Steve Cook
Flying Squad
Another one available from Adam at Camden Miniature Steam Services.
The original 2007 print run of this book sold out a long time ago and was starting to fetch silly prices (£80+) on Ebay due to it rightly having a reputation as being invaluable if you like 16mm live steam locos and fancy building one. Having secured permission from Brain Wilson and the original publishers, this version became available around the start of the month for £29.95.
Its an excellent resource, working through the building of a gas fired 16mm engine from start to finish, including drawings (CAD), 3D renders and photos of finished examples. It starts at the chassis and works through everything showing how to fabricate and build the resulting engine. It doesn't break the work down as far Kozo Hiraoka does in the Pennsylvania A3 book, but the work is not as complicated and Brian does offer up alternatives in places to cut down on machining or fabrication work.
It includes fold out pages and discusses how to make the many parts in an easy to read and understand style.
Once the basic engine build has been covered, there are further chapters on making whistles and draincocks, a coal fired boiler, a slip eccentric chassis and discussion on alternative body types. The final part of the book deals with constructing suitable rolling stock.
Its the kind of book that immediately makes you want to dabble and try explained techniques out, I'm quite sure it is not as simple as it appears on the page, but enthusiasm can get you a long way
It actually works in my mind as an accompaniment to Roundhouse Engineering loco kits, providing an understanding of the effort that has gone into those and allows a tantalising view of how they could be modified or adapted to suit the individual using some of the parts detailed within.It is a little more 'functional' in terms of appearance than the Kozo books, I'm not sure I would purchase this one for its aesthetics alone, but the knowledge and help imparted within its pages makes it a must have for me. In fact, its another one of those books where a clean copy to read and digest indoors would be nicely partnered by a well thumbed machine shop copy
Having read about it and kept my eyes open for a second hand copy for a good few years now, it has been a delight to finally get my hands on one and I am grateful to Adam at CMSS and Brian Wilson for running off another set of books. Another highly recommended.
Steve
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