Little Kathy build

[Groomengineering]

Well all, here's my attempt at building a Tiny Power 'Little Kathy'. But first a bit of back story. I was at a steam & gas engine show in Winfield KS back in 2001 when I came across Gene Goebel showing a few Tiny Power models. We got to talking and ended up out by his pickup where he had a box of reject bronze castings (core shift, fallouts, etc). He was selling them for $2 a piece as raw material for home casting. I dug a while and ended up with about 75% of the castings for a Little Kathy. Hmmmm thought I, these aren't all that bad :

Soooo, yes these casting are terrible, I knew that when I bought them, any derogatory comments I may make are directed at these castings not at Tiny Power or their commercial castings which I'm sure are very nice.

For those of you not familiar with the engine it's a 5/8" bore 3/4" stroke single post piston valve marine type engine designed by H.J. Coventry and featured in the Oct 1926 issue of The Modelmaker. Mr. Goebels version was featured in the Nov/Dec 2000 issue of Live Steam.

Where I stand at the moment-
I'm missing the castings for the bearing caps, the crosshead, and the eccentric strap. The casting for the con rod may or may not work. So far I've turned the flywheel, cleaned up and bored the cyl, cleaned up the base, machined the heads, and fabricated the post.

So onward and upward....

Jeff

 

[oregonsteam]

I've been working on thje "Little Kathy" engine for several years now. First, I copied all the castings in aluminum in my home foundry. I figured I would need some practice pieces. Without a milling machine I was unable to get the cylinder head bored accurately on my drill press, so this winter I will make a new set of practice castings. While doing an internet search I found an article in the December 2000 issue of Live Steam magazine that profiles building the Little Kathy. Fortunately I was able to purchase a copy of the magazine on ebay for 5 dollars. Good luck on finishing your "Little Kathy"

 

[Groomengineering]

Thanks oregonsteam!

IIRC I bored the cylinder in a four jaw on the lathe. The write-up in Live Steam is what I'm using for drawings, never got the originals.

Thanks again

Jeff

 

[serhat]

Hello,

I built a little kathy in 2006.
You may find the picture on my blog below

www.serhatece.blogspot.com

Please let me know if you need any help.

rgds

 

[Groomengineering]

Thanks Serhat! Wow, a very nice collection of models you have there! :bow: I haven't made much progress on the engine, I've been rebuilding my shop, but I hope to start back in on it soon.

Thanks again

Jeff

 

[ironman]

Hello, I see 2 magazines shown on these posts, The Modelmaker Oct 1926 and Live Steam Decd 2000. Are these available to read on Google? If so, how do you get to them? I would like to see drawings and specs on this particular engine. Thanks, Ray

 

[Quickj]

Ray,
I don't believe that either build article is online. The Little Kathy is still available from "Tiny Power" which you can find at this location
http://www.tinypower.com/store2.php?crn=56&rn=175&action=show_detail&PHPSESSID=3114178d4c4d0fe0ec87165dd09a9732

A set of the castings were on eBay until yesterday, They ended up at $48.00