Build so far

Talk with Steve. For definitive and he most likely send you some.

Hi Jim,

Can't help you with your nuts but am very impressed with your build. I am quite a ways behind you but leaning a lot from your build. I am letting my kits build up until the winter months so I can build and paint in some sort of order.  Many thanks for the photos.

Phil

Hi Jim,
Just wanted to say what a great job your doing on your engine ,love the colour scheme, I went for plum which I think is lovely too.
Where are you at now with your build?

Regards John.

Gentlemen than you very much for your kind words. She's coming together nicely with what will be a four year love affair when she is complete.
With regards to the nuts I ordered some M2.5 nuts that fit nice and snug. I have a sneaking suspicion that the threads on the studs may have been stripped when the boiler had its hydraulic test. No way of knowing I guess but you can be sure I wasn't about to disassemble everything and send it back!
I have attached some further build photos from the weekend.



Pic showing the lifting link and reverser coming together. A lot of filing and sanding to get a good finish and well as a smooth action.

This is an overhead shot of the eccentric bearings. What a lick of an afternoon. Put the last one on and rotated to check for high spots only to discover that the upper bearing fouled the plumbing underneath! So out came the crankshaft, bearings, connecting rod, gears, re-adjust the elbow, overcome the slight misalignment with the pipe work, deal with soft brass threads not wanting to bite/cross thread, put it all back together.
Fortunately for my sanity and the south of England's gin supply everything now turns over nicely - slight bum twitching moment.



Brass oiler now fitted along with a few other bits but I will take some photos next time I'm in the shed.

How long are people sight glass? I have a sneaking suspicion I have a sight glass for a 4" and not a 2" scale model as its nearly five inches long??

Just unpacked my Kit 22. My glass is about 5" long as well. Don't know if you're supposed to cut it to length? Haven't read the instructions uet.

Crazy_jim wrote:How long are people sight glass? I have a sneaking suspicion I have a sight glass for a 4" and not a 2" scale model as its nearly five inches long??

measure the length required making sure it doesn't block either top or bottom water inlet, nick the glass with a needle file in the position you want the break hold in both hand and flex it with the nick away from you (fingers looped around and thumbs against the glass near the nick, push with the thumbs pull with the fingers) it will snap cleanly at the nick position. remove any sharp edges with some fine wet and dry.
Most of all watch your fingers.
You get a couple from each 6" length

Can you please tell me the fitting sequence for axle feedpump. I have spent a while now always ending up with not having access to one or more of the fastenings. It looks like an impossible task at present but I know it's not. Any help most welcome.

Photobucket want money to host my pictures on a third party site like this one. Slightly annoying as it used to be free and now no one can see my build. Ho hum.
After over 5 years I'm nearly ready for steaming which is exciting/scary all at the same time.

Does anyone know a decent free site I can use to upload photos to the forum?

Hi, yes I'm in the same boat as you. I've always used photobucket to upload photos. I have come to end of my build now, have steamed once. All the photos, over the last 2 years, have been hidden. I have found that Imgur is a good and easy way to up load photos on here.
Hope your steaming goes well and you get to enjoy all your years of work.

Charlie

Thanks Chas I will give that one a look.

In other news how do people prime thier engines with water? I've read through the instructions provided by STW but wasn't sure what people have found works best for them? Is anyone using water treatment in thier boiler? If so what are you using and how are you adding it?

My engine is running backwards currently but if I try and time the slide valve the other way it fouls against the side of the valve chest and I can't turn the engine over?

Also has anybody had any issues with the valve chest studs being really brittle? I've snapped 3 today trying to get an air tight seal and one sheared under off when I built the air up to 100psi pressure.

https://imgur.com/a/ajcOP

Rather than go around the houses. Here is the link to all my images so far of the engine build. Enjoy.