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

I need sooo many whistle toppers, it's driving me crazy, I have even sent out some begging PMs to various forum members.  To bad Steward has been so ill, I heard at one point he was a good source of help with the Empires.  I really hope he pulls through and fully recovers.

Those darn whistle toppers! They break so easily, and they're not easy to make. The O.D. of the whistle valve is an odd size, so if you're machining a topper, it has to be a good press fit on the valve. Alternatively, you could make it a slip fit and use LocTite, but then you need to be careful not to block off the little flat that allows air to enter the topper. I had to carefully bore out the inside of the topper I made so it would press onto the valve. The originals look like they were drawn from .010" brass, so the I.D. would expand to fit the tolerance of the valve spigot. But the notch cut in the base is an engraved invitation to snap the flimsy thing off.

You're right, we need somebody to repro this tricky part.

Paula