Where to begin...................

I really want to make a live steam engine but I dont know what I need or even how to start building one please help[:p]

Can some one help me?

well…

I am building my first steam engine from scratch. The previous one was a Mamod kit. Even after 4 years of scratch building electric powered steam outline locos this is still a frightening task.

I would suggest you examine the Roundhouse kits as these have excellant back up!

regards

ralph

You could try an accucraft ruby…
http://www.accucraft.com/Sub-Cs-LiveSteam.htm

I hear ya kev; perhaps GRR could run a series?

Oh to build a live steam loco from scratch requires an awful lot of resources not readily available in the average modellers workshop, and before embarking upon the acquistion of such resources one must ask oneself how many live steam locos do I want ? If the answer is less than a dozen then the Roundhouse option is the only one that makes economic sense; however; if it is about personal achievement in making some thing that lives and breathes from basic materials then there is no argument and one must bite the bullet and fork out the dollars, the satisfaction at the final result is priceless. The machinery that one needs will always be useful and should not be considered as a waste of money but you might prefer to spend it on kits where the machining is already done for you. Bear in mind that machines are themselves not enough you also need the skills to use them. Hope this helps a little bit regards brian