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

Thank you for posting....

I was so sad and angry.  I wish I could reach out to whomever is bankrolling the outfit.  They’ve invested in CAD and CNC and done great work up front only to be undone by their assembly people and more importantly, shady marketing with lots of presale investors getting shortchanged in bait and switch adverts.  Fifty buyers screwed out of seventy bucks apiece for ignition they said was included.  That $3500 cost them dearly in bad feelings. Already mine and another bad review in one day of deliveries on the website.  Sloppy assembly and parts missing is totally inexcusable. No instructions is inexcusable when you have independent oiling for the crank and gear cases. How much and what vis matters in a plain bearing engine. Their earlier standard was test running prior to shipping.  They didn’t do that when they don’t install carbs etc, and damned sure with crank case open. With a limited run, I gotta sweat getting that part ever.

Thanks. Many years ago I sold cars, and later marketed my own products to a different hobby community.  In a few years time, I told the same story a thousand times over the phone.

 This video is a bit rough, as I did it in one take, as if explaining it in person. Let’s hope the intended audience gets a clue, and straightens up their act.

Much as everybody loves automotive and especially RC engines, I think a line of faithfully recreated miniature one-lungers or iterations of minis like this one could be a gold mine for them.   An early scale model Briggs on a reel mower, or a rope start early merc or Johnson outboard could easily do as well as their homage H and M engines. The powder coat and slick cnc such as the block and carb on this engine ooze with class.  But they’ve got to steady themselves a bit.  This engine was supposed to be released in November, so a few extra days before a March release, to make sure they had them right, would’ve been smart.  The ignition is another issue.  You simply can’t advertise and take money then switch the terms.

One chronic issue, easily remedied, would be to submit their web content to a native English speaking tech writer for clean-up.  Between their two main websites, they move plenty of merch.  It’d be nice to parboil the garble and straighten it out.  An example would be never, ever use the word “oil” to describe petrol, or as we say, gasoline.  It’s so easy to confuse with lubricant.  Verifying fluid levels and required batteries, etc would sell more units to those otherwise put off by apparent confusion.  In the tech writing course I once taught at the local community college, we stressed never letting engineers write instructions for the public, for example.

Call me crazy, but I still absolutely love this engine. ETW was no piker.  He knew what he was about. They’ve done a creditable job.  It just needs shaking out, which smart money would have done before putting them in the hands of pre-sale faithful who trusted them without seeing a running prototype. Imagine the big money people  behind these guys would be furious right now if they saw this self inflicted mess.