Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

It's HERE!!....I like it....at first glance the M94 was my least favorite..but...taking it out and study it....its really growing on me!  Features I admire are the cooling fins in the head really look nice....I guess what I did not like is most of the walking beam and govenor mechanism are hidden behind the Flywheel so it's hard to see just what is going on....the other issue is the walking beam it self is very low on the engine as it pushes on a downward facing exhaust valve...the real issue is the wood box has a recession in it and the walking beam partially is down inside....I think my home built box base I will raise the engine and not let the walking beam be partially hid. Also a little polishing plus my Navy Blue planned paint job should make the walking beam stand out a bit better.
 
The photo shows some carbon brush soft springs I picked up at Ace Hardware to try this weekend. I have not run it yet because I had a super long day at work...but I will surely fire it up stock before bedtime!

 One of the things I am Super curious about is many have gone lighter springs to slow down engine....a couple more adventurous souls have mod piston for less compression, and I will likely try that on at least one of my engines...BUT...it seems like to me the lack of flywheel Weight is a big factor as to why the little engines can not compete with there full size brothers for slow run...I very much want to carve out some brass or copper or cast iron "tires" to slip over the stock flywheels to perhaps Double the weight...I am not sure I can go. That heavy as it will put more load on the bearings...but If I get it slowed down perhaps the lower RPM will help preserve the bearings...anyway...if I get it slowed down some this weekend I have some tire weights to stick on the flywheels...just to test how adding weight might affect the coast phase...I can see where To much weight could be negative as when the engine "Hits" it may not be able to get the heavy flywheels moving...so it seems like it may be a balancing act to find a sweet spot...I welcome input....to be continued.....