Minnie 1 Inch Live Steam Model Traction Engine

This is my 1 inch scale model traction engine - 1 inch scale means that each inch represents a foot or to put it another way it is 1/12th full size. I built it many years ago, it was done to designs described by a guy called LC Mason, he did a book that described in great detail how to build each individual part and put the thing together. I have built many steam engines since but this was the one that started it. I never actually finished it - it's missing a water pump and the wheels are not quite finished - they need rubber treads on them. It's been sat gathering dust and slowly rusting in my man cave so I thought it was time to bring it indoors, clean and de-rust it, free off all the stuck bits, repaint it and maybe actually finish it. As it's still winter the hours of daylight are short so it will give me something to do in the evenings. Has to be better than watching the doom and gloom of soap operas or facing the horrors of reality. These first 3 photos were taken some time ago - mabe 5 years back, it's in a lot worse condition now.

You can see there is already some rust appearing and some paint flaking, sorry about the quality, they were taken with a camera that was rather old 10 years ago. You can aso see some oo gauge model railway buildings, that's another thing I am dabbling with - when I am too old for all the big heavy stuff I intend to build a model railway to keep me busy in my old age. I am collecting the stuff now as I doubt I will have the money once the government has finished taking it all.