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

[gregbal]

Currently working on drawings for what I hope will be my next scratch-build ship project -- a Great Lakes sidewheel steamer built in the 1850s. One of the interesting challenges she holds is her semi-exposed 'walking-beam' steam engine which...like most similar vessels of the era...had the characteristic diamond-shape 'beam' (from which the engine gets its name) and its supporting structure poking through into clear view amidships.

Fortunately, the (fairly-standardized) design is well-represented in online images. I picked one lovely detailed drawing and started laying out parts. Once that was done I decided to build a 'dummy' version to test general fit and appearance, and to suss out unanticipated difficulties or parts I wanted to add or modify.

Here's that rather rough 'first shot,' sized simply to the size of the printer sheet without worrying about scale -- though I later calculated it to be around 1/228, 'in the ballpark' for a model which would end up being just over 13 inches in length. I expect to add a bit more detail to any final version, though that will ultimately depend on how much will be actually visible in the ship itself...something that has yet to be determined.
Anyway, I thought I'd share the project so-far, for any that might find it interesting.

Enjoy!