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

I have to agree with the others, Raphael, that is some fantastic work!

My beginning was much more humble. I could not afford a steam engine so I resolved to build one! I found one in a library book at school:

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I built the thing, but with my lack of skills and equipment, it never ran. I'm not quite sure where it ended up.

Eventually, I received a Jensen #75 as a Christmas present. Mom purchased it from the Montgomery Ward Christmas catalog. Curiously, it had no Jensen tag, or even a Ward's tag. I used to run it indoors with an electric motor: By running it backwards, I could fill the boiler with air pressure, then "run" the engine on the compressed air! I was so happy with that engine! That is, until after the first couple of firings. It acquired that "charming" burnt look, and I never quite felt the same about it. Shallow, I know. When I moved out of my parents' house, I think it stayed behind. All of the Jensens I own now are electric fired.