1" Case from Cole's casting set

[gbritnell]

This is one of my earliest steam engines. I purchased the complete casting kit from Cole's in 1973. I have about 1 year in building time. This winter I'm going to go over the whole engine and refine some of the components and repaint and stripe the complete engine. It has been run on steam a handful of times by using a propane burner that I built for it. Lately it just gets run on compressed air. All of the components operate properly, the water pump, the governor, the differential gearing, the clutch etc.
gbritnell

[Glenn Gieszler]

Terrific Job!

I would like to thank you for sharing your accomplishment with others, Can you answer a few questions about the kit. I am wondering how much of this is available and how many pieces you had to fabricate, and if you had to either purchase or make a lot of tools for this project, I have seen their list but seems confusing like you have to buy everything seperately, and your boiler looks fantastic do they provide drawings to fabricate or is that part assembled, Thanks Again for sharing.

[gbritnell]

Thanks Glen,
When I bought it you could buy it in sections or as a complete kit. I haven't seen their catalog for awhile so I don't know how they are selling it now. The boiler came with the following pieces: a tube for the boiler shell, the front head and backhead were flanged pieces as was the front of the firebox that wraps around the boiler, sheet copper for the boiler and firebox wrapper sheets, copper tubing for the flues, copper bar for the stays, copper rivets and bronze castings for the smokebox cover, firebox door and the smokestack. The drawings can be purchased seperately and are quite complete. I didn't need any special tools other than the tools I already have in my machine shop. Unless you mean a lathe and a milling machine. Most of the castings are quite good but some of the smaller ones have quite a bit of burn in which in casting terms means that they have a rough surface texture. If you are handy as a machinist you could fabricate the small parts. When I purchased the kit it came with all of the finished gears so you wouldn't need to cut gears or look for them. Probably the hardest part wash fabricating the operators platform along with the water tanks. It's formed from a large piece of brass sheet and I didn't have sheet metal tools so I had to make a small brake for bending it up. I hope this answered your questions. If you have any more please don't hesitate to ask.
gbritnell

[Colin]

neat little engine! look like a 65 with a cast stack like a 75. i bet its fun to play with. i can help with paint colors and striping if you'd like. have fun

[Tom Sampson]

Great Looking Case. Nice Job
Tom

[dhopfinsd]

Nice engine.

Been dreaming about building one of these for 40 years and I'm only 45.

Is Coles still in business and making the castings?

If so, does Coles have a website or mail address?

Thanks

Don Hopf

[gbritnell]

Thanks Don, Tom and Colin. Yes, Coles is still in business. The original business that was being operated by Charlie Cole's daughter Betty was sold a number of years ago. They have a current catalog and here is the link to their website.
http://colespowermodels.com/
gbritnell

[Randall Marquis]

Coles Power Models is located at 5539 Riverton Ave. North Hollywood, Calif. 91601 (818)762-1734. You do very nice work. I'm currently working on Cole's Corliss Engine.