Table of contents for Issue 4734 in Model Engineer

Martin Evans can be contacted on the mobile number or email belowand would be delighted to receive your contributions, in the form of items of correspondence, comment or articles. 07710-192953 MEeditor@mortons.co.uk Hobbies Every man should have a hobby. It provides him with a pleasant way to fill his spare time, it provides a great deal of personal satisfaction if it involves the acquisition of a new skill and it has therapeutic value, distracting us from the stresses and cares of our lives. Some say a man (or a woman, of course) should have three hobbies – a physical one, to keep him in good health, a cerebral one, to keep the mind active, and a creative one. Model Engineering, I believe, satisfies all three of these requirements so it has…

Steve Goodbody takes a random walk through model engineering. Welcome once again to Butterside Down, our little corner of paradise, and please settle yourself into the comfy armchair on the observation deck of our modest home. It's a beautiful morning and I see that the ham-fisted family next door is preparing an al fresco breakfast in their back garden. Watch carefully as the sun rises, for it will soon reveal the church spire in the quaint little hamlet across the valley, Toast Landing, which is a lovely sight. Yes indeed, as the shadows shorten and our clumsy neighbours begin their meal, I confidently predict that we will soon behold Toast Landing, Butterside Down. At this point, while our poor editor is surely regretting his unfortunate decision to embark on this…

April 25th was to become a memorable day for me as it was the first time, I saw this tractor. I was attending a local field day where various stationary engines of varied sizes, shapes and makes were on view, together with a display of full-size tractors and an array of stalls all there for me to see and spend a very enjoyable day. When I attend this sort of event, I tend to look at objects and think to myself ‘would that object make a good model?’ and when I saw and heard this tractor the eyes lit up and the brain went into overdrive! The sound, that sound, how wonderful it was and - yes - it was blowing smoke rings just for the joy of it. To…

Chris Walter builds an engine described in Model Engineer 100 years ago. Valve chests, covers and glands These are all cast iron and made to the normally accepted design, just hollow rectangles of a size sufficient to accommodate the movement of the valves, with additional bosses at either end for the gland and guide (photo 96). At the base the valve rod passes through a conventional brass two stud gland working in a counter bored hole with a 5/16 × 3/16 inch O-ring. I don't like designs that leave the end of the valve rod floating about in mid-air, so mine go right across the chamber and through a capped brass guide which seals the end. The end of the valve rod, where it works in the guide, has a…

Peter SeymourHowell builds a fine, fully detailed model of Gresley's iconic locomotive to Don Young's drawings. Yes, I'm back on the locomotive. It's hard to believe that the last time I worked on the locomotive itself was June 2022. The workshop still has some way to go but internally I have half of it powered and it's warm with a new infrared heater, good enough to continue with the main project while outside is a bit wet and cold. The reverser on a Gresley Pacific is a fairly involved component and thus will take a number of parts to cover it in detail. Don's drawing is really good and very close to the prototype but needing just a few details added to complete the picture. For those who are on the…

Luker builds a five inch gauge model of a Welsh slate quarry locomotive. The wheels and shafts A little write-up of how I machined the Fire Queen wheels was given in Part 5 (M.E.4717 May 19 2023) but the drawings for the tender wheels were omitted; they can now be added to the drawing pack (fig 37). I generally machine all the wheels in one go, while I have the tooling set up and I'm in the ‘machining groove’ so to speak. The wheels then stand for a couple of months in a place of honour on my display shelf until they are needed. They look rather impressive with their cross and webbed spoke pattern, I think! Similarly, the wheel shafts were machined in the same fashion as for the…

Introduction - the 1946 KNH engine I would imagine that most model steam engine makers will be familiar with the post war K.N. Harris (KNH) design (photo 1) which is the subject of this article. The design featured as an article in Model Engineer magazine and then in KNH's book Model Stationary and Marine Steam Engines, which was first published around the same time as the article. It was conceived as one of a series of beginners’ engines. The design was therefore basic and eschewed the embellishments often found on a more advanced engine. The book has the rear of the engine pictured on the front cover (photo 2) and has the only detailed drawings. For reference, when reading this article, the drawings can now be found on the Internet…

Ever since the formation of Stockholes Farm Miniature Railway Society we have always encouraged people, especially youngsters, to become involved in the hobby. Back in 1998 Thomas Garlic, who was then 14 years old, joined the Society and expressed a wish to build a model based on a Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU). After discussion with Thomas I suggested that he could consider building a parcels van. This would have the distinct benefit that the prototype consisted of one vehicle only. Further investigation revealed two possibilities: the Gloucester C&W Co. Class 128 or the Cravens Class 129. Eventually the Class 128 was chosen. Some of the Class 128's were built with corridor connections with the engine exhausts passing either side of these vertically. These made two very distinctive features which could…

Martin Cooper, North London SME, invites you to compete in this year's competition. LittleLEC North London SME North London Society of Model Engineers welcomes you to participate in LittleLEC 2024 at their Tyttenhanger Track Site, Colney Heath, Hertfordshire 8th and 9th June 2024. Founded in 1944, North London SME has as its principal objectives the promotion and encouragement of model engineering and its related pastimes. Members of the Society have access to an unusually wide range of activities that include locomotives and railways in various scales and gauges. Slot cars, stationary steam, agricultural and road steam, boats and ship models are also catered for. For administrative convenience, the various interests are grouped into sections but every member has access to all Society activities. A monthly newsletter is published. A permanent…

February 1 Sutton MEC Bits and Pieces evening 20:00. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254 9749 1 Warrington & District MES Projects/natter night, St Mary Magdalene Church, WA4 3AG, 20:00. See www.wdmes.org.uk/events 4 Warrington & District MES Running day at the club track. See www.wdmes.org.uk/events 7 Bradford MES Talk – Derek Rayner, ‘Leeds Engine Builders’, Saltaire Methodist Church, 19:45. Contact: Russ Coppin, 07815 048999 11 Sutton MEC Track Day from 13:00. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254 9749 11 Warrington & District MES Running day at the club track. See www.wdmes.org.uk/events 15 Warrington & District MES Talk: Michael Moore on ‘East Lancs Railway’, St Mary Magdalene Church, WA4 3AG, 20:00. See www.wdmes.org.uk/events 18 Warrington & District MES Running day at the club track. See www.wdmes.org.uk/events 21 Bristol SMEE Talk: ‘Meccano Model of…

David Rollinson gains access to the off-site warehouse of a museum in Canada. Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, is on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour, a large ice-free body of water that was the birthplace of the Cunard shipping line and the departure point for trans-Atlantic convoys in both World Wars. Dartmouth faces the city of Halifax over on the western side of the harbour and the two communities have been connected by ferries since shortly after Dartmouth was established in 1749. The initial ferry was a rowing boat but such was the rapid development of both communities that in 1816 a horse-powered ferry replaced the rowing boat. In 1830 the Sir C Ogle, the first steampowered vessel built in Nova Scotia, was launched, crossing between Dartmouth and Halifax for sixty-four…

Martin Evans visits Barnstaple and finds more nuts, screws and washers than you can shake a spanner at. Most model engineers are familiar with EKP supplies, well-known as a supplier of machined nuts, screws, washers and other fastenings (www.ekpsupplies.com). Even if the name is not familiar, the products are as most of the fastenings we use in our hobby actually originate from EKP. This year EKP celebrate their 30th anniversary so I took a trip to Barnstaple to visit them and see how far things have come over the last 30 years. Thirty years is in itself a major milestone but so is EKP's recent acquisition of Kennions, the oldest (I believe) model engineers’ supplier in the UK. My visit comes nearly 28 years after a previous visit by my…

Pipe bending jig It had been decided to hide as much as possible of the model's pipework in its wooden base and already one of each cylinder's steam/exhaust pipes went through the engine base plate. To fit the other steam/exhaust pipe to each cylinder and for it to go through the base plate it would have to be bent. The 5/32 inch K&S copper tube which is used for these pipes has a very thin wall and to stop it creasing while being bent a jig was made. The jig is made in two pieces which when screwed together make a jig which has a slot with a radius at the bottom to suit the tube. The tube is a good fit in the slot of the jig and when…

As promised, I said I would like to get on with some more cab fittings, but this will be a bit of an assortment; some cab fittings and some external fittings. First of all, we will tackle the blow down valve (fig 132) and I am sure that there is only the one on the left-hand side of the engine. I did make a lost wax casting for this, and it is for the B1, so I hope this is available from ‘The Steam Workshop’. There is if course a little bit of machining to do on it. If you want it to work, then you will need to drill it and plug it where I have shown and make a proper stainless-steel valve to go inside it. There is…

Geoff Theasby reports on the latest news from the clubs. For several weeks, I have begun each missive with few or no newsletters to review. This time I don't, Yippee! Whilst trying not to burden my faithful reader with the humble problems at Theasby Towers, my comments on the sparsity of incoming newsletters have been noticed. Allah has smiled upon me and I no longer have to compensate for the lack of length by making up with brevity. There still seems a strange reluctance to send me photos I have requested, but let's see what's in Geoff's treasure chest. In this issue: a unique guard's van, a torsion meter, Lion, AI builds a steam engine? Hiram Maxim, a masterpiece, a beetle and a second career. Erratum: I owe an apology…