9056 Riverside Drive, Brighton, Michigan, 48116
I’ve been into this hobby since 1978. I got started when I
built a 1/3 scale Case traction engine from castings by W. Andres
in Duluth, Minnesota. I had only seen one or two real engines in my
whole life, at that time. Then to my delight I discovered there
were actually shows with lots of these displayed and run. Wow!
That’s when I saw my first hit and miss engine and old
tractors. I was really hooked!
I’m a machinist by trade so making parts wasn’t too
difficult and I’ve made parts for several friends, also. I
built a couple engine models in 1979 but didn’t get really into
model engines until three years ago. Since then I’ve built
about 10 engines every winter. This past winter I built more
interesting models to me-some are variations of common casting sets
with different twists, like the Domestic sideshaft. The stovepipe
should have a spark plug and timer but I have a thing about spark
plugs-I collect ’em but I don’t put ’em in engines. So
when I built the stovepipe I made it into a type A, with ignitor. I
used my 1? HP Type A for dimensions and a scale. It came out right
well, I think. What do you think?
Then I built the Wittes. Here was another spark plug job. But to
install ignitors would change it even more than the Domestic. I had
to make a different cam to trip the ignitor on the walking beam
trip and exhaust lever. The ignitor is on the front so I had to
extend the rocker arm (or walking beam) around the front. The other
I decided to make a sideshaft to trip the ignitor and I also made a
spark saver to keep the ignitor from tripping on the missing
cycles! The sideshaft is on the back side of the engine. Lots of
moving parts and they both run excellently. I spent two weeks on
each model. The last one I’ll detail is the inverted Webster. I
acquired a 3HP late last summer and I was really obsessed with
building a model of this one but no castings were available. So, I
just decided I’d scale it myself. It’s about 3/8 scale
(I’m not into really small models) with a 2′ bore and
2?’ stroke. Main frame was a 300 lb. block of solid cast iron,
which weighed 38 lbs. when I got done with it. The ignitor fired on
the opposite side from the valve train. I used flywheels from a
Witte kit but scratch-built everything else. It’s 16′ tall.
My original has hot tube so it didn’t have the extra gears as
shown in Charles Wendel’s book. It runs perfectly and took 15
days to build. I’m duplicating it for a very good friend of
mine.
I build models to sell also but it’s a lot of work!!
I’ve built 7 Associated models, 3 Fuller and Johnson ? scales,
7 Fuller and Johnson 1/3 scales, 3 Duplex steam pumps, several
steam engine models, a New Holland ? scale, an Aermotor (too small
for me on this one).
I installed the older governor mechanism with flyballs or the
cam shaft. I gotta keep busy! All engines are ignitor fired.
I’ve also got a few big engines: 2 Wards, 2 Jacobsons, 1
Bullseye, 1 Moody, 1 Domestic Type A, all side-shafts, an early
Aermotor, 12HP Hercules, 14HP Waterloo, and last but not least, the
3HP Webster. I also repair Webster mags, ignitors and sell some
parts. I’ve had over 300 engines since getting started in this
hobby and about 46 tractors, all but 5 were John Deeres. I’ve
still got 6 tractors.
I live in a subdivision so I have to keep it down, (ha,
ha)!!
Hope you enjoy the pictures!