Boiling a Taifun

rsv1cox wrote:Yes, very close.  Looks like a combination of the two.  I wonder if Taifun and Webra were affiliated in some way.  Both made in Germany.

There was a Webra 2.5 that came with it that has the same slot-less hex machine screws for the case as the RC Groups engine has.  Mine is missing one head screw and one case screw.  Hard to find the same style I would think.





Odd induction on both.  Taifun (Diesel) is reed similar to the early Cox engines, and the Webra has a rear rotary that is driven by a pin on the crankshaft.  Picture above.

No Taifun and Webra were not affiliated in any way-and 'Taifun' was a 'house brand' for Graupner-just like 'Frog' was for International Model Aircraft in the UK. Webra was Berlin based, and Taifuns ware produced in Vohringen in Bavaria. The actual manufacturer of the Taifuns was Hans Hornlein in Vohringen-I have never been able to establish (to my own satisfaction)-what the exact relationship was between him and Graupner-was his manufacturing business a Graupner subsidiary?, a division of the company-or was he a completely independent business simply contracted by Graupner to manufacture engines-or alternatively did he hold the proprietary rights and Graupner just had exclusive marketing of the range...
Interestingly-there IS a link between Webra and Taifun -but not the kind you might think-the late Gunther Bodemann, Webra's chief designer, who designed the Webra Mach-1 in 53 was 'lent' to Taifun in the late 50s or early 60s-and whilst he was there designed the excellent Taifun Orkan 2.5 racing diesel-and the 3.6cc Bison glow engine-both of which are quite different in styling to the rest of the Taifun range..[he may also have had a hand in the later 1.8cc Taifun Sprint design-but I can't confirm that]

Again-there is little (in english anyway) known background to the reasons behind this move-it may have been initiated by Bodemann himself, or perhaps he was head hunted by Hornlein, or perhaps Graupner decided they wanted a fresh set of eyes applied to their engine range designs...... it's hard to say-and even in the UK, some well known engine designers-Dennis Allen, Gordon Cornell, George Fletcher for example moved between various engine manufacturers at different stages of their careers.

ChrisM
'ffkiwi'

Bob to a degree-I collect some brands-but it has never been a conscious decision-you get one , then another pops up, someone gives you one-then you start to think "it would be nice to get the whole set..." well this is what happened to me with Taifuns and several other brands-and along the way you acquire knowledge.. the same happened with my ED, Frog, DC ranges. I do not actively collect Webras as such-but I have a few. Both Taifun and Webra were well regarded-and produced in serious numbers.

ChrisM
'ffkiwi'