RC Airplane Engine Assembly Video

graupner o.s. wankel 30

This disassembly and reassembly video from Academia Motor may just be the best thing you’ve watched yet in 2018 — really! Some internet sleuthing shows that the Graupner-O.S. Wankel .30ci powerplant was the world’s first model rotary piston engine. A collaboration between Graupner and Ogawa Model Mfg. Co. (O.S.), it used Felix Wankel’s design with a rotating triangular piston in an epitochoidal shaped chamber. It was first marketed in 1970 with a price tag of just $87.50!

10 Comments

  1. Very interesting video. What is the engine displacement ?

  2. Nice engine but to many components required for a complete unit.

  3. As noted on the video introduction the engine displacement is 0.3 cubic inches.

  4. interesting, however it is a small engine.

  5. I am one of the few owners who has a Wankel engine since 1971 and still using it in a little parasol airplane 300 SQ inches wing area.
    Due to the small displacement (0.30) it is not powerful, but it is very reliable .
    I had to buy extra spare parts to keep it running .
    The sound is nice, and there is no vibration.

  6. Excellent video technique…. Should make professional stop motion movies for a living. Thank you.

    Michael Reiman
    Palm Beach, Florida

  7. I have both the first model and the second model OS .30 Wankel engine. In the 70s I flew a .40 size Model called the Dart with the first version. A profile model with the radio and servos in the wing. The engine had plenty of power and flew the model very well. The second version of the engine has about 3/4 more power then the first version. Higher rpm and much more torque. It is now in a Cessna C37 ARF model and she goes like a rocket. Sweet engine. Like you said I like the sound of it. Mainly when it idles. Weird sound.

  8. I had one those in the mid ’70s. Very anemic for a .30 glow engine. Bench run only. Started easily, ran well but was very thirsty. I sold it around 1980. Lost track of it after that.

  9. Like to see a 60cc gas engine version be awesome in a p47 Th. or Corsair

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