Chris's battleship Ohio engine complete

[crueby]

The 1:20 scale Battleship Ohio engine model is now complete!   
Best to start of with a video of the model running, so here goes:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ-S-wHIhzs" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ-S-wHIhzs</a>

Big thanks go to 'Steamer' Dave from this forum, who went out of his way to gave me a copy of the plans for the original engine back in August of 2022 - this project would not have happened without his help!

Some stats on the original engine as shown on the plans: 250psi steam pressure, 8000 horsepower, 125 rpm, 48" stroke, HP bore 35.5", IP bore 53", LP bores 2 at 63" each. For the Ohio, hull, 18 knots. Just a massive beast! In the video there is a little figure standing down at the corner. He is proper scale to the model, which shows just how huge the original was.

Here are some pictures of the model:







Thanks to all who followed along and those who helped with tips too!!   
Chris

[steamer]

You're welcome Chris!

Wonderfully done sir!

Dave

[RReid]

A truly impressive model, both in scope and execution. And so much cool mechanical motion to watch!
Time for a deep breath and a cookie before plunging into the next one?

[cnr6400]

 

[Don1966]

Chris you have produce a museum quality engine a truly magnificent piece of art. Your talents are bar none bud and following this thread has been a joy to watch as you crave these intricate pieces. Much respect my friend …………

 
Don

[sid pileski]

Very nice Chris.

As others have said, I'm so impressed with what you build with the size machines you have, with all due respect implied!
You should be the sales flyer for Sherline, and the inspiration for model builders regardless of the equipment they have.

Well done indeed.

Sid

[Michael S.]

The Chris has set a monument to ship engineering with this model.
Runs well and looks very good.
I don't think there will be a long break and there is already material vibrating under the workbench somewhere.

best regards Michael 

[crueby]

Thanks very much everyone!  I will be taking a short break before the next project to recharge, this was a big one!  I'm going to be doing some 3D printing of a Lombard truck that one of the guys up in Maine drew up from old photos and catalog papers - he did the hard part, I'm just printing one for him (and one for me!).  Also have some articles and such to write up, along with the normal playtime in Fusion on my own CAD projects (recently drew up the Marion 37 shovel that I showed a while back), including a Thew Type O shovel that I got a set of repair manual/plans for from a gentleman who got them from Rudy Kouhoupts estate. Thats a fascinating set of drawings, it includes the crawler tracks as well as the railroad and traction wheel versions, plus the normal dipper stick/crowd engine setup alongside the Thew horizontal crowd mechanism. Fascinating stuff, and fortunately there are a lot of pictures and videos of the one rescued from the bottom of Wixom Lake online (a quick search will find them) and is being restored to working order.

The next actual machining project will be a cutaway of the Cotta brand transmission used in the early Lombard gas powered trucks, showing the internal gearing/shifting mechanism. Will be doing two of those as well, one for me and one for the museum. That will be mainly an excercise in gear cutting (all straight gears, no helicals - have not learned that skill yet) with some dog clutches to engage the gear sets. After that, I have not decided on yet. Quite a few possible projects!

Thanks to all who watched along and chimed in, it helped a lot!!
Chris
 

[gbritnell]

Truly outstanding Chris, as is all your work! All your builds are very unique!

[crueby]

Truly outstanding Chris, as is all your work! All your builds are very unique!

Thanks George!   

[JackPick]

:yourock2:
Enjoyed every bit of it, well done Chris.

[Dave Otto]

Another masterpiece Chris!


Dave

[EricB]

Chris,

Well done! I'm always impressed by what you make on Sherline machines. I wish I had your budget for brass though!

Eric

[crueby]

Thankls guys - much appreciated! 

[Krypto]

It is such a lovely beast of a model! There must be at least several hundred small fasteners used throughout the engine. There's a lot to look at! Before you mentioned it, I never realized the difficulty of getting a multiple pressure cylinder engine running on air.

I've been trying to find a nice picture of BB-12's original engine on the net without any success. There is a surprising amount of postcards available on Ebay for BB-12, some old and some new.

[crueby]

It is such a lovely beast of a model! There must be at least several hundred small fasteners used throughout the engine. There's a lot to look at! Before you mentioned it, I never realized the difficulty of getting a multiple pressure cylinder engine running on air.

I've been trying to find a nice picture of BB-12's original engine on the net without any success. There is a surprising amount of postcards available on Ebay for BB-12, some old and some new.

Thanks Krypto!  Many hundreds of fasteners - the LP cylinders have over a hundred each.

I've never been able to find any photos of the engines for these ships either, quite a few pictures are out there of the ship itself and the others in the Maine class (named for the earlier Maine cruiser that blew up in Havana harbor). There are some naval history websites with lots of pictures and facts. That era had an amazing amount of development in technology.

[Kim]

Another amazing model, Chris! 

You're going to have to build another room (or two) onto your house as a museum for all your excellent models.  I'll come and visit it when it's done, so let me know, OK? 

Kim

[horst.b.0]

Another phantastic model completed. Congratulations!   

[SteamR]

Hello Chris,
an extraordinary model. You are a real artist in modelengineering

Richard

[kvom]

I'm going to miss the daily updates.  Keep up the good works.

[crueby]

Thanks very much guys!

Kim, the room is done! (as far as you know anyway) 

[Kim]

Thanks very much guys!

Kim, the room is done! (as far as you know anyway) 

[Twizseven]

Wow wow wow, just absolutely stunning.  I'm sure you and your (helpful elves?) must put in 24hour days for 7 days a week (week after week) to achieve what you do.  Amazing.

Look forward to the next opportunity to see you and the elves at work.

Colin

[crueby]

Thanks very much Colin!  The elves are off to a nice warm southern beach for a week to relax. Did they take me along?   

[scc]

Every one of your models is outstanding. I find it amazing that all are completed at such a pace and on such minimal machine tools. You are an inspiration to us all.     Thankyou for the detailed posting.          Terry

[ozzie46]

Absolutely incredible accomplishment. Your perseverance and determination to your end goal is an inspiration to us all. Congratulations on a job well done.

Ron aka ozzie46

[crueby]

Thanks much guys!   

[steam guy willy]

Hi Chris , yes a truly wonderful masterpiece and a credit to your skills and dedication to model engineering ...

Willy

[mklotz]

Everyone else has used up most of the English superlatives so I'll have to resort to other languages

opus artis

ganz ausgezeichnet, wirklich ein Meisterwerk

vraiment un chef d'oeuvre

Most of us would be fabulously proud to have built even one of the incredible projects you've shared with us.  Thank you so much for taking us along.

[crueby]

Everyone else has used up most of the English superlatives so I'll have to resort to other languages

opus artis

ganz ausgezeichnet, wirklich ein Meisterwerk

vraiment un chef d'oeuvre

Most of us would be fabulously proud to have built even one of the incredible projects you've shared with us.  Thank you so much for taking us along.

Vielen Dank!

Muchas Gracias!

Ngibona kakhulu!

[Art K]

Chris,
That is a wonderful piece of work. Thanks for sharing the process with us.
Art

[vcutajar]

Awesome model Chris.

Vince

[Zephyrin]

no more superlative left to express my admiration for this model, just made with sherline machine tools...to mention the level of dedication required to machine all these parts maybe?

[crueby]

Thanks  very much guys!


Zephyrin,  the look on my face when Dave first showed me the plans must have alternated between, Oh Wow, Oh My Thats Complex, Err Ummm, and back to Oh Wow! A lot of planning went into figuring out how to  make  things larger than the lathe and mill!


 

[Jo]

Amazing , well done Chris 

Jo

[crueby]

Amazing , well done Chris 

Jo

Thanks Jo!!

[Krypto]

Zephyrin,  the look on my face when Dave first showed me the plans must have alternated between, Oh Wow, Oh My Thats Complex, Err Ummm, and back to Oh Wow! A lot of planning went into figuring out how to  make  things larger than the lathe and mill!

Yeah, very few people can say they created a tabletop model that is heavier than their mill and lathe combined! 

From now on, I'm never going to complain that my mill or lathe is too small. There's always a way, somehow.

[crueby]

Zephyrin,  the look on my face when Dave first showed me the plans must have alternated between, Oh Wow, Oh My Thats Complex, Err Ummm, and back to Oh Wow! A lot of planning went into figuring out how to  make  things larger than the lathe and mill!

Yeah, very few people can say they created a tabletop model that is heavier than their mill and lathe combined! 

From now on, I'm never going to complain that my mill or lathe is too small. There's always a way, somehow.

And the Marion and Holly models are each 20 pounds heavier and larger than this one... !

[kuhncw]

Very well done, Chris.  Just amazing.

Chuck

[Rich Carlstedt]

Chris , There are many ways to build models and we each select our methods whether it to be in Kit form or scratch.
Your willingness to share your work and methods instill confidence in those with lesser experience who desire to do
something no one else has done. That means doing the research and deciding the path to take to achieve the result.
Your commitment to model building and sharing-- is extraordinary as well as your workmanship !
Hats off to you for a beautiful model and your desire to push the limit --and I like others, will follow your journey !
You make our hobby interesting and inspirational -  Thank You !

Rich

[crueby]

Thanks very much guys!




Rich, I've gotten a lot  out of building and  sharing this project too, lots more fun to interact with the  group along the way. I always learn both by doing and by getting help and tips from others. Writing it down as I  go forces me to organize and  plan too.




And, amazing  how fast the mechanical technology  developed  back then, not that many years between the Monitor and the Ohio ships, Hunley and the Holland subs!




I'm  taking a  short break between builds to get a lot of other things done, maintenance/upgrades on the tools, research and CAD work for future projects, writing some more articles for the magazine, some 3D printing for the logging museum, running RC boats at the pool, baking cookies, and general holiday stuff with friends!




Next build is planned, will be starting on it in about a week probably.


 

[bent]

Very cool, that was a long build.