Dear OP - I'd like to put a footnote to Greg's comments above, just in case you decide to quit for good. You admit to being a newcomer - just like all of us were at one time - and arrive here as a guest, asking questions. Specific questions, about one of the rarest models that Aster, THE leaders in ready-built or kit-built Gauge 1 models in the world, ever made. As far as I can see, less than 200 were made, and even less of the necessary accompanying 'service' box car. So the chances of meeting up with another owner on this mostly 16mm/LGB forum are slim, to say the least.
We offer the good advice that starting off your journey with a known subject, a Roundhouse model, instead of one of THE most finicky little locos known to Man, might be a better idea. Most of us here on the live steam part of the forum have a Roundhouse loco or three, some of us have around forty of 'em, so we know what we are talking about when we offer you advice about them. They are astonishingly easy to operate right out of the box, and many buyers here in UK actually go to the factory to collect their loco, and get hands-on tuition on driving them before they walk out of the door, heading off for many years happy operations.
You will not have this opportunity, which is why, in my view, and that of others here, you ought to join in and engage with the live-steam/garden railway community and get your face-to-face right there.
While learning to 'drive' a Roundhouse loco is pretty simple, and after a bit of a faltering start even a six-year-old can quickly become skilled in operating it, an alcohol-fired loco like Tigerli is a whole new ball-game, and I've never met a noobie to this side of the hobby who hasn't needed advice, including, of course, me. Forty-something years on, and I'm still learning. Unlike the simple process of turning on the gas, waiting a few seconds to clear and then lighting up, an alcohol-fired loco needs an external source of draught until it raises sufficient steam to operate its own blower. From a handling POV, alcohol can be VERY dangerous - it burns invisibly, and locos can flare up, damaging themselves and track and sometimes even the unwitting operator. I watched, from a distance, as one owner of an older model watched helplessly as his pride and joy lost all its paint as an 'invisible hand' removed it for no obvious reason. So joining a group for Gauge 1 is not just advice, to my mind it's vital.
You never told us where you were in the US, had you done so, we might have been able to advise you where to go for face-to-face advice. You say that you are a member of the 16mm Association - so in that case you already have the names and email addresses of those fans who might be near you. Allan Toney here is a great help to statesiders - if it runs on steam, then he is well-worth reading for his wide experiences.
You really didn't give the rest of us a chance, and that's a shame. Y'see, a Roundhouse loco is like a Ford - anybody can learn to drive one. An alcohol-fired special loco like Tigerli is more like a Duesenberg - things are neither obvious nor easy, albeit more rewarding in the end.
Take care, and look after your eyebrows - a live-steamers everywhere find out at some time, they are not necessarily a permanent facial feature.
tac foley
G1MRA
Association of 16mm Modellers
Member - Southern Federation of Model Engineers
7 1/14" Gauge Society of Model Railway Engineering
