3-litre Bentley

Mike Sayers’ prize winning model is one of the greats of recent times. It is a working, exact copy of the 1923 Bentley 3-litre engine buit to 1:3 scale. Internal detail is all correct, scaled from measured full-size components. Main and big end bearings have the correct bronze shells and white metal lining.

All the components were machined from solid, with the cylinder block fabricated from 11 pre-machined cast iron sections, silver soldered together, to provide accurate combustion chambers.

No bought-in fasteners were used, all were individually made to correct scale dimensions. The only commercial items were eight Rimfire spark plugs, and two 8 x 22mm ball races used for the cone clutch and the crankshaft. The starter utilises the armature from a radio-controlled model car, and the float chambers were etched by Dianne Carney. All other work was carried out in Mike’s home workshop.

Mike regularly runs the engine at exhibitions, and it works and sounds just like a Bentley.