DennisT

Most of my modeling history is with railroad subjects. Last week, my Cousin was helping a family after a death and they had a Billing BB588 African Queen. Not knowing what to do with it, they intended to throw it away. My Cousin saw it to be worthwhile, brought it home, then gave it to me. I've had a long time casual interest in Marine models, but never broke ground on the hobby. So here I have one. It is, "built." I'd say the builder's skills, on a scale of 1 to 10, were about a 6 or 7. He made it live steam. Obviously, he intended to do that from the outset, as most/all of the plastic boiler pieces are still in the original box I got with it. Also some laser cut thin plywood pieces, still not punched out. Deck is highly modified, and I have mixed feelings about that. OTH, he probably needed to do something to have room for the live steam components. There appear to be 3 servos installed, below deck apparently, I haven't gotten to them yet. One for whistle, one for rudder and one for.....throttle? I looked for a long time to try to identify the twin vertical steam engine. I think I found what it is but don't have that brand name in front of me. In the box has the full size drawings and the assembly manual. I also got a couple mysterious metal, "tanks," and a couple other items. It would be really helpful if any of you could identify what components I have. I intend to try to do something with it. I'm thinking if I could be sure everything was lubed and, "free," the drive train and engine might turn over with low air pressure. (?????) I've yet to, "mess with it," until I can learn what I'm doing. I'll try to post photos here now, as that is the only way anyone can determine what's going on. Thanks for comments, Dennis in E WA state.