Hi Nick, There will be a dramatic increase cost and the skills needed ! You will have to make a boiler, so all the gear to silver solder, though you could buy in the gears and also the boiler but then your into serious costs ! You don't say what your skills and equipment levels are ? If you take it slowly and may be join a ME club then you will find people who can help and guide you. Good luck Noel.

I don't think so (re ambitions). It depends a little on how you like to work but there is no compulsion to employ a step wise approach to what you build. I started out , after building a simple weight driven clock, to build a 5 inch GWR King as a first loco. My logic was that was what I wanted and to build something simpler would leave me with a loco I did not really want and take a deal of time to build. I had already realised that the King was to be a very long term project and that skills would be obtained along the way by making various workshop tools and equipment.

I would say go for the Minnie and if you get to bits that are new to you such as cutting gears take some time out and build something else like the George Thomas geared bending rolls. Gives you the practice on the gears, makes a break from the Minnie and you wind up with a usefull piece of workshop kit which can roll your boiler cladding for you.

Hope these comments help.

regards Martin

PS I still haven't finished the King but as I'm now part retired things are speeding up.

Edited By Martin Kyte on 08/01/2022 11:37:34

There are various threads on here from Minnie builders, check the start to finish time lines so you don't get surprised by the work load.

Masons book is useful in that it tells you which parts cannot be made in isolation as they need to be made to fit others, like the tender needs to fit the horn plates, which depends on the width the boiler comes out at.

I'd say go for it. Apart from dabbling with a loco in my teens, and a part built hit 'n' miss engine, these are my first engine build:

I've made everything, apart from the steel boilers and rubber tyres. Also produced a lot scrap, nearly enough for a third engine! Like Jason said I started at the front end, but moved onto the gears qjuite quickly, because I like gears. At any given time I make what interests me, rather than doing things in a logical order.

If I can do it I am sure you can!

Personally I wouldn't buy a part built engine, as one is never sure of the workmanship and what changes may, or may not, have been made. I'd rather mess it up myself than buy someone else's mess up.

Andrew

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