Miniature Replica Engines

Got six to eight thousand extra hours that you are looking to fill with excitement and end-product motivation? Why not learn to machine your own miniature metal engine parts and build a replica of your favorite car or airplane engine about the length of your forearm?

These miniature engine guys amaze me. Imagine the size of the valves on these engines. As big as your pinky nail. Little tiny springs. It's all home made, from original blueprints, scaled down by the builders. These gallant home machining enthusiasts take the cake for patience, dedication, focus, and sheer sticktoitiveness. They get these little beauties to run! I am wide eyes and gape-mouthed every time I watch one of these videos.

Some of the guys in this video even build the entire vehicle to go around the tiny engine. How about that guy who built a whole miniature Spitfire to go around his miniature Merlin engine? I say miniature, but the Spitfire would fill the bed of a pick-up truck. Got to stay in the right scale, you know! It flies, and presumably he can land it too. Another fellow built an entire 1940 Ford Coupe hot-rod to go with his miniature supercharged V-8. The dedication required to do this kind of thing is extremely bad-ass.

Me, I'll stick with reading and watching Netflix. These guys are inspirational in the way that professional athletes and top scientists inspire us. They show us what we humans are capable of. Vast investments of talent and time, dedicated to the simple satisfaction of a huge job well done. No commercial potential that I can detect! It's all truly amazing.