Gothic Beam Steam Engine Build

[wagnmkr]

Excellent result. Love the colors.

Cheers

Tom

[kvom]

I like the model more than the prototype.  Great work.   

[Dave Otto]

Beautiful Maury!

I love the colors; will I get to see it a NAMES this year?

Dave

[maury]

Y'all, I'm overwhelmed by all the compliments and kind words. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.

Yes, I will be at NAMES in next month, and yes the Gothic will be with me. I look forward to seeing you all there. Hope the MEM table has a lot of your new goodies on display. Maybe we can all get together for dinner Friday or Sat. nite.

This was a fun kit to build. I have always wanted to build a beam engine, and so here it is. Guess I'll be getting back to IC engines next. I have a lot of unbuilt kits under my bench.

maury

[Larry]

Love that engine !!

[smfr]

Beautiful, Maury!

Can you tell us about your painting process, and the paint used? I'm having a terrible time with spray-enamel on my Muncaster engine, to the point where I need to strip it and just try again, and it's really hard to find brush-on enamels in appropriate colors here in the US.

Simon

[Kim]

Can't add much more to what's been said, but it sure looks nice!
Thanks for sharing your pictures!
Kim

[b.lindsey]

Stunning Maury....love the colors and contrast. What a beautiful engine!!!  Hope we will get to see a video of her running soon.

Bill

[maury]

Guys, thanks again for the praise. I appreciate it.

Simon, I use Kelly More "Kelguard" oil base paint. I have been using it for about 10 years now and have collected a nice assortment of colors. They will make any color you want, but you have to buy quarts. You can mix your own colors as well. The process I use is I fettle the castings with files before machining them to get the rough spots off. This will vary depending on the finish look you want. On one engine I used a air die grinder with those little 1.25 dia sanding disks.

After the engine is running I mark the spots where the castings mate and need a better fit.  I go over those spots with files again, and any others I may have missed.

The painting process begins with cleaning with paint thinner to get the oil and metal particles off. Then I add the primer coat. I use artist brushes only. This is a slow process, but it gives me a chance to look at every square inch of every part for ugly places. After the primer dries for a day, I do the paint coat, again with artist brushes. Sometimes it takes 2 coats depending on the color and how much thinner I add. When the paint is new, I don't use thinner.

This process will not give the slick shiny look like a newly painted car, but then, that is NOT what I'm after. It works well on iron castings and iron and steel parts. The paint is very durable and stands up to years of oil and gas and sunshine.

If you have made an engine from aluminum and want to use Kelguard oil base paint, I suggest an acetone cleaning, followed by acid cleaning, then immediately an application of zinc chromate primer. That is the only primer that works on aluminum, period! Unfortunately, it is a very nasty carcinigen. Use it with EXTREEM care and follow the instructions. It is available at marine supply places in spray cans.

Hope this helps
maury

[maury]

Bill, thanks for the compliment.

Will you be at NAMES? If so, I will let you help me make a video. This is the part of model building where I always stumble. I just don't have a good way of doing a video, and when I finally get it, I have trouble posting it on YouTube. I really botched the video of my Forest engine posting it, I never did figure out what happened.

Hope to see you at NAMES.

maury

[gbritnell]

Maury,
It's great to see an update on the engine. What an absolute beauty! Can't wait to see it in person. As has been stated, the color combination really sets it off.
gbritnell

[b.lindsey]

Maury, unfortunately I won't be at NAMES.  Both Cabin Fever and NAMES are likely going to have to wait until retirement, but  hopefully that won't be that far away. Your beam engine is sure to be a hit though!!!

Bill

[fumopuc]

Hi Maury, a very pleasant colour combination.

[Ian S C]

Zinc Chromate is due to be withdrawn from use (H&S), but there is no indication that the alternative will be withdrawn, that is Strontium Chromate, this is the favoured primer in the aviation, and aluminium boat industries.
Ian S C

[smfr]

Thank you for the paint information, Maury. I'll look at the Kelly-Moore products. 

Simon