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[HS93 (RIP)]

At last there back in production.

http://www.stuartmodels.com/news.cfm/archid/51

Peter

[bogstandard]

Ok, but look at the price - £800+, and it looks abysmal, for that sort of money it should be all bells and whistles.
To quote them 'The plant is suitable for powering small steam launches of approximately 3 feet length', if that is the case the smaller 'Cheddar' engines will have trouble turning over by themselves. I have an original puffin engine made from investment castings and that would push a boat of 4' 6" along quite happily.
Looks like Stuart have shot themselves in the foot with this one, but I suppose some people with too much money and not enough sense will go out and buy it, just for the boast factor that they have a Stuart steam plant.

John

[Circlip]

    It doesn't look bad for a complete 'BRITISH?' steam plant when you compare it with others. Loved your build
    on your engines, but did you do a true cost evaluation for the extra engines you built? Once took SWMBO to
    a model show in Bradford years ago and had to drag her into a quiet corner and explain to her that (at that time)
    you couldn't buy horses for a model set of 'Gallopers' - 'Where did you buy them?' and asking a guy 'How much is
    the clock you made worth?'   We never cost our enjoyment time into the equation. When I have played h3ll
    about the price of spares -( ever bought a new armature for a Bosch tool? - usually half the cost of a complete
    new tool) SWM tellls me I am working with a victorian attitude, but I KNOW what it costs to make them.
      How much did your lathe and mill cost? But more to the point over the years how many 'scrappers' did you
    make to acheive your current superb standard? Looking at all the RTR goods on the market I often wonder
    where it's all gone wrong especially with statements like 'For just a liitle more than pocket money' - sales spiel
    for a D/F powered FOAM jet -  £150? R/C and Lipo extra.   Oh to be a kid nowadays.

[bogstandard]

Have a look here and see if you are getting £200 more worth of value by going for the Stuart one, other than the name.
http://www.acs-engineering.co.uk/id21.htm
BTW, my lathe and miller together cost less than the Stuart setup when I first bought them, the lathe is now worth double what I paid for it and the miller about the same price. My making of engines pays for my workshop and its contents and I know how much (or little) work goes into making these engines, and mine are much better specified, and how much the raw material costs are, and my time has been included in the equation, it is a lot more efficient to make 6 rather than 1. It is not my fault that people don't see a good deal when they see it, or are unwilling to purchase a seperate boiler from somewhere else.

John

[kayem]

Have a look here and see if you are getting £200 more worth of value by going for the Stuart one, other than the name.
http://www.acs-engineering.co.uk/id21.htm

John

You're right about Sandy's engines, and you won't find anything better. The only problem is the six months wait after you place an order, that's roughly what it was last time I spoke to him, but they are worth waiting for.

[Circlip]

     With ref to effectiveness of making 6 as opposed to 1 engine I thought I had covered this with reference to
      armatures? In terms of production engineering the words Pin & Egg spring to mind, and yes my lathe/miller
     should be worth far more than I paid for them but as we all know the only people cultivating even basic
     manual skills are ourselves so when it comes time to try to cash in on my investment of my workshop machinery
     I won't be surprised when I don't get what I think it should be worth. Far from trying to criticize your comments
     you have only to look at the post on the MH thread by bbdave on Aug 4th to see that a prospective steam
     enthusiast could be lost forever. Didn't go to the show he mentions or know the whole background to his
     problems but would only say that the impression given is sheer  stupidity on the part of the people he spoke
     to that regarded him as an outcast cos he had got the 'wrong' steamplant. I suppose ALL of the ST units will
     be overpriced if you try to break the costs down but some people will remember the name that although
     I thought YEARS ago were overpriced, is one that used to be trusted. We take the instancy of web searches
     for granted but if you don't know where to go or who to ask where do you start. The string that led me to
     Mayhem was not models but RTTL - full size ones.

[livesteam]

Hey there!
considering buying a Puffin.
I don't think it's too expensive compared to other oscillators (i.e. John Hemmens Richmond). I made good experiences with a Cheddar Pintail and I guess this Puffin is exactly the same as fomer Cheddar Puffin has been. Arguments?

[gondolier88]

I made good experiences with a Cheddar Pintail and I guess this Puffin is exactly the same as fomer Cheddar Puffin has been. Arguments?

Hi,

Simply, no. They are the same dimensions, however they have a completely different casting set.

I still havn't seen one of these in the flesh, they do look good quality though, but pound for pound not worth the money they are asking.

Their V-twin oscillatoe casting set is reasonable value and a good engine if you have machining facilities.

Greg

[HS93 (RIP)]

I thought they where expensive then I looked at what else was available and at the last prices of cheddar plants and allowing for inflation and if cheddar where making them now there would prob be little difference. they don't wear out if treated correctly ( odd o ring brings them back to new) just look at the number of people who have done re build paints on hear and the nice plant they get, I have only seen one of the newStuart versions but it is very very close to the old Cheddar standard if not slightly better due to more modern cnc production. as livesteam has said look what else is available , or you could spend a few grand on a lathe and tooling and have the skills and build your own.

PS the skills don't come cheap to replacate a Stuart plant.

Peter

[geoff p]

I don't agree that Stuart are expensive - my wife bought me a set of 10V castings for Christmas, 1972 (or was it 1973?) and they were 30 pounds then, about one-week's wages.  At todays price of 73 pounds, it would be 'only' 3/4 of a week's pension or a fraction of 'average' pay.

I machined that engine on an ancient Round Bed Drummond lathe using lots of ingenuity.  (The only extra help I had was lapping the port-face.) 

Machine tools do not need to cost thousands of pounds, dollars or sheckels.  I currently use a tiny Chinese-made lathe (150 quid) and a bench drill (50 quid), to which I have added an X-Y-slides-come-vice (about 30 quid) to do sort-of milling.

The engine I'm currently working-on, a vaguely Westbury-style paddle-engine, is being machined entirely on these two machines.  The castings for the engine are also home-made, in aluminium, in a charcoal (carbon-neutral) furnace in my backyard.

Geoff

[nhp651]

I agree.......you pay for quality, and they are not at telephone number prices that others are that I could mention.
also, they are IMHO far better quality than the brass copies that a certain German manufacturer makes, and mass produces.

[livesteam]

I thought they where expensive then I looked at what else was available and at the last prices of cheddar plants and allowing for inflation and if cheddar where making them now there would prob be little difference.
Peter

I completely agree.

they are IMHO far better quality than the brass copies that a certain German manufacturer makes, and mass produces.

Well, I had my experiences with this brass stuff... It runned well for a few hours but then soon started to "wear out".  So thats why I am looking for an alternative now.
The oscillator from Anton or John hemmens would be an option, but in my opinion the Puffin looks just neater.
Regards
Kaspar