Stop What You're Doing And Watch This Guy Build A Miniature Engine

Is it the most fun you'll have today? Possibly.

02:17

Janaki Jitchotvisut

By: Janaki Jitchotvisut

Dec 20, 2021 at 5:00pm ET

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If you’re the hands-on type, you’ll most likely appreciate this Toyan X-Power four-stroke, two-cylinder engine kit. The story is, toy engine maker Toyan solicited crowdfunding on both Kickstarter and Indiegogo to get this toy made earlier in 2021. It exceeded its goals despite not having a prototype available yet, because who wouldn’t want to back something this cool?

When a Japanese distributor became interested and ran a similar campaign on Japanese crowdfunding site Makuake in December, 2021, that follow-up campaign also handily exceeded its funding goals with nine days left to go as of December 20. What’s the big deal? This tiny, working engine kit features all the components you should need to completely build a four-stroke, two-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine in your spare time.

Once built, you can use it to power whatever tiny creations you want. From RC cars to water pumps, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you made your creation operate. Whether you just want something cool to stick on your desk or shelf, or you want a better grasp on how engines work without the hassle and expense of a full-size unit, it’s not difficult to see why a lot of people would enjoy the X-Power. Plus, you know, miniature things are just extra cool.

The video for this project is extremely fun to watch as well, and we’re hopeful that the X-Power kits are exactly as fun as they look once they start rolling out into supporters’ hands. As with all crowdfunding projects, of course, it’s difficult to say whether things will go as planned. Obviously, everyone who backed this one probably wants to see it both happen and be awesome—but we’d also bet there are others discovering it after the fact who would love to know this exists.

Would you be interested in something like this if it became more widely available? Do you wish you had something like this when you were a kid? Will you always be a kid who’s into this kind of thing? (I mean, it’s entirely possible you are, if you already enjoy working on your full-sized motorbike, so we thought we’d ask.)