Power House stack

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. 

Aggragate transfer building/ maintainence shop

I used some 'Pikestuff" structure scraps to put together something for the aggragate transfer equipment. The structure is large enough to also have a small maintainance shop in the remaining half.

The image above shows the green and white structure at the low end of the conveyor.

I'll take some more photos when I get more done on the area around the structure.

Switch Targets

I finally added a few targets to the Caboose Industries ground throws I have on some of the switches.
At this point I only have 3 targets and may add only 1 or 2 more. Because of the density of the trackwork most the the switches will not have groundthrows.

The photo focus is a bit off but you can still see the effect.

A little rusting of the switch stand and everything looks ok. 



The concrete mixing plant part 3

Above is the structure assembled with only a few pipes left to add.

The original Walthers structure had a closed storage bin with a number of pipes leading to the roof. I chose to remove the roof and add a home-made gravel distributing mechanism. The brace in front will hold up the conveyor structure.

Here is an idea of how the whole structure will look minus the additional supports for the conveyor.

A weekend set-up with the modules.

Over the previous weekend I hauled my modules up to Boone NC to set up the modules with most of the guys I build modules with. I took photos of 4 locations on the layout for use in a image stacking program and here are the results.

Here is a scene from a module called "Syracusa", Joe Balint is the owner and designer.The structures are assembled by Joe but painted and finished by others. It's a skills trading arraingment some members of this module group have. For example Joe loves to build track, and he is the best I've ever known, but he doesn't care much for finishing structures. So in return for hand-laying the track on my Waterfront module, I finished the three structures seen here facing the camera (the Palms Hotel, Woolworths, and Hinzman Furniture).

This is some of Ken Anderson's fine work. The view is looking down the mainline of three 4' modules. If I could just drop in a photo backdrop, this one would be worth framing. The long shape of the image is a result of my trimming out some out of focus areas. The image stacking program does a great job but I need to improve my photography to get maximum effect.
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Here is a good example of what can be done with some of the Silflor brand scenery products. The overgrown area between the tracks is a blend of Silflor Buffalo grass tuffts and Woodland Scenics ground foam. In the background, a view of the engine storage/RIP track with a couple of cars getting air hoses replaced and a pair of MILW engines running off miles.

I added some tall grasses (Silflor again) around the power poles and along the driveway. Then I added a bunch of goldenrod at the end of the near storage track.

The concrete mixing plant - part 2

I finished off the mixing plant office with an air conditioner on the roof and some rust streaks on the sides.

 

The whole building will eventually get a coat of dust for final weathering.

The cement storage silo was supposed to stand beside the mixing building (per instructions) but I don't have room for it there and I didn't like it either. So I chopped down the support bracing and added some H column for bases, to mount on the roof of the mixing building. While I was at it I added a safety cage ladder.

I had to start weathering this portion of the roof because the cement silo will sit somewhere up here.

While I was adding rust streaks I put some on the base too, creating the drip lines that would result on the concrete base.
In case you are wondering about what paint I use on these models, I just use the rattle can spray from the hardware store. I chose a medium green Rustolium for the structure but I like using Testors brand light aircraft gray for the concrete base.

The concrete mixing plant - part 1

I decided to start posting the creation of this industry even though I'm most of the way through the project.
I started with a Walthers Blue Star Ready Mix kit with a fair amount of modification planned. The kit is odd in that it doesn't really have a railroad interface. The aggregate (sand and gravel) comes in by truck as can the cement and if you wanted the cement to come in by rail, the kit doesn't have the parts to model how to unload it.

 So I'm changing all that. 

I assembled the office per the instructions despite my best efforts to have it face opposite the kit instructions. The problem is that the doors on the ends are not spaced the same from the nearest wall (front or back). As a result the walkways that go to the doors won't fit if I turn the building arround. The wall you see in the above image (the wall with the most windows) faces the mixing building at a scale distance of about 10 feet. (ugh!) I wanted this wall facing out so plant management could see the operation.

So there it is with an office interior wall and a pair of employees added.

The lower portion of the mixing building, installed on the base.

The entire mixing building. The cement trucks would drive through the building, and stop inside to be loaded.

The office entrance after weathering.

The other stairways. I wish I had taken a photo before I began the weathering but the large piece is only partly weathered so you can see how bright the yellow paint was.