I
love it when a good project comes together! My thanks to those people
that took the time to write down all the parts and procedures to make this
little engine. I am having a blast with it and already have plans in my
head for the next one! This new engine has been named "Beverly Jean"!
I believe I have run the engine 9 times now, 3 time just tonight.
After some minor changes I now get consistent 30 minute runs pulling 1 or 2
light cars. My last run, without pulling anything was 36 minutes, no
stopping for anything.
The
first thing I did was to replace the copper cup that came with the boiler to
hold the Sterno. I bought a 2" copper cap from the local plumbing supply
and cut it down so that it was still below the air holes in the boiler.
This doubled my Sterno capacity. Then I took a drill and opened up the
air holes in the sides about 1/16". This was done because the flame
would go out a couple of times during my runs. Because the copper cap is
about 1/8" bigger than the original
Sterno
cup (diameter), I had to move one of the boiler pins in
the decking out a little bit. Instead of the pan sitting in the pins and
the boiler covering the pins and pan, the boiler now only covers the new
Sterno cup and
the
boiler sits inside the pins. This is because you can not get the new cap
and pins inside the boiler skirt.
(Since that time I have discovered that you
do not need the larger fuel cap. Once it has been run for a while you
will achieve 30 minutes using the cap provided.)
Added some more detailing to the engine, as well as some people to hang out
with. Picked up some bigger cans of Sterno from the local GFS store and
also found the tooth picks with the American Flag on them. Works great
on this little logger and will look good on my Accucraft Shay as well.
I also have 4 more short videos if your interested. Each one is 1.2
megs in size, 15 seconds and mpg format. Beverly
Jean and my Accucraft Shay. Beverly Jean and
the TNT car from my Ruby. Two videos of the engine running with
people on it. Video 1
Video 2
