Anyone know about the VA Elfin 50 replica?

I found this engine at the bottom of a box of assorted models at my local auction house.
After some research I have decided it must be a VA Elfin 50 replica, but can find very little on the net about them.

Arne Hende' made Elfin 50 replicas. I made the display boxes for him.

After Arne assembled about 30 engines he decided to change the letters on the side of the case from "Made in England" to "Not Made in England"

The engine on the right shows the "Not Made in England" and he also added "Sweden and AH" so it wouldn't be confused with an original.

Thanks for the info Dan.
There are no marks on my engine, so I believe it is the VA Elfin 50 replica of 0.25cc, as imported by Dave Banks into the UK.
The engine was mounted to front of an Ebenezer type fusealage, which looked almost unused.
I have done nothing with the engine yet, looks mostly unused and generally very clean with some (I hope) surface oil stains on it, also is gummed up, which would seem perfectly normal for such a small engine left with fuel in it.
I will wait till the weather is warmer, before gently de-gumming with plenty of heat & fresh fuel, before trying to run it and then cleaning and some after run oil.

Thanks........Paul Harrison

I didn't know V A did that one. I made some boxes for the VA mini 1.8cc in.41cc. VA later made an .020 version but I missed out on that one.

Yours is the half size Elfin 50 replica produced by VA....making it an Elfin 0.25. Nice little motors-they run well on a 5x3 or thereabouts -yours looks to be a bit overpropped. I reviewed the engine in 'Model Engine World' back in the late 1990s

ChrisM
'ffkiwi'

Chris, Prop is a 5.5x4 and was on the engine when found. I do have a selection of very small props, collected for the small cox engines and for a new AE 0.2ccc diesel, which is also waiting running.

.......Paul harrison

I recognised the prop as a Master Aircscrew but the size wasn't obvious. I think you're still a bit overpropped on a 5.5x4. It may turn it on the bench but I think it will be a bit unhappy...
Here's my VA Elfin 0.25-the very one used for the MEW review, with a DC 5-1/4x 3-1/2 attached. [a prop which goes equally well on the VA Bambi and Frog 0.25cc miniatures}....I was slightly out in my publication estimate of late 1990s-it was published in MEW #69 ( Nov2000-Jan 2001)
ChrisM
'ffkiwi'

Arne’s first “Made in England” case was a perfect copy of the original Elfin but he used metric threads instead of the original British threads.

T he UK guys would be hard to fool but other parts of the world might be easy to fool.

Even if it’s an AH engine it’s finely made and in fewer numbers than the original so it is still a very valuable engine for nostalgia models or keep NIB for ,display in a collection.

In this specific case-the only time it would likely be apparent would be if people tried to fit original UK made parts for some reason-and even then-given the tolerances -the threads might still engage. the reason the original Elfin 50 is so rare is that Elfin's production machinery was worn out war surplus-and unable to hold adequate tolerances on a repeatable basis-leading to very few of the Elfin 50s being usable-and many being returned by purchasers and dealers under warranty. Had the tolerances been tighter-based on Elfin's other engine models-the 50 might have proved a real winner in the 0.5cc diesel class-which of course was hotly contested in the UK and Commonwealth for market share between DC, ED, Frog and Elfin......Elfin lost that battle hands down-and even Frog badly underestimated the criticality of fits in that engine size-dropping out after several years-and three different models-of the Frog 50, leaving the market in the hands of Davies Charlton and ED....I personally consider it unfortunate that ED did not survive in their original form, as the ED Baby was a lovely handling little engine...

ChrisM
'ffkiwi'

Yes, my first diesel was an ED 1.0 cc with amber tank, around 1952 and I couldn’t believe how long it took to run out a tank. I made a little hydroplane airboat out of a cedar shingle with a razor blade rudder. It ran the whole lake and then beached itself continuing to run out the tank. I was so impressed I bought a second one for backup.

Around that time McCoy released their first version of their .049 so I quickly bought one and it had unbelievable power so I soon started flying the McCoy and used it in my favorite C/L models. They really came alive with the McCoy .049 diesel. The McCoy diesel also used my favorite 2-screw radial mounting like the Wasp, Atwood, Spitfire, Holland Hornet, OK Cub .039 & .049X, and K&B .049 Torpedo and McCoy Baby Mac glo.

A McCoy diesel with tank is very rare, most were sold without a tank. There were many broken cranks as guys over-compressed in an attempt for even more power. You had to listen for that laboring sound and then back off the compression until you heard that “Happy” sound.