Nice cool day for live steam. Wanted to see how the new pop offs looked/sounded. Was surprised
to find it made the Bangham type whistle work better. So, things to see/listen to.
Great vid, Jerry!! The whistle and the chuff pipe are really brining that loco to life!
tac
www.ovgrs.org
Hi Jerry:
Really enjoyed your Mikado live steam video. I had bought one from St Aubin for around only 800.00 as a final clear out! Rediculous low price. I traded it in, unopened box, for a metal bodied live steamer. I realised that I would never be satisfied with the plastic body. Us adults are so spoiled. I would have been totally thrilled to have had this live steam plastic body Mikado in my pre teen years. Your live steam whistle, three steam valve ports and chuff pipe modifications are incredible improvements. Too bad Lewis refused to use his plastic molds to die cast a loco body using some low melting point light weight metal.
Norman
Hi Norman,
What steamer did you trade the Mike for? Seen some posts about folks thinking about making a metal body. Really just the top boiler shell and smokebox are all you really need. The plastic smokebox can be a problem with a smokebox fire, but I’ve had good luck with that since I modified the burner with a 2" brass sleeve. The Mike has some problems but it’s a good buy for a mainline live steam engine, which is what I wanted but could never afford a Aster or Accucraft mainline steamer.
Hi Jerry:
In case you want to buy another steamer, the Accucraft / AML now has an inventory clearance on their 1:29 scale USRA 0-6-0 at 1000.00 which is 700.00 off and the model is ALL brass ! The paint job is museum quality. Apparently the outside valve gear is just for show as the valves are controled by valve gear between the drivers. Still, this is an all brass top quality model for less than what the Aristocraft Mikados were selling for.
Unfortunately not my style of locomotive. A 2-6-2 or 2-6-4 with everything else being the same would have been more tempting. Still, what a deal at 1,000.00. We are really being spoiled. I don’t think that the manufaturers are enjoying this though!
Norman
Norm,
I have two live steamers, the Mike and a shay I made years ago. I like running live steam, but finding the energy to do so is hard sometimes, so I’ll slap on a sparkey. So doubt I’ll get anymore of them, I’m not a real big collector kind of guy, like to run what I have, since I don’t run these all that much I don’t want any more of them. Same with freight cars. I have about 25 and seldom hook them all up so not planning to get anymore of them. I do like to make stuff, so will keep on with that.