New Steam Plant

[Peter Webster]

I have finally taken the plunge and bought the steam engine.
This is for the 1.24 scale P.S. Pevensey, I got it off Ebay USA (see attached address)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Live-Steam-Engine-Marine-Twin-FULLY-MACHINED-Kit_W0QQitemZ270427120151QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ef6b66217&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
It is a twin cylinder Oscillator 1/2 inch bore and 3/4 stroke. Some have said it may be too much power and others have said it should be ok and also have a little reserve power. I assume the power can be throttled back. What do the experts in the group think?
  or 
Peter W

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hi PD's....... & Peter....any 0.5"x 0.75" twin oscillator steam engine will be  ......but you will need a big boiler to keep the steam up........ I am not an expert....   but all things being equal......suggest it will be totally suitable for a 1:24 scale P.S. Pevensey

1) a wheel set from Barry via..."Float a Boat" would be near perfect........
2) how will you gear the engine down?......4:1?>>>>>>>>8:1?...or by your own calculations 

many questions will follow..................Derek........

[kiwimodeller]

Peter, what you have is a P & M Research oscillator and John at The Steam Chest (where you got it from) will be very helpful if you need any advice. I have sold several of these here in New Zealand and every person who has bought one has been happy with it. I tested the first one I got in my 80" side wheel paddler and it had enough grunt to push that along quite well on a gearing of 3.5 to 1. 30lbs was ample pressure. I had a 9" by 4" boiler but it did not need to be that big. I am not sure how big your Pevensy will be but I have set one of these engines up with a 7" by 4" boiler in a tug which takes a lot of pushing along and it still never runs short of steam so I think if you had a boiler of that size it would be adequate. If you have room then go bigger, it is always better to have a boiler that is too big, especially if you are not running a water pump to top up the boiler while operating. You will find too that the control valve is very good and that you can get it down to low speeds very smoothly. Set the servo up so that the valve goes no more than 45 degrees either side of centre. That is the maximum throttle point in each direction. Let me know if you have any other questions. Cheers, Ian.

[Hankwilliams]

Hi Peter,

I used a similar oscillator (bore and stroke 12 x 20 mm) several years ago for my "Pilat" with 150 cm lenght and a deplacement of about 11 kg. The boiler is a flame tube type with 200 mm lenght and a diameter of 80 mm. Diameter of flame tube is 35 mm.

This combination was capable to drive the boat with a speed of approximate 1 meter/second - enought speed to use the model also on calmly rivers.
Only the steam consumption was rather high, with this boiler I was able to drive for about 15 -20 minutes with full speed.

You should consider to installate a boiler feed pump - depending of the size of the boiler.

Thomas