Mercedes D.III Engine with base and PE set WWI 1/32 Roden 623

Mercedes D.III  Aircraft Engine with base and PE set
1/32 WWI scale plastic model kit
Roden 623

Manufacturer: Roden (Ukraine)
Scale: 1/32
Material: Plastic
Number of parts: 72
Number of Photo-Etched details: 48
Paint: Unpainted, Unassembled, Kit do not contain paints and glue.
Condition: New in Box

The Mercedes D.III, or F1466 as it was known internally, was a six-cylinder, liquid cooled inline aircraft engine built by Daimler and used on a wide variety of German aircraft during World War I.[1] The initial versions were introduced in 1914 at 160 hp, but a series of changes improved this to 170 hp in 1917, and 180 by mid 1918. These later models were used on almost all late-war German fighters, and its only real competition, the BMW III, was available only in very limited numbers. Compared to the Allied engines it faced, the D.III was generally outdated.

The D.III was based on the same pattern as the earlier Mercedes D.II, suitably scaled up for higher power settings. Like most inlines of the era, it used a large aluminum crankcase as the main structural component, with separate cylinders made from steel bolted onto it. The technology for screwing a threaded cylinder of steel into an aluminum crankcase did not exist at that time. Jackets for cooling water covered the top 2/3rds of the cylinder, feeding a radiator via connections at the back of the engine.

The D.III featured a rather prominent overhead cam operating the single intake and exhaust valves, powered by a shaft running up from the crankshaft at the rear of the engine. Ignition was provided by two sets of spark plugs, one located on either side of the cylinders, each powered by a separate magneto for redundancy. The ignition cables were protected in tubes running down either side of the cylinders. Fuel was fed the cylinders via pipes on the left side of the engine (as viewed from the rear), supplied from a twin-barrel carburetor located just above the crankcase. Both the fuel and oil reservoirs were pressurized by an air pump run off the crank. The only obvious design change from the earlier D.II was to use separate cooling jackets for each cylinder, whereas the D.II used one jacket for every two cylinders.

The original D.III was introduced in 1914, but did not see widespread use until 1916 when the fighters grew to need that level of power; earlier designs were generally powered by engines of about 110 hp. By 1917 the D.III was being widely used, most notably on the famous Albatros D.I. Production of this version was essentially wound down by May 1917, with only a handful continuing to be delivered until October. Daimler also used the pistons of the D.III to produce the eight-cylinder 220 hp Mercedes D.IV during this period, but it did not see widespread use.

    * Configuration: separate-cylinder straight-6 liquid-cooled in-line
    * Dimensions: 1650 mm length, 490 mm width, 1072 mm height (65 x 19 x 42 in)
    * Weight: 310 kg (700 lb)
    * Bore and Stroke: 140 mm x 160 mm (5.5 x 6.3 in)
    * Displacement: 14.8 litres (901 cu in)
    * Performance: 174 hp @ 1400 RPM (rated), 204 hp @ 1600 RPM (max)