Model Boat Mayhem
The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Steam => Topic started by: hdserv on May 25, 2011, 05:55:27 pm
-
I have just got a 40" steam tug hull and need to make a steam engine for it should I make the Stuart D10 or the Stuart twin oscillator I am not the best engineer being self taught
Jim
-
The oscillator would be better suited to a hull that size.
Alternatively, you could consider the Gage TVR1A engine kit, which only needs assembling and then running in, with no machining involved.
Neil
-
already have the Gage TVR1A that going into another boat fancied making an engine from kit of parts
Jim
-
In that case the oscillator will do the job for sure.
-
I have a Gage engine from Graham Industries and think it is great but for a nice broad tug hull like this I would be buying the PM Research V twin oscillator kit. A lot cheaper than the Stuart and well capable of doing the job. It is 1/2" bore and 3/4" stroke and has a built in throttle and reversing valve on the front so is controlled by just one servo. Best place to get one is the Ebay store of John Coleman http://stores.ebay.com/The-Steam-Chest. Look on the second page of steam engine kits for the PM8 Marine Engine. O K it does not give you any experience of machining as it is ready to assemble but you could play around with some mods. I personally do not like the look of the ribbed cylinder covers so next time I will try making up a smooth cover. I installed one for a friend in a 44" by 9" Kingston Mouldings Steam Yacht Tender hull and fitted a 70mm four blade prop. It gets along really well and probably could have swung a bigger prop still. Hope my 5 cents worth helps. Cheers, Ian.
-
Hi, this is great little engine, its onYoutube, very powerful,!!! and theres a nice one for sale on Ebay looks OK to me,
-
thank for the advice given have bought the pm research twin oscillator
Jim
-
Look forward to seeing your posts as you assemble and install it then Jim. All good advice comes at a cost and this time the cost is having to post some photos! Seriously though, I am sure you will be happy with it, everyone I know of who has bought one has been impressed with the performance. A while back Nick Monahan gave us all some good advice which was that once the engine is well run in we should occaisionally mix some graphite powder in with the steam oil and run it through the engine. I have tried this and it seems to make the engine run better and to have fewer steam leaks. Cheers, Ian.
-
Well I order the engine on 27 05 2011 ups notified me that it was collected on th 27th really great service from PM research I will be building the Christiaan Bruning from Deans Marine will kept posting when I start building I am a slow builder
Jim
-
the best engineers in the world were self taught :-))
-
Just receive my PM research engine kit I order it on 27/05/2011 arrived into English customs on 31/05/2011 had to wait tilll 12 June to be cleared long wait will open box tomorrow and take some photo's
Jim
-
well have open the box see pictures next job to degrease the engine and clean up the castings and then paint it
(http://s3.postimage.org/1usmsrf2c/002.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/1usmsrf2c/)
(http://s3.postimage.org/1usrrdgjo/003.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/1usrrdgjo/)
(http://s3.postimage.org/1utd9cyys/005.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/1utd9cyys/)
(http://s3.postimage.org/1utlj1pfo/006.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/1utlj1pfo/)
-
Hi There,
Just ordered one of these from USA, I guess from your post that I have a bit of a wait now for customs to do their stuff. Did you have to pay any import tax etc? I also got some of the pipe and fittings to go with the engine, I think they look quite realistic compared to some UK manufactured ones.
Best Wishes,
Nick :-)) :-)) :-))
-
had to pay about £22.00 tax
parcel force will send you a letter asking for payment before they will deliver
Have just painted my engine dark Green
when i assemble the engine do you think I should use graphite powder or wait intill the engine is run in and then use some graphite powder to make the engine run smooth
-
I have just had a shipment of engines arrive from Graham in the USA. Four days to get from the middle of America to New Zealand, eight days for Customs to check it and let me know what taxes I had to pay. I paid same day by credit card and then it still took four more days for the Post Office to get it to me! As for the graphite treatment wait until it is well run in before doing this. You need the parts to wear in together a little to get everything settled down and the graphite would stop this happening. In my opinion these engines are very good value for money and the range of fittings they make are very neat and again good value. Look forward to seeing your engine and Nicks up and running and then we can have a couple more threads as they are put in boats. Long live steam!! Cheers, Ian.
-
I am considering getting the boiler kit made by PM research, I think it really looks the part, I can just picture it in an African Queen, along with Humphrey Bogart, Cathrine Hepburn and a load of gin! It (the boiler) goes really well with the style of fittings he supplies to go with it. Looks like I have the next project for when Victoria is finished. :-)) :-))
(http://s2.postimage.org/t0oilv1g/Boiler.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/t0oilv1g/)
-
It is me again have just built the pm research twin engine have also built a TVR1A in the passed
the pm is a easy build and easy to set up
we all have our own way to do things the sleeve bearing I put in the freezer oven night and warmed up the base casting when fitting the bearing they slid in quite easily
I fitted the crank to the crank shaft making sure that that shaft end was flush with the crank before putting the fitting the shaft to the base casting
well the engine had no tight spots and ran on compress air first time
-
The use of pipe freeze gas is another way of freezing a bush. Its quicker than a freezer but does cost money.
John.
-
Nick, I like the look of the PM boiler but have you checked out the dimensions, particularly height? I got the impression from their advertising that this was more of an industrial workshop boiler rather than a marine one. I would be a little concerned about being top heavy. The PM V twin that I installed for a friend is running on a 4" diameter by 7" tall (to the top of the boiler, not the funnel) centre flue boiler which I had made locally and that is more than adequate. Mike at Maccsteam has a page on his website explaining why a vertical is not as efficient as a horizontal boiler so you have to add an allowance for this but he does make verticals which I am sure would be more than adequate. Keep us informed of progress with both. Cheers, Ian.
-
Hi Kiwi, the boiler is 12 5/8 high, about 4 inches of that is chimney, so I should be OK, and John at The Steamchest tells me quite a few of them have successfully been put in open launches. I have one of Mike Abbots horizontal boilers, cracking bit of kit, he is certainly a master of his craft. I just like the look of the PM Research one, it has, shall we say, atmosphere. :-)) :-))
-
how big a boat is the boiler going in ?
Peter
-
I was thinking of something about 3 ft long and about 10 inches beam, wood, clinker built. I will have to polish up my joinery skills to do it, failing that, if I chicken out of clinker built, a glassfibre hull from kingston mouldings, I think they do an African Queen, based as near as possible on the one in the film. :-)) :-))
-
Hi Nick, I agree the PM boiler has "atmosphere", just not sure that it is marine atmosphere but I will be very pleased if you give it a try first, then if it dores work out well I can order one from John. As for hulls, if you decide to go the fiberglass way Robin at Kingston does do an African Queen but he also does the Vic Smeed designed River Queen. African Queen is a smooth sided hull whereas River Queen is clinker. If these turn out to be a bit small which I suspect they will then Models by Design do the Solent which is a bit bigger (42"?) open launch along the same lines. My River Queen only needs the small Graham Industries VR1A single cylinder engine to push it along at better than scale speed. With the PM V Twin my experience has been that you could easily look at something in the 42" to 48" size range. Cheers, Ian.
-
well had my pm run on compressed air seems to be quite powerful on full throttle can't stop it when i hold crankshaft between my fingers
-
It will get better still as it gets run in more, they go very well. I fitted a 70mm four blade prop behind the one I installed and I believe I could have gone bigger still, perhaps 75 or 80mm. Looking forward to the photos of fitting both of these in boats. Cheers, Ian.
-
Hi Kiwi, how do you control speed on VR1A, I believe single cylinder engines are difficult to control. or do you use single channel for rudder only, and leave the engine to get on with it?
Regards,
Nick :-))
-
I find just the opposite Nick. I have an inline throttle valve between the boiler and the engine. These days I get them from Clevedon Steam but I think the one in River Queen came from Bruce Engineering. Clevedon have just come out with a nifty new setup of lubricator and throttle all in one especially for the TVR1A. Jerry even makes left and right versions for engines assembled the usual way or engines with the cylinders reversed to put the pipes on the other side. The VR1A will slow right down to a steady tick over but of course you do not want it to stop so I set the idle with the trim on the transmitter. Although the engine has reversing gear I do not use it because of the risk of the engine stopping. I use a reversable pitch prop instead. I can have the prop in neutral and the engine idling and the boat not moving. Then I bring the revs up and put the prop in to forward or reverse and it takes off really smoothly. Cheers, Ian.
-
Hi Folks, PM engine finally arrived, took 4 days to get to UK and 2 weeks clearing customs, £21 import vat, Parcelfarce also took £8 'handling charge'. It seems so unfair that you can import enough fags to start a bronchitis epidemic, and pay no duty, but a little model steam engine attracts extra duty. Anyway, moan over I am most pleased with it, and the steam fittings are excellent and all good value for money. The main casting is now painted a nice crimson, just a bit of cleaning up to do, hands are a bit shaky and painting was never one of my favorite tasks, I usually get more paint on me than on the job. I pressed the sleeve bearings in with a clamp and a couple of aluminium blocks, meant to use the boiling and freezing method, but forgot to do it before painting and didn't want to boil off my paintwork. In the absence of a 0.1875 reamer, I used a sharp, new 4.8mm drill, turned by hand as the shaft seemed to be an interference fit and needed easing, I now have a nice running fit with inly about 6 thou play (checked with a dial gauge). I have ordered some hex bolts for the throttle securing plate as when the engine goes into a boat, it will be easier to adjust with a spanner, rather than try to get in with a screwdriver. John Coleman from PM is really helpfull, and will happily answer any questions. Due to the lack of a compressed air supply, I will be running in on steam right from the start.Cant wait to get it going, I may even put it in my Victoria instead of the little SVS engine.
Cheers y'all
Nick :-)) :-)) :-))
(http://s4.postimage.org/1lu8fdzs4/Engine_frame_painted.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/1lu8fdzs4/)
-
Nick, if you do change engines and want to sell the SVS send me a PM. Robin at Kinston Mouldings reckons they are a good engine so I thought I would get one for a future project as I have three hulls underway at this moment. I believe they were made by Tony Green Steam Models and that his son was still operating the business so I tried emailing and then phoning but never got any reply. I see that just in the last week or two the Tony Green website has been taken down and there is just a notice saying that a new website is coming soon so maybe things will get sorted but as I say if you want to sell let me know. Thanks, Ian.
-
I ran my pm engine in on compressed air and ran it on steam for the first time today using on ran very well
-
I tried mine on compressed ait, and it would not work at all, I then connected it to a boiler at 40psi and it went like the clappers, it seems to be quite a powerfull engine. I am now deciding what to do with it, another launch, a tug, or a 50ft picket boat/admirals barge? :-)) :-)) :-))