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It is rare to find a topic devoted to early steam on model ship forums. Today with 3D modeling, CAD design software, laser cutting and 3D printing it is now possible to recreate the machinery for these vessels.
I am playing around with the Cairo steam engines which the doctor is a part of that system. I like working on several projects and ideas at one time. They are all related to one another so what I learn with one subject I can apply to another.
I am thinking of a X section of an early naval steamer the ship I came up with is the first steamer the navy built which is the Mississippi 1842.
what makes this interesting is the engine I think a dummy non working model would be really nice.
I picked this ship and this engine because the engine was designed in the gothic style and looks like something that belongs in an old European church. This was a time when machines were built as works of art.
Then there is the sheer size
that lever at the bottom weighed 6 tons the frame structure was a single casting 18 feet high 20 feet wide and 1 foot thick. The bedplate this engine sat on weighed 15 tons and was bolted to the floor timbers with 2 inch dia bolts.
there is a complete set of drawing for this engine someplace in the national archives. The problem is finding them is like looking for 1 needle in 10,000 haystacks.
the navy soon realized these massive engines were using 1/2 ton of coal an hour. which was to expensive to just cruse around.
this can be taken to the next level by a model engineer if someone wanted to make the model actually move.
I am playing around with the Cairo steam engines which the doctor is a part of that system. I like working on several projects and ideas at one time. They are all related to one another so what I learn with one subject I can apply to another.
I am thinking of a X section of an early naval steamer the ship I came up with is the first steamer the navy built which is the Mississippi 1842.
what makes this interesting is the engine I think a dummy non working model would be really nice.
I picked this ship and this engine because the engine was designed in the gothic style and looks like something that belongs in an old European church. This was a time when machines were built as works of art.
Then there is the sheer size
that lever at the bottom weighed 6 tons the frame structure was a single casting 18 feet high 20 feet wide and 1 foot thick. The bedplate this engine sat on weighed 15 tons and was bolted to the floor timbers with 2 inch dia bolts.
there is a complete set of drawing for this engine someplace in the national archives. The problem is finding them is like looking for 1 needle in 10,000 haystacks.
the navy soon realized these massive engines were using 1/2 ton of coal an hour. which was to expensive to just cruse around.
this can be taken to the next level by a model engineer if someone wanted to make the model actually move.
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