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

I have tried to contact Mamod, but my last 4 emails have gone unanswered… where do I go from here? I am not very happy with my new purchase… 

This is the first firing straight out of the box… I know it’s a toy and not a precision model, but should it have this much slop/play at the 1 minute mark? Also note the rivet holding the engine frame at 1:30 😔

Some other minor details that I wouldn’t have complained about, but the lack of response from Mamod has left me kind of upset…

What is this extra broken o-ring for?

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The seal under the whistle arrived cracked in multiple places…

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This one is pretty minor and can be fixed by bending the tabs, but the scuttle sits at an angle

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Just built 3 weeks ago

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Well I always preferred Wilesco to Mamods
not from design more from quality. One important
detail is the Sight glass which is much better by Wilesco -
Is it possible that the Flywheel received
a blow during transport? This is not acceptable
for an Industry product of today. Sure it is
a toy and not made in China - but it is too bad.
The piston rod looks too loose but that could be
correct because of thermal expansion.
Hope you will get an answer shortly
Arnold

O-Ring and Gaskets seems to be 100 years old - haha

I have several TE’s (Maybe a dozen) and this is the first that has this visible bulge…

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This is my fourth new purchase from Mamod over a 10 year period and will likely be my last (I’ve said that before    )

First was the “New Mamod Train” now known as Mark I. That was my best purchase other than an o-ring in the wrong place…

Second was a tender for the loco. I wanted one with matching stickers, but they had already changed to a new sticker. I could have bought it from a US dealer and saved around $100 but Mamod told me they still had them with the old sticker… sure enough, it arrived with the new style and was told they really couldn’t do anything about it 

My forum anniversary engine arrived with chimney bouncing around in the box and poor soldering, that’s when I said I was done with them.

After watching many videos of how well the Centurions run, I finally placed an order… I added the gas burner to the shopping cart as it didn’t change the shipping cost. Not inexpensive is right… the two pieces and shipping came to £524.00, about $685   

After 4 emails and no replies I’m not too happy… I have been given another email address to try, we’ll see where that gets me…

Quote from: St Paul Steam on April 20, 2022, 07:36:05 pm

Aw heck no....the slop in your connecting rod through gland is enough for me to "send er' back"

This is what they told Mirko years ago about his Challenger 

Quote

I have the Challenger and i have the same "problem" on the gland.
The reply from mamod years ago is, the piston gland is a "floating gland".
Not sure what that means.

" floating glad" = we're ok with 4-6 thousands slop.

I got turned off of this model after reading a similar report from Jim about this years ago.
I had this same setup in a Mamod Sp #7 (I believe) poor runner and weak, took a lot of massaging from me to get it to run just "ok"

That is a bummer Nick. Hopefully Mamod will get back with you and this works out. I totally know that feeling when you see the lack of care used to build that model. I have to agree with Bruce, an exchange will likely have the same result. Good luck!

After noon in the UK, and another day, still no reply from Mamod… even if they are not yet decided on what to do about it, a simple “we have received your email” would be nice… 😞