Difficulty melting copper

For salt water, zinc based anodes are recommended, for fresh water only, magnesium is recommended, for boats that operate in both or in brackish water, aluminum based anodes are recommended.

 

Casting is cleaning up nicely. Normally I would have handed it over to the customer as a "rough casting" and let them do all of the finish work however there was some porosity and I wanted to see how deep it went and if the casting was usable or not.

I'm happy to say that I was able to remove the porosity from the surface finish, there are still some small imperfections however they will come out with a bit more sanding.

 

For anyone who is curious here are some pics from the net of how this will look on the engine once it is machined and fully finished:

 

Nice looking pieces, and a great looking loco.

I would like to get a loco, but I am afraid the wife would say "if you bring one more piece of (fill in your own word) into this yard, you will be out on the street".
There is a delicate balance between marriage and fun.
.

 

If you build it slowly piece-by-piece maybe she wont notice!