Ron Colonna Photos

4-3/4″ Gauge Virginia Engine

Ron’s scratch built Virginian in 4-3/4″ gauge. This engine performed flawlessly for many years. Ron and his sons have run it at many track-sites across the country. It’s extremely powerful for its size and weight.

1″ Scale Virginia Engine

This 1″ scale Virginian locomotive was built for Bert Williams of Crown Metal Products. Bert contracted Ron to build it to resemble one of his amusement park engines. He has taken it to several park conventions, and displays it running on air on the special stand Ron built.

President Washington Engine

Ron running his “President Washington,” B&O, Pacific type locomotive at the Pennsylvania Live Steamers’ track. This was before the B&O tender was completed. That’s the tender from his Consolidation behind it.

Challenger V-8

A photo of Ron’s Challenger V-8 after a rebuild to replace some carbon clogged oil control rings. This engine attracts the most attention of any at the shows. With the electric starter it runs at the touch of a button.

5-Cylinder Radial Engine

The Forrest Edwards designed 5-cylinder radial engine. It has a .943″ bore, .966″ stroke, 55 cc displacement, and glow ignition.

Gnome Monosoupape Rotary Engine

Ron’s first rotary engine, the 9-cylinder Gnome Monosoupape. This engine is 1/5th scale, and was built from drawings produced by Les Chenery, of England. It has a 3/4″ bore, 1″ stroke, and 64 cc displacement.

1/8 Scale Bentley BR2

Ron’s 1/8th scale Bentley BR2. He scaled down the 1/4 scale version of Lew Blackmore’s engine. It’s the only 1/8th scale version we’re aware of. It has a 5/8″ bore, 7/8″ stroke, and 43.2 cc displacement.

Sealion Engine

The Sealion, a Westbury design. Ron won “Best of Show” with this engine at the NAMES Expo in 1995. Robert Washburn of Strictly IC magazine sponsored the contest. It’s a 4-cylinder, overhead cam, 7/8” bore, 3/4” stroke, with 30 cc displacement.

New Holland Engine

Ron has built a few farm-type “hit-and-miss” engines. This is the New Holland, a Paul Breisch design. It has a 7/8″ bore, 1-3/8″ stroke, .826 cu. In. displacement.

1/4 Scale 270 Offenhauser

A side view of Ron’s 1/4 scale, 270 Offy. This is the same photo he used on the cover of his book on building this engine. It’s a 16-valve engine with double overhead cam (gear driven), spark ignition, and dry sump lubrication.

1/4 Scale 270 Offenhauser

A look down at the top of the Offy. The four carbs are all functional, and serve to mimic the Hillborn fuel injectors used from the early 1950’s onward. A computer chip controlled fuel injection system was in the works.

1/4 Scale 270 Offenhauser

A front view of the Offy showing the magneto drive details.

Ron and Fellow Offy Builders

Many people from around the world have purchased Ron’s book on building the Offenhauser engine. Shown here are 3 such people beside Ron, showing off their engines at a model engineering show. From left to right are John DeBoom of Ashton, Iowa; Ron Colonna; Ron Clark of Greenfield, Indiana; and Julian Morrison of Clinton, Tennessee.

Ron With His Offy

Ron with his Offy engine on its display stand, which includes a radiator to keep the engine cool. In the 15 years it has been on sale, Ron has sold over 1500 copies of his book on the engine in 17 different countries. He knows of at least 50 engines that have been built from his plans.

Hercules Engine

The Hercules was designed by the late Bob Shores. Unfortunately, Bob did not live long enough to see this one run, but it’s a nice tribute to his design. Like all of Ron’s engines, it’s also a good runner.

V-Twin Motor

The “V-twin” is essentially patterned after the design of a Harley Davidson motor of the 1940’s and ’50’s. It was scratch built without castings using a cutaway drawing of a Harley Knucklehead engine for the details of the bottom end. Ron used photos of some Panhead parts being sold on eBay for the top end.

Novi V-8

This project under construction is a Novi V8. It was being built from photos of a Novi engine that Ron found on the Offenhauser Historical Society’s website, and a drawing of the geartrain that was shown in the book “Novi V-8 Indy Cars 1941 – 1965” by Karl Ludvigsen.

Novi V-8

The Novi V-8 is supercharged, and the four overhead camshafts are all gear driven. It’s a “square” engine with a 3/4″ bore and stroke.

Novi V-8

In August of 2009, Ron sent updated progress photos of the Novi V-8 engine. With manifolds and twin distributors now in place, the engine is looking much more complete here.

Finished Novi V-8

Photos taken at the NAMES Expo in April of 2010 show the completed engine.

Finished Novi V-8

The engine ran once for a brief time, but now doesn’t want to fire again. Ron was working on the problem at the time of this writing.

Finished Novi V-8

Whizzer Motorbike

Ron’s 1/4 scale “Whizzer” motorbike was the featured model at the 2010 NAMES show in Detroit.

Whizzer Motorbike

The whizzer is about 14″ long, and the engine runs just like the full-size version. (Submitted 5/3/10)

Case Steam Traction Engine

Ron completed this 1″ = 1′ Case steam traction engine, and sent the photos in March of 2013. He decided to build it as a way to take a break from the internal combustion engines he had been building.

Case Steam Traction Engine

Ron purchased the cast parts from a model engineer who had started the project and given up on it. Ron previously built one at 2″ = 1′ scale, and notes that the smaller one was about “10 times more difficult.” It did, however, allow him to use his Sherline tools on many of the smaller parts.

Case Steam Traction Engine

Ron has run the engine on compressed air, and it does have a functional boiler and pressurized kerosene storage tank under the coal bunkers. Despite the beautiful paint job, he planned to fire it up at least once before displaying it. Ron notes that the casting kits are still available through Coles Power Models (as of 2013*).