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Hi K2. Thanks. I'll use those castings. Don't know for what yest. vr Bob

So, one final wrap up. The Stuart 5a is a casting kit only. There is no bar stock or fasteners included. These are the leftover parts I did not use. The big end brasses and spilt bearings are leftover due to a somewhat bad experience building a Stuart #4. These bronze castings are very...

Thanks K2. This boiler is a serious project. Going to put a lot of brain cells on this.

Going to be watching this build closely. vr Bob

Hi Steamchick. Thanks for all this. The boiler for the 5a is rather large, compared to a Guage 1 loco. I won't be running this engine in public on a boiler. But I will build one eventually. Before doing the full up 5a boiler, I plan to do a small test boiler. Want to make sure correct...

Thanks Scott. The plan is on order.

Thanks fellas. Trying to figure out a boiler for this. At least some kind of test boiler. vr bs

Thank fellas. Well, this is it. Last of the assembly. Get this 5a running on air today. The plan does not specifically show a locking nut for the shifter arm. There is one part on the plan that did not have a clear purpose. Maybe it was the locking nut, I just could not figure out how it...

Hi GreenTwin. Thanks. Time to start final assembly. First take everything apart and clean in acetone. Mask and paint. This #5a is in gloss black. Stuart traditionally uses an olive drab green for the upper part of the engine and black for the base. I think gloss black looks great. Start...

Almost done with the #5a. The shifting arm is held in place by a clamping nut and “T” nut. The clamping nut is a brass ball, either ½” or 9/16” which is what I had on hand. Face the ball and tap a blind 10 x 32 hole. The “T” nut is not clearly specified in the plan, so I just made this one...

The shift arm is another built up and machined out part. Start by turning a hub and laying out the arm. The shift arm has a nice taper and rounded portion for the clamping nut. Set up a little jig to mill the taper. Mill the taper on one side, then flip over and do the other side...

The rest of the linkage parts or brass and silver solder fabrications. None of them are particularly difficult. Just have to get them all done. The reach arms are 3 pieces. Two arms are required. The spigots on the boss ends are rather under sized. When the final assembly is drilled out the...

Hi John: I built a #4 couple years ago and had the same issue. I recalculated the valve events. I don't think cast iron soft solders. It silver solders tho. vr Bob

The radius link is a very interesting part to make. My son and I have learned a CAD software for use on his 3D printer. FreeCad is the software we use. It’s a free download, although the author asks for a donation. There are 100’s of FreeCad tutorial videos on YouTube. A handy feature of FreeCad...

The eccentric rods are a 2-piece brass fabrication. It’s possible to whittle them from solid, but that’s kind of wasteful. Mill out the rod arm and saw the slot for the radius link. The cylindrical end of the rod arm will eventually become the spigot to match the eccentric strap. Make that...

I bet those rods are threaded with British Association (BA) threads on both ends. Unless you have BA dies, you'll have to change out a number of other parts. Maybe contact Stuart to see if they have just the replacement shafts. Andrew at the sales email is a good guy, he'll get back to you.

Grade 303 is the best for machinability. It is available "ground and polished" from McMaster Carr. Very precise in dimension and smooth. Won't wear out packing.

The eccentric straps are cast iron bar stock fabrications. Cut and mill two slabs to final thickness. Clamp both pieces on the mill table and machine together. Square the slabs to final width, but extra in height. Eventually the slabs are sawn in half, so leave some extra stock. Saw the...

Time to machine the Stevenson eccentrics using the custom stub mandrel from last time. Chuck the stub mandrel in the four-jaw and center one of the eccentric lobe centers. Fix the eccentric blank to the stub a screw and washer. Turn the first eccentric to final dimension. The key in the...

Super nice work. From your descriptions and photos I think I could take this project on. The method you used for the crank answered a lot of questions.