Model Boat Mayhem
The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Steam => Topic started by: MONAHAN STEAM MODELS on February 06, 2010, 03:37:46 am
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So here's a project that Brian Marten and myself worked on together.
The boiler is one of Brian's Seekadett boilers with a few slight modifications made to the design by myself prior to Brian building it. The lagging on the boiler was done by our client. The Heron engines are a right and left hand mirrored set. This steam plant will be powering a 6 1/2" foot scale model of the S.S. Tahoe. The hull was built from brass sheet with all the plate details and millions of rivets all soldered together. I will do my best to take some photo's of his model next time he bring it to the shop.
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Absolutely stunning plant, I can't wait to see the model it's going to propel.
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mmmm. don't you just love the mirror reverse copper tube work O0 O0 O0.......all straight & vertical & horizontal & square...an absolute credit Nick...... :-)) ....Derek
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wooww ... :-)) :-)) great ++++,,,,,, will it be running with 2 waterpumps,,,
>Regards Bernhard
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Ahhh, I just love the simplicity of steam :o
Neil
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awesome! :-))
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Very impressive.. :-))
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That's a really great plant Nick! I especially like the mirror arrangement of the engines. The idea with the angle links for the reversing mechanism is good too, I'll remember it for one of my next projects.
How much does the whole plant weigh and what are the dimensions?
I was also wondering how the inside of the boiler is, seems to have a large return flue above the lower flue that carries the burner? Are they connected at the end and do they have Galloway tubes?
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Thanks guys!
Bernhard,
The steam plant is using two water pumps. The inputs and outputs are tied together with only one bypass valve on the single output line to the boiler. This makes adjusting the output much easier then trying to deal with two bypass valves. The bypass valve is on the starboard engine's pump.
Brian really did a fantastic job building the boiler. It's an impressive piece of engineering. He included both a super heater and a economizer coil or feed water heater in the upper return flue. You can see in the photos the single output line from the water pumps is plumbed right into the upper return flue (next to the sight glass) directly into the economized coil then out the forward end of the boiler into the clack valve.
Kno3,
The angled links really work nicely. I'll take some photos of a similar system I used in my steam launch "One Shot" and post them here. I'm didn't get a chance to weigh the steam plant myself but I can tell you that weight was a huge consideration for this project. The hull that it is going in is 6 1/2" feet long but very narrow for it's length. I want to say the beam is 7 inches or so? The draft is very shallow as well and despite the size of the vessel, the total displacement was very little. Since weight was a big factor, Brian's boiler was the obvious solution since they are great performers and very light weight compared to an all copper boiler. The large upper return flue does not have Galloway tubes like the lower main flue does. The upper return flue houses the super heating coil and the economizer coil. The two flues are connected internally by a single up comer.
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Just fabulous!!
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Beautiful Nick! You now with your expertise in scale steam I must say i'm looking forward to the day you start lining your engines paintwork too... :-))
Can't wait to see the model- was the original condensing or puffing?
Greg
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What an awesome plant! :-))
Can't wait to see the launch.
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As all have stated- Excellent work on a "team build" ...what is Brians boielr made of if not all copper? I think I have read about the different materials before- but cannot remember! :embarrassed:
Thanks again for sharing
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That really is awesome, bit of a "xxxxx" to polish though.
Andy
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Can someone point me to the design of a Simpling Valve please?
I want to be able to start my triple compounds from the bank without having to wade out in the pond.
Does anyone know?
Regards.
Neil
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The simplest way is to connect a thin steam pipe from the HP steam chest to the MP steam chest and have the valve of your choice en route to close it when not needed.
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Thanks Kno3,
That's just what I wanted.
Much obliged.Neil
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On second thoughts Kno3,
What is the Mp Steam Chest.
(Sorry for my tardiness, I've been in the human version of a butcher shop, (Hospital), for too long.)
Would it work on my 2 cyl and 3 cyl compounds, equally the same?
Thanks.
Neil.
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Neil, I understood you have a triple compound. So I meant to connect the high pressure steam chest to the second or medium pressure chest via a valve. No need to connect to the low pressure steam chest.
Should work the same on a 2 cylinder compound too.
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Hi Kno3,
I just worked it out as you posted your reply. (I got out of bed, as I couldn't sleep anyway, to answer you.)
How stupid of me. Sorry.
Read my signature, that's not for fun. Even though I have loved steam engines most of my life, it's only now that I have time to pursue the "habit".
This forum has been a terrific help.
Thank you to all.
On another thread, I posted a request for adhesives to be below the water and to replace(?) the adhesive of plywood. Any ideas? I don't like the idea of Araldite, why, I don't know. I think I need the adhesive to "run in between the de-lamination" then clamp. Araldite will be hard to remove when it has been squeezed out.
Do you know of any other preferable material, or am I being silly?
Thanks again.
Neil
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Sorry, can't really help with the adhesive. Cyanoacrylate might work (super glue).
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Neil - "West Systems" have an epoxy resin & hardner which is designed for full size boating & wood working & works equally well with model applications
It is also thin enough to be used as an external coating for wooden hulls with or without glass woven cloth or tissue - :-)) - Derek
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Thanks Derek.
I don't get on the pc every day. Sorry I didn't reply earlier.
Neil.
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I was wondering, after seeing so many fabulous plants, boats etc., wouldn't it be a good idea to have a "purpose made" place that members could post photos, especially photos of "really special" engines, boilers, plants, boats etc., like Nick's amazing plant above?
Just a thought. (I'll bet there is such a place, that I haven't found yet.) If not.....
Neil.
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Oh dear Neil- I suggested that ages ago and was shot down in a cloud of smoke!!!
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this post was started a long time ago to show nice steam projects of your own or you had seen
http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=3720.0
if it could be held at the top of the listing it could be used again..
Peter
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If we had purpose made places for every individual suggestion on Mayhem we would have hundreds of them and it would be a nightmare trying to find what you wanted amongst the huge numbers of headings we would end up with.
Just to clarify a point here as well, no-one is ever shot down in a cloud of smoke, we welcome and evaluate all suggestions for the way Mayhem looks but we don't necessarily have to implement every suggestion. We weigh it against the requirements of the other 4000 members to see if it is the right thing to do for everyone. It is also interesting to note just how enthusiastically suggestions are made for new headings but how quickly that enthusiasm evaporates when the heading is added and people can't be bothered to add to it any more so it ends up becoming another dead heading cluttering up the rest of the board.
Don't forget we also have the masterclass section for models of an exceptional standard however these have to be supported by a particularly informative and instructive build thread as well. Over the last couple of years the format we have seems to have worked particularly well and worked for most of the members most of the time.
As Peter quite rightly points out we could simply add some items to the thread we already have or even start a new similar one.
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Sorry for the long overdue update regarding this post but here are some recent pictures of the ship model that this steam plant is going into. The ship is the S.S. Tahoe which was built at a local shipyard in the San Francisco bay area then completely disassembled and hauled in pieces by Mules 160 miles over the Sierra Mountain range, then reassembled to operate on Lake Tahoe. The models hull is built from copper sheet which was then riveted and soldered together. When I get the next batch of photos I'll post them here too.
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Thats lovely Nick, a really nice model. I'm interested in the way you formed the copper plates as I would like to construct a model of SY Gondola using this method-one day!
By the way, I'm sure it's SS Tahoe that fellow mayhem member Oldiron works on.
Greg
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Hi Greg,
This model is actually being build by a customer of mine. I'm just posting pictures of his work since he's not a member on this forum.
I did sheet metal work for many years though, hand forming and building automobile car bodies from scratch. I would then metal finish the panels by hand so that no filler materials or very very little was needed before painting. I also used to hand form aluminum sheet metal panels for aircraft. It takes years to master the craft but I'd be happy to tell you what I know over the phone if you like?
Nick