Stephenson’s Rocket

[crueby]

Great luck with your research, looking forward to a build hopefully!

[Art K]

Bob,
Sounds like a great project, wish you well on your journey!
Art

[Bob Wild]

Well on with the firebox. Started with a wooden former to shape the sheet brass round. Julius’s design is simplified so I decided to add the rivets as per the original. Marked out the positions just for guidance but thanks to my DRO this proved to be fairly straightforward:

[crueby]

Going to be watching along on this one, its a very interesting design. Will you be making the boiler functional?

[Bob Wild]

Chris, I am hoping to run on air. The thought of all that silver soldering on all those fire tubes and water jacket in the firebox is way beyond my capabilities as a relative novice. But I am hoping to be as near as possible to the original. As you pointed out, there is a wealth of info at the Science Museum and the NRM. I have lots of issues to solve; the valve gear assembly, the wheels and not to mention how to make the water barrel in the tender!!

Bob

[Bob Wild]

Got these castings from my local supplier. He does a good job at a very reasonable price. Machined the boiler end plate and fixed 150 rivets. So now I have finished the firebox assembly. Had a minor catastrophe when I was cleaning up some utensils for ‘er indoors with some Kilroc K in the sink next to my work bench. After an overnight soak everything was attacked. The brass was really heavily tarnished and anything steel had rusted instantly. Took me ages to polish it all away. Had a look on the label and it said that the main constituent was formic acid. It did give off a very pungent smell but I don’t know what the chemical reaction was. So I thought I had better paint it all to prevent any further mishaps. But I am quite pleased with the results, next up will be the boiler.

[Admiral_dk]

Whoa - they really look the Part  - though to honnest it is almost four years since I saw the 'Original' in the Railroad Museum in Doncaster (ups) York

Per

[Bob Wild]

Cheers Per. I agree; you can’t beat seeing the real thing. I am quite in awe of those early pioneering engineers. I read somewhere that the keyways were fashioned with a hammer and chisel. I’m a bit concerned that most of the bolts have square heads - another challenge for me. Was hoping to see Rocket at the NRM in York but it has just been moved up to Sheldon in Durham. I can just about make it there and back in a day.

Bob

[Bob Wild]

Started on the boiler. There was a minor problem insofar as my homemade roller would only fit 4in sheet, so I had to make some more rollers that were wide enough for this model. But it all turned out good in the end. I also made two discs so that I could skim the end faces to the correct length. Quite pleased with the result:

[crueby]

Watching along, great start!

[Bob Wild]

Thanks Crueby. I have been thinking about the boiler lagging, which was in wood on the original. However I was wondering if it would look more realistic if I used metal, since the grain on wood at this scale would be almost invisible. Any thoughts from the experts would be most appreciated.

[crueby]

I've used fine grain wood for lagging like that, had some Beech that worked well. A light oil stain brings out the grain more. I'd be worried about the wood if it was actually steamed up, the heat could expand/warp the wood without expansion space in the joints. The wood lagging I've done has been on engines only, not on a boiler, so I don't have experience with that use.

[Kim]

Very nice copper work there!   

Boy, does this look familiar!

Kim

[Bob Wild]

I think I will stick with wood.

Thanks Kim - I’ve been following your build too. Of course the big difference is that my boiler does not have to be pressure tight !

Bob

[Kim]

I think I will stick with wood.

Thanks Kim - I’ve been following your build too. Of course the big difference is that my boiler does not have to be pressure tight !

Bob

So, uh, you're boiler won't be operational?   That would certainly simplify things!

Kim