate cap. Onto each completed cylinder assembly there are three more small parts to add. Multiply that by the nine cylinders and already you've got a bit of an assembly line going. The cylinders are likely the most challenging assembly, as they are split in halves. This means that you will have a seam running through the cooling fins on each side. There are several ways one could work this area, with the most common using a piece of sandpaper folded in half. An alternative, though, is to get some abrasive cord, which can be found in small diameters. That would have the added benefit of being able to follow the curve of the cylinder, maintaining the round shape easily.Moving onto the crankcase, this has two main pieces, front and rear, on which the completed cylinders will sit. A separate rear flange assembly comes with separate mounts for the pushrods and pipes, with an extra piece providing the attachments for the ignition cords. The latter are to be made from silk thread, which is not included in the kit. Monofilament could also work here, and an examination of reference photos of museum examples will help in finding something appropriate.
The crankshaft assembly is designed to allow the engine to rotate. This also has quite a few other details added to it. I'm sure by now you've noticed that I refer to quite a bit of 'other details'. As I am no expert in WWI engine assembly, I am not sure what many of these boxes and shapes are. The instruction sheet doesn't provide any additional information, either. However, in a very impressive display, the boxtop itself provides a detailed three view arrangement that is thoroughly labeled. This is very nice, and with some creative scratch work, one could create miniature signs to hang from these pieces, identifying them on the finished model. Speaking of the finished model, the display stand is quite nice, and replicates an actual engine stand, complete with caster wheels. This could be painted up in any color, although I would suggest a simple gloss black so as to not distract from the engine itself. Also provided is a display panel that comes with an adhesive gold label that provides basic information about the engine. For painting instructions, there are three photos of the engine, with detailed callouts in Gunze paint numbers. Some of these are mixes, so break out your Gunze cross references to see what colors you'll need.Finally, a note on the actual painting and finishing. Since this is in a very large scale, it will require a bit of a different handling in terms of weathering and such. The detail is already fairly pronounced, so I would recommend a lighter touch with washes and drybrushing, and since it is also a display model, I would minimize the amount of wear. That said, the copper manifold pipes could probably benefit from some extra shading and color effects. This is definitely a subject that is worth practicing a few different methods on, before committing to a final approach.
Conclusion
The basic modeling skills required for this kit are not much, as overall it is rather simple. However, due to the large scale and detail of the parts, the finishing will be more of a challenge than other more traditional kits. Because of that, I think this model will be quite a bit of fun, as the modeler will get to try something completely different. Once finished, it would make for an interesting centerpiece surrounded by a handful of the aircraft that used the engine. My thanks to Hasegawa USA for the review sample.