The Home Machinist!

Chuck Balmer of Ohio is building a S2 in 3/4" scale, the work so far that I have seen is stunning which is no surprise considering Chuck's past projects. I cant seem to link to the facebook post but Chuck's son Jim posts updates to the 3/4" Enthusiast page - I just checked for the latest u...

Depends on the work that the preowner did I would agree with this, some projects I have looked at are not much more than a pile of scrap. If you have to re-work the whole thing down to the frames then what is the point? The exception of course being that you are purchasing the whole project but are...

This is an unsolicited opinion however I would give this some thought before proceeding with any machining, the castings may become worth less in some folks eyes if they have partial machining operations completed. Many of us have had the not so wonderful experience of having to fix or re-work someo...

JBodenmann wrote: ↑Thu Nov 03, 2022 1:30 pm That is if you don't fire on the run, which I think is a real hoot. Roaring along trying to get the coal through that tiny fire door, instead of the cab deck. Keeping the water level just right.

Firing a 3/4" locomotive on the run is a real hoot indeed!

The trucks that Jim Abrams sells now and were previously sold by Don Ritchie are Bill Van Brocklin pattern trucks, they are not "based on Van Brocklin" they literally are direct copies of the original VB patterns. The patterns/drawings were originally designed by Bill for "plain beari...

Do you sell via the internet?

Good luck with the machine! looks nice!

LVRR2095 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 24, 2022 5:16 pm Pictures taken up on a table so we could get a good side view would be helpful.
From what I can see I would say NOT Little Engines as the trailing truck appears different and it has a cast rear cradle, not fabricated from channel iron.

I was going to say the same thing!

For $16k you could likely find a Haas mini mill in decent shape. That would be a lot more capable than any Tormach.

Beautiful work! Not many of us building in the small scales these days - its nice to see other projects out there!

303 Stainless is good for piston and valve rods and also good for valve stems on globe valves.

$6000 is a ridiculous amount of money for "hobby" patterns, you will likely never see a return on your investment. The only way to make castings economical in the hobby is to make the patterns yourself and find a foundry that is reasonable to work with - not a small feat in this day and ag...