Curtiss "Number 3" Engine

Mr. Curtiss seems to be still bravely struggling with the difficulties of the new engine. He has been meeting with encouraging successes and exasperating delays, but it is obvious that as a result we are going to have finally an engine that will be worth something to the art of Aviation. An engine that will not break down in five or ten minutes and leave the aviator stranded…

He is apparently finding out the weak points of every part of the apparatus in turn; and at last when every difficulty seems to have been conquered and the engine is installed upon the Loon [hydroplane]… the cylinder blows its head off into the air.

Letter from Alexander Graham Bell, 3 December, 1908.
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This model is a 1/8 scale recreation of an important early aircraft engine. It is based on a scan of an original artifact (Artifact no. 1967.0512.001) at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, but it features a number of recreated elements now missing from the surviving engine. It is meant to be printed