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: Stoker on May 21, 2025, 06:35:52 pm
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That's a nice one! Great score!
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That will come up nice Daniel.
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Congratulations, I had seen the earlier iron base model, and then this one. Glad to hear that it survived the shoddy packing. Isn't it amazing how some people will get big bucks for things they probably paid peanuts for, and then can't even be bothered to take any care packing it up?
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I'd rather have the solder solid, even if a little sloppy!
These early boilers are soft soldered anyway, so a bit extra was likely thought to be a good idea just in case!?!?
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The brass engines do have solder patches around the rivets that creeped and spread during the soldering process. I’m sure all the raw brass boilers were intended to be nickel plated so there likely wasn’t much care put into making the solder neat and clean.
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I am amazed that your engine is nickel plated! Those eBay pics sure had me convinced it was a brass version!
Glad your engine survived sub-minimal packaging as well!
I was like you and thought this to be a brass engine for sure, but then I found a streak of bright silver and thought it looked to be nickeled.
Now I'm not so sure and don't want to go scratching around to find out without taking it apart and getting to a proper cleaning. The streak between rivets that looked to be nickel, may just be some solder overrun as pushing the thumbnail test a little further out away from the rivet, the metal again looks more like old brass.
See the original silvery streak here:
[attachimg=1]
Not sure what to clean the boiler with, in the way of solvents, but pretty sure I don't want to actually polish it as I do prefer the patina of dull brass to the glare of bright brass!
Hummmmmm!?!?
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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!
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Thanks for all that info and good thoughts!
Don't think I'm all that concerned about a perfect match, as I'd suspect that Ol' Tom used a few different flavors through time as well no doubt.
If I can find a fairly close match that is "of the era", I suspect that will be close enough for me, at least first off. Perhaps through time I'll find something better, but close for now will be close enough.
Surprisingly, the cord that is on it is in far better condition than I'd expected. Had no trouble using it to get the resistance reading from the heating element. But that certainly isn't the same as having an amp draw passing through it, so I will be looking.
Still, I just might give the current cord a try, even if a bit frayed in a few spots, as it is not likely to harm the heater in any way, though it may fry itself.
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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
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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!!!
Unfortunately, I have found it impossible to find an exact matching cord for these early engines, and believe me, I have looked and looked! You would think that something else of that vintage would have used the same cord, but I have found no evidence of that at all. Some cords look very much alike at first, until you compare the color, or count the stitches in the stripes.
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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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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For cloth covered cords,
There's a wide selection here: https://www.creative-cables.us/3302-cloth-covered-wire?srsltid=AfmBOoosqqrYq8v7dNCbig796d0hObybA4rjrKom4JpbnSaek-YIt_Nt
But I personally am fond of this one: https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/171826/CL-10019.html?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17425723334&gbraid=0AAAAAD_uQn5qL9LmIID3mRCax4raGfT2b&gclid=EAIaIQobChMInta5yIi9jQMVADIIBR3G2hnoEAQYAyABEgJOYPD_BwE
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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)
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You did very well on that one, Daniel!
It should clean up nicely!
The Forgotten 35 ended up with me.
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Well done, that is a nice Jensen! Will be great to see it cleaned up and running :-)
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I was watching that one and I am glad you snagged it. You got a terrific buy on it and it's a great addition to your collection.
Very well done!
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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!!!
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Well done Daniel, waiting anxiously to see it fired up & running.😊
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Glad someone here got it, thought it sold pretty cheap! Well done!!
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Just bought my second steam engine in a week, by scoring a long-sought piece that I never expected to actually own.
Looks to be nearly complete, missing chimney and whistle handle, and a bit rough looking to boot, but not real bad considering nearly 90 years old.
While not a "Forgotten" Jensen #35 ... it is a "Transition" #35, and I think it was a pretty good bargain at just a tad over $300. I would really have preferred the Forgotten #35 that this seller sold last week, but it went for almost three times the price of this one, and was quite a bargain even then, or so I think anyway. Only real difference between them is the cast iron vs wooden base, and the mounting of the chimney, so they are rather close in age and form.
I'm hoping this will be a good buy, though I really don't expect it to run right off, although I must say that even the cloth cord looks pretty good ... not that I'd be trusting it at all.
Probably be a week before it gets here, but here's a few of the listing photos anyway:
[attachimg=1]
[attachimg=2]
[attachimg=3]
[attachimg=4]
YEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAA!!!
I think and hope!?!?