steamgranny
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Birthday celebration steam-upThis arrived from US this morning in time for a celebratory forum-birthday steaming.
Its purchase came about accidentally whilst hunting for plans to make a simple tin-can Hero(n) turbine. Ebay sale was ending within minutes & although I’d seen the booklet elsewhere wasn’t sure what I was getting for my money (all of 99 cents!!) or whether there was anything else with booklet. Postage cost seemed to indicate there was & size of this morning’s parcel confirmed it!
It’s a 1961 Lionel inventor series kit of Hero’s turbine, complete with even a plastic bust of our “Hero”. ‘Hero’ in inverted commas because, although I was aware he had tinkered with other steamy things, wasn’t quite sure what, even if tweeting birdies did ring a bell….. But the booklet showed illustrations of some of his other steam ‘toys’ & therefore consider it possibly appropriate to dub him the ancestor & true hero of all our steam toys.
Obviously a guy with a great sense of humour & feel that if he were around today, he would be a founder member & frequent contributor to our forums & is probably having a chuckle along with us right now 
A somewhat dubious (& worrying!) mix of plastic & open flame & a clever solution using a magnet to create pivot but does it work?? 
Here is the answer – To celebrate our forum’s first anniversary & Hero of Alexandria, ancestor of steam toys - My first steaming of Hero turbine (the awful noise is not the turbine but the Cicadas that make this racket all summer long!)
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James
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You got that for 50p??? 
Looks great!
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Sandman
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What an out and out bargain SG.
I'm just going to watch it again.
Great stuff. 
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MTA
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Looks and runs well SteamGranny  Although I must say that everytime someone mentions a Hero Turbine I think of Fred Dibnah's one that blew up
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Mamodman123
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WOW an absolute bargain!
thanks for sharing SG!
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steamyjim
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GREAT BARGAIN.
That was one of Freds greatest things. Along with the arch that collapsed
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Graham-Jilly
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definately barain of the year we would say
well Done SG
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steamgranny
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| James wrote: | You got that for 50p???
Looks great! |
Yep! But ebay photo didn't show much & thought it might only be the book, although postage reassured me there had to be something else
Haven't had so much fun for so little money in a very long time
Just picked up another wee bargain (Lewis can tell you all about it )
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steamgranny
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| MTA wrote: | | Looks and runs well SteamGranny Although I must say that everytime someone mentions a Hero Turbine I think of Fred Dibnah's one that blew up |
Something I missed  Any chance of there being a clip of this on Youtube or similar?
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flywheel61
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That's a brilliant buy, seems fun - and so cheap. We have a lot to learn from simple things in life.
Cheers
Chris
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Lewis
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certainly is different but still steam 
Bargain
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SillyBilly
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A beautifel Bargain! What a noise.
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steamgranny
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| SillyBilly wrote: | | What a noise. |
Those are the Cicadas, not the turbine! Gave it another run when Cicadas had finally gone to bed & it just makes a gentle & soothing swoosh, swoosh sound. Very hypnotic, in fact............... 
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Steve_S
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What a bargain! The magnet's a great idea.
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Wallace
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That is excellent Steamgranny 
Thanks for that vid.
Can't beleive how cheap it was
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tmuir
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Can't beat that price.
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