Yes folks, it’s true.

It was mid-October and yours truly was just itching to get into a new project. Sure, there is the haunted Super Ringmaster that is slowly being built, but as many know, I have the need for speed! That being said, I indulged myself looking for a D Speed engine that up till now had only been hearsay. I found one little note in the Delphi speed forum about an Australian guy turning 200 mph with it and have kept an eye out ever since. The mystery engine is nothing short of an obsolete Russian engine, namely an MDS10cc marine that has the looks of a speed engine and best of all, a drum intake. (We here at the Broadway Bod Busters just love drum intakes — we don’t really know why, but they are cool).

The 10cc Solution

OK, so far we have a Russian engine from before the wall came down and that is long out of production, a guy from Australia who’s name I can’t remember, and it’s raining outside. I know, I’ll try Joey Mathison ...

He thought the guy might be Richard Justic, so another email was sent, but this time to Frostbite Falls for Rocky aka Paul Gibeault, who is also the BBB’s international ambassador, roving reporter and all around good guy. Rocky confirmed that is was indeed Rich Justic and included his email — what a guy.
I sent Rich an email with dozens of questions, Rich contacted me a couple of days later and shared some info with me on his MDS project. Firstly, and very important, his was a front intake, I say WAS because it popped the crank right after his fastest run. Here is the email and video of its first flight.

Hey !  My MDS was a FR not RV. Broke the crank next flight after the fast one ...
Front overhang is same for both variants.
It (was) a nice engine. Almost as good as stock Rossi 61 Rv. High comp with big nitro REALLY woke it up on old school 9x13 prop.
Same mounts as Rossi 61/65. I used ops spinner
I'm interested to see how the RV goes!
I'll dig up a few pics and let me know if you want more details.
This was one of the first flights on dead stock mds 31thou 70ft wire. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Flying off grass with a big-wheel dolly. Nice flying field!)
Kind Regards 

Where’s Waldokov?

Trying to find an obsolete Russian boat engine ain’t easy, but I found one of the ancient mariners on eBay in the tiny hamlet of Pottsylvania (no really I did) and bought it. I had sent out many inquiries to various people including Ron Bennett (local retired beekeeper and speed flier).

Ron has one and claims that they are very well made inside. When I had looked several months ago, there were none to be had, now they are falling out of the sky like bees after the beekeeper.

This of course is all I need to go off half-cocked on a project that I sort of wanted to do anyway. Like anything that goes fast, they all have one common trait, and as Boris would say, "When in doubt, blow it up!” This can happen to the best of Bod Busters so go big or go home right?  Spares will be needed and I found two others in another area of Pottsylvania, and purchased them from the reputable gent shown above. He wrote to say ...

Dear Friend Ken!
Payment arrived!
Thanks for purchase!
I sent you today, airmail, packet with This MDS-10KR2U-C Russian Engine! BWAHAHAHAHA!

 I don’t have a good feeling about this, but If I really get destructive, there is yet another in the beekeeper’s basement. 

Reality ... three weeks later

Well, .two of the three engines just arrived, and they remind me of a blind date I once had. They look good, but they’re sooooooo heavy! This is a setback of a sorts. I mean I’ve held onto my OPS at 198 mph — granted I was much younger and used 80% nitro — but this thing is the proverbial boat anchor you’ve heard about. How big is it? (Ahem.)

IT’S SOOOO BIG, that when it lays around the house……it lays AROUND the house. It’s so big, it has its own ZIP code. It's so fat that i’s picture fell off the wall! It’s not a beep on the radar, it’s a beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep on the radar. I like the thing but it’s gonna have to go on a diet to fly by wire. Weight as it arrived was 17.7 ounces. Much of this is the giant carb, much of it is the rear drum induction. The front end looks pretty normal so we’ll focus on the back end for some weight savings.  The crankcase only looks massive and it weighs in at 4.65 oz.. The culprit is its butt, that well-made but beefy drum induction.

Parts and parcel

Disassembly and inspection of the monster revealed the overweight culprits. Although the liner is well made and chrome work excellent, it is brass and heavy.  The piston appears to be nicely made but I have not measured it for taper yet. The conrod appears to be well made but does not have oiling holes top or bottom.

The gudgeon pin is held in the piston by circlips in a deep groove so no chance of them getting loose. The head is an insert with a ¼-20 thread and is a single bubble with a small squish area.

The crankcase fits the Rossi .65 footprint and is a nice casting. The porting seems to me, inspired by Picco, or at the very least Italian design. Deep ports with the front port split into two vertical chambers and ample side and boost ports, this baby should breathe!

The front end looks OK. I have not disassembled it but it looks as standard as most speed engines and reports on the bearings are good. The crank pin has a center ground drive pin to turn the induction drum shaft and it may be just right to turn a rotor from a much lighter method of getting fuel and air.

What’s Next?

What happens next is we run the boat anchor as is, report back to you and then do the modifications and run it again.  On first pass, what is needed is a lighter back door, a head made for the nowadays fuel of 10% nitro, and some deburring on the liner. I think we have a winner here.

In the basement shop, there is a Pink Lady D ship in parts; it is missing one wing panel. John Newton is hard at work making the missing panel and the Hippie (Marty Higgs) is hard at work coming up with a reference prop for it. Louie, the other half of the Louie-Louie speed team (Mike Hazel), asked perhaps THE most important question regarding this entire project, “what does MDS stand for??” Boris, I think. It’s a good name for the chunky 10cc, so we’ll just call it Boris.

That’s it for now lil geezers, I have much to do with Boris before the finished product, but as is the case with all Bod Busters and Beavers, hope springs eternal.  Stay tuned to Flying Lines to see what happens next.

--Kennyb