Sunnytech Mini Hot Live DIY Steam Engine Education Toy Model Kits (V-Type)

I bought this for my daughter for her history project. The cons:. Too a long time to get in stock, package came bashed in, directions are in Mandarin. The pros directions have great photos, it comes with the screwdriver, kit is well made and goes together easy. However there are some tricks. First the screws that hold the Piston sleeves on; make sure the red flags has the large side out and it should be just a hair higher than the sleeve. Second thing to note are the Pistons themselves. This is critical and the engine won't run if you don't follow this. The connection to the Piston is off center, which means the first Piston installed should have the connection on the inside, the second Piston installed needs to have it on the outside. Failure to do this creates extra friction and the engine won't run. Once we figured this out the engine ran great. For a wick we used a scrap of 100% cotton from a t-shirt. I wouldn't hesitate to buy this again.

It went together fairly quickly - about 30 minutes. The directions as other have noted are all in Chinese, but the pictures tell the story well enough to follow along. Everything went together smoothly - they even included a screwdriver (so no tools are needed)! While it is plastic, the build quality of the kit is very nice; it's a pretty solid engine once completely assembled. You have to supply alcohol (fuel) and a wick (a piece of paper towel works ok). For the fuel, I used HEET in the yellow bottle (it's methyl alcohol - so its poisonous - but it burns hotter than the HEET in the red bottle, which is isopropyl - you can get both at your local auto parts place).After I assembled it, trying to run it is where I ran into problems. I put in 6 droppers (dropper comes with the kit) of water in the tank, and added some alcohol to the burner (I bought a glass dropper bottle for this - don't try to pour it from the bottle, it will make a mess - also, if you put the alcohol in another container, be sure to label it clearly, and with "POISON" - keep it out of reach of children). I tried to fire it up - got up to steam (be careful with this - it's live steam, and hot - it takes about a minute for the water to start to boil) - but the engine wouldn't run. Messed with it, tried again, no dice.Then I got the bright idea to pop the steam line off the boiler, and blow into the engine (air pressure). I ended up having to do this while tweaking the tightness of the cylinders (they are adjustable) and other parts. Once I got it to where I could keep the engine running on mouth air pressure, I tried steam again. No dice the first time, but some more adjustment while it steamed (not easy, and you have to be very careful - because now you are messing with a live steam engine, boiler running, fuel, heat, hot steam, etc), and eventually I got it to run - somewhat.It ran slowly - the LED barely lit (a pulse here and there). Ultimately, it didn't run very well. I tried oiling the shafts and linkages (used silicone oil). That didn't help.Other items of note: For some reason, it's possible to change the angle of the cylinders - from 120 degrees apart (default) to something around 45 degrees or so. The holding plates clearly allow for this (you can see it's designed like this) - but what reason it is for is lost on me; it seems to be discussed in the directions, but since I can't read Chinese...shrug? You don't really have to worry about any kind of boiler explosion or something with this simple model - there isn't enough water in the boiler, plus the connections are slip-on/slip-off non-barbed (smooth) for the tubing and such, and so if it did somehow over-pressure, those would pop right off to vent the steam. Still, parents should supervise their children when running the engine - due to the fact that live steam, boiling water, and fire are involved.Overall, I'm giving it three stars for lackluster results. I don't consider it a waste of money; I had fun putting it together, and I did get it to run for a little bit. Maybe some more fiddling will make it run better, but I have my doubts. Its main issue is the cylinders being too small and/or the steam delivery lines being too tiny. Not enough pressure can build to run the engine properly, if at all. For a child, it would probably be a great disappointment, unless they are the kind of kid to tinker with it in order to get it to run properly (I think maybe a larger flywheel, plus maybe larger tubing could help). Otherwise, save your money.

This was a great project to do with my 7- and 9-year-old kids. They were able to do many of the steps. I helped with cutting, troubleshooting, and getting some fasteners started.Everything was well built and the important instructions are readably translated. I was surprised by the robustness of the plastic base. Most fasteners are m3 machine screws with nuts. The base has well-built recesses for the nuts — you can tighten all fasteners just using the included screwdriver.The instructions call for several short hoses of specific lengths. The kit includes one long hose. You’ll need to measure (directions are in mm) and cut the hose segments yourself. There’s more than enough hose included to recover from small mistakes. Aside from a ruler and a knife, you’ll also need some paper towel for the wick and denatured alcohol for the fuel.If the engine does not run or if it stops unexpectedly, check and re-check the tightness of the cylinder valves. Too loose valves will rob the engine of pressure, and the valves will loosen a bit over time.

Works amazingly well for a plastic toy!Tips:1: Light machine oil on the moving parts. Not WD-40, something more like sewing machine oil or “3-in-1” oil.2: Make sure the washer they use for a flywheel on the back of the crank disc is pushed all the way on there so it doesn’t rub the frame. You may have to shave or sand the little ridges on the plastic part of the shaft to get it all the way up there, but not so much that it can spin. It has to be tight. You’ll see what I’m talking about.3: The instructions show the spring loaded screws flush with the fronts of the cylinders. I found that backing these out about a turn lets the engine run better. Not too loose though.4: Get GOOD alcohol for the burner. That weak 70% stuff ain’t gonna get it done. Look for 90% or better. I bet Amazon has some...5: You can put more than one dropper full of water in the boiler. I’ve run it with as many as 6! Runs for a LONG time!Update: Just timed it, with 6 droppers of water and a boiler shroud made from a drink can, it steamed up in about 1 minute, and ran for 9.5 minutes. Far better than expected for this little thing.

Summery, It runs much better than I had hoped :-)) A real kick !!Likes:The kit was complete as advertised, all parts correctly made.Even though I have some "tremor", I'm 87, the instructions were "good enough" to assemble the kit in a few hours.The only outside items needed were - a knife or scissors to cut the tubing - a scale to measure 10mm ;-) - some denatured alcohol from the hardware store for fuel - a bit of "tissue" for a wick for the fireThe thing needs a quick twist to get going, and went over 15 revolutions/second - flashing the LED with no debugging at all :-))"Dislike": - a bit small for big fumble fingers me - the instructions are adequate with a little imagination (the "50 keys drive wheel", had 50 "teeth" but since it was the only toothed unattached gear - I didn't even count ;-) - I had a frustrating time inter-locking the 120 degree frame a little more brute force than I was comfortable applying to small partsA happy purchase - gotta show the grand-kids ;-)