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

Needle roller bearings always seem to have a lot of clearance, in most of the applications i have seen, so i would consider this normal. The needle rollers provide less friction and require much less lubrication than bush bearings so i guess this is why they are used on these engines.  However metric oilite bushes are available from bearing suppliers that are a direct replacement and do make the engine sound much sweeter.
Kind regards
Ade