Great Engine - No Accessories
The miniature steam engine is extremely high quality, very well-constructed, attractive in appearance and operates as advertised. However, I gave it a rating of only 3-stars because making it actually operable was very challenging due to a complete lack of steam input or drive output hardware listed on the StirlingKit website and a lack of any detailed specifications to help locate such from any other source. The engine was received with only two (2) brass steam input/output connectors for 2.5mm-3mm brass tubing, but there was no "parts list" to order additional connectors for different hook-up requirements or for replacement of a broken or damaged connector; and there were no specifications about the connector's size, type or thread-count that would help me research a source for them. The engine has a very nice 4mm output drive shaft; but there are no drive-output pulleys, sleeves, shafts, belts or other components listed on the StirlingKit website that are necessary to transfer the engine's rotary output to accessories or other novelty items (also not available) that would utilize the engine's power. The boiler I ordered was also extremely well-constructed, but came with a plastic steam interconnect tube and two (2) connectors (male/4mm/coarse-thread/"quick-connect") that could never be connected to the miniature steam engine's fine-threaded/male input connector without a very intricate "female/female" adapter - which was also not listed on the SterlingKit website. I did manage to find a hobby website where I could buy 2.5mm brass tubing and a 4mm/coarse-thread/male connector that would fit the boiler's steam output orifice. Even though the nickle-plated brass connector was designed for 4mm ID plastic tubing, the orifice of the connector's input stem was a perfect fit to insert the 2.5mm brass tubing so it could be sturdily soldered in place. Soldering the steam engine's included brass connector to the other end of the tube provided a very sturdy steam interconnect between engine and boiler. I would have given this engine a 5-star rating if there had been any reasonably convenient means to buy necessary parts and support accessories to actually make it work and to transfer its output to other devices. However, bringing it to life and putting it to work requires a great degree of online research "cobble-engineering" to fabricate those very necessary I/O components from whatever can be gleaned from many different internet sources.
