I finally got one!

Oldenginerod wrote:Well, getting one at least.
My latest ebay win.

Some of you may ask why??
Not sure really, but for some reason I've always desired one.  Maybe just the mystique.  I know they're not rare or particularly valuable, and the quality can be very hit & miss, but I wanted one anyway, and now it's on its way from Poland.  Hope their postal service is up to scratch.
$42 AUD shipped ($30 USD) NOS.  As long as it gets here and looks as good as in the pictures I'll be content.  Use it? Nah.  Just have it, run it, hopefully enjoy it.

There are ones like yours and ones with an aluminum colored muff. From what I understand the ones with the black muff are better. I have one of each, but I have only run the alum. one. Mine needed a thicker rear gasket to prevent rotor-binding, and some tweaking of the needle. It had almost no compression at the start but a few runs and compression increased (oil seal).

I would suggest using a wood 9x4 prop for initial runs. Good luck with it.

George

Maybe I am a little nuts. But, I think the best reason to get one it simply because you want it. It is a good looking engine. I hope you enjoy it!

Marleysky wrote:Now you can join in the fun at the "oily hands day" at Cowra!!

Every day's an oily hands day for me  Looks like those boys have fun.  

Cowra's a bit far from me.  To justify a trip that far I'd have to offer my wife some compromises, one of which would probably be not to attend, so don't think I can win on that one.

Rod.

gcb wrote:
There are ones like yours and ones with an aluminum colored muff. From what I understand the ones with the black muff are better.
George

MECOA were selling both a while ago, as was Ed Carlson.  There was also one with an exhaust collector, plus a glow conversion.  These additional items come out of Australia.  As the story goes, a Russian immigrant moved to Australia and, due to contacts back home, was able to procure a huge number of these engines which had apparently "vanished" when the Soviet Union broke up.  They were a government sponsored production and supplied to school engineering departments.  Apparently many opportunists hoarded them, along with the Mk-17 diesels.  This Russian Aussie translated the instructions, re-packaged them, modified some as mentioned earlier and sold them into the USA etc.  This one, coming from Poland, is most likely not one of those, but interestingly, the Mk-17 I got off Ed Carlson had been an Aussie supplied one.  Russia-Australia-USA-Australia.  Quite a trip!

"Because you want one". That's the best reason

I have one too, frozen solid, hopefully because of dried up castor and not lack of lubrication... I don't have any knowledge of its history as I got it among a bunch of other old engines.

Soviet engines were indeed a government-sponsored program. Engines were sold at a "suitable" price for the "right" buyers. There were government sponsored clubs called "Pioneers", an equivalent to Boy Scouts, and within these clubs there were model airplane activities. Competition fliers got their own very special engines.

I remember reading somewhere that the MARZ 2.5 engines were made at an army helicopter service depot. When there was no choppers to work on, they made these little engines. Many Finnish tourists bought these and the MK-17s and brought them to Finland as the price was next to nothing even with the official exchange rate. But if you smuggled some pantyhose or bubble gum... Well a couple of pairs of Western-made pantyhose would have bought you a nice engine in Leningrad

As you probably know, before running your engine, it would be better to open at least the backplate and check for metal particles. Note also that the screws on these engines are soft and easily damaged. The slots on the screw heads are probably a little "non-standard" so your screw driver may not be a perfect fit. Also the threads on some of them are not exactly standard metric. Some folks take the entire engine apart before the first run and replace the ball bearings with Western ones.

Back behind the Iron Curtain in the mid 70-s in Hungary organized modelling was controlled by a governmental association called Hungarian Defense Organization where one could get hold of not only the usual Russian garbage engines, but MOKI engines made in Hungary as well.

http://www.sceptreflight.com/Model%20Engine%20Tests/Moki%20S-2.html

(It was not just like you walked into a hobby shop and bought yourself a COX or whatever engine....you had to live with what the government provided you with....I remember how happy I was when my mother, on a tourist trip to Vienna, bought me and smuggled into Hungary a 3,5ccm Webra engine in the  1970-s....)

The Moki brand is still alive but the production facility was acquired by a US company and they make 1st class competition engines even today. http://www.mokiengine.com/

The original designer of the Moki engines was a famous Hungarian modeller,  4-times C/L world champion and 4-times European C/L champion Gyula Krizsma, himself a military officer as well...he had to take a military position back then just like many famous Hungarian sportsmen e.g. football players Puskás (CEF members in Europe may have heard about him) etc., simply because the regime did not trust its  internationally renowned sportsmen unless they committed themselves with the political regime and volunteered to become political elite, just for the benefit of being allowed to grow and supported in their sports activities from which the Hungarian regime benefited a lot in terms of olimpic gold metals and the like, by the way.....I suppose this is unbelievable to most of you guys who have lived your  whole life in democracy..

Sorry if my history was a bit boring and off-topic...just wanted to join Kari's short review of historical times before the Soviet Union fell apart

I owned a Meteor 2.5 glow which essentially was a copy of the old Super Tiger .15 speed engine. While it didn't win awards for being pretty, it worked quite well. The fits and finish appeared as though they were made in a cave but after some cleaning and polishing it ran great. The engine ran remarkably smooth. I recently sold this engine just because it was sitting. Is this the diesel referred to as the "Mars"?

Ken, "MAP3" are the Cyrillic letters, our equivalents would be "MARZ". Many Soviet products have the "Z" in the end of their name, it means "Zavod", the Russian for a factory or plant. MARZ means something like "Moscow Aero Repair Plant", as the main business of the place was repairing military helicopters.

The MARZ is a very nice engine and there is an interesting article here

http://www.modelenginenews.org/ad/marz.html

However, the crankcase has the resemblance of an early ED Racer



and so I must conclude that the urge to purchase the MARZ was driven by a subconscious desire to collect British diesel engines.

lol, i think you're correct!

ian1954 wrote: I must conclude that the urge to purchase the MARZ was driven by a subconscious desire to collect British diesel engines.  

Well....... of course.

Aussie diesels would clearly have to take priority, and with the somewhat cryptic connection the MARZ has with Australia (as alluded to by Adrian Duncan) then I guess I saw this as more Aussie that British.

Looking forward to its arrival in the hope that it's one of the better examples.

Yes, the fact that these engines were "stolen" from the communist regime does add some charm to them

Here is a photo from a for sale ad, shows the instruction sheet in English. I don't remember where I saved it from, it was a while ago.

Well Poland's postal service must be ok because the MARZ arrived today. It is all I had hoped for. Not a tool mark on it. Black anodizing is like new. Sand cast case is a little rough but much better than some I've seen. Everything moves smoothly and it feels like it should. Original prop & instruction book unmarked save a little age related patina. Now I need to learn Russian.

Kari, I believe that instruction sheet you show was the Australian translation, as alluded to in previous posts. My booklet is the original Russian version. I can make out the date of manufacture as 1988, serial number 8106.

Just recycling the heading!!  No further word on the Marz, but I did manage to get something I've been looking for.  Went out to grab a photo of my new (old) electric crock pot.  I've been expounding the virtues of anti-freeze for ages and now I can actually do it properly.
Oh, the photo?  Well, just got something else that distracted me a little.  Can't get the dang photos off my son's phone though.

No. 1 brand new grandson arrived on his way home from hospital.  Cooper Boreham.  Looks just like his dad, who looks just like his dad (me).
I really hope that this works out.  Son has a pretty shaky relationship with the boy's mother.  Just hope that we can stay on the scene as hands-on grandparents.  
Brag photos as soon as I can figure it out.  (Of the crock pot as well).

Congratulations Rod!!!!!!!

roddie wrote:Congratulations Rod!!!!!!!

On what? The cooker or the grandson?

I feel so old

Sounds GREAT Rod , New Grandson and New engine all in a week's time !! Hope you can get the phone pics figured out .

KariFS wrote: "Because you want one". That's the best reason

I have one too, frozen solid, hopefully because of dried up castor and not lack of lubrication... I don't have any knowledge of its history as I got it among a bunch of other old engines.

 

First take the back off and check inside for swirl (junk) if it is new. Next check if the rotor turns smoothly. Then try to add some oil and turn it over (with back still off).

If everything works well, you may have a binding of the rotor against the crank pin. Mine had this problem and the fix was merely to add a thicker rotor housing to crank case gasket.

Good luck with it.

George

Thanks for posting that Rod. Not my cup of tea but interesting none-the-less. A learning experience for me. These are from Russia and maybe the Ukraine.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NIB-RARE-VINTAGE-MARZ-2-5-RUSSIAN-DIESEL-ENGINE-MADE-IN-USSR-1986-/182422971807?hash=item2a7941a59f:g:tksAAOSwnHZYaYTf

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Veri-Rare-Vintage-Diesel-Engine-MARZ-2-5d-/132062838827?hash=item1ebf8f002b:g:NicAAOSwHMJYFiUl

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Model-Airplane-Diesel-Engine-2-5-cc-MARZ-2-5D-/162358578563?hash=item25cd534d83:g:NN4AAOSw44BYUHKv

I hope they put more effort into fit than they did finish.

Bob