| Archive for The Unofficial Mamod and Other Steam Forum The Original Unofficial Toy Steam Forum Established 2006 The biggest, most popular steam forum around! Accept NO imitations! We have a growing community of regular posting members who chat about all aspects of toy and model steam. |
| flywheel61 |
Near complete Renown with windmill.My Renown with windmill has finally arrived. Unfortunately it is a very difficult engine to photograph, with silver blades on the wind mill and the very dark base. I'll have to figure a better way of doing it, without resorting to a light tent.
Because of the size of the windmill, almost 40cm high, the vertical engine is somewhat overawed by it. 
The tail on the windmill actually swivels and the larger windmill drive pulley is so big it's almost touching the one on the engine 
There is even a small well, with the auxilliary piston acting as a pump. The piston on the engine is off my original Renown engine and will be replaced by a similar one to the one on the left. 
The tail/vane, still has a relatively good decal on one side but the one on the other side is nearly obliterated. However, for some strange reason, it is upside down,  .
The base is caste iron, thanks to Tony for telling me the difference. 
My original Renown engine is the same as this one except it's an earlier model and only has the whislte and the safety valve. This model has both of those plus a filler plug and a water level plug on the side. I was very please yeateday at a cursory inspection to find three out of the 4 items loose in their collars, only the whistle was jfrozen in it's collar, but the handle was still working. This morning I tried to undo the the WLP only to find that it was jambed in the collar and some idiot had tried to undo it to the extent that they had broken the collar away from the solder,  . As the flange on the collar is on the inside, this is going to be a difficult repair. Not only will I have to take the top cap off but the chimney also runs right through the boiler so there is another joint to unsolder/resolder. I'm going to have to discuss this with Tony.
Cheers 
Chris |
||||
| James |
That's great Chris! You planning on using it?
Are you going to flip the tail around so the decal is the proper way around? |
||||
| steamyjim |
I really like that!!!!!
I hadn't heard of any of the Austrailian makes before i joined the forum 
|
||||
| flywheel61 |
Thanks mate,I tried to run it this morning, but someone has busted the the collar for the WLP away from the solder, and too much steam was escaping so it wouldn't run.
As afar as thr tail is concerned, unfortunatley it can't be up ended because of the way it attaches to the top of the tower. This is the only OZ engine I've seen with an accessory, all the other I have seen and/or own are stand alone. maybe Tony will know if any of the OZ manufacturers made accessories for the stationary engines. Cheers
Chris |
||||
| Nick |
That windmill is shiny. 
|
||||
| flywheel61 |
Yes, unfortunatly someone decided to silver frost it,  . That's why I've been having so much trouble getting good pics of it.
Cheers
Chris |
||||
| Les Marsh |
That is really nice and hope you get it running soon.
|
||||
| xlchainsaw |
very nice and australian built too. i hadnt thought to use a piston for a pump. hmmm very interesting. | ||||
| tmuir |
Re: Near complete Renown with windmill.
All is not lost Chris and it can be repaired without taking the top off the boiler with a bit of fiddling. The hardest part is to get the overflow plug unstuck from the bush. I had the exact same problem on one of mine. To fix you will need to heat the bush and water plug up hot till just below solder melting point and quickly quench with water. This will probably have to be done anything up to a dozen times. This will break the calcification holding them together and then the overflow plug should undo by pulling it outwards and turning so the bush holds by friction in the boiler. The bush will then fall inside the boiler. Next remove the safety valve and desolder the safety valve bush. It should just lift out as the lip is on the outside. Now shake the overflow bush out the SV hole. Clean up the bush so it will take new solder. Roll up some W&D and clean the hole the overflow bush came out. Tin the bush and using tweezes put it back in the overflow hole . You will probably have to have the engine on its side and work from below but then with care you should be able to resolder it. I have the bush out of mine and will be resoldering it in soon so wait until I've done mine and I may be able to give you some more tips. Worst case I can make a new bush and overflow plug for you. |
||||
| Mamodman123 |
Wow thats really impressive Chris!
A built in windmill and water pump who needs an SE4 when you've got that 
Shame about the water level plug and some idiot breaking it. Is that the overflow plug on the side of the boiler? I take it the collar will fall into the boiler? |
||||
| johnreid |
Oh my even the decal is intact, that is one great find. I hope that all of the problems can be fixed without too much trouble. That is one to show with great pride. | ||||
| Les Marsh |
I have four German fountains and they all use pistons for pumping the water.
|
||||
| tmuir |
Exactly MM but the safety valve and whistle bushes are on the outside and one can be remove to extract the overflow plug bush and with a bit of fiddling can be cleaned up and then resoldered. Here is a Renown overflow plug I prepared earlier showing the bush screwed on, and yes the head of it is about 3mm longer than an original one mainly due to the fact I couldn't read my own writing on my scretches.
But is does show how the bush goes inside the boiler. 
|
||||
| Mamodman123 |
Some sort of 'end cap' will have to be removed I suppose
I have absolutely no experiance with Renowns, but It can't be too dis-similar to the way you do it on a Mamod
|
||||
| Wallace |
Wow, that's a real nice setup mate 
Such a great buy at the price you got it. Great pics too, thanks for posting |
||||
| tmuir |
No you can do it with just removing the safety valve bush as unlike Mamods the boiler metal has been stamped trhough and a lip of 2mm or so is pushed out . With the bush removed the inside of the lip can be cleaned from outside the boiler which should be enough to allow resoldering. I've got to do it on my Renown. I've got all the parts out just need to clean them before resoldering. May give it a try this weekend. Will take photos of the process. |
||||
| flywheel61 |
tmuir wrote
Thanks Tony, really appreciate all the information, the WLP thread and bush are so small, almost prewar mamod size, it's difficult to see if the lip of the bush is inside the boiler or on the outside. I'll PM you about which bush on top to remove. Cheers
Chris |
||||
| tmuir |
I know exactly what you mean. I couldn't even see the bush on mine at first and thought the thread had just been put into the boiler wall. Its a 1/8 inch thread. New bushes are easy to make the plugs them selves take a bit more work and I did cheat and used 2mm brass rod for the handle as I didn't have the correct size imperial one. Tony |
||||
| MamodFan |
You have a lathe so you can make it the correct size, its only a simple job to turn the OD down. If you are putting your valuable time and effort into making these parts why not make them exact replicas? Thats a nice engine Chris, any idea how many were made? |
||||
| tmuir |
I will be actually buying the correct size rod for the handle on future ones I just wanted to quickly put that one together. As to how many was made we don't have exact numbers but they would of been produced for around 10 years give or take one but would of been produced in low numbers. In the last 18 months only 4 have appeared on ebay and this is the only complete one. If you would like to know a little more have a look at my website here. http://www.freewebs.com/ozsteam/renown.htm |
||||
| Manxman |
Well my comment is a bit late but...... that is one very special engine. I love it. Full of charm and so easy to imagine going back in time to watch those post war boys (and their Dad's) playing with it.
This is a great forum and we really do own some very rare and interesting pieces between us.
|
||||
| Brandt |
Nice engine chris.
Is the earlier on to mine I think, but I was lucky that mine was still in good working condition. the Tail vane is not upside down you just need to lift it up and rotater the section that holds it on to the tower then it will be correct. I thought the same with mine. Will be great to see it steaming again. |
||||
| oldstuff |
I'm sure you'll get it back to scratch in no time, Chris.
I suspect the windmill Renown is kinda rare and coveted in Oz, yes? Love the piston pump, but is there a built-in destination for any pumped water? Awesome aquisition, Chris! |
||||
| flywheel61 |
Thanks everyone for your comments.
Yes Chuck, it is fairly rare, there are no accurate records, but Tony estimates that they only made about ten a year for ten years - total 100, that makes it about as rare as the Mamod MM2 twin,
As far as the water is concerned it only stays with the little well. Thanks for the info on the windmill tail Brandt, I'll give you a PM. Cheers
Chris |
||||
| tmuir |
I don't know if they only made ten a year but I'm pretty sure they didn't make many and very few resurface, about 2 or 3 a year and more often than not they have a lot missing. |