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

Moving on...

Once the base and engine frame were blasted, I sprayed on several coats of hi-temp primer. When that dried, I wet-sanded down some of the high spots, and sprayed several coats of red engine paint. I used Rustoleum, since I had some left from the last project, though I'm not exactly in love with the stuff. It takes forever to dry, and loses some of its gloss over time. The shine can be brought back with polishing compound, but it shouldn't be that way. Will try the Krylon next time. Here's how the base turned out, after mounting the heater terminals, etc.:

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Before painting the engine frame, I took the time to counterbore the mounting faces for the various steam connection points for o-rings. I like to do this just to eliminate hassling with gaskets, which often don't seal very well, and even if they do, if you take it apart, they may not seal when you put it back together. Here's what it looked like after painting:

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While the base and frame were drying, I turned to cleaning and polishing the various parts as needed. The plating on this engine wasn't bad at all. A few worn spots here and there, but well into the "acceptable" range. Here is what the finished lot looked like before any polishing or painting:

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I wanted to make a new boiler sight glass, so I purchased some 1/4" O.D. borosilicate glass tubing off of eBay. I usually file a small notch with a triangular needle file where I need to break it, and it usually breaks pretty cleanly. If not, it can be trued up on the belt sander. Make sure the length is long enough to go well beyond where the seals will be, but not so long that you can't angle the tube into the fittings. I have found that 1/4" ID x 3/8" OD o-rings make a reliable seal for the 1/4" dia. tubing. You need at least 2 rings at each end to get sufficient sealing pressure:

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I have found that the 2 threaded joints where the sight glass fitting attaches to the boiler are best sealed with Loctite 542 (It's a brownish liquid.) Be sure to let is set up for 24 hours before steaming.

(To be continued)