p3313r

ok so heres where i am i ordered the midwest heritage steam engine and a midwest fantail launch II what ive been wanting is a way to control the trottleon you tube theres plenty of people with throttle control on their steamers im assuming its just a miniature ball valve but i cant find one for the life of me. please! where can i find something to control the throttle on my steam engine?

thanks,
Pat

misfitsailor

My Feedback: (6)

I have the Heritage setup in an Billings African Queen. I would not worry about going too fast. Keep in mind that although the engine will run fast on the workbench, it turns much slower in the water because of the power required to turn the prop. I think you will find that any attempt to throttle this engine will result in stalling it. The problem with having a single cylinder, single-action steam engine is that it is not self-starting. If you were to throtte down too low and let it stop, that's it! At that point the only thing to do is restart the engine by hand. This is difficult to do when the boat is out there in the middle of the pond. That is why I installed a small electric pump inside the hull. If the engine quits, I turn on the pump by radio. The pump is powered by an old speed control from an airplane. The pump sucks water in under the hull, and squirts it out aft, under the waterline. If you don't have a second way to power the boat, make sure you always launch the boat from the downwind shore, so the breeze will carry it back to you. Another thing that happens with the Heritage is that wind may blow out the fire under the boiler.

The ultimate in steaming is any 2 cylinder, double-action engine. Wilesco makes a fine v-twin, and PM Research makes a v-twin called the "#8". (I have both, and also enjoy the Gage TVR-1A.) Both allow you to start and stop the engine, and have variable throtte all with only one servo! You can have complete control of your steam boat with only 2 channels. Of course both of these v-twins need a larger hull than the small fantail.

p3313r

thanks. one of those will definetly be on the wish list ill have to play around with the heritage and fantail this spring and see how much i enjoy live steam.
how large of a boiler would you need to run those twins? i notices the #8 didnt come with a boiler

HS93

Think about a KITCHEN rudder set up with this you can slow the boat (drag) or go in reverse without altering the running of the motor they are simle to make and the servo you would have been using on the throttle will operate the cups, a simple mecanical V tail mixer that are very cheap make it easy to build.

Peter

HS93

A couple of pictures I found

Peter

p3313r

ok i have the engine and boat the boat isnt built yet but ive had the engine assemled for a couple days and have not been able to keep it going im using gel chaffing fuel and it just doesn't seem to be making enough steam to keep it going i put a fuel line cut off from a nitro vehichle on the hose so i can keep the steam away from the engine so it has time to build up then i release it and it will run idf the piston is in the right position or with a flick steam goes everywhere it seems to be coming out more everywhere other than the exhaust port some does but it dosent seem like as much comes out there as other places it will run for a while until the pressure gets low. please help!!! what am i doing wrong?

thanks pat

LtDoc

Pat,
I think It sounds like you've got a few pressure leaks. There will be some leaking on the motor, no way around that because of how it's made. Other than there and you have a pressure leak.
If you can figure out how to keep the boiler lite using 'Sterno' or whatever the 'gell' is called where you are, you'll be doing better than a lot of people! Any 'gusting' of wind near the fire box on my motor blows the fire out. I've tried a few other fuels and they really aren't that much 'better'. The 'best' alternative is a propane/butane type pressurized fuel, but it definitely is NOT cheap, or all that easy, sort of. Then you run into the "where do I put that!" thingy. Ain't this steam stuff fun??
The only real solution that I've found is to throw more money at it, or go steaming on a windless day...
- 'Doc