I have a model of tracking solar on equatorial mount that I have slowly refined. I don't have time to play with it anymore. It is different from most tracking solar concentrators because it uses the same way to track the sun as telescopes use. (equatorial mount) It might be of interest to the modelmakers here. There are moving parts, and some stuff to develop too! On the alt solarthermal group a couple of people have looked into it and one has figured out the proper size for the parabolic dishes so that the center of gravity is pretty well right on the axis of rotation. There are 3 videos about it. The most recent one has the most specific details
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and depending on your knowlege of equatorial mount, it may help to watch all 3 The design has a couple of unusual features. It uses 2 parabolic dishes so that the seasonal movement of one balances the seasonal movement of the other one. All other designs have one dish. The hotspots of both dishes stay in the one place all year. (this means you can put your sterling engine or heat collecting device or cooking pot there. The tracking (or timing) mechanism is also unusual. It is called the liquid piston tracker. Nobody has made one yet. Anyone want to put their metal forming and electronic skills to the test and make the model with working parabolic dishes and with a working liquid piston tracker? Brian