"ME" Marine engine castings and drawing package FS

[PJPickard]

I bought this set from Dennis Howe several years back. I haven't touched it and if I were to build all the stuff I want to build I would need at least another 50 years. This is a rare set of castings and I'm pretty certain there won't be another one like it ever again. It builds into a super model. Here is the build thread here:

https://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,3650.0.html

Some specifics:
22 Brass castings

21 Ductile Iron Castings

Castings weight about 75 pounds

I will provide drawings electronically as PDF files and if you want a copy of the original magazine article featuring the engine I have a scanned copy. I have also printed out most of the drawings, it is a stack about 3/4" thick.

As you might guess shipping is a bit of a challenge, but doable. If you are near central NJ you can come anytime! They were sent to me in several flat rate boxes and one larger box.

If you want a long term project that will result in an amazing model this is for you.

Cost is $2500.00 plus any shipping. I don't think you could duplicate this, esp. at today's prices!

contact me here or at locolima  @  gmail.com

[PJPickard]

more pictures, these are the originals from Dennis

[PJPickard]

Too $ for everyone? Any suggestion on other places to try and sell this?

thanks!

[Jo]

Its one of those casting sets that will have a few people out there with deep enough pockets, the ability to make it and who actually wants to make something "that big".

Ebay can get high prices but Ebay favours the buyer so to be safe that tends towards cash on collection. In the UK I would say put it on the HomeWorkshop site:  https://www.homeworkshop.org.uk/ there must be a US equivalent. Other than that it is a case of taking it along to shows and hoping someone wants it. It will be a slow sell/pot luck the right person turns up


Rule of thumb on second hand casting prices:  The foundry cost of the castings is normally about half the selling price, so for second hand castings a good price to buy at is half of the retail price but normally you will find them somewhere between the two and then it is a buyer's market.

Jo

[Jo]

Have you let Dennis know it is for sale? Someone might contact him or RiverGypsy if they wanted a set and he could point them in your direction.

Jo

[Jasonb]

As Jo says there will be just a few people who will want to build it, you then have to find one who can afford those prices and who does not already have a collection of other casting kits all of which are unlikely to be completed in their lifetime so unwilling to add more to their collection.

The other thing against this one is that the original drawings and redrawn versions are readily available on the net, I have seen a couple taking shape including Ramon's excellent one and they don't use the castings so you are going to have to find someone who is happy to pay considerably more for castings than they would cutting from solid with all the possible pitfalls that castings may have and no chance of a replacement if one is found to be unusable.

Jo's suggested UK site is a good one but the downside of selling outside the US is the standard rate boxes don't apply and you will be adding several hundred dollars to the price when shipping is added. Could put it up on HMEM as well to find a few more US based buyers and you do tend to see more casting kits come up for sale on there than you do here. Cabin Fever auction would be another option and you could no doubt set a reserve.

[PJPickard]

Thanks for the replies! Yes...it takes the right person...that was me when I bought it! Hahaha! I have not let Dennis know...I will today.

I have not seen the re-drawn versions of this online, if they are from Dennis' then that is clear violation. I should mention that the drawings are absolutely first rate, far above most drawing for model engines.

Best,
Paul

[Jasonb]

I don't know what drawings Dennis supplies whether they are copies of the original ME ones or if he has reproduced a new set from these?

The redrawn ones of the 1923 and 1924 compounds are based on the drawings that were in ME and done by Julius. John Tom sirte had the originals up for a long time.

http://www.vapeuretmodelesavapeur.com/telechargements4/mccse.pdf

http://www.vapeuretmodelesavapeur.com/telechargements4/vertical-compound-2cyl-jdw.pdf

Ramon's cut from solid using the ME drawings, he also scaled it down to about 2/3rds size

[PJPickard]

That model looks great! The drawings I think are all new CAD drawings, every part is on one sheet, plus assembly views.  Very professional drawings. Julius provides a wonderful service but I can't work from those drawings without basically redrawing everything myself. Maybe that's the causality of doing this for a living!

[Dennis]

Good Moring everyone,  I have not logged in to MEM for several months now, but felt a surprising need to check in today, imagine my surprise at finding this thread first thing I looked at.  Must be ESP at work.

Here is some history on the Compound Condensing Marine engine Castings:

First, the drawings were drawn and revised and corrected from the magazine article by Rivergypsy who lives in England.  The drawings are all made with Solidworks and Rivergypsy is an excellent engineer with many years of experience.  Also an excellent model builder.  We were introduced by a common friend and made an agreement that Rivergypsy would make the drawings and build a prototype of the engine, I would build the foundry patterns and provide a set of castings in exchange for the rights to use and sell the drawings with my castings.

At the time, I owned Historic Models and Reproductions, which I had to sell a few years ago due to health reasons.  However the patterns for the Compound Condensing Marine engine and the Dickson Triple expansion engine were not included in the sale.  Two years ago, I gave the patterns and drawings for those two models to Benjamin Roth who owns a foundry in North Dakota.  As someone mentioned, this is a large number of castings and quite expensive.  It was my hope to make the castings still available directly from a foundry to keep the cost a little lower and make the castings available to more builders. 

A prototype set of castings was made and sent to England for Rivergypse to build and amend drawings.  We had an additional five sets of castings made, one went to England, and the resulting model won a first place in the model engineering show it was entered in.  Two of the sets were sold to builders in this thread and I have the remaining two sets of castings.  When we started designing this model, the estimated foundry costs were about $1100, We believed it would be a low volume selling kit but the engine was so beautiful I wanted to build it anyway.  Unfortunately, there were some large increases in foundry costs before we ready to make the first run of 5 sets of castings. These castings were made over 7 years ago and our foundry cost at that time was over $2100 per set.  There are a lot of brass parts in the model and the cost of the brass castings made for an expensive set of castings.  With recent huge increases in metal costs, I hate to think what the cost would be now.  There is no doubt $2500 is a very low cost for these castings today.  The Iron castings are all ductile iron and machine very well, the Brass casting are E85 or Naval Brass and also machine quite easy.

In the mean time, I am still working at model engineering and have taken on an even bigger project in the Dickson triple expansion engine with Dynamos.  Like many of you, I have a shelf full of casting sets to build some day and look forward to every minute I can spend in the shop or writing about models.  If anyone has additional questions, please feel free to contact me.

Dennis Howe

[Jo]

As Jo says there will be just a few people who will want to build it, you then have to find one who can afford those prices and who does not already have a collection of other casting kits all of which are unlikely to be completed in their lifetime so unwilling to add more to their collection.

As Jason says there are certain elephants people who are not constrained by cost and who see additional casting sets as adding to their credibility as a really cool casting hoarder  

But importing castings to the UK is painful  really these need a buyer over the pond. Lets be honest at these prices they cost less than buying a set of  Surus' existing Commander castings 

Jo

[kvom]

If a builder has CNC capability then having the Solidworks files could be as valuable as the drawings.  I found this to be true when building Dennis' Greene engine, where I used the drawings seldom.  Had I not lost interest in modeling during the Covid years and sold my mill, plus Solidworks ceasing their veterans licensing, I might have been interested.  My previous two casting sets from Dennis were cheaper than these, but we're talking about a few years in the past.

[PJPickard]

I really would like to sell this set of castings and drawings. Maybe make an offer? Life has thrown me a curve ball and I need to downsize!
Thanks,
Paul

[wagnmkr]

Is that a weaving loom I see in the background of the second picture of the castings?

Tom

[PJPickard]

I'm bumping this back to the top. I really need to sell this set! I'm lowering the price by $500. I will also offer to maybe drive a bit to meet you. Sorry but I won't drive to Long Island, NY!

Surely someone out there would like to take a crack at building the beauty!?!

Best,
paul