Thank you for the reply, I am now retired so I have some time to play with. While I do not own a milling machine as of yet, my shop includes a 13 inch Sheldon lathe, a drill press, a bed sander, a MIG welder, a oxy-acetylene outfit, a band saw , lots of hand tools and so forth. [Because as we all know,, he who dies with the most tools wins] . My trade as a millwright put me in quite a few electrical power generation stations. Most of which ran on steam. They however, are turbines and most being in the 60 ton range, so not to much in small stuff.
As for my experience with models , I have 12 or so scratch built RC airplanes. All built from purchased plans . war birds, trainers, biplanes, low wing and high. Only one model boat so far, that being a 40 inch RC sailboat with electric assist .it was scratch built from red cedar and ply, but without plans. This build hinge on the power plant. After it is built [at least on paper] I should have a better idea on the size of the boiler needed . That, in turn, should tell me the size of the hull and what it will build it from.
I am posting here because I do not wish to "reinvent the wheel" I had thoughts of using pneumatic cylinders for the power but I think perhaps that is not a good idea. I tested them and they appear able to withstand the heat and pressures that I am expecting, but again the temperature difference I think might cause problems of excess condensation inside the cylinders. That is the basis for my 1st question on my original post.
The second question originates because I am assuming that the pressure that is shown on the boiler is the highest in the system. it seems to me that as the steam travels its path from the boiler, through the engine it should do nothing but decrease. but I am not 100% positive on this. What I have read so far makes me believe that the inlet valving closes just before TDC on the crank, so there should be some compression going on there. How much? HMMMM.
The third has to do with straight mechanics. How big do the inlet and exhaust ports [and plumbing] have to be for a given displacement
The final question is just out of curiosity, I have looked at quite a few pictures of stern wheelers trying to prepare for this build. I have not seen one with the paddle wheel being used as the flywheel. I think this my be because in full sized stern wheelers , the paddles were chain driven . Most likely from a reversible gearbox and a higher RPM motor.