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

Edit:  Might actually be a #7?

My brother reached out to me about his Weeden #45, I think it is a pretty early one and it seems complete - other than the lead weight.  The patina on it looks fabulous to me.  He has tried to fire it but the boiler leaks.  He thinks the tank is tin/steel but what I can see on Weeden Steam it should be brass.

Since he thinks it tin/steel (I've pushed him to really find out), he wants me to try and seal it like I did my steel tank Big Giant.  Which I don't want to, refer to the "patina on it looks fabulous to me" statement above.

Would love some thoughts from anyone owning a #45

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Gee, shame you sold it - I get not firing it.  Personally, I don't want to touch this #45 with a ten foot pole!  My brother thinks I am some kind of genius with these engines and I am not.  With the lack of hits on Google, it seems like a rare-ish engine.

Interesting that it has a steel boiler, Ken does not mention that in his book, but not terribly surprising that Weeden may have made a few that way.
Is there any evidence of it ever having feet attached to the base like the No.45's, looks to me like a No.7 with a smoke stack added. Can't remember if the steam line had an elbow or just had a bend in it on the one I had.
What I do remember was how flimsy it was.

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Oh, I did find a short YouTube for a #7 - it has a elbow.  So I think that steam line setup is original.  Perhaps this "steel / tin" with red-ish paint is a very early engine?  It seems they would move to brass, rather than revert to steel/tin?

Nate got it apart, there were some minor solder joints holding things together to the base.  The front bottom end cap was rusted through, he got that fixed and the back of the tank's mounting point fixed too (it was sagging in the rear).  It is steamed up & held pressure!  He is losing a bit from the leaky whistle - it seems like the body's threads are stripped, as it really won't tighten down.

After all that it still would not run, he though he was fighting the spring as it 100% looked like it was replaced.  I suggested to take the piston mech apart to see if something was up behind the piston.  It ended up being that plate behind the piston being upside down.  I am trying to get him to get me a betting video but I'll likely have to ask my nephew




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Yep, I figured out pretty soon after I posted that it was a #7 and not a #45.  Do you know if the "ball" PV weight is original, seem they had a mix between ball and what is in the photo ad - which thank you for posting that ad / write up!  It is very cool that he has what seems to be the 1st horizontal engine (assuming the model numbers are in order of release).

It is very interesting that Nate's is a steel tank and not brass.  While there aren't very many examples of the #7, the ones I have seen are all brass tanks!  When Nate's replacement ball weight comes in, he'll do a "walk around" video and with showing its original burner.  Its a minor miracle the steel / tin tank wasn't rusted anymore than it was.

Oh and yours is the 3rd with a elbow for the steam line, so I think that settles that is factory.  Perhaps denotes first runs out of the factory and Nate's steel tank even a earlier run?

EDIT: I just re-read that write up on the #7, "Early models were produced with Steel Boilers." So its going to be a 1890 engine!

Thanks @txlabman / Charlie!

Here is a little longer run with Nate working the throttle :-)

The SV weight shown in your first photos is a fishing sinker!

That is true and it wasn't up for the task either LOL!  Nate had to put on a metal funnel on the lever to keep it from popping.  He has ordered a ball from eBay.  Sadly the other type seems to be all gone (I actually got the last one a David Roenigk had to sell for my Big Giant).