what do i need to create castings and any plans for engines available free

[Anonymous]

I am looking into builing my own engines and i have seen kits that comes with castings and others with parts milled which one is better cast or milled, also anyone has any plans for starter live steam engines free thanks hector

[cabbage]

Well from your post I am not exactly sure what you want to do? The raw castings are cheaper. However the pre-milled castings are normally of a far higher quality. I would suggest that you have a good look at "The Project" -a live steam locomotive designed with the home builder in mind. I have seen several (in different guises) at my local club layout.

I am in the process of constructing my own live steam locomotive after having constructed several scratch built articulated locomotives and the quantumn leap from battery to steam has been very frightening. I have had to re-learn all my metalwork skills and now have a collection of spelters and solders for boiler making. The boiler is SLOWLY being fabricated. I expect it to be ready for pressure testing sometime in October...

I would suggest you buy a 'kit' or set of blueprints for your steam loco. This is a luxury I cannot have -even with out sourcing most of the stuff to 'the Uni' and RR -it will still be a difficult task...

regards

ralph

addendum: I knew I had the link some where -here it is!

http://www.gaugeone.org/project.htm