Current ebay prices for clean example are substantial. I couldn’t pass up the offer of a ‘cosmetically challenged’ example with a pot rest missing - an easy shape to reproduce. What paint remains suits the stove. I’m thinking Iron Curtain era Trabant, or maybe that was turquoise I was thinking of? Some work to do. A pot rest to fabricate. Seals replaced together with a non-working pump O-ring. I remembered an excellent post by @pau-i-amor , who got the tip from @Bratok_xxl . See it HERE. V-groove cut in the pump plunger component, plain O-ring. Original O-ring with those pips to achieve the same purpose, to break suction on the ‘pull’ stroke. The solution works perfectly. Pricker assembly and control spindle/eccentric. The pricker assembly also regulates fuel flow and stops fuel to the jet when that spigot on the opposite end to the pricker ... ... enters that passage in the burner riser. The conical shape mating against the rim of that passage regulates the fuel and cuts fuel flow when the spindle is turned fully clockwise or anti-clockwise. The chamfered flate above the burner threads mates agains a corresponding chamfer in the burner mount of the stove tank, the aluminium priming cup acting as a washer to enhance the sealing properties of the joint. The pot rest arrangement, the frame held securely in place on the fuel tank when the burner is screwed home. Windshield fits into the pot rest frame rebate - no wobbling about. Control handle moulding. The size and shape offers excellent control. Embossing on the container lid. Fuelled up with Aspen 4 and 15-20 pump strokes to pressurise, a controllable flame. I’m very impressed with the Shmel. Robust, a great performer, with some excellent design features. Stylish too (particularly in the pale green paint finish). John
I'm afraid if you want a Turquoise Trabant, Comrade, you'll have to wait another 11 years for it to get out of the Paint Shop.
Hej John @presscall, fantastic presentation as always, thank you John! I found that stove some time ago in NOS condition for a very good price. I never used it but its fun to see the nice pictures of a running Shmel 4! I agree, very nice made stoves! Ciao, Bastian
Hi John. Nice stove - but operate this type burner VERY VERY careful - its have one big problem - stupid eccentric regulation and very stupid construction of pricker ! If you remember remove pricker from jet after burn - it may stuck on jet after stove go to cold, one move - and pricker head take off and broke 2mm metrical thread easy after stuck, or broke eccentrick too. Easy way - drop-off pressure on tank, do 2-3 times cleaner procedure - move up - down pricker, and put it to position - not maximum high, but just upper, the maximum low. Yes, its not close stove for 100%, but save you burner and stupid eccentric with pricker and jet =) Many drunk tourist people in Russia kill very many burners this type, if not do this easy things.
Good luck and be careful !!! Yoy have repair kit, but not have pricker on it - i cant see pricker on photo in to zip box.
@Bratok_xxl The photo you’re seeing the spares kit in is of Sternenlicht’s stove. I don’t have spares.
@presscall, the colour of your stove is 'eau-de-nil', a shade much favoured by institutions and shipbuilders.
@Ian Thanks for the info Ian. Now you mention it I’ve seen such use, on-shore at least, in municipal settings and the like.
Shmel 4 plunger mod o-ring size @presscall: I have found a Shmel 4 in really good condition and would like to make the modification to the plunger described above or to make small holes in upper section (Мифы и сказания о примусах "Шмель". Жизнь — все новости (вчера, сегодня, сейчас) от 123ru.net). For the o-ring size I have found a discussion in the forum but no definitive answer: 9x2,5 or 10x2,5. Do you remember which size o-ring you used? I have measured the original o-ring and it approximates 10x2,5. Regards, Huub
It's a 14mm bore tube I believe. I was talking to someone who tried 9mm x 2,5mm & it was too slack. 10x2.5 sounds like it'd be a better fit,
Hello John, when I had a Shmel-4 27 years ago, there was no excentric like yours, by my one there was the excentric with only a iron ball, witch open /close the tube to tank, so this stove was only able to have full-gas or off, nothing between this;-) So your construction will be better. Markus
@Russenjesus Interesting, Markus, nothing to be done with that ball device. Even the more recent arrangement, though evidently an improvement, wasn’t altogether to my liking however. Just today, in THIS post, I improved on the simmer by re-profiling that pricker eccentric. John
Late in the day of ownership of this stove, I’ve realised that the pump handle is meant to double as the pump cap unscrewing/tightening device. Pump lock-down position for transit. Aligning the flats visible in that last photo with the corresponding socket in the pump cap, the pump handle provides the leverage to tighten/unscrew the pump cap. Took me a while to realise that …
Thank you @presscall for the deatailed pictures. I like the engineering and design here, it seems to have several clever details and looks a lot less "steampunk" than say the vintage Coleman stoves. @everyone: I just ordered an unused Shmel 4 on Etsy, Reserved for TRULS Gasoline/kerosene Stove Шмель 4USSR - Etsy Norway and I wanted to ask you a couple of questions: - Is it strictly speaking a gasoline stove, or is it a multi-fuel kerosene/gasoline stove? - Is the tin (pot with lid) really for cooking, or is it just for storage and transport? - Related to the previous question; Does the Shmel 4 suffer from leaking fuel during transport even if pressure is equalised, and is this (like with some stoves) a choice between hard tightening of the nozzle valve (potentially damaging the valve) or risking fuel leaking through the nozzle?
I have some questions regarding the spindle valve/cleaning needle mechanism. I want to ask this because I've noticed how odd this stove behaves when the spindle is rotated. Turning counterclockwise from the off position...this stove goes from off, to on (simmer→full power→simmer), then off again, then on again (simmer→full power→simmer), and finally off for the third time? Then when turned back clockwise, it does the same thing, but in reverse. Why??? Is there any use to this? Can I shut the stove off by turning the spindle both fully to the left AND fully to the right? The stove has three off positions and two on positions!! Is it because of that eccentric block rotating in a circle? How does the cleaning needle get stuck? What is going on with this valve? Anything I need to be careful of?
From what I've read, the shmel 4 was designed to run on "galosha" which apparently is Russian for a specific grade of non-automotive gasoline, aka: white gas. From anecdotes, the stove does operate well on regular unleaded gas, with no generator tube to foul, it handles gasoline much better than Coleman stoves. Although, there are two types of shmel 4 valve designs. One with a tapered lug, and one with a ball bearing. The ball bearing design can get fouled up causing the ball bearing to jam, making it less able to reliably run unleaded gas. (This can be modified by permanently fixing the ball bearing to the lug) Also, kerosene is NOT recommended for this stove. The jet size is wrong, kerosene doesn't run with satisfactory results. It may be possible to use kerosene with some major tinkering, but out of the box, kerosene won't work well at all. As for leaking I do not know, I've only had my shmel 4 for two days as of now. Again, anecdotal evidence here, but I've heard people not using the pots due to them smelling like gas. The bigger issue seems to be the cleaning needle getting stuck in the jet and snapping off when the valve is turned. I don't know how this happens or how to resolve it.
A reduction in the size of the jet orifice does in fact result in perfect fuelling on kerosene. ‘Major’ tinkering was installing a hypodermic needle insert in a spare jet nipple, a technique that’s simple once mastered. A simple eccentric arrangement, but one that locks up prior to achieving full 360-degree rotation either way because the taper on the lower projection of the eccentric block engages with the mating surface of the burner riser, shutting off fuel flow as intended.
