Stan1y

It seems to like lime, can't get it to grow in my garden apart from near the wall or where a pile of old bricks has been. a light dusting of lime (calcium carbonate) on an area and it will grow just in that area for a few years then look sorry for its self and die off, it either needs the calcium or doesn't like acidic soils much

This is one of the things I keep meaning to do, but just end up putting up with the spillage when I refill my travel tube

I never mastered boards but I can see other uses for the drive train and control system thanks.

I've seen commercial versions of this in old copies of Aeromodeler from the 60's &70's. I'll have to do an instructable on my fathers version which is tailored to each specific engine

For many years there was a goodyear branded version of this kit sitting in my fathers garage, it required the sealing plug was coated in a glue before fitting, as do the repair plugs for lorry tires that are still available, how ever they require the tire is removed from the rim.

That clearly isn't raw cast iron, It is probably vitreous enamel over cast iron. Which is effectively a glass surface coating, nice clean up though also impressed that vinegar and baking soda is all it took

that's getting into the realms of small lathe building, I suggest reading David J Gingerys' series of books building a metal work shop from scrap book 2 should give you ideas regarding mounting a spindle (the head stock) be it a custom casting or just using mounted bearings, book 1 for how to do green sand casting. if using zinc alloy the furnace isn't needed, and there are some good instructables on using delft clay/ oil sand for small parts I can vouch for its ease of use for making small parts in zinc alloy using a stainless steel tea pot and a gas ring. ( my instructables where I've done this are still works in progress) I'd caution on using a mains motor with out a cassing PVC sewr pipe might be suitable

A BTU a British thermal unit, and is an antiquated unit in Britain. I grew up with the ISO system. Which uses Joules for measuring energy, and Watts for energy over time, so in theory the confusion over is it BTU or BTU/h shouldn't happen with ISO units. As for do the math, I did do the maths its plural where I come from because there is always more than one equation to solve.

I can't remember when I last saw or even if I've seen a motor limp before, it seems to be behaving a bit like a stepper motor, I suspect the speed control board , can you disconnect the motor from the power supply and power it directly to confirm it is a motor fault not the speed controler

Nice build, I keep seeing that alloy profile whilst looking for other things and wondering if it would be suitable for something like this, thanks for showing it is.