Hi George,

Yes the 555 is to pulse the cap bank to a battery.

The easiest way to get a SG circuit to oscillate is to keep increasing the resistance at the base of the transistor until you hear the coil buzzing like a mosquito. You might need to have a magnet just sitting on top of the coil.

This isn't the optimum tuning method to do this but is the fastest way to just have it oscillate. If you're using good size coils, just be careful that you are monitoring your caps so they don't get overcharged because they can rise pretty quick.

That is so true about the elephant analogy!