Thank you for your kind comments. My model was the green Jaxon Steam Car on display.

In october we made a steam off in a small steam rally. The Jaxon is able to drive with 1 Kg propane gas 7 Km distance at an average speed of 6 km/h.

Here the link to the video https://youtu.be/5dwSUJq1jkY

Werner

Hello Paul,

in Germany there is an exception for vehicles with < 6km/h. Above 6km/h it is comparable to England. There are many traditional vehicles here at carnival time and they fall under the exemption. Also vehicles for pulling boats out of the water, for example. And vehicles with motor of any kind. You need than no registration number, no insurance ( it is better to have one) no Mot or TÜV and you are responsible that it is save. But you have to have a 6 Km/h plate at the vehicle.

The fire hazard is of course an issue, but it can be handled sensibly. Many also have concealed extinguishing water. Of course, many machines also ran on compressed air. But like everywhere else in the world, there are also stupid people. My colleague with the quadruple flame eater put up signs saying “do not touch” and “very hot”. He also told an adult visitor in person. In an unobserved moment, he sees out of the corner of his eye how the visitor burns his fingers and quickly disappears. I once read in a forum that “it would all be easier if people like that wore a sign saying “I’m stupid” because then it would be easier to deal with them.”

Werner

Hi Phil,

this year I made many optimisations in the Jaxon project. I brought the driving distance with 1 Kg propane from  ~ 4.5 to 5 Km last year to 7 + 0, 3 Km. And I changed the average driving speed from 4.5 Km/h to 6 + 0,5 km/h. This cost me many work. The engine was changed to a changeable 2 cylinder engine into a compound engine. This save me steam and gave me more distance and driving speed. After 260 km mileage I had some drawbacks in durability in my rear axle setup, some broken spokes and not good aligned chain final drive. This I had all solved.

And I made for the optimisation some special measurements like electronic cylinder indication in normal and compound setup. I was driving at my town roads with the car and the measurement setup and on top of my knees the laptop. The people looked very astonished to see an old car with steam and a guy with a laptop.

The fireking was prepared to drive , but unfortunatly I forced me to work on the jaxon. Next year at our steam rallies I will start to drive alternatively the fire king or the jaxon. With the driving performance of the jaxon I am now 95 % satisfied and I prepared an idea to cover the last 5%. But this is a step for next year.

Both models make very much fun, but I have only the time and transport capacity to drive with one. And with my 5 inch steam locos I have a lot to do by cleaning and maintenace. And on top I am flying model airplanes.

Werner