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

Glad someone here got it, thought it sold pretty cheap! Well done!!

For sure I'll have to source a somewhat matching cloth cord before there is any chance of steaming.

However, I'll bet that there will be at least a brief run on air within the first day of receiving it!!!

Well done, that is a nice Jensen!  Will be great to see it cleaned up and running :-)

You did very well on that one, Daniel!
It should clean up nicely!
The Forgotten 35 ended up with me.

Well, you certainly got a great bargain on that one Mike ..... Congratulations.

Yes, I'm very happy to have scored the Transition model, even if I couldn't get the Forgotten.

If I could have found the money, I would have fought you for that Forgotten!   ;c)

Well, this old sweetheart has arrived and there is much to unpack figuratively, though literally it wasn't very well packed so that unpacking was way too easy and more than a bit worrisome.

Fortunately, being a Jensen, it survived flopping around rather loose in the box with just a sheet of bubble wrap that wasn't even wrapped around it, and a few sheets of crumpled paper that wasn't nearly crumpled enough nor anywhere near enough of it.

The seller did remove the whistle and safety valve as per my request, but simply tossed them loose in the box, so I was lucky they didn't cause any serious havoc either. The box did sustain some serious bumps and bangs as two of the corners were crushed and some sidewall dents from both outside and inside were noted. Only problem the engine experienced through all of this was that the boiler was rotated in its mounting to the firebox about ten degrees, and it was tight enough that I had to loosen the strap screw to be able to turn it back!

Initial evaluation is that it looks very good with some rust, mostly on the chimney base with a few spots also on the firebox and along the base flange where it mounts to the wood. The decal is mostly still intact, but almost unreadable except from certain lighting angles, so there seems to be some kind of "coating" over it (dirt, lacquer, oil, other) that is dimming it significantly.

Speaking of lacquer, the photos in the listing made me fairly certain that this engine's boiler and cylinder had either never been nickel plated or had lost that plating as it appeared to be a beautifully patinated brass tone. However, upon receipt I noticed a small area between boiler rivets that was a typically bright silver like the normal nickel plating would be. A bit of "thumbnail" investigation showed that the brass "patina" is merely a very even and well yellowed coating of some substance like old oil or possibly lacquer covering everything to near perfection, but the boiler is in fact nickel plated overall, and that plating would appear to be in rather good shape under whatever the yellow coating may be!

One thing noted, and as Mike referenced in his great video of his recently acquired Forgotten #35 (from the same seller BTW) is that none of the screw slots on this engine show any sign of being "buggered" or seeing a screwdriver in any form since initial assembly. So, it is quite possible that Tom Sr. was the last person to turn a screw on this engine!?!?

Ohms read around 40, so the heater element checks out about correct, and the cord actually looks to be in even better condition than I original thought from the listing photos, as the darkened areas that I took to be scorch marks, are in fact the original black color of the (black with gold accents) cord, while most of the black color is sun faded to a medium tan that I wrongly took to be the original color.

Everything moved freely and seemed in good shape, so with a light oil-around, I paid a visit to my little Miller airbrush compressor, and she runs like a champ, right out of the box!

Worst thing I see is some casting flaws on the inside edge of the flywheel with the largest one making it around the corner onto the circumference, but I can certainly live with that, as such flaws are not uncommon on some of my other engines as well.

If you think I'm pretty happy with this new addition ......... you are seriously understating the case!!!

YEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stitching I can't help with, but if you're looking for an exacting museum-quality color match, a person could but a white cord and painstakingly brush paint it appropriately.  I'd experiment first as you don't want something that will crack and flake from bending.  Perhaps food coloring would work, as it soaks in. 

Another possibility is to purchase a paint additive with a "flexant" component.  My brother mixed it with spray lacquer and used it successfully to paint the vinyl seat in an old Chevy pickup.  I used it for similar purposes.  These flexant components were sold at auto parts stores for when body men had to paint the flexible plastic insert that goes between the old 5-mph crash bumpers and the body of the car.  Think 80's Ford Escort. 

Again, you'd have to experiment, but some possibilities for you to consider.

Paul

Glad the engine made it to you safely!
The Forgotten 35 was packed just like your engine (poorly), and the box was quite smashed. I was very nervous when I unpacked it and at first it appeared unhurt, but I later noticed that it must have taken a hit on the flywheel and it bent the main bearing bracket in just a bit. It was easily bent back into its proper position and you’d never know it was bent at all now.

I am amazed that your engine is nickel plated! Those eBay pics sure had me convinced it was a brass version!