Benson's Vertical Steam Engine

[Kim]

Just amazing John!
Kim

[Steamer5]

Hi John,
That's just gob smacking!!

Cheers Kerrin

[Flyboy Jim]

John.......I've really been enjoying watching this project come together.  Beautiful work!

Jim

[b.lindsey]

Simply stunning John!! 

Bill

[fumopuc]

Very nice John. I do like your love for the details.

[wagnmkr]

John, another incredible result. I look forward to seeing it tomorrow.

Tom

[J.L.]

Thank you all.  Appreciated.

Yes Tom, looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.

When I designed the south wall of the diorama, I assumed that men would simply walk around the corner of the studded wall to enter the boiler room. That's why it stops short of the full length of the floor of the model. But upon looking at the result when the wall was installed, it looked unfinished. The concept of stopping short to gain access to a room behind was sound, but when the carpenters were studding the wall, why did they stop short? 

It would seem logical to continue the studding to an outside wall and put a header over the opening in the wall - thereby creating an opening about seven feet high.

With nothing, a doorway or passthrough is not suggested at all. 

So the carpenters have been called back to the site... 

And the masons have built a three foot wide exterior east wall .   

[wagnmkr]

John I totally enjoyed our visit. You have to know that all I could hear as I drove home, was the wonderful sounds that that sweet wee engine makes. It is such a sweet runner. Thank You for running it for me.

For all the others ... I can truly say that the engine runs just as good as it looks.

Tom

[kvom]

One of the interesting questions is how big the actual engine was.  JL was wondering about the scale earlier.

The 1862 newspaper report said that the demo version would fit in a space 4.5x3.5 feet.  If that includes the flywheel then it would have been 3.5 feet in diameter not 6 as Mount suggests. The 4.5 feet would then correspond to the model's length of 6", or an approximate 9:1 scale.  The height of the engine at the top of the crank would then be around 5'.

Of course that was the 3HP model, so one could expect the higher power versions to be larger, and the Mount model to represent one of these.  It's quite reasonable that the demo version flywheel was 3.5 feet given that the engine was assembled by 3 men in a couple of hours.  A 6' flywheel would probably weigh on the order of 3000'.

If JL's railing is 30" and the top is level with the cylinder cover, then this model looks to be about a 15:1 representation.  Does that gibe with the scale of the walls?

[Jasonb]

It's interesting that at the beginning of the articles Anthony says he went with a 6ft flywheel and worked back from that that a 6" flywheel would give 1/12th scale. Yet the drawing later in the series has a 6.75" flywheel  Maybe he found it needed a bit more flywheel effect or used a pattern from another engine.

The engraving that he used can be found on the net and it has the Williamson on the same sheet, he did not have the old sales literature which gave a range of different engine sizes.

I think it would be safe enough to say it comes somewhere between 1/10th and 1/15th scale which would be OK with Jl's 1/12" bricks. And don't forget out old imperial bricks came in different sizes to the more uniform metric versions

[zeeprogrammer]

That's another stunning display John.

Your attention to detail is amazing. Beautiful work. 

[J.L.]

Thank you all.

We are nearing the finish line now.

The doorway is in and the beamwork above begun.

[b.lindsey]

Another one I will hate to see end John. Your builds are just a joy to follow.

Bill

[J.L.]

Thanks Bill.

You give me a segue into closing the thread.

I built a 2 x 6 rafter system off the model upstairs at my hobby desk. But when I took it down to the shop and placed it on the diorama it just looked too busy.

So with that we will call the diorama finished.

I will now put pictures in the gallery section and work up a video as well.

Thank you all for your kind comments regarding the diorama.

A special thanks to my wife for supporting and following the ways and means of the diorama from the beginning. Her advice and council on design has been very much appreciated.   

I say the same to Adam. Thank you for your steadfast support and interest Adam. You made the build fun! 

Tom, I am so glad you got over to Pbo. to see the engine purr. 

[J.L.]

As promised, the link to the video of this engine running is located in the gallery section of the forum.

cheers...John