Hi from North Yorkshire

[awhale]

My father was a draughtsman and a menber of the Royal Institute of Mechanical Engineers. He died when I was in my teens but I think I inherited some of his genes.
In my younger years I used to enjoy maintaining motorcycles (BSA Bantam, Zundapp) and cars (MG Midget, Ford Mexico). Work ranged from regular maintenance, through to engine and gearbox rebuilds.
As a homeowner, my interests later moved towards woodworking, DIY and photography.
I retired a few years ago and decided to get into wooodturning - which I enjoy.
However I also had a great desire to get into some form of engineering and a year or so ago I purchased a Sieg mini lathe (SC3) and a Sieg mini mill (SX2P).
So, I'm very much a novice when it comes to model engineering.
I spent quite a bit of time trying to improve the machines and 3 months ago I decided to have a go at making a Stuart S50.
I thought that this would be a real challenge for me and get me out of my comfort zone. I wasn't wrong!
I completed the little S50 earlier this week and it runs really well on air. Gas_mantel has kindly offered to give it a run on steam too! Can't wait!
I'm now looking to decide on my next project, but need to consider the limits of my equipment.
I was thinking of another Stuart engine - maybe a 10V? Or maybe something made from bar stock?
Any suggestions welcome - but remember I am a novice.
A pic of my Stuart S50 is below.... (I hope).

[b.lindsey]

Hi and welcome to MEM Andrew. Nice job on your S50!! A casting set for your first project must have been a challenge, but you did well. Glad to have you aboard.

Bill

[ShopShoe]

Welcome awhale,

There are lots of things to make at John-Tom:

http://www.john-tom.com

You can scale them up or down if you like the challenge of doing that.

Are you interested in more than steam? Some members here try to make not only steam engines, but heat engines, Internal Combustion Engines, Turbines, and Solenoid Engines.

Also, if you hang out on this and similar forums, you see that many get involved with building tools and attachments for their lathes and mills.  There are also those who build mechanical devices for their engines to power so that they "do something." (Brian Rupnow is one such person.)

All in all, once you start making things you will find that the list of things you want to build will get longer and longer ...

Don't be afraid to post your experiences as well as your end results: We Like Pictures.

ShopShoe

[Gas_mantle]

Hi Andrew,

Welcome to the forum, I'm sure you'll get plenty of useful advice here.

As for your next engine the Stuart 10's are popular and as you have already built a horizontal a 10v would seem to be the obvious choice. If you want to try a barstock engine Stew Harts Potty Mill engine is well worth looking at (it is similar to the S50 though).

http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php?topic=1801.msg26555#msg26555

Peter.

[Kim]

Hi awhale, and welcome to MEM!
Nice job on the Stewart S50!  I've only done one engine from castings and it was a very small little kit - also my first engine, like you.  But since then I've made several engines and some tools from bar stock and have found that very rewarding and challenging in its own way - different from castings to be sure, but I quite enjoy it!

Pick an engine that you like the looks of and go for it, casting or bar stock!

I'm looking forward to seeing your next project on the forum here!
Kim

[gary.a.ayres]

Welcome to the forum Andrew.

It's a great place!   

gary

[awhale]

Hi All - many thanks for the support and advice.
The John-Tom site looks extremely interesting, and one for me to check out further in the future. Shame about the ads that keep on cropping up and obscuring the text though.
I've decided to have a go at making a 10V - and I've just ordered the castings kit from Stuart Models.
I'm looking forward to meeting Gas_mantel next week to run my S50 on steam!!!
For those that might be interested, I did a series of videos of me making the S50. The YouTube link is:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9bByiDDa9xMYdWYDGboeYQ/videos?view_as=subscriber

Cheers
Andrew

[kvom]

I'd look for a bar stock build.  Possibly one of Elmer's to see which type of build you prefer.

If you own a rotary table the Coventry that both Stan and I built is a good challenge that's within the capacity of your equipment.  The plans are available on eBay.