Obsolete kits I did something about

[Jasonb]

This short video shows three replicas of Stuart Models that have long since been out of production, most for 90years.

On the left is the "Progress SH" (slidevale Horizontal), the drawings for this can be found in the book about the progress series of engines available from Tee Publications

In the middle is the "simplex" which was primerilly designed for use in pond boats, this was made using various images from the net and a few key dimensions given to me by someone with an original engine

On the right is the "11" or "One-One" this was done from a couple of photos and an old catalogue image that gave bore and stroke.

All were drawn up in metric and cut from the solid, no castings were hurt during their making although several parts like flywheels and cylinders are cut from CI bar. I did make a few slight alterations to suit my tastes.

 

[GreenTwin]

Fantastic save on the old models Jason.

We need more of that in this hobby for sure.

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[Richard Carlstedt]

Jason, Very effective way of preserving our steam heritage, all from solid.....,I Love it.
Thanks for sharing , and the work !
Rich

 

[Jasonb]

Thanks for the comments.

I've done quite a few like this over the last couple of years, being relatively "simple" engines they make a nice little project to do between the larger ones and I also enjoy the research and designing almost as much as the actual making.

Here is another one along the same lines of the Stuart Simplex and of a similar vintage, again would have been used in small boats probably with a flash steam boiler as well as running small "toys" It was available as just the engine or a complete boiler and plant for use in a hull upto 3ft length. You can't say I only like little engines as I increased the size of this one from the original 7/16" bore and stroke to a massive 16mm There were no drawings for this one so just used the old catalogue images and a few photos of an existing example

 

[GreenTwin]

I increased the size of this one from the original 7/16" bore and stroke to a massive 16mm

LOL............................

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[Jasonb]

Here is another example. Drawn up from his own original engine by a guy in Germany, he made patterns and had a set cast. Then was asked by others for castings so had a few more sets done but then lost the foundry he used so no more kits but he does still supply drawings. I bought a set, altered them to suit fabrication and also added some missing details.

This engine was available in many sizes so mine is 1:1 scale of one towards the smaller end of the range. Stands about 20" tall including the furnace.

 

[Jasonb]

Here is another, it was available in the 70s or 80s with a 3/4" bore but long out of production. I managed to get hold of a part set of drawings and redrew it in metric with a larger 24mm bore. All barstock except the flywheels which were and still can be sourced from Reeves.



One advantage of building from scratch is that you can pick whatever size engine suits you, this is a 12mm bore one I did a while after including making the flywheels

 

[Jasonb]

Not a kit but another old engien bought back to life. Prompted you the Solenoid engien thread this is my rendition of an engine that was available from Sears in 1908, I based it on a photo of an original engine. By moving the lever one of two contacts come into use which alters the direction the engine runs in and by adjusting the lever so the contacts complete the circuit for longer the speed can be increased. All fabricated and self would coils

 

[Jasonb]

Although there are a couple of suppliers of the Robinson hot air engine the one I based this one on had not been available for some 12yrs or so. I redrew it at a smaller size and made it with a combination of cutting from solid and fabrication. I also opted for the less common enclosed furnace with chimney rather than the 3 legged base that all the kits seem to come with.



Roll forward a couple of years and the castings started to become available again but the wood patterns for the various brass linkages had been lost and existing castings were being used to try and get some more cast which is not the ideal way to do it due to shrinkage, foundry time and loss of quality so I made a new set of patterns in aluminium which will allow for new crisp castings to be made and also took the opportunity to make the patterns more faithful to the original engine than the previous ones were. So I may now make the larger one from castings but not sure if I would have the interest now that I have already done my own small version.

 

[Jasonb]

Although probably never available as a casting kit nor a model it is possible it was offered as castings for the builder to make a small "workshop engine" This is another recreation taken from a couple of photos that were on the same website as Pat's "Greentwin" engine. Scaled from the photos to suite some 7" thick wall steel tube that I had for the flywheel with everything else proportioned to suit.

 

[GreenTwin]

Very nice work !

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