Solder eating stalagmites

 

Last time I mentioned the Fantail launch, it had just passed a steam test. After this, I've been very busy, so left the remains of the Mamod fuel tablets in the burner pan, thinking they would be fine there. 

It seems not. Left to their own devices, they formed these little lumps in the pan, and spread around the outside too. I've no idea how this works, but it's a reminder to clean the pan out in future. 

Fortunatly, a bush with stiff, damp, long-handled brush, removed the muck easily enough, I managed to avoid removing the engine as this would require disconneting the couple, and I don't think disturbing the rubber tube is a good idea if it can be avoided. 

However, there was another problem. Both connections to the battery box that powers the radio had failed. 

Coincidence? 

I'm not sure. It's odd that both would break. 

Rewiring the box didn't cure the problem either, and a frustrating hour was spend re-attaching wires and changing the reciever. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the servo, or even a fresh servo plugged into the controller, to operate. 

At this point things looked a bit hopeless, but digging in the box of spares, I found a new bettery box. I also changed the recieved from a RadioLink to a Planet, wired it all up and got a result! Lots of faffing around, but the boat was ready for the steam day. 

On the day, I ran it for 12 minutes, retrieved the model and checked it over. 1/3 of a boiler and probably 1/3 of the two solid fuel tablets I'd put in. On that basis, I think the 20 minutes I've had in the past is achievable. 

I'll be careful to clean the pan out before putting it away in the future though!

Boiler testing day

 

I'm lucky, that my work is flexible. As long as there isn't a meeting, it doesn't matter when I work, just that the jobs get done. This allowed me to be at the model boat club in the sun for boiler testing day. Tha fantail launch sparkled as she sat on the bench, waiting for her turn with the club testers. 

We were in the company of some serious kit too. Proper boats, with steam plants that cost several time more than my model! For these, the serious testing kit is employed. For insurance reasons, the models must be tested every year, so we don't blow anyone up while sailing, especially on a public day. 

The simple plant of the fantail gave the testers a bit of a problem. Boiler pressure is low, 20-35psi, and there isn't a normal safety valve, just a length of neopropaline pipe that should be the weak link if anything goes wrong. 

Tester Chris had looked into this, and it seems the rules are sligthly different for an "Lo" type steam plant which is how mine is categorised. We discussed it a little and decided that the best plan would be to stall the engine and see if the pipe blew off. 

A few seconds before this photo was taken, the whole thing was smothered in steam. After a few seconds at stall, the pipe blew off, and emptied the boiler of hot gas. It was quite spectacular! Of course, this leave fire under the boiler and not much water in there, so I will need to point the model at the bank and hope momentum gets it there before anything melts .

All this satisfied the test, and the model has now been certified. 

I'm quite chuffed (pun intended) with this. I've never been certified before, and take this as me having done an OK job with the construction. 

At this point, I should have taken the launch for a little sail, but when reassembling it, I hadn't been realistic about the state of the rubber coupling. 

A replacement is in order, and adding the tube to my steam engine "flight box" for bankside repairs in the future.

Clean up and first run

 

No point in getting clever, the first place to start cleaning up the engine is down at the kitchen sink. 

A good scrub with soapy water and an old toothbrush removes the fur from the mazak, and a lot of the muck from the fuel pan too. I couldn't resist a quick polish with the springy metal stuff used for really stuborn muck on pans. I know it's going to get dirty again, but I find cleaning things theraputic sometimes. 

Obviously, there will be Brasso. If it's metal, I do my best to bring it up to a reasonable shine. Again, there's no logic to this other than it looks nice. I think I hope the boiler tester will be kinder to a gleaming engine than a mucky one. 

I prefer Brasso wadding, it smells a bit less, and is very handy for all sorts of quick cleaning jobs around the workbench. 

With everything cleaned and oiled, it's outside in the sunshine with a pack of solid fuel tablets. I'd forgotten the smell of these. Nothing like and nice as meths, but certainly evocative of a time spent trying to persaude a Mamod loco to find a happy medium between stationery and Mach 1. 

Anyway, a table and a half placed in the pan, and the engine dropped on top, I'm glad of my Accucraft flame/heat proof gloves for all this, and we have lift-off!

Prepare the steam boat!

 

A new event is on the horizon. The boat and railway clubs have joined forces for a steam day, with boats on the water, and trains on the new tracks. 

I have trains, but it's a very long while since my fantail launch saw the water. But, I want to be one of the few, possibly the only one, operating in both areas.

Exhuming the launch from storage, being out of use has not been kind. All the basswork has taken on a distincly green tinge, and the mazak (I think) parts of the engine are a bit furry. 

Add to that the radio reeciever is 26mHz, there's a bit of work to do before the model is ready for a boiler test. Yes, we are now official, so it will have to submit to one of those. I'm not looking forward to this as the model doesn't have a normal safety valve, and I soft-soldered the boiler together! 

How to sell a programme

On the way in to the Model Engineer show I was accosted and flogged a programme for the event. Why did I buy it ?

Simple - Every single exhibit is listed and that means my name is in there twice.

To be honest, I don't get the point of the guide. Why would you want to refer to it after the event ? For what purpose would you need to know the name of the builder of anything ? Surely if they wanted you to know who they were, they'd have put a little card with their details beside the model.

My suspicion is that it works on the local paper model. Open your local rag and there will be lots of photos of children. This is because their parents and grandparents will all go out and buy copies. Therefore the more people in the pictures, the higher the circulation. Genius.

Despite this we still buy the thing. In my case it's pure ego. As regular readers will be aware I'm about as much of an engineer as Ann Widdicombe is a dancer (Note: topical reference. I am so down wid da kidz !) but just for a moment I can pretend.

Oh, and it reminds me that I still haven't made any progress on the Brede Lifeboat which remains a hull in a box rather than a display on a stand. Honestly, I really do mean to finish it one day...

Raising steam

Like an excited child at Christmas, one of my fellow boat club members has been asking to see my steam boat. He fancies something similar ans since this is pretty much the cheapest model you can buy it would make a good starter kit.

All of which means in time for Sunday's official first sail of the season, I had to make sure the model worked.

First surprise was that I'd forgotten to take the receiver batteries out. Even more of a shock - they had enough juice still in them after several months out of use, to move the steering servo. I've often found ni-cads not to hold a charge for long periods, even though they don't leak like normal batteries, but these were fine. OK, they have been recharged to be on the safe side but that was good news.

The same couldn't be said for the glue holding the servo down. This had completely failed and the thing flapped around in the bottom of the hull. Superglue to the rescue and we had steering again.

Finally, it was down to the sink to steam up on the draining board. There was enough fuel tablet in the burner for a test so I filled up with luke warm filtered water and lit up. While steam pressure was raised some 3 in 1 on all the moving parts made sure they worked freely and sealed the face between cylinder and block (I know I should use steam oil but I've run out).

After a few minutes pressure was up and the engine turned over nice and freely. There's not a lot of power as I discovered wiping the rotating flywheel with some kitchen towel - this pretty quickly stopped things again - but hopefully with two fresh fuel tablets I'll raise this a bit too.

The very last job is the best of all - clean the brasswork making the model nice and shiny to show off.

Going green

Green boiler
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker

Preparing some model boats for today's sailing, I discovered that the boiler of the fantail launch had gone green !

All the brasswork was covered in a slightly oily verdant substance. Looking at the areas around the air holes I can only assume that this is a residue of the solid fuel camping tablets I use to power the model. Why they should cause this is a mystery - the model has been stored in the dry out of season.

A quick rub with some Brasso wadding had things gleaming again. The a bit of water in the boiler and a touch of heat had the engine turning over like a good 'un. Mind you, if the rain doesn't stop, the boat stays in the box. The open hull will collect more water on top than underneath !

Blown filler cap

blown filler
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

Last week I took the Fantail Launch for sail on the club lake in the evening. The weather was kind and pootling around the water was very pleasant. After a couple if circuits I messed around sailing the boat between buoys near the edge - close enough that I could rescue the model with a pole rather than a other boat.

My plan was to see how long the engine kept going so I could plan future trips. On two tablets of fuel and 60ml of water, I managed 21 minutes. At this point the engine was obviously losing power and in danger of stalling so I pulled it to the bank and tried to put out the fire by blowing down the chimney.

On doing this the water filler popped off. Fortunately it fell onto the landing stage.

Obviously what had happened was that the boiler had run dry. The fuel tablets last urges were enough to melt the solder and the remaining pressure enough to flip the filler, which is simply soldered to the surface of the boiler, off.

During the week I manged to re-fit the filler, albeit not quite as neatly as before. Doing this without dismantling the cladding meant I managed to singe the wood a little too. This will give the boat character I think and not just a memento of my laziness...

A steam test showed that there weren't any other leaks so last night the model took another turn around the water. This time I limited the run to 15 minutes and all was fine. So now I know - quarter of an hour an no more, or it's the soldering iron for me !

Sooty sails !

Sooty on the lake
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

At yesterdays KMBC Sunday Lunch we had some superb weather, sunny and mostly still. Just the sort of day to try my Fantail steam launch, Sooty.

Having grabbed a frequency. I loaded up with 60ml of water and 2 whole tablets of solid fuel, lit this and took the boat down to the landing stage. Raising steam seemed quicker than normal, certainly not the five minutes I've waited in the past - or maybe I was just chatting so didn't notice !

On the water the engine ran well with the model pootling around within reach of a boat retrieving pole. I did make a few trips further from the bank but decided discretion was the better part of valour on the first run . The controls were passed to Derek while I filmed the model and took some pictures.

After 15 minutes or so I brought the model in and checked the fuel - still about a quarter of each tablet was left but I blew these out and let things cool.



Once we packed up I tried a more ambitious trip around the edge of the lake on both directions with no incidents. Again, the engine ran well with no problems and most importantly, no stalling. I left the lake a very happy model boater.

During the sail it became apparent that there are a few jobs to do:

• The model has a slight list. A bit more weight on the side with the figure should sort this. The hull is buoyant enough to handle this with ease.


• The trim needs adjusting again. We still pull to the right a lot, more than the trim on the transmitter can deal with.


• The locating pins in the baseplate have been sliding down, making the boiler unstable. Some glue able to take the heat is needed.


• One member who knows a lot about model steam engines suggests that for single cylinder oscillators, a very weak spring to pull the cylinder over can help if the model stalls. The spring pulls the cylinder to the point where it will restart. I'll investigate this IF I have problems. For the minute I'm happy with the way its running so I'll leave well alone.

Fantail Launch - Finished

Finished Fantail Launch
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

Just one job left on this model boat - make a tiller for the crewman to steer with.

I knew this would be a funny shape so did the right thing and hacked away at a cardboard template until I had found a shape that worked. This was then transferred to one of the leftover bits of basswood which was carved and sanded to produce the finished object.

After a couple of coats of gloss varnish, the arm has been glued to the arm of the figure - at the pivot end it just sits over the top of the rod and can be removed easily. Yes - I did check that the steering isn't impeded by this.

And that's the job done. I'm pleased with the end result. My intention was to produce an attractive boat with slightly fancy woodwork which is what I have. There have been fun and games on the way but I've learned a lot about working with fibreglass and wood so next time everything will be a lot easier.

Of course there is still one task with this model - I have to learn how to sail it properly now !

Fantail sailor

Fantail sailor
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

All model boats (and real boats too) need a crew. Anything less, IMHO, looks stupid. The Fantail crew isn't huge, one figure, but I wanted a good one. Luckily in 1/12th scale there is a reasonable range available from dolls house shops.

I prefer those moulded in resin as you get a reasonable level of detail as as long as the pose suits your purposes the figure stays where you want it. The horrid rubbery people so beloved of dolls house owners can't be posed as they retain the "stamped out in a press" pose more akin to scarecrows than real people. The faces look scary too like someone who has done too much botox.

For a fiver my man looked the part and the pose couldn't be better with an arm built for handling a tiller. The only thing was I didn't like the paint job. Obviously for the money it's impressive, or scandalous when you work out what the painter will have been paid, to get paint at all. I don't like the skin tone (too pale) and find the other colours on the weak side and indifferently applied.

My usual Humbol dry brushed with Revell paint skin started the transformation and was quickly followed by a complete change of colours. In my mind the sailor is a Victorian enthusiast who is sailing a steam launch he maintains, and possibly even built, himself. The jacket is a coarse material that will survive coal dust and the trousers definitely aren't the best. A hint of character is exposed by the red waistcoat and bow tie.

No - I haven't given him a name, I'm not that sad. But if anyone likes to suggest one I'm listening !

Fuel tablets

Fuel tablets
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

While the instructions for this model boat say, use Sterno to power it, I can't get Sterno in the UK. So, I've improvised with these solid fuel tablets from a camping shop.

Another alternative would be Mamod solid fuel tablets intended for running their range of steam engines. I suspect this would be a bit more expressive and no more effective than the camping shop version. For £1.99 I got 24 tablets which I think is enough for 12 runs. I wonder how much an electric boat would cost to charge for a similar number of sessions ?

Fantail Launch - Maiden Voyage

Maiden Voyage
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

It's been on the water !

First up a bag of lead was measured out for the front to drop the bow and counterbalance the heavy resin figure. I'll work on disguising this later, probably in a sack of coal. The hull is very bouyant though and I suspect a bit more weight wouldn't go amiss.

Next I fired up the boiler with 1 1/2 flammable tablets and 50ml of water. Once steam was raised the boat puttered around OK but seemed to run out of puff every so often. Oddly though, the engine did restart sometimes, something a single oscillating cylinder ought not to be able to do.

Steering is fine but I need to adjust the trim to give a bit more right rudder. The boat is badly affected by wind so a calm day is required before a trip to the boating lake. That steam outlet seems to act as a retro rocket sometimes too.

The second run was carried out with 2 tablets and 80ml of water. this was a bit better but I'll try a slightly less water next time. There is a balancing act to be carried out to get the best steam raising capability. At it's peak the engine runs brilliantly but often slows so that drive is non-existent. I also want at least 10 minutes continuous running and reliability as I can't rely on the engine to restart.

On the plus side, the woodwork looks fantastic in the sun. I'm going to need to polish the bras though.

Wiring the boat

Wiring the boat
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

In the launch I need to pack:

• A receiver


• A servo


• Batteries to run the above

The only problem is that there is very little in the way of hiding places in this model boat. All I have available is a seat at the front which hides the 4 AAA cells, and the removable seat at the back with the servo and receiver shoved underneath. Because of an earlier error the seat back has had to be altered so the servo can fit underneath. It's not easy sawing away when you barely have room to move the blade.

The power wires run neatly down the centre of the hull and are hidden by the steam plant. Losing the aerial under the edge of the deck is fiddly and I'm not sure how long the masking tape I used to hold it up will last but for the moment it's not too bad.

Engine bench test

The cleaned up boiler is wrapped in a fibreglass(?) sheet then then brass, which holds the cloth and gives the height required for the burner wrapes around this. On top of that goes a set of mahogany strips for decoration and extra insulation. These are held in place with brass boiler bands.

The bands come predrilled but I found them to be too long and loped 5mm of one end of each, re-drilled the hole and then prebent them around a can. Bolting the ends together is less fiddly than expected, helped by the strips being stuck to a strip of masking tape.

The baseplate has to be drilled to start the screws that hold the cylinder in place. 3 holes are also made for brass rods that retain a copper "dish" for the fuel. The idea is that the boiler slips over these and is held in place. Fine, except that they are too close the dish and splay out. I redrilled them so that the posts were vertical and everything fitted together.

According to the instructions, the fuel to be used is something called "Sterno". This is a flammable jelly used in hand warmers apparently. It's not available in the UK as far as I can tell so I had to experiment.



With the engine complete and on the bench in the garage I started with the little meths burner I made up to power my plank. This heated the water but wasn't man enough to get it to the boil.

Next I tried bits of firelighter. Much better if I could keep them lit. A squirt of meths into the dish seemed to help as the meths would burn well and keep the firelighter going. It's then that I managed to get the results in the film you can see in this post. OK so the duration wasn't impressive at around 5 minutes but I was mesmerised by my own working steam engine and spent the rest of the evening messing around with various combinations of fuel to no great effect.

I've always felt that one of the best things a modeller can do is build a locomotive chassis and run it up and down a test track. The pleasure of watching something you have made actually working is immense. The steam engine gives the same, not thrill but deep sense of satisfaction. I'd recommend it for anyone.

Boiler making

Soldered boiler
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

Making a boiler is scary. This is a pressure vessel - in other words it could go bang.

The kit provides a length of copper tube and a top and bottom plate which overlap the ends. All the modeller has to do is slosh some flux in the joints, heat everything up and run solder in. This works very well once enough heat is applied - the solder wicks into the join and through the holes in the ends I can see that it's worked its way to the bottom. I probably overdid it with the solder but I'd rather that than have the thing explode on me.

(Safety note: I'm not sure what pressure this thing runs at but I think it's lower than your average balloon so I suspect the chances of me blowing up the house are slim)

The chimney took a bit of forcing through it's holes - a little easing with emery paper was required. It's then soldered in place with about 1/4 of an inch sticking out the bottom.

Finally the steam outlet tube is annealed and fitted followed by the water filler. No problems there. A quick clean with Hib Brite and it looks pretty !

Steam Cylinder

Steam Cylinder
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

Assembly of the Fantail launch's steam cylinder is pretty easy. The instructions recommend solder and seem to indicate that you need to use silver solder for best results. Re-reading though what they actually suggest is normal tin/lead solder but with solver in it. Nowadays it is easy to get lead-free solder and the best stuff has a small amount of silver in to make it "wet" more easily.

I did try silver solder but can't get the correct flux (it's on backorder) and the flux I have wouldn't make it run. So I used lead free solder with silver in it - and it all worked fine.

A small gas torch got things hot enough to fix the cylinder to it's block (the swively bit, not sure what the correct term is) and also make up the piston. Both were cleaned up and special effort made to make sure the piston moved freely, but not too freely, in the bore.

Once screwed together I tried testing by blowing in the ports but couldn't move the piston. Plugging a big syringe in did the job though. Compressing the air by about 2/3rds got the engine running for a couple of seconds until the plunger reached the end. A proper compressed air source would have been better but this did the job. And it was addictive - I must have spend half an hour just turning the engine over like this as I was so proud of getting this far and having it working.

Cranked axle

Cranked axle
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

Oh dear. The instructions say assembly of the crank and flywheel is easy. Fit the crank to the axle, put it through the block making sure it revolves (I reamed the hole slightly for this) and then force it through the flywheel by gentle tapping with a hammer on a vice.

I tried that. The tapping had to be a bit more than gentle but it went in. Sadly the same tapping bent the axle. A lot. The only way to get it out was to chop the axle up with a junior hacksaw and take it away in bits.

The problem is the wrong material is supplied. A brass axle is fine in theory but it's too malleable. I was lucky, in a drawer I found some of the correct material - silver steel rod of the right diameter. Although it was a bit short - I had to put a join in the middle of the fat flywheel, this went in perfectly.

Starting the steam engine

Casting
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

Time to open the second box that this model boat kit comes in. This time I'm building the steam power plant. This is a little scary as I've never built anything like this before and so I'm on a learning curve. In theory the kit makes assembly easy as all the machining has been carried out and only a modest selection of hand tools are required.

First up is the oscillating cylinder. A metal block supports this and provides the steam ports. I think it's cast from mazak, if not another hard alloy. It's pretty clean but I ran a countersink bit in all the holes to bevel the edges for easier entry. The face where the steam ports are was also cleaned up with some emery on a flat surface.

The pivots are pressed in using a vice. These then need cleaning out with a reamer or drill to allow the axle to rotate smoothly.

Then the steam ports are knocked in with a small hammer. I marked these at 4mm so the pipes didn't go in too far and block the ports on the face of the casting. According to the instructions you can twist them back out with pliers if you go too far but it's easier not to get this wrong in the first place.

How much vanish is enough ?

Varnished front
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

3 coats ?

I think this will; be enough. I've been good and given each a light sand before re-coating. The yacht varnish is really bringing the colours of the wood alive like I hoped it would. My big worry is ending up with too thick a finish. Perhaps the varnish should be thinned a bit before use, but then I'm likely to get sags or runs.

Whatever, the result is very nice. Next, I get to put the mechanical bits in.