Little engines 1" line of engines

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cp4449
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Re: Little engines 1" line of engines

Post by cp4449 »

rspringer wrote: Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:38 pm I recently purchased a 1 inch 060. Does any one have a set of prints I could get a copy from?
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Christopher P. Mahony
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Builder01
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Re: Little engines 1" line of engines

Post by Builder01 »

When I was deciding what to build, I had to turn to England for castings and drawings for 1" scale. There is just about nothing available in the U.S. if someone wants to build a 1" scale steam locomotive. There are dozens to choose from out of the British catalogs, and the castings and drawings are not really that expensive. Many have laser cut parts available and many of them also have "build articles" serialized in "Model Engineer". Of course you will have to re-gauge to 4-3/4" to run on U.S. tracks. If you choose outside cylinders, it is not hard to do.

David
JohnK
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Re: Little engines 1" line of engines

Post by JohnK »

Bill Shields wrote: Thu Mar 21, 2019 8:28 pm John K at Friends Models is doing all that he can to keep the stuff alive...no LE stuff, but lots of other things that are useful, can be kit-bashed...I get very nice wheels from him...nice castings.
Thank you, Bill.
Superberky1204
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Re: Little engines 1" line of engines

Post by Superberky1204 »

I am looking for a pair of the 1 inch LE tender trucks. Anyone out there have a set for sale?
thunderskunk
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Re: Little engines 1" line of engines

Post by thunderskunk »

Don’t let me distract anyone from answering the last question there.

I know the castings have disappeared, but is there a source for the 1” scale and smaller LE drawings? I’ve barked up the email tree with no response as of yet. I guess one could just scale down the bigger set, but there’s kinks to work out I’m sure.
"We'll cross that bridge once we realize nobody ever built one."
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JBodenmann
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Re: Little engines 1" line of engines

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
I don't know the actual reason why the Little Engines small scale line has disappeared, but people often buy things like this with the best of intentions but have no idea what they are getting into. I don't know if they think it's going to be easy, but the amount of time and capital to produce a line like that can be overwhelming. Different foundries have different ideas concerning flasks and patterns. I imagine the Little Engines patterns were pretty tired and needed considerable re working to suit a new foundry. The drawings were also tired and not very legible. All this requires a lot of time if the new owner could do it, or a lot of money to have it done. I'm sure John K can attest to that as he has spent a tremendous amount of time and money bringing back the Yankee Workshops and Friends Model lines. The same thing can be said for Allen Models, which has improved greatly with new drawings, new products, updated laser cut and CNC'd parts. It's sad to see products disappear, maybe the Little Engines small scale line will come back. But it would have to be for the love of the product, not to make a lot of money.
Just my two cents.
Jack
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Re: Little engines 1" line of engines

Post by JohnK »

JBodenmann wrote: Fri Mar 22, 2019 11:51 pm Hello My Friends
I don't know the actual reason why the Little Engines small scale line has disappeared, but people often buy things like this with the best of intentions but have no idea what they are getting into. I don't know if they think it's going to be easy, but the amount of time and capital to produce a line like that can be overwhelming. Different foundries have different ideas concerning flasks and patterns. I imagine the Little Engines patterns were pretty tired and needed considerable re working to suit a new foundry. The drawings were also tired and not very legible. All this requires a lot of time if the new owner could do it, or a lot of money to have it done. I'm sure John K can attest to that as he has spent a tremendous amount of time and money bringing back the Yankee Workshops and Friends Model lines. The same thing can be said for Allen Models, which has improved greatly with new drawings, new products, updated laser cut and CNC'd parts. It's sad to see products disappear, maybe the Little Engines small scale line will come back. But it would have to be for the love of the product, not to make a lot of money.
Just my two cents.
Jack
Thanks for the mention about my efforts, Jack.
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Little engines 1" line of engines

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Jack makes an important point. When I taught photography I'd spend one class session with my advanced students on how to do a "cost of doing business analysis." After this heavy dose of reality, most of my students were not smiling when the session was over. Many folks wander into something without a realistic idea of what it will take, both in time and money, to create and sustain a profit-making enterprise. Anyone thinking about such an endeavor would be wise to do such an analysis before making a commitment.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
thunderskunk
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Re: Little engines 1" line of engines

Post by thunderskunk »

Greg_Lewis wrote:Jack makes an important point. When I taught photography I'd spend one class session with my advanced students on how to do a "cost of doing business analysis." After this heavy dose of reality, most of my students were not smiling when the session was over. Many folks wander into something without a realistic idea of what it will take, both in time and money, to create and sustain a profit-making enterprise. Anyone thinking about such an endeavor would be wise to do such an analysis before making a commitment.
I wish I’d had a few teachers hit us with the finance reality check. I’ve gotten just as much from a few books, and my employer recommended “Financial Intelligence for the Entrepreneur” which has been eye opening.

To that end, here’s another perspective. If you peek at my build log, you’ll see I started a 7 1/4” project. Alls you see is I bought some tools and drew some things in CAD. Then I disappeared. Why? Haha, because the scrap I made was so horrendous its was embarrassing. Since then, I’ve done a lot more toolroom work, a lot more CAM programming, and redrawn that same locomotive in CAD in three different programs. Might seem like I’m spinning my wheels, but I learned a ton from the time I spent on that project.

On an operations level, I learned two things: just as you say, it takes a lot of time and money to make a new product, and the bigger your parts the more space your scrap takes up (figuratively and physically). The better way would be to start smaller and work off of someone else’s many hours of design work and piles of scrap for revisions.

I’ve also been told even on the full-scale side, the biggest competitor to a steam railroad isn’t another steam railroad, it’s all those other faster, cheaper, and more exciting distractions stores offer. If working in 1” scale prevented canabalizing LE, Allen, and RRSC sales, I’d be alright with that.

Just my two cents.
"We'll cross that bridge once we realize nobody ever built one."
jessebanning
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Re: Little engines 1" line of engines

Post by jessebanning »

We are currently working on new patterns, design changes and more for the small scale line. It is going to come back.
www.banninglocomotiveworks.com

www.littleengines.com
FKreider
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Re: Little engines 1" line of engines

Post by FKreider »

jessebanning wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 10:28 am We are currently working on new patterns, design changes and more for the small scale line. It is going to come back.
Awesome news Jesse!
-Frank K.
mattmason
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Re: Little engines 1" line of engines

Post by mattmason »

...and very different from Iron Pony/Riding Railkits.
Matt Mason
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