As the Nepean Museum continues to have covid-19 restrictions in place, it will not be available for an October meeting.
However, a Zoom Meeting will happen.
The Zoom Meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 6, 2020 starting at 7 p.m.
Contact cmmgottawa@gmail.com should you need instructions on how to attend.
This is the bizarre Airfix 1:45 scale model of the 1827 OSCILLATING STEAM ENGINE for a paddlewheel ship as designed and built by Henry Maudslay. The kit was released in 1968 and re-released in 2012. The master for the model is a brass and steel model on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (please see last photo). The originals releases came with a motor and a drive system allowing the whole engine to run.
Maudslay is considered to be the inventor of the first industrial screw cutting lathe, and of several other machines and technologies essential to the start of the industrial revolution in the early 1800s. This engine was used for a decade to drive two side paddlewheels on a Thames transport ship starting in 1826. In an oscillating engine the piston rods are connected directly to the crankshaft, and the engine cylinders are secured by trunnions in the centre, allowing the cylinders to pivot back and forth with the rotation of the crankshaft. This means it only operates at a low pressure. The real one is quite large, with the height of the cylinder and extended piston rod about the size of a person.
The model comes with a paddlewheel, but it looks awful in comparison with the engine, so I discarded it. All paints are acrylics by Vallejo and Tamiya. The Tamiya silver was the worst silver metal paint it has ever been my misfortune to use, and it was scrapped and washed off using GreenWorks cleaner in a few seconds. The metal was then painted using Vallejo burned iron, and the piston rods rubbed with a silver powder. All brass parts are done with Vallejo 998 Bronze.
John Clearwater
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| Maudsley's Oscillating Steam Engine |
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| Maudsley's Oscillating Steam Engine |
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| Model of the engine at the V&A Museum in London |
Days after completing this 1:50 scale rotating deck cannon I fell on it when I slipped in water in a parking lot. It took a couple of hours ...
