I had been looking at various steam engine plans for some time, I wanted to build a smallish engine that could form the basis of a plant comprising the engine, boiler, water tank and so on. I was torn between building from a casting kit or doing it from scratch using material at hand or what I was able to purchase. I have never built from a kit, generally being either too poor or too tight to spend the money and this was again the case when I saw the Hicks Oscillator steam engine. The kit is available from Hemmingway in the UK, (Hemingway Kits Catalogue Download) but at over $250AUD plus freight plus the wait it was beyond me. Fate intervened in the person of Mr Julius De Waal of New Zealand. He saw a picture of the engine on the internet and decided to do a set of drawings based on the flywheel size of six and a half inches, this equates to a scale of roughly one inch to the foot. The plans are freely available, as are all the drawings by Julius, and I would like to thank him for the time and effort he has so generously given.
This engine was on display at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. Reputedly, it was actually operating on steam and was well received by the patrons. The manufacturer was Hick, Hargreave & Co and they specialized in stationary engines, mainly for marine and industrial applications. The challenge, as always with scratch building, is to make the finished model look as if it was accomplished using castings, I have tried hard to achieve this, and I hope the ensuing posts reflect that effort.
I have posted a picture, and a pdf for download, of the facing sheet of J DE WAAL’s plans to show what the finished product will look like.
Cheers, Peter.
This engine was on display at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. Reputedly, it was actually operating on steam and was well received by the patrons. The manufacturer was Hick, Hargreave & Co and they specialized in stationary engines, mainly for marine and industrial applications. The challenge, as always with scratch building, is to make the finished model look as if it was accomplished using castings, I have tried hard to achieve this, and I hope the ensuing posts reflect that effort.
I have posted a picture, and a pdf for download, of the facing sheet of J DE WAAL’s plans to show what the finished product will look like.
Cheers, Peter.