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

Another treat from ebay for me to spend hours cleaning polishing and repairing, A Bowman E 101.... the advert said non runner so the pile of junk i was looking at on the screen backed that up😂, being very rare i thought someone would snap it up but no after a few days it was still there so my silly offer went in and was accepted.
When the engine arrived it was just a pile of junk...but ...amazingly complete junk the only bits missing was the wooden base which was replaced by a home made mecanno type thing and as usual with a bowman no oil tap and the burner had no spout.
I set to to work scraping rubbing stripping ,then undercoating and top coating and polishing...making a new burner spout from 5/16 brass tube (Thanks Roly for the dimensions and useful article)....then i made the replacement oil tap from an old Mamod whistle tap.....just wet and dry to size and file a flat on one side to allow the oil to flow...it really works well and took 15 minutes to make and is just a bit bigger than the original....
I decided to use a wooden base as it would have had but hated the original colour scheme of Black and Green so im afraid it had to be my trade mark planking in light oak...sorry to all the purists but it can easily be changed to the correct colour any time, also i have added a control valve which this early E101 would not have had.
15 hours later this monster Bowman appeared , what an engine it runs superbly well.... apparently Bowman said it can run for 1 1/2 hours on one tank of water and 2000 rpm...i have not tested this boast🤔 but i have run it on steam and it was fantastic and a pure joy to use even at 2000 rpm and now even better with the control valve which allows slow running.
Here are a few pics of the rebuild and a video of its second run on steam without control valve fitted...i had to abort the first run due to a leak on the steam pipe as some idiot made a mess of a simple solder job🤓....Steve



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Steve .... that is not so much a Restoration as it is a RESURRECTION!!!

Fantastic job bringing that one back from the dead, and not being too much of a purist myself, think your planked base is just wonderful, and other modifications from stock are wonderfully functional.

Well done on all of that ...... WELL DONE INDEED!!!

Thank you Stoker it was hard work but i really enjoyed doing this one...the end product is a fantastic machine which i have been steaming constantly since i finished it....Steve

fantastic job on that Steve 😉👍

fantastic job on that Steve 😉👍

Hello Bruce it was a very enjoyable restoration ...the next one is much much worse a Bowman M122  ....Steve

Steve, that is the nicest E101 restoration I have ever seen...better than one I did myself years ago.  I love the base...beats black in my eyes and sort of reminds me of ship's flooring...beautifully done.

Rog

Hello Rog thank you thats praise indeed as i am sure i have seen a picture of that lovely E101 restoration you did. have you still got that engine?
I do all my bases in that scribed planking sometimes i use real boards cut to size, this engine runs very well which may be down to the fact that it may have been a non runner for a lot of its life as both inlet and exhaust pipes were blocked with solder and the piston cylinder cover would not allow the piston rod to travel properly so this engine would never have run at in that state...Steve
 

The 101 is my favourite Bowman engine, nice job on the restoration!

Thank you all Bowmans are well made engines and the E101 is also my favourite Bowman.....Steve

Very impressive Steve looks to be a contender for the E.O.M. contest.

Thanks John i try and make these engines look as close to brand new as i can ...if thats possible with a near 100 year old engine...Steve

Amazing transformation, VERY well done Steve !!!

It was hard work Jan but worth the effort....Steve