I finally got around to doing some work on the smoke stack for the power house. Randy Costanza was very kind to give me an old stack from a Pola brewery kit. I was looking for a tall, hollow model representing a brick smoke stack. The one available from Walthers is only 10" tall, I was looking for something closer to 15+". The model Randy gave me is 16 1/4" and will do nicely. I need this stack to be hollow because I will be using my special smoke generator with it. I have purchased a flashing LED beacon kit for the stack which I will also include in the finished model. I hope the combination of flashing beacons and billowing smoke will be very cool.
The Pola smokestack model is made of 4 half circle sections which are glued together. Robust is not an adjective I would use to describe this kit, so some reinforcement is necessary. I also need to find and fit a plastic tube into the model to help with mounting to the module and piping the "smoke" from below the module. I located some 3/4" CPVC pipe which has an O.D. of 7/8". This is about 1/16 wider than I need at the very top of the stack so I sanded off the difference at the top 1 " to make the pipe fit into the stack.
The image above shows how the PVC pipe fits up the top of the model. I wrapped masking tape around the ends of the model to reinforce it while I was repeatedly test fitting the tube. The tape will be removed later.
The ring here is made of two layers of balsa wood glued crosswise for some strength. I'm only using it as a spacer at the bottom the the stack to keep the tube mostly centered .
I used an adhesive laytex caulk the secure the spacer ring and tube into the model.
The next part I have to work on is the base which will be square in shape. I have some scrap DPM wall sections I'll use to make it.
