Having heard the stories of this legendary beast I managed to track one down that was dinged and scratched at the factory. Hoped it wouldnt cause undue trouble. Needless to say it survived quite well. Then I decided to light it, absolutely blinding! These amish folk dont mess around. Its like lighting the space shuttle engines. Must be putting out more than 500CP, seemed like 600 or more. Built like a tank, weighs as much.
I had the impression these were rated at 1000cp but I'm probably wrong. I saw one last year at Newark and I was surprised how crude and clumsy it looked although there was no doubting the skill that had gone into making it. Having said that, yours does look neater than the one I looked at...
I seem to recall Neil saying they were rated at 1000cp when we looked at it at Newark last year David , Hell of a beast to lift and I remember its all welded, lovely piece of engineering
This one here is the 1000cp rated Nite Hawk. http://0flo.com/index.php?threads/1789 This lamp has a modified Petromax burner with homemade jet and needle Your one is the 500cp one, fitted with Petromax burner, jet and needle.
Yes the fit and finish are a bit on the crude side. Simple seems to best describe it. Shame these don't come with a pre-heater torch like the Petromax but it just takes some finessing with the control cock to not let in too much at the start up. Should be interesting to see how it performs with Peerless mantles.
I started with a 500cp "Work Horse" brand from the far east but then decided to go for the gold and slipped on a Peerless mantle. Very bright indeed and once the plumbing is all up to temperature, runs nice and clean. Something in the way it starts up is still a bit fascinating to me. They advise opening the cock just for a tick to let in some kero then closing it to let the burner and loop rise to the right temperature. It really likes its pre-heating! I think it needs a larger pre-heat cup. Still, a stellar performer.
