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[rhavrane]

Bonjour George,
Some people can buy because some others build, otherwise this passion would not survive   
And I would greatly appreciate if you could argue without using my supposed wealth, we have not been introduced, have we ?

[ooyah/2]

Bonjour George,
Some people can buy because some others build, otherwise this passion would not survive   
And I would greatly appreciate if you could argue without using my supposed wealth, we have not been introduced, have we ?

Raphael,
I have no knowledge of your wealth nor do I wish to but you have made yourself a prominent figure by your comments in the past on this forum and  many on y-tube as to the number of steam plants in model boats that you have,  that you have, Stuart , Antone , Saito and others over the years but they all come at a high cost  which can put new comers of  and are lost to the hobby.


Now if I have offended you , I apologies, as it was not my intention to do so, however when you or any other member on the forum insinuates that all of these add ons are necessary to run a Steam boat I shall continue to tell you that you are wrong and not required ,helpful though they my be and as the buyer you are entitled  to fit as many extras you please.


George.

[derekwarner]

Fear not Raphael....I will not talk of your wealth......[wealth in health is priceless] as long as you can make your own bread & grow your own olives to make olive spread for your bread & your home grown Garlic....

I enjoy each of your many you-tube videos ...I only wish my grasp of the French language was better. I also appreciate and learn from members such as yourself in the postings here at MBM and on other WEB pages 

As you are aware, the subject of double membrane gas regulators is currently on the French  Le Bleu WEB site and there is also an interesting thread on the same subject on the German De Schipp WEB site

Looking at these WEB sites, it is clear that the number of gas regulators being installed in model marine steam plants is steadily increasing

So, so many builders cannot be wrong,  their purpose is not to save gas, they are increasing running times.....

A reader could suggest that refillable gas tanks are expensive, some members pay $0.028/ml of gas for those 7/16"EN?? camping disposable's......some pay $0.006/ml of gas for the bayonet refiller type disposables

The English language is a strange body of words, however sometimes with so many words to choose from allows people to draw on words  which are not necessarily appropriate

Derek

[rhavrane]

Bonjour,
Bonjour,

Georges, there is no offense, let me also apologize for my reaction. Discussing and writing is quite different, this is why I like so much the reallife relatiohship. And the language barrier does not help, this is why I try to speak slowly and make a maimum of pictures.

Derek, I am happy to read that you know the "Les copains d'abord" alias "Bleu" forum, I registered only on the "BloOOo" one and lot of French steam passionnates are on both.

I think we are polluting this subject, sorry James and perhaps we could go on sharing in a dedicated subject, so I will create it.

Let us go on dreaming on this beautiful launch (I have not been able to buy her  )

[jpdenver]

Raphael,

Thank you for your insights.  And it is ok to hi-jack my thread once in awhile, just give it back when you are done.

Honestly, we need to share ideas.  I did not start this thread to brag or show off how much or little money I have,
I started it to share my experiences, and give my insights into how I solve the problems I encounter.

I am nearing retirement, and only got into models and live steam in the last 5 years. This build is my third.
and I will make a number of mistakes as I proceed.  I look forward to solving them, and will ask all who read to
feel free to comment on the solutions.

Thanks for reading,
Jim Pope
Denver, CO
USA
 

[jpdenver]

Greetings,

It has warmed up for a few days so I am back for a few hours a day to get things going again.

I have built up the bow and then moved onto the drivetrain.  Following the printed instructions
and the plans I have built the engine and Boiler mounts and using Bondo, attached them to the
hull. 

The Bondo version I am using has fibers embedded in it and it quite plastic until mixed with
the hardener.  BTW - the reason for the two colors is that I have two different colors of hardener
and did not notice the color choices until the second batch came out a lighter green.

Next will be to clad the boiler and work on the pipe-work.  Adding a port for a whistle and a
gas regulator.  I ordered a BIX regulator from Forest Classics, it came in last week.

Here are some pics:

Thanks for reading,
Jim Pope
Denver, CO
USA

[jpdenver]

More from today:

[rhavrane]

Bonjour Jim,
Great progress !

Which is the blackglue you are using ? It looks like thick oil ? I usually use epoxy adhesive bi components.

And a little advice, if you have empty room at the bow, it could be useful to fill it with "air bubbles" to prevent any sink accident (it happened to one of my bats

[Mark T]

Thats looking nice Jim.  Is the motor an Anton unit as it looks like one?  Also did the plans give you the exact location for the motor and boiler or was it a bit trial and error.  I'm just asking as my next build is steam.

[jpdenver]

Raphael,

The "glue" is actually a Car Body paste with embedded fiberglass.
It uses a hardener and I have two types of it.  One had a red hardener
one had a white hardener.  I mixed them up, which is why one of the batches
ended up looking like "oil" 

Here is a pic of the can.

Thx,
Jim

[jpdenver]

Mark,

The engine is an Anton Crystal.

The plans gave me a rough position for the engine and boiler, but it was up to me to
get the pieces to fit together.

I had to cut the hull and fit the running gear. The driveshaft had to be cut about 3/4 of an inch
and after all that the biggest issue was that the drive coupler was a different model than
the plans showed.  It is 1/8 inch longer.  So I will be working to adjust the front bulkhead
as the boiler is is still off a little.

But in the end of two days I have mounted the engine, boiler, servos and clad the boiler.

Thanks for reading,
Jim Pope
Denver,CO
USA

[jpdenver]

greetings again,

One of the items I noticed was that there is only one outlet for steam.
And since I wanted to add a regulator and a whistle.

So I reorganized the main output and added a port for the regulator
and one for the whistle.  Also added a main valve.

Then I interrupted the gas line to insert the regulator and seem to
have gotten things to fit OK, I might have a positioning problem
with the gas tank, it seems a little high up. 

Here are some pics.

Thanks for reading,
Jim Pope
Denver

[rhavrane]

Bonjour Jim,
Good job, I know now why we say "steam plant"    And to my opinion, I would also add a RC safety gas valve https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCgLBAxieNU

[DELAUNAY]

  Hello;

Something teases me, you're going to isolate all of these pipes to avoid steam condensation ? 
  Nice work dz plumbing

[jpdenver]

Thanks for the remarks,

Yes - Insulation will be installed.
And some paint too.

Then I will fire it all up and see if there are any leaks!!

More to come.

Jim Pope
Denver
USA

[ooyah/2]

Jim,
Is there a reason why the engine is hard against the boiler.


George.

[jpdenver]

George,

That is how they designed it.  a very tight fit.
I may have to ease the boiler forward a little
but that will impact a bulkhead and the decking.

More to come,
Jim Pope
Denver,CO
USA

[jpdenver]

To All,

I have completed the piping and insulation. 
I have picked up a whistle from Microcosm, but made a mistake
and got one with an 8MM connection.  Emailed Jin and he is sending me an
adapter. 

So here is the result.

BTW -  Instead of just a picture of a valve or a device like a regulator,
how about a LINK to where one can buy it?

I am seeing lots of neat little pieces and parts, but a YOU-TUBE video
does not help me find one!!

Thanks for reading,
Jim Pope
Denver

[rhavrane]

Bonjour Jim,
If you refer to my videos, sorry, I try to give my sources ... but in French. For example  my safety gas valves come from http://www.anton-vapeur.fr/liste.php?cat=7&mr=Accessoires%20Vannes%20coupe-gaz or http://www.dampfmodellbau-keifler.de/ ==> Gasarmaturen

And if you wish other references , do not hesitate to ask

[jpdenver]

Raphael,

Even though I speak no french, I can at least make sense of the website.

So thank you for the posting.   

More progress on my Topaz to come soon.

Thanks for reading,
Jim Pope
Denver, CO
USA

[jpdenver]

Hello again.

Here is the first run of my assembled steam plant.
some of the noise is because the engine is not fastened
down and is vibrating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWpLbAr8gwg

Thanks for watching,
Jim Pope
Denver,CO
USA

[SailorGreg]

Looking good Jim.  Did the engine need any adjustment or did it run like that straight out the box?

[jpdenver]

The engine ran a little stiffly but I would expect that.
Other than that it is as I received it.

Quite a beautiful piece of engineering. 

I plan do a bit more running in during the time I am
finishing the build of the kit.

But first I need to finish the mounting and control
points along with some "pre-wire" for lights.

Thanks for reading,
Jim Pope

[Baldrick]

Hi Jim.
 Nice going with the steam plant. Watching your build with interest. Can you clear up one matter that is worrying me on mine , how long a steam run do you get on that gas tank  ?  On the MH&B website ( http://www.model-steam-engines.com ) they post details of their catalogue gas tank and state it will give an hours run on a medium size engine . However although their tank is the same diameter as the kit supplied one it is twice as long (166 mm) . This would appear to say the kit tank will give less than half an hour run. Have you had a chance to assess this ? Help would be appreciated as my purchase was without a gas tank and I am unsure of the size to get .


cheers Balders

[rhavrane]

Bonjour Balders,
Sorry to answer in James message but your question is very often asked and interests lot of people.

To my opinion, it is always better to have less gas than water, it prevents uncontrolled heating of the boiler (that can happen when you discuss with your friends while you navigate  ).

Besides this, two possible options to increase the autonomy of a gas tank :
   - Add a dedicated filler valve to plug your gas bottle for the first heating part of the boiler
   - Refill the tank after the heating of the boiler. This is what I do on my Cheddar plant which has a water pump so a very large autonomy without risk :
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6q4yYpVcA8