The Home Machinist!

Whilst still "hobby driven", the demand for steam here is such that we have just had to build a new full size steam loco, and several more are under construction. And a nice one it is too! I was in York when they towed the new engine into the yard. Got to climb all over it and play engineer. This w...

What Ken Hurst (another BAEM member) doesn't say is that they've blown rods in those Challenger V-8s (3 shakey main bearings) and are now busy building a supercharged 5 main-bearing V-8 with a cast 4130 crankshaft. The kit will cost about $1,000 when they get it (the casting kit) finished. That shou...

I would like to figure out how to have a model hit'n miss blow smoke rings like the big engines do at the EDGE&TA events. Anyone have any idea how to design an exhaust system to do this?

It would make a great build article.

Tom's last all cast iron kit resides in my shop as I let the castings age properly. Probably the best running and easiest to build engine is the Duclos' Odds'n Ends that is made out of bar stock. I have friends who run that engine at shows for 8 hours straight with only a pause for refueling. The Du...

There is a fellow building a Deltic who belongs to the Bay Area Engine Modelers but who resides in the UK. We get progress reports from time-to-time. I don't recall any pictures yet.

Yes, I've seen and heard Eugene's engine run three times now. AT Gears in Portland, MMM in Visalia & then at his home the week after Thanksgiving. It ran better every time as he did major maintenance on it between viewings. He has it idling very smoothly now. And it has the proper bark when he press...

Much later. . . The new site is up and running reasonably well. I do have a new ISP! The new site will handle subscriptions via PayPal (and you don't have to have an account with PayPal to use them) and straight credit card sales should be up by Friday. I was in Reno over the weekend shooting the ce...

You can either build or buy a 'D' bit. Some of the commercial versions have their corners slightly rounded though.