Member postings for Bob Wild

Hi. I stared on this model recently. I have described my progress so far in this thread :

**LINK**

In the first post there is a link to Frank Finches article. You will be astonished by the lack of instructions and dimensions! But I did find a complete set of plans from Julius day Val. There is another guy called Werner who has also built a (slightly bigger) Fire King. He has described his impressive model on this site and has given me a few pointers. Hope this helps.

Bob

Edited By Bob Wild on 14/07/2020 21:52:33

THe only problem I have now is that 'Er Indoors wants to spend more time outdoors with the easing of the lockdown restrictions. So I'm taking her to the Yorkshire Dales in our caravan. Model Engineering on hold for a while

Here's the ball turning photo that I have been having such problems with:

I'm actually quite proud of the attachment as it does just what I wanted.

Bob

Thanks Werner, I'll bear that in mind.

Bob

Well I didn't expect such a furore of responses, but it does make interesting reading. Thanks to everyone for their replies.

Nigel, I should have been more explicit about my application. It is a Merryweather Fire King self propelled fire engine. It is described in my thread Merryweather Fire King

Dave "If your engine was originally serialised in a magazine, then assembly, marking out and lining up was dealt with in the write up." There is a reference to the 1908 article in my thread, and I was astonished by the lack of guidance from the author, not to mention the lack of dimensions!

Many years ago I were an ingineer. All drawings had a tolerance on each dimension. But now I’m building a steam engine where there are no tolerances at all on the drawings. It’s quite complicated as it is a twin cylinder and each is driving a water pump. My big concern is how to get them all lined up. Obviously the greater the clearance between the pistons and their cylinders the easier it is. So my big question is “How much clearance should there be between the piston and its cylinder”. Incidentally the bore is 3/4 in. Any suggestions from the experts would be most appreciated.

Bob

Thanks Werner. I will be happy if my machine is half as good as yours. I’ve got a copy of the Henderson book, and it does contain lots of interesting info. I’m going to try etching the nameplate as you have done, but I think that will be some time in the future. At the moment I’ve nearly finished the pumps and the cylinders. But I’m so worried about how to line everything thing up. I was thinking I might use some dummy pistons connected with a rod so I can bolt them all together. Then I can also clamp the pumps to the water cylinder.

Bob

The most interesting part of the water pump is the air cylinder. The original design was a bit boring so I decided to use the design of Tubal Cain which he used for his Lady Stephanie bean engine. This had a fluted cylinder and a relief valve.

Machining the flutes

Turning the end with my homemade ball turning attachment

The final assembly

Next up the water pumps, a lot of machining here

Steering components

Front assembly

Thought I’d better paint the model so far. To stop it rusting and get a bit of Fire Engine Red !!!

My efforts at hardening and tempering spring steel were a disaster so I gave in and decided to make the leaf springs out of ms. This is my homemade bender which worked well

I made a fixture to form the eyes

And this is the result

Finally I assembled both the front and rear suspensions and painted them.

the rear was a bit of a pig. I managed to snap my bender trying to form such a thick section, so in the end I resorted to brute force to wrap the curve round a former.

Thanks Werner. You’ve certainly built a great model and posted some great videos. I don’t think mine will be capable of riding on, but I would like it to be a working model. The boiler fills me with dread since there is so much silver soldering to do. But that is some time in the future. I am prepared to make a few compromises, for example since I have no castings the pumps will be prefabricated. Also not to happy about making the crankshaft with the valve eccentrics in the proper position. So I am going to use two Stuart 10V cylinders mounted back to back. By doing this I can fit the eccentrics from either end. Also I can’t imagine making the wheels in wood at my scale, so I will prefabricate them in steel.
I have seen a beautiful model at the Beamish Industrial Museum and that had fire engine red wheels. So if I go down that route it doesn’t matter what the material is. I’ve seen another photo at a stately house called Wentworth House, this is quite near to where I live, so as soon as this blooming lockdown is over I’ll try to find it. Anyway, that book sounds interesting, so I’ll try to get a copy.
Bob

Thanks V8Eng. I’ve had a look at Werner’s posts - very interesting and helpful

I came across this article in a 1908 model engineering magazine: **LINK**

My ambition always exceeds my ability so I thought I would share my progress and hopefully get some helpful advice from the experts here. My first problem was the fact that the drawings only contained a minimum of dimensions; not the sort of detail you would expect from today’s drawings. Fortunately I came across some detailed drawings from Julius de Vaal, so that was a relief, see below:

First the chassis. Not a problem so far, except the design called for channel section. I could only find some box section so I had to remove one side.

Next up the front and rear suspensions, more to follow

Bob

Hello Pete. Yes I agree. The quality of the castings left a lot to be desired. The flywheel was full of inclusions and the entablature was way out of true. In the end I prefabricted the it and assigned the casting to the scrap bin !

Bob

Thank you all for your welcoming messages. Don't know where Herefordshire or Granthan are - somewhere down south presumably. We have a saying "Yorkshire born and Yorkshire bred, strong in the arm and good in bed".

I'll start a construction thread and post some photos of Lady Stephanie.

Bob

Have just returned to model engineering after I retired. The last time I did anything like this was in GCE metalwork at school many years ago. It's surprising how much you remember, and also how much you forget. My first project was a Stuart Turner 10H. I'm now on with a Lady Stephanie beam engine which is testing my patience to the extreme - so many 10 and 12 ba bolts. I'll try and publish some pics if I'm not too ashamed of my handywork.

Bob