Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines
The Regular Stuff: Chat, Buy, Sell, Off Topic, etc. => General Discussion - Model & Toy Steam Engines – Stirling Cycle – Flame Lickers – Small Antique Originals => Topic started by: catman on September 21, 2020, 10:28:20 am
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You did a great job there Mike, looks brandnew!
Will be looking forward to see your next "investment" :)
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It would have been interesting to see how it looked before the cleanup, but it sure looks good now.
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You have a very nice looking engine now 8) great to see you’re getting hooked :D
Did you fire this on Esbit? I would highly recommend looking into a gas burner. Unfortunately that will cost the same as the engine itself, But you can use it in your future engines ;)
As for the next engine, keep an eye out for an older wood-based Jensen 25 with a heavy flywheel. They can be found for under $150 and being your in MN, they are great for indoor running all winter long.
Like Randy, I think I’m up somewhere around 60-80 Jensens too now... It can become very addicting!
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Nice looks good. This is just the beginning for you. Now you want another one and then another one and so on. It never ends. I kinda started out putting together a set of Jensen model 10s. Well I now have over 70 Jensens not counting other brands.
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I am now the owner of a model steam engine. I was not sure if this hobby would hold my interest, and did not wish to purchase a new engine, so I went looking for a less costly used engine on ebay. It took a month or so, and was outbid on a number of engines but finally won a Jensen 65 for $48.00. The firebox was very discolored, missing the chimney and fuel tray, and very dirty, but the price was right. Upon arrival I fired it up, and it ran. That got me a lot more interested in steam. I then disassembled the engine and set about cleaning it up.
After taking inventory of everything, a chimney, fuel tray and set of gaskets were ordered. The first thing I did was clean the base up. After a good cleaning with soap and water, I rubbed the finish out with automotive rubbing and polishing compound, and gave it a coat of wax. Turned out nice. The firebox and chimney support, along with the chimney were stripped of paint and a hi-temp black paint was applied. The inside of the boiler took some cleaning with vinegar and a tooth brush working through the glass sight hole, but cleaned up good . The outside was a real mess, but Semichrome polish cut the built up carbon and gave a nice polish to the boiler. The whistle and steam valve leaked quite a bit, so I disassembled them and applied valve grinding compound to the insides, reassembled and turned the valves a hundred turns or so. That did the trick as they leak very little now. Every thing else was cleaned and polished. I used stainless button head screws to reattach the boiler straps as I think they look better than slotted screws. New gaskets were installed and I was done. My total cost was about $85.00. I think all hope is lost as i'm now looking for engine number two.
Mike
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