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

The best success I've had is taking them apart and using an ear bud and pushing it through soaked in vinegar.

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Okay guys, I guess I will have to bite the bullet.  Perhaps I'm too timid because I have little experience.  If it was a Jensen I wouldn't be so worried because I can always get parts there, but with a Robert Fulton Lines (75 years old and being steel was never popular with collectors) it seems a foregone conclusion any gaskets are going to be unavailable.  But hey, you only live once, huh?

Paul

Your biggest challenge in that one will be if it has the slotted brass screw… use a tight fitting screwdriver and be very careful not to snap one side off… ask me how I know

I often use penetrating oil or if it there is caked on hard water/calcium I put some CLR around the glass/fitting.  Though CLR can/will eat away nickel plating, so I've learned to be careful.  I can't say I ever had a engine with that setup like in your photo but once I get the slight glass off the engine these are my steps.

Soak sight glass in CLR (calcium cleaner).
Use a tooth pick to poke paper towel in (soaked in CLR) and work paper towel back & forth.
Some sight glasses you can't get a tooth pick in, so you have to live with paper towel - which is waaay fun ;-)
Rise sight glass with water
Use tooth pick to poke paper towel with glass cleaner this time and work paper towel back & forth.
Repeat until I am happy as I can be with the sight glass.

Hard water calcium can be a pain and can take time to get cleaned off.  Just avoid anything harder than a tooth pick, since you don't want to scratch/damage the glass. 

CLR can also be quite helpful.  (Calcium, Lime, and Rust remover)