An excellent question Bobdoc and you are quite right to be cautious with your funds. Steam plant and steam models are very expensive and you need to get together as much information as possible before parting with your money.
I would suggest your options are along the lines of the following:
1) A complete kit from the one vendor such as a Hemmens Lady Jayne with plant or a Marten Howes and Baylis model with plant included. This has the advantage of a single point of contact for the boat and the plant and the kit will be ready made to accept the engine and boiler. Both manufacturers supply comprehensive kits of laser cut parts and options of building techniques, i.e. fibre glass or plank on frame hulls, with fittings. Although I haven't built a kit from either manufacturer I have seen examples first hand and both produce very good quality models.
2) A steam plant complete from one manufacturer and a kit from an alternative one. This opens up more options as you can then choose from a wider range of available plant but still have a single point of contact for the plant. Monahan Steam Models in California and Graupner both do complete steam plant with matched boiler and engine with pipework and auxilliaries with the Graupner being available in the UK from Modeldockyard. You can then choose your model boat from a wider range of alternatives and can consider putting the plant into one of the many larger kits available from such manufacturers as Model Slipway, Mount Fleet Models, JoTiKa, Mobile marine models, etc..etc.. Disadvantages here though are the fact that the models are not specifically designed for a steam plant and you will have to adapt the kit yourself, requiring that bit more work and modifications.
3) Put the plant together yourself and put it in a kit. You can then buy the boiler, auxilliaries and engine from different manufacturers and put it into whatever hull takes your fancy. This will require a lot more input from you as you have to ensure that the parts of the steam plant are well matched and suitable for the model.
4) Finally do the whole lot yourself and scratchbuild as much as possible. Very satisfying but obviously requires a degree of skill, equipment and knowledge that not every one has available.
I understand your desire to put together a manufactured kit as you will undoubtedly end up with a beautiful model that should be relatively straightforward to put together however there are a couple of points worth remembering. Marten Howes and Baylis have a reputation for superb model boats and thier Vigilant is stunning to look at but you will not be able to see the engine in operation as it is enclosed. They also now use Anton engines, which are French, so after sales service for the engine might not be quite as straightforward. The Hemmens Lady Jayne is a beautiful open launch, which shows off the boiler and engine to it's best, but in all fairness an oscillating 'V' twin isn't probably the most attractive of engines so your're possibly not making the best of the opportunity.
Just as a suggestion I think a Hemmens Lady Jayne hull with a Monahans 'Sparrow' plant would be an excellent combination and give you a beautiful model to enjoy looking at both on the shelf and on the water. The Lady Jayne is a lovely model and with a fibre glass hull is a straightforward build and you have good open space to fit and display the steam plant. The 'Sparrow' is a small twin piston valve engine, which is very attractive to look at but still maintains the convenience of being able to operate from a single channel. Having an in line crank with two piston rods and two valve rods makes for an interesting engine which is conservative with steam and easy to operate.
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Topic: Hemmens kits and engines (Read 6104 times)