Walking-beam STEAM ENGINE (for paddle-wheel steamer)

[gregbal]

I appreciate all the comments, links and good advice!

Back with Mk. II of my little beast, with a bit more plumbing and assorted mechanics added. I settled on a scale -- 1/250 seemed a reasonable working size -- and started fleshing out detail as best I could, given that the sources aren't always clear what goes where...and why. Much obvious plumbing is missing...read boilers and fireboxes and assorted necessaries...but it nonetheless makes an interesting piece sitting atop my work-table lamp (safely out of harm's way) until I finish my drawings of the vessel for which she is ultimately bound.


Second and first versions, sitting side-by-side:

[Michael Mash]

Hello Greg:
Your MK II looks real good with plumbing and assorted mechanics.
I'm curious to know: Since this ship will be a scratch build, will you be able to design it to make this engine visible?
Mike

[gregbal]

Thanks, Mike!
The beam itself and the top 1/3 or so of the A-frame actually project above the midships deckhouse. What surrounds it is largely flat roof, so making a section removable should be easy enough.
The 'tricky' bit is detailing-out a convincing-looking engine space to make it all worthwhile.
In the drawings I'm doing of the vessel -- the 'Lady Elgin,' a passenger steamer that was lost in Lake Michigan in 1860 -- I'm postulating a few skylights around that engine space, which seems to have been a fairly common practice of the time. That may prove a bit more incentive to try to make at least some visible interior.
I appreciate your interest.