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[graygray]

 Hi all am new to the steam world after going to the Dorset steam fair for the whole week, I have been looking at the Krick Launches the boat price is ok , But looking at the price of a new gas steam engine and boiler are a bit out of my price range , So what i like to no is any one out there no as to where i could pick up and good secondhand engine and boiler , I would be willing to buy a complete boat if the price is right its does not have the be a Krick launcher , I can do most of the work my self . So if any one could point me in the right direction i would be very helpful , I have read lots on the net and its all a mind field to me lol 

[Bunkerbarge]

First of all you are in good company here, there are plenty of members willing and able to answer any questions that you may have on steam related issues.

Secondly a relatively cheap way of getting a plant together is buy a Graham industries TVR1A engine and a Macsteam boiler.  The engine you can buy as a kit so the cost is very reasponable and the boiler you can buy bare so you can collect the fittings over time and lag the shell yourself.

An alternative is to keep an eye open for second hand units which occassionally come up on the likes of eBay so it's well worth watching for one there.  If you are lucky you can get a complete plant for a reasonable price with all the auxilliaries such as gas tanks, seperators etc..etc..

[Prophet]

Hey Graygray welcome to the group

first time in steam is always a good thing, its nice to look at them fancy engines the bigger the more impressive and also the more work it requires to keep running i would love to say i know something about steam but i don't i know how boilers work as in the past during uni i worked weekends in a factory that had a huge steam boiler and thats as much of my knowledge i have is how that worked.

but i have a few suggestions if your budgets low this is something i have been considering over recent years is weather to stop and save up to 2 grand for a large engine and Launcher or go for something a bit more sensible so heres my suggestion.... everything brand new total cost £200 for the whole thing!
Engine
http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/midwest-model-iv-steam-engine.html
Boat
http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/midwest-fantail-launch.html

now i appreciate its not as glorious to look at, as some of the boats you have had in mind, but i do believe as a beginner in any form of hobby should start small and work there way up, with the more experience you gather, make your mistakes on a small less expensive engine if you manage to kill it, its also cheaper to replace.

but at the end of the day no one will think any less of you or the boat you use all steam engines are unique and are a lot of fun to use and learn on, honestly i find the small ones just as impressive on the water as a big one.

hope this might help you let us know how you get on 

[HS93 (RIP)]

Hey Graygray welcome to the group

first time in steam is always a good thing, its nice to look at them fancy engines the bigger the more impressive and also the more work it requires to keep running i would love to say i know something about steam but i don't i know how boilers work as in the past during uni i worked weekends in a factory that had a huge steam boiler and thats as much of my knowledge i have is how that worked.

but i have a few suggestions if your budgets low this is something i have been considering over recent years is weather to stop and save up to 2 grand for a large engine and Launcher or go for something a bit more sensible so heres my suggestion.... everything brand new total cost £200 for the whole thing!
Engine
http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/midwest-model-iv-steam-engine.html
Boat
http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/midwest-fantail-launch.html

now i appreciate its not as glorious to look at, as some of the boats you have had in mind, but i do believe as a beginner in any form of hobby should start small and work there way up, with the more experience you gather, make your mistakes on a small less expensive engine if you manage to kill it, its also cheaper to replace.

but at the end of the day no one will think any less of you or the boat you use all steam engines are unique and are a lot of fun to use and learn on, honestly i find the small ones just as impressive on the water as a big one.

hope this might help you let us know how you get on 

Hi Prophet  I didn't know you where in to steam as well are you running one of the midwest plants ?

Peter

[Prophet]

No i don't run steam ( god knows i want to ) i have been fascinated by steam engines for as long as i can remember but its purely the cost of the initial purchase thats always held me back its hard for anyone to spend 2 grand or more on a large engine and a suitable boat, you find its people that are either retired or quite well off, that own these expensive engines there are other younger people who do to but at the sacrifice of other things which i personally believe are more important then a boat.

i have a friend who recommended me to these types of 'starter' engines i have also seen one running at a recent boat clubs show back in march this year it was a Nice little engine and the boat does go at a rate of knots (no pun intended  )

for me when i have finished my current project list i will be looking to purchase one myself it will be a nice learning curve into steam giving  me the experience i lack to progress into the larger engines, my ultimate goal would be a large engine in a steam launcher with twin cabins all wood high polished finish, and the other would be a true Clyde Puffer with a working steam engine. but until then i would be happy to buy one and get started , like i said any steam engine is a good engine regardless of size!

[Prophet]

Im not sure if Martin or one of the admins could copy this bit of the post to make a 2nd entry as a seperate topic.

I do own a steam boat but not in the same sence as what others here whould think, many years ago when i first started learning the skills of GPR i decided the only real way to learn was to build a boat from GPR so i looked at suitable engines to power a small boat (15cms in length) i found all sorts of micro motors etc but i felt that something else wan needed, ( more on that in a moment)

I first looked around the shops a for suitable kit that i could mod it, plenty of them but i came across a plastic bath toy boat froma cheap shop the hull was quite good for the application so i brought it £1 bargin, took it home, now no one laugh this was the first boat i every built and more so the first grp moulded boat i ever made...

got the boat home took a box and mounted the plastic hull of the boat i just brough in it, i then processed to pour in 4kg of mixed up plaster... at a cost of £10 getting expencive now,..
next let it set ( took 9 days!!) once dry flipped my mould up and removed the plastic boat which i cleaned off and was good as new,

next up was making the boat i took the mould and procedded to cut some strips of matting and placed them in the mould and then using a brush painted the resin over the matting i did this twice so it was pretty thick and heavy. i used some fastglas from halfords £20 for a 5kg pack it was the smallest they had there.

2 coats of matting and resin dried in about 30 mins and i procedded to pop the gpf hull out of the mould.. and whooops! i didnt know i had to use a realase agent so in removing the hull i had to destoy that mould 

after popping out the new hull it needed a clean up nothing major.
ok engine time.. i remember back in school the process for 'flash steam' and looked around for systems of a flash steam boiler and came across an old method of creating flash steam nick named 'pop pop boats' or put put boats, apparently and old school method for making an old tobacco tin into a boat used by the scouts as far back as they can remember.

so next job was to  look for an engine, i never found one separably only in tin boats that you had to purchase, so i built my own engine. using 5mm copper tubing i neaded the metal into a few coils and then added some lengths as the entry and exit points.

i drilled a few holes in the back of the boat and mounted the engine place with some resin and made a stand for the fuel source, which would be a tea candle.

next up i made a hull deck and a superstructure of a type ( remember this is my first boat i ever built so it wasn't going to look pretty) i gpr the superstructure and deck and painted it.

put it in the bath and lit a candle and waited .. and waited.. about 2 mins went buy and sudden it burst to life pop pop pop pop and the boat thrusted forward! bingo my first ever steam engine boat..

And now some pics of it be kind it was the first boat i ever built!







and thats as far as i have ever come to owning a steam powered boat but one day 

 

[gondolier88]

If you have the skills you can always make a boiler or an engine and then buy the other depending upon what skills you have.

There are also kits of boilers and ready machined castings available should you not have the manufacturing facilities but thave the engineering know how to put them together.

Your other avenue is to keep your ear to the ground and trawl ebay daily, look through the ad's in Model Engineer, Engineering In Miniature, Model Boats magazines etc.

I would completely recommend the Krick Victoria- throw every bit of woodwork that comes with the kit, it's poor qaulity and doesn't look anythng like a vintage steam launch as Krick claim- the hull however is very pretty, good qaulity moulding in ABS- lending itself very nicely to glueing a layer of planking inside representing hull planking- quite a few of us have done this successfully.

Or you could go a really cheap, very interesting and rewarding route regarding the hull and buy plans for a plank on frame hull, or, again if you have the skills, you can design your own POF model .

Greg

[steamboatmodel]

Hey Graygray welcome to the group
first time in steam is always a good thing, its nice to look at them fancy engines the bigger the more impressive and also the more work it requires to keep running i would love to say i know something about steam but i don't i know how boilers work as in the past during uni i worked weekends in a factory that had a huge steam boiler and thats as much of my knowledge i have is how that worked.
but i have a few suggestions if your budgets low this is something i have been considering over recent years is weather to stop and save up to 2 grand for a large engine and Launcher or go for something a bit more sensible so heres my suggestion.... everything brand new total cost £200 for the whole thing!
Engine
http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/midwest-model-iv-steam-engine.html
Boat
http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/midwest-fantail-launch.html
now i appreciate its not as glorious to look at, as some of the boats you have had in mind, but i do believe as a beginner in any form of hobby should start small and work there way up, with the more experience you gather, make your mistakes on a small less expensive engine if you manage to kill it, its also cheaper to replace.
but at the end of the day no one will think any less of you or the boat you use all steam engines are unique and are a lot of fun to use and learn on, honestly i find the small ones just as impressive on the water as a big one.
hope this might help you let us know how you get on 

Midwest is going out of the model kit business so if you want any of there kit buy them now!
They do have the Elliott Bay Steam Launch on Sale for $90 USD. for now,
http://shopmidwestproducts.com/-strse-165/Elliott-Bay-Steam-Launch/Detail.bok
I don't see any of the Boiler/engines listed on there site so you may have to make one or find some place that has one in stock.
I think that the Graham industries TVR1A engine and a Macsteam boiler. or a PM Research engine might be a good start.
Regards,
Gerald.

[kiwimodeller]

The American Graham and PM Research engine kits are definitely the best priced engines on the market at the moment and when teamed up with a good boiler from Maccsteam or other UK supplier will power quite a big hull. Even the single cylinder engine from Graham will do the job well and it is only US$119 plus postage from http://www.grahamind.com/vr1a.html.  PM also do a single cylinder at only US$48. Single cylinder engines are not self starting but are still fine for simple installations. You could of course do it in stages to help the budget, buy an engine, build up the hull and then order a boiler at a later date. Hope this helps, Ian.

[Circlip]

Some "Paddleducks" style are being made at the moment to a high quality will become available on the "Flee" in the not too distant future. NOT made by Boggy, but of an equal level of craftsmanship.

  Regards  Ian.

[Mikasa]

Hi Circlip
           Have sent you a pm. Brian

[graygray]

Thanks all to have replied to my post there are a few ways to go on this ,will keep you all posted as to what route i will take .

[steamboatmodel]

Some "Paddleducks" style are being made at the moment to a high quality will become available on the "Flee" in the not too distant future. NOT made by Boggy, but of an equal level of craftsmanship.

  Regards  Ian.

Ian you will have to let us know when.
Regards,
Gerald.

[Circlip]

Trust you both received my PM's??

  Regards  Ian.

[steamboatmodel]

Trust you both received my PM's??

  Regards  Ian.

Yes received them this morning,
Thanks,
Gerald.