Ambitious project - model of Irrawaddy paddler "China" in 1 : 48 startet

[derekwarner_decoy]

Apologies Thomas......[senior moment]  I had forgotten your December 2015 posting of the twin Renger 12/36 engines from your previous build........we will leave it at that here

I will post a PM however asking about your previous thoughts on the issues 'piston slides for the long run were not complete steamtight'...also the .pdf documentation from Regner is difficult to copy to WORD to translate to English

Derek

[Hankwilliams]

Hi Derek,

there are some special expressions, sayings etc, which are comletely different in the languages...
The regner piston slide valve has no piston rings. There is a wear out of the pistons after long time of running and the engine looses steam. Compared with
flat piston valves (Neptun engine) the power will have a loss. So from my experience a engine with flat piston volves will be the better choice.

Thomas

[Hankwilliams]

Hi friends and neighbors,

some more advantage with the "China".
Superstructure fore and after the paddleboxes are nearly finished. I add a picture of the steering engine and some of my "Hope", built 1994/95 with Regner paddle engine (same dimensions of the Neptun).

I hope to continue with the Elde kit of the paddlewheels.

Greetings

Thomas

[derekwarner_decoy]

Without getting too far off PV China, thankyou Thomas for posting images of your horizontal twin Neptune engine from Hope

This 14/18 twin also appears to have a substantial cast engine base.....of similar concept of mass/weight/strength to the current vertical Neptune version...I also see the Hope engine appears to have a high gear reduction to the paddle shaft
Your build appears [image 5068] to have a very healthy depth of oil tray with the fall away or opposite the crankshaft..... 

She looks wonderful....do you still sail her?.............. Derek  

[Hankwilliams]

Good evening, dear friends and neighbors,

again some work was done at the "China".
I got the paddlewheel kit by Elde Modellbau, from the first sight it seems very promising but also much more complicate as all I`ve build before...
First I realized, that the excenter was lying not outside, but between wheel and ship`s side. The wheels are exact models of the german paddler "Kaiser Wilhelm". Several years before I`d made a trip on this ship, but this detail I didn`t perceive. Fortunately it was not too difficult to modify this.
The assemblement of the wheels took some time - nearly two weeks which work 2 - 4 hours a day. Above all the work with the tiny 1 mm screws and nuts was not too easy... but now both wheels are running good.

I ordered a kit of two Regner 12/36 engines, the assembling was trifle compared with the wheels. I still need some installation tubes to make a test run, but I expect no hard problems. The engine will drive the wheels directly, my next work will be the installation of engine and feed pump. In distiction of the former Regner engines the pistons, also the piston slides are now made of teflon, this will be more steamtight.

The next work will be the boilers. Probably I will install two boilers side by side behind the engine, the heat of the burners will leave throught the rear funnel, the fore is for the exhaust steam.
So, I hope I didn`d make too many orthographic faults - main point: You will enjoy the pictures!

Thomas

[derekwarner_decoy]

Thomas.............some beautiful equipment there 

With the wheel sets & the 1mm bolts & nuts...did you use a Loctite product, or solder them?

The reversing gear arc in the Regner image appears to have the toothed slots pre milled……….how do propose to eliminate the manual latching back into the slots?....or is it intended to use limited movement toward each end of direction then use expansion of steam?

Unfortunately, the Regner catalogue being in a form of .pdf image does not readily copy so I can translate it

I have actually gone over to the WWW.IETB.fr catalogue as it is easier to navigate than the original Regner however it too cannot be translated

I look forward to more images and descriptions of your work

regards Derek

[derekwarner_decoy]

Thomas............an image of a large compound in line paddle wheel steam engine appeared on another WEB site  a few days ago. It shows a substantial sized hardwood timber structure supporting the engine which would have been prototypical for the vintage

Considering you have 2 independent engine bases to structurally and soundly linked together, will you use a lightweight aluminium fabrication, or a more lifelike hardwood structure?

Digressing, the footprint for my [complete] steam plant is ~~550 long x 150 wide, so although a different concept I plan on a hard wooden frame which will allow the complete plant to be lifted & removed in one piece

I have another question on the Regner boiler feed pump & associated manifold mounted accumulator  ....but will leave this for another post

Derek

[Bierjunge]

Derek,

The extremely bulky timber structure in your screenshot is just a mock-up for test assembly, setup and possibly even a first test run in the engine factory!
This is by no means part of the boat! Especially, note the height of the timber piles in order to get the wheels running free.

Of course, later in the boat, the engine would be mounted to quite heavy so-called cylinder timbers, but these are an integral part of the hull structure and look a little different... 

Moritz

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hullo Moritz.....apologies for my very poor selection of words ''prototypical for vintage"

Yes, clearly the engine is shown a blocked up in the engine builders workshop & yes for assembly & probably prior to steam tests [after additional fastening/bolting/cleating the interconnecting support timbers down]

It is also acknowledged that the engine & wheel shaft assembly would have been finally mounted on a number of large longitudinal timbers which would were designed to cope or accepted the forces created by the engine and distribute them into the hull timber structure

My original thought to Thomas was that he had two independent engine beds that naturally require a secure mounting to act as one in rigidity within the hull

Derek

[Hankwilliams]

Hi, Derek and Moritz,

the two regner engines are connectet with 45 degree angle - I will made a stable engine foundation of plywood. I presume difficulties to drive the wheels independent with steamengines - unlike electric motors.
Your interesting picture is a tandem engine with one piston rod for hight- and low pressure cylinder - I think this kind of engine it wasn`t used very often in paddlesteamers.
Your steam plant looks very good. For my experience, a solid hardwood or plywood foundation ist better than metal, because the wood dimishes the inevitable vibrations of a larger engine. May be, best solution for my boat will be only a fixed connection of the engine shaft with the paddle shafts and a flexible guidance with the engine foundation - we will see.
The screws and nuts I fixed with a loctide product, the wheels of 1 mm brass makes a solid impression. The reversing gear of the engine will be slighly altered for movement with a r/c servo.

In the next days I will post some further pictures.

Thomas

[andy]

Hello Thomas,

I like models with perfect finish!

Andreas

[Delaunay]

  Hello;

It seemed that for a steam engine with two cylinders, for a reversal, it also required a shift of 90 ° on the crankshaft?

Belle wheel construction!

For support / molding machine, the metal is much more rigid than the timber, but less absorbing vibrations and bruis.

cordially

François

[Hankwilliams]

Hi Francois,

sorry, I made a mistake, when I wrote the angle of my Regner engine is 45 degrees. For a selfstarting engine with two cylinders a 90 degree shift is necessary and common. If the engine has 3 cylinders, there will be a shift of 60 degrees -
present examples for 3 cylinder paddle engines as I know: PS Waverly, PS Sudan (Nile), PS Stadt Luzern (uniflow engine, Lake Lucern), PS Patria and PS Concordia (Lake Como).

Thomas

[Hankwilliams]

Here 3 pictures of the engine foundation with engine in the boat. The crankshaft will be connectet with the paddleshafts throught 2 flexible clutches.
Probably no further fastening of the engine will be necessary. If this wouldn`t be sufficient, the engine can be fixed with the 2 screws in the foreground and one in the middle upon the foundation.

Thomas

[DamienG]

looking real good Thomas