Model Boat Mayhem

The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Steam => Topic started by: mbhilotra on July 28, 2008, 10:40:14 am

Title: Beginner
Post by: mbhilotra on July 28, 2008, 10:40:14 am

Hi all,

Can somebody please tell me which would be the best steam boat & the best steam engine for a beginner, steam plant preference is gas fired

Regards all & thanks in advance. All help will be highly appreciated

Mukesh

Title: Re: Beginner
Post by: Bunkerbarge on July 28, 2008, 12:19:25 pm

Hi Mukesh and welcome to the forum.  Unfortunately steam for model boats is a huge subject and although we can point you in the direction of certain plant and models you are going to have to do some research for yourself and make some decisions before heading down the path of deciding what you want to build. 

No-one can tell you what is the best until we know what type of model you want so your first decision is do you want a launch, a tug, a cargo ship etc..etc...  Then you have to decide how big you want it and that will be dictated by storage space and carrying ability etc..

From those decisions you will then have an idea of what your power requirements would be and then you will have an idea of how big a steam plant you need.  The big decisions there are where do you want to draw the balance of complexity against ease of use and remember that for complete RC operation of the engine on one channel you need at least a double acting twin cylinder engine.  Then do you want automatic feed, automatic burner control, etc.. etc...

I would start off with what type and size of model you are interested in and we can go on from there. 

Title: Re: Beginner
Post by: kno3 on July 28, 2008, 02:08:02 pm

That depends on how much money you can spend. Stem engines tend to be an expensive hobby.

i'd say a minimal budget would be about 200 Euro, for that little Midwest Heritage steam engine and a suitable boat. It isn't much, a very simple engine, but it works.
Engine:
http://www.midwestproducts.com/item_detail.asp?item_id=109
Boats:
http://www.midwestproducts.com/catalog_sa1.asp?srch_grp_id=12&sa1_id=34&sa2_id=21

The nicer and more complex engines cost around 500 and more.

Title: Re: Beginner
Post by: Martin (Admin) on July 28, 2008, 02:58:44 pm

Just doing a quick search comes back with:

http://www.monahansteammodels.com/

http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/steam_engines.html

http://www.ministeam.com/acatalog/Marine_Engines.html

http://www.loyalhannadockyard.com/Saito.htm

http://www.harbormodels.com/Harbormain/Templates/m32-steamengines.htm

http://www.hobbycentre.com.au/SAITOE07.html

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UK-SPECIAL-NEW-D52-MARINE-TOY-STEAM-ENGINE-S-H-FREE_W0QQitemZ230255326928QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item230255326928

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Wilesco-New-boat-out-African-Queen-Limited-edition_W0QQitemZ150193439051QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item150193439051

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Graupner-twin-cylinder-live-steam-boat-engine-boiler_W0QQitemZ150273778239QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item150273778239

Title: Re: Beginner
Post by: mogogear on July 30, 2008, 10:22:54 pm

If this one was listed in the above _apologize- But I heartily recommend a twin much like a Stuart Turner D10 but at a much lower cost

A Graham Industries TVR1A

http://www.grahamind.com/ (http://www.grahamind.com/)

Excellent instructions to build- all machined, comes with small tools - the works. And at a great price- about $250 USD! Some mates of mine on the Un- official Mamod forums have built it and run it and highly recommend it for boats around a  meter long and then some.


Here is a link to the build post by a friend in Cardiff- Mooseman

http://modelsteam.myfreeforum.org/about11469.html (http://modelsteam.myfreeforum.org/about11469.html)

There is some video of it running as well