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About 3 years ago I brought home a fragment of a steam engine from an event at which interested people could show and demonstrate their toy steam engines and models. An elderly gentleman had a large box full of a steam tray in the trunk of his car. With the words: "What do I do with it? Do I give this to the scrap dealer, or do I leave the stuff here?", He turned to a young member of the organizing association, with whom I was talking about the machines on display. The contents of the box consisted almost entirely of parts from Wilesco machines, except for one part in terrible condition, which I quickly recognized as a Doll machine. Since nobody was obviously interested in this, I bought the fragment for a few euros in the club's treasury.
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Someone had spilled some acid over the existing machine parts and the floor pan, so that fingers and hands were blue when touched. The boiler is missing, the boiler house is irreparably rusted through except for the chimney attachment. When I got home, I immediately tried to identify the machine. At www.fleischmann-toys.de I thought I recognized the machine as model 368/3. The shape of the unit and the 3 round vents on each side of the boiler house indicated this. The dimensions of the foundation (31 x 27 cm) spoke against it. Since the kettle is missing, I couldn't find any further evidence of identification beyond its size. The boiler house, without the chimney attachment, is 15 cm long. A request to Thomas Venter (www.ventix.pages) brought the solution. Due to the dimensions of the foundation and boiler house, it must be a 368/2. According to Thomas, during production at Doll there were often changes to the model designs compared to the images shown in the catalog.
The 3-hole boiler house was totally irritating for me, as the illustration of the 368/2 in the Doll catalog only has 2 round vents. I then dealt a little more intensively with the condition of the existing parts. The foundation is in good condition apart from the paintwork and surface rust. The boiler house is junk and needs to be replaced. All parts of the unit are in good condition in terms of material. The steam lines are not bent.
The machine fragment has now been dismantled and the individual parts cleaned. I removed the paint by sandblasting, not without first documenting the paintwork that was still there. I would like to restore the machine as true to the original as possible. All screw connections could be loosened without any problems without the use of WD-40. The search for a new boiler house, a suitable boiler with pressure gauge, steam whistle and pressure relief valve began. Oh yes, the chimney and the angled oiler on the piston have to be replaced too. The oiler broke off there. The search for the missing parts has now taken over three years. In the meantime, someone has turned the missing oiler on the cylinder with cover from brass.
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A short time ago I was able to get almost all the missing spare parts cheaply. All that is missing is the chimney, the pressure gauge and the weight of the safety valve. I would never have dreamed that I would get the spare parts in the form of an almost complete machine. The machine is also in a bad condition. But the boiler house is not rusted through, the boiler has no noticeable dents and the unit is technically in good condition. The painting of the base plate is completely over. The burner needs a minor repair. Now I'm spoiled for choice when it comes to restoration. I have to think about it for a while. I will definitely report on the progress.
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Will be looking forward to hear which road you choose Jürgen...and hopefully a full restoration-thread as well eventually.
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I asked Jurgen if he wanted to see an original paint job on a Doll 368/3 for an idea, and he said yes.
So with his permission here is what they looked like from the factory.
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Hello Tommy,
Thanks for sharing the pictures of your 368/3 in the thread. This way, other forum members can get an idea of how my machine will look after the restoration. In the past 3 years I haven't failed to search the internet for pictures of the 368/2. Unfortunately, I cannot use these pictures in the thread because I do not own the rights to the pictures. So your pictures came in handy for me. During my research I noticed that there are obviously too few deviations in production of the 368/2 from the machine shown in Doll's catalog. The base plate, unit base, boiler length and diameter as well as the boiler house length are always the same. Likewise the equipment with fittings. On some machines, however, the chimney attachment at the boiler house is lower, while on others it is the same height as the boiler house. Some boiler houses have 3 holes for the air supply, others only 2 (as shown in the catalogue). The angled oiler on the cylinder is missing on some machines. The base color also seems to vary. Most of the machines are black and nightblue, as is the case with your machine and the one I recently purchased. Some versions (very rare) appear in a much lighter blue, like the machine I bought first. But there are also versions that were painted black-green and slightly marbled. The fine lines always stay the same. I only have one guess about this. Since the models were produced over a very long period of time, there have been structural deviations over the years. The color deviations should perhaps help to make the individual series interesting for many prospective buyers. But that's pure speculation on my part.
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A old engine worthy of a resurrection.
I would have made a boiler by now to see it running and displayed.
All the while still looking for an original boiler .
Cheers
Dennis -
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Jürgen:
Any progress on this one?
Charlie -
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Hello Charlie,
there is nothing worth mentioning to report from the progress. The last purchased machine fragment has been disassembled, the boiler cleaned and re-bronzed. I was also able to get the missing steam whistle in the meantime. The filling screw of the burner and a suitable soldering sleeve have been turned from brass by a very helpful colleague from the German "Dampfforum".
I soldered the sleeve successfully.The burner handle / burner ventilation are still missing. The weight for the safety valve as well.
But these are only trifles.
Unfortunately, my neighbor's sandblasting machine is defective, so that the burner house and the chimney extension could not be derusted yet.
At the moment I am thinking about how to get the fine lining on the foundation and the machine base. All previous considerations and attempts, for example with masking film, were unsatisfactory.
I assume that substantial progress will be made during the winter. I will try to take photos of even the smallest progress. But it happens again and again that I am so engrossed in the work, that I forget to take pictures.
In any case, I will report here as soon as there is significant progress. Then there will be (hopefully enough) pictures to see.
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Hello Charlie,
there is nothing worth mentioning to report from the progress. The last purchased machine fragment has been disassembled, the boiler cleaned and re-bronzed. I was also able to get the missing steam whistle in the meantime. The filling screw of the burner and a suitable soldering sleeve have been turned from brass by a very helpful colleague from the German "Dampfforum".
I soldered the sleeve successfully.The burner handle / burner ventilation are still missing. The weight for the safety valve as well.
But these are only trifles.
Unfortunately, my neighbor's sandblasting machine is defective, so that the burner house and the chimney extension could not be derusted yet.
At the moment I am thinking about how to get the fine lining on the foundation and the machine base. All previous considerations and attempts, for example with masking film, were unsatisfactory.
I assume that substantial progress will be made during the winter. I will try to take photos of even the smallest progress. But it happens again and again that I am so engrossed in the work, that I forget to take pictures.
In any case, I will report here as soon as there is significant progress. Then there will be (hopefully enough) pictures to see.
Great to hear that you are continuing to work on it.
@parallelmotion may be able to provide some tips on the pin striping. I just inherited a machine for this job (made in Germany) which I have not yet tested.
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For pin striping or painting fine lines
Google Beugler pin striping tool
I think i have also seen a video on YT on how to make one
I have tried masking tape , a big fail
I have tried fine paint brush another fail
I have got a Beugler tool second hand from TM and it resulted in my best effort yet
Cheers
Dennis -
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Hello Charlie, hello Dennis,
thank you very much for your tips. This will save me many hours of trying and experimenting. In principle, I have nothing against experimentation. It doesn't make you any stupider. Often you come to knowledge that you can implement elsewhere well.
I am always happy to accept a good suggestion. Therefore once again:
Thank you!😃👍 -
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Hello Dennis,
This afternoon I looked a bit more intensively at the videos and information available on the internet about the Beugler Pinstriping Tool. I have consulted in detail with Mrs. Hamers, who is the painter in our family, and I am now convinced that it is exactly the part I need. It will definitely be worth the investment. -