Sold October 2014 Back to Archive

Something around a ton of castings and boiler material for those who prefer the larger more ambitious projects!

This is a crate of parts to build a pair of 3 inch scale Fowler K5 ploughing engines to the Malcolm Frost design, serialised in "Engineering in Miniature". Rare things to find modelled, I've had one complete one in ever (the superb "Annie", which was nearly ten years ago). Ploughing engines being the size they are, these come out as close in length and weight to a 4 inch scale agricultural.

Started by a man who has worked in heavy engineering all his life, the project is at an early stage although work done to date is to a super standard (thanks in large part, by his own admission, to the CNC machines available at work!). Rims have all been machined out of thick wall tube (of probably the finest quality ever put to use in a set of traction engine wheels, it was originally intended as high pressure pipeline for the oil industry), things like the safety valve cover and chimney base are works of art in their own right, taken out of the solid in steel. Front axles again are machined all over, from the solid in steel.

The pictures show it better than words describe - there is just about a ton of material here. Castings are a mixture of iron and bronze, there are laser cut spokes, the steel gears have been commerically cut leaving only the iron ones to do.

Boilers comprise a set of cut plates, tubeplate blanks, formed firebox crowns, profiled foundation rings and barrels cut to length, complete with all material certificates.

There is a part set of drawings included.