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[KNO3]

A friend started building a 19th century Romanian gunboat named Rahova (it could also be called Smârdan or Opanez, since these were identical sister ships). It was a British made gunboat (by the thames Iron Works and Shipbuilding Co.), looking like this:


The plan is by arch. D. Bucur




To cut a long story short, my friend started work on the hull, built the frame (he had the keel and ribs laser-cut from plywood) and planked it with wood. It still needs a deck and everything else. We'll see if he can be bothered to post a few pictures of his ship build here.


He also bought a Graham TVR1A which he assembled, then asked me to build the steam plant for him.


This time I'm building it on a base made of 2 aluminium L-shaped bars, which is an easier method than bending a base plate from flat sheet metal. The boiler is a Saito, the burner is from Maccsteam. Here's what it looks like so far:

[xrad]

I love the plan and the power unit is very nice. I built a Graham unit a few years back. Very nice machined kit (BB one). Runs like a champ and easy to set up.  needs about 20 psi to run well, which is perfect for the Saito boilers.  I only wish that more parts were stainless or brass instead of aluminum. I emailed Graham but never got a response. Actually, I never got any replies from any of my questions sent to the owner.  Even when purchasing a unit, it was like pulling teeth to get an acknowledgement of my purchase.
 
This looks like a GREAT project. keep the pics coming!!

[logoman]

Nice job of fitting the sight glass. Why did you paint the boiler ?

[KNO3]

Because I think a painted boiler looks better than a polished brass one. Somehow less toy-like.

[Landlocked]

Looks great!

Wish I had though of the L-bars!

Is the funnel made up of stock fittings or did you do some bending (and how?).  I need to put a kink in Sabino's.




Landlocked

[KNO3]

Hi, those are stock copper fittings. It just happened that they fit snugly (with the wider part) into the boiler flue. I will probably cut 2 slots into the bottom one to accommodate the superheater pipe (which will actually be a steam drier, just one U shape, because the engine has rubber o-rings on the pistons which probably wouldn't like a very high steam temperature).

[hammer]

By the look of them 22mm 45% elbows ??

[Geoff]

Looks good,but may I sugguest you lag the boiler with insulation (plumbers mat is good for this) then plank in mahogany with brass bands  which will look really nice. It also has the considerable benefit of keeping the heat in the boiler and away from the model structure, and thereby improving steam raising capacity.
 
Looks good
 
Regards
 
Geoff

[derekwarner]

Hi KNO3........I was not aware that Mr Saito was producing a new range of boilers ........"The boiler is a Saito" .......any detail available?.........Derek

[KNO3]

Derek, the boiler is a Saito B2E, but it's been modified by me previously. It's quite an old boiler and currently out of production.
I have added a water gauge on silver soldered bushings (because like all Saitos it had none) and painted it with VHT paint.

Geoff, thanks for the suggestion. I will eventually add boiler lagging, but after I finish the steam pipes and the other accessories.

[KNO3]

Just to complete this topic, here are some pictures of the finished steam plant. The exhaust is made with a flexible connection to allow more options when installing it in the hull. It can me made with pipe when the final position of the exhaust is established.








Insulating the boiler and pipework will be done by the owner of the steam plant, but he has yet to finish the boat it is meant for. So far he has only made the wooden hull.