Table of contents for May 2026 in Model Engineer & Workshop

The article Optimising the Oscillator by Mr. David Fulton, which appeared in Model Engineer issue No. 4713, (24th March 2023) led to some enquiries regarding his four-cylinder engine, Fourunner, pictured on page 431. I'm sad to say that Mr. Fulton, my father, photo 1, died before the article was published. It seems a pity, though, to let his unusual designs go forgotten when they may well hold some interest. This is why I wanted to write about his models, but since I'm no engineer I apologise if my explanations are fairly basic. Among many papers stuffed in a filing cabinet in my father's study were his technical notes and drawings. To see them, along with his workshop photographs, please scan the QR code shown nearby. This will take you to…

Welcome back. Last time I got to the point that I had a square and true chassis, but in this build, I will add the wheelsets, brake hangar assembly, mechanical lubricator, driving wheels and the cranks to connect them together. The plan was to end up with a working rolling chassis. Let's see how it went shall we? Here are the main components of this kit, photo 1. The brake hangar assembly is pretty-much preassembled, and the wheels are also pinned in place onto the axles. There are two eccentric rods also locked into place on two of the axles to save me the hardship of making sure they line up once I identified where these eccentrics were located. Likewise, the mechanical lubricator was prebuilt with the small actuator pivot…

For the drawings of the crinolines, you will need to refer to the boiler drawing as they were shown that drawn on that drawing. Now you may wonder why a loco this size requires a crinoline, and you have probably never seen one described before in these pages. However, there are several good reasons why we need one in this case, the first being the shape of the boiler. With it having a parallel section and a tapered section it means there is no straight line from the firebox to the smokebox, and we need to form one to shape the cleading. I suppose normally one would wrap the boiler with insulation, wrap the cleading sheet around and then try to tighten the boiler bands up onto the soft padding.…

Personally, I am not here to save the planet - or superglue myself to critical parts of it. My experiments with synthetic coal are purely selfish and primarily for the following reasons: • The supply of good quality steam coal is dwindling and becoming increasingly expensive. I have seven bags of Foss-y-Fran dry Welsh steam coal left, which is a lifetime supply at my age. However, if I can avoid using it for a couple more years, I can sell it and take the family on a cruise. • We are all in the same boat insomuch as we have to adapt or give up. There are a few articles out there relating to tests on 15” gauge and upwards but very little relating to miniatures. I hope that by…

The Midlands Garden Rail Show was held at the Warwickshire Event Centre Leamington Spa over the weekend of the 28 February to 1 March. It was a bright sunny morning when I arrived although the car park was a bit sticky in places after heavy overnight rain, but it was a pleasant morning and by 9.15 am the queue was already starting to form for the 10.00 am opening. There was an impressive range of layouts in the centre, although I felt perhaps a couple fewer than last year, but this was more than made up for with the quality of those displayed. They were accompanied by a wide selection of specialist suppliers who had a vast range of products on show. Visitors were met by diverse displays as they…

PostBag is one of the most popular sections of the magazine - readers want to hear from you! Drop us a line sharing your advice, questions or opinions. Why not send us a picture of your latest workshop creation, or that strange tool you found in a boot sale? Email your contributions to neil.wyatt@kelsey.co.uk. ISLE OF MAN LOCOMOTIVES Dear Neil, I noticed the query regarding Isle of Man steam locos. About 45 years ago I spent quite a few hours measuring up Peveril, unfortunately not in service, and built my 5-inch version. She went down to the 1983 Model Engineer exhibition and attracted the attention of Don Young the editor of Locomotives large and Small. A good magazine sadly to disappear after about sixty issues, after Don's fight with cancer.…

After teaching Alibre for many years, I've found that there are a few common issues that often crop up, for both new and more experienced users. Over two short articles, I'm sharing a compilation of tips and useful shortcuts that you may find helpful. I've split these up into separate categories so you can jump to what is most relevant for you. GENERAL APPROACH Part or Assembly? When starting out with 3D CAD, it can often be difficult to know if you should create something as a single part or create multiple parts and then combine them together in an assembly. As a starting point, I suggest thinking of how the item you are modelling would be manufactured. If the item is made as a single piece (for example an…

VALVE CHEST Start by milling equal amounts off each face to arrive at the 11mm finished thickness then transfer to the 4-jaw chuck and set the inlet boss to run true so the boss can be faced also face the top edge of the chest as well as cleaning up the outer diameter of the boss, photo 27. At the same setting the steam entry can be drilled and the hole opened up and tapped for your steam or air connection, I have shown M4 x 0.5mm metric fine but as with the exhaust use a thread to suit any fittings or pipe you intend to use. Back to the mill and machine the underside to bring the chest to its final height of 26mm. Mark out the centre position…

Established in 1994, the Rahmi M. Koç Museum of Istanbul stands as a testament to the transformative power of the Industrial Revolution. Nestled along the historic shores of the Golden Horn, the museum is not merely a repository of 16,500 industrial-related artifacts (including hundreds of miniature engines, items of railwayana, full scale trains, steam tractors and the likes), but a sanctuary for the mechanical marvels that shaped the modern world. At the heart of this industrial cathedral lies a newly dedicated area, literally custom built over the last few months, featuring a remarkable acquisition: the Van Osch Collection from the Netherlands, integrated into a gallery – located in the so-called ‘Tersane’ (‘Shipyard’) —that celebrates the golden age of steam and stationary engineering. THE VISION OF RAHMI M. KOÇ The existence…

The phenomena of resonance and the coincidence effect lowering the sound reduction index, mentioned in the previous issue, are illustrated in fig. 11. Even a small aperture in the insulating partition will mar the insulation performance of that partition. For example, some years ago, following building works in a school, a sound insulation test found that the insulation performance of the wall separating two classrooms was inadequate. Lifting the ceiling tiles showed a pipe that passed through a hole in the common wall. Closer inspection showed that there was no caulking around the pipe so that sound could freely pass from one room to the other via the spaces above the ceilings and the – quite small – uncaulked gap, fig. 12. A small aperture has a big effect! This…

The inevitable, intractable question of what to give my daughter for her birthday had arisen. Stumped as usual, I gave her a call at her home 200 miles away, where she lives with her family, to see what Amazon (or another online retailer) might be able to gladden her heart with. However, in a break with tradition, this year she had an idea for something much more interesting. She told me about a table, just a fairly inexpensive laptop table that IKEA named ‘Dave’ when they sold them, but one that she had liked very much and that had languished, unused and often in the way, since her then toddler broke it several years before. My daughter's husband had recently 3D-printed a replacement for the tilt block mechanism, which had…

This series has about a dozen groups of drawings which will appear slightly out of synchronisation with the text in order to keep each instalment a reasonable length. We continue from last month's installment with further machining of the stop arm. A step on the end of the arm was machined and a hole for shaft clamp drilled thru. The opposite end was then machined for an adjusting screw that limits the rotation of the shaft and cutting tool, photo 10. A similar hole was made for the shaft locking housing, photo 11. The clamp pin is used to stop any rotation of the shaft and should be made from brass or bronze so it does not damage the shaft. I did not have either and made mine from copper.…