Steaming Minnie or small engines

[Capt DashParticipant @captdash]

I have nearly completed building L Mason’s Minnie and will soon be running it on air. Ulimately I woiuld like to run it on steam but I’ve never steamed a model before. If anyone has any tips/do nots that they would be willing to share I’d be grateful.

[Capt DashParticipant @captdash]

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Run it on charcoal rather than coal, start with some that has been soaked in paraffin and then feed in more dry bits.

 

You will likely need an electric blower to start with a swell this will draw the fire until things have warmed up enough to use the blower valve.

 

J

[michael howarth 1Participant @michaelhowarth1]

Initially, I found that the trickiest part was balancing the feed pump and bypass valve so that the boiler always had enough water, as the water can disappear at an alarming rate when the fire is going well and you are concentrating on other things. Those little sight gauges are not the most reliable of things.

Edited By mick H on 29/08/2011 09:58:27

[michael howarth 1Participant @michaelhowarth1]

It is also incredibly difficult to control such a small traction engine when you have to chase around after it.I would seriously recommend that you build a simple rolling road.

[michael howarth 1Participant @michaelhowarth1]

I am surprised at the lack of reaction to your thread, Capt, but I have noticed that there was not much activity on the forum over the bank holiday weekend and that may be the reason.

I have got somewhere a step by step procedure for firing a small model such as Minnie which I found quite useful when I was in your position but I am blowed if I can lay my hands on it at the moment. When I do find it I will let you know and arrange for you to have a copy.

[Capt DashParticipant @captdash]

Thanks to everyone who gave tips. Minnie has now steamed successfully apart from the feed pump not producing enough water into the boiler. I've replaced the bronze balls with Viton and expect this to do the job. I've added a couple of photos of the finished product to my album. Next job will be to strip and paint it, but that can wait for the warmer weather.

[chris jParticipant @chrisj]

Posted by Capt Dash on 25/07/2012 05:48:02:

Thanks to everyone who gave tips. Minnie has now steamed successfully apart from the feed pump not producing enough water into the boiler. I've replaced the bronze balls with Viton and expect this to do the job. I've added a couple of photos of the finished product to my album. Next job will be to strip and paint it, but that can wait for the warmer weather.

What a fabulous model.

How much was bought as kit parts and how much did you make ?

Last picture says ready for painting, did you finish it off ?

More pics would be nice.

Chris

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Thats is rather nice, isn't it?

Well Done Capn'

Neil

[Martin CottrellParticipant @martincottrell21329]

Very nice workmanship there Cap'n! Will look really great when you get around to painting it.

Martin.

[Capt DashParticipant @captdash]

Thanks for the nice comments guys. I haven't done anything further since my last posting as we had a couple of months in the UK visiting with a new grandson. The southern hemisphere summer is coming upon us now so probably not much will be done until next year. I now have a set of Quorn castings on the bench which were donated by a friend. It is very tempting to start on that, but I must resist and finish Minnie.

In answer to Chris J – I bought a set of castings and gear blanks from A J Reeves in 1976 when I was in the UK for a couple of months. The project was very stop start for the next 30 odd years as we brought up a family and I persued a career. Retirement gave me the incentive to finish the job.

While in the UK we went to the Essex country fair at Barleylands near Billericay. If you want to see traction engines, both full size and models, in steam I would recommend this show. Would you believe 60 full size engines and the same number of models ranging from 6" scale down, all in steam. Really interesting were 4 pairs of winding engines plowing and harrowing a field.

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