General Tire Akron - Original Plant Build

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The following weekend I attended the NKPH&TS convention in Angola, IN.  Riding behind the 765 on a crisp, clear fall day, standing in an open baggage car door.  Doesn't get much better than that.

Please tell me you voted for my (volunteer) unemployment!

[SAH]

Hah!  I voted to hold you as a NKPH&TS volunteer in perpetuity.  Good volunteers are hard to find you know. 

[SAH]

Dust removal cyclones.  I will build the design that draws air from vent hoods within the building up to the cyclone.  I'm guessing there were a number of bag dump stations in the compounding area.

I got the knife to cut through the .010" styrene on the third try.  It's a vertical adjustment to the knife blade and you just have to try some settings until it's good.  The cyclone itself is a Walthers part from Red Wing Flour Mill I think.  I was gifted several of them in a rough built up condition.


A small build plate really helps with assembly as it allows the assembly to be rotated to the position best allowing part placement.  Smear some paste on the hardboard.  The uppermost part goes down first, then work your way to the bottom of the part.


This would be natural 3D print project and Mike Skibbe's wig wag crossing signals have got me thinking.  Ugh.  Best to not think too hard.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Hah!  I voted to hold you as a NKPH&TS volunteer in perpetuity.  Good volunteers are hard to find you know. 

I'm totally down for volunteering in perpetuity, I'm just glad to no longer have any fiduciary duty.

[SAH]

The dust cyclones are (mostly) complete.  I need some square duct to raise the level of the blower discharge.  Then off to the paint shop.
This is the first time I used the cutter to make parts for a mechanical thingee.  There certainly are limitations, especially when cutting N scale sized cross-sections.  The build is pretty rough frankly, but for a background detail that's part of a bigger picture they will do.

[SAH]

Colder weather means more train time!   

The end wall sections for the part of the plant running perpendicular to the original building.  Also some parapet wall sections. 


Here they are installed.  The actual building would have been much deeper than I've built the model.  The end section and parapet walls serve as a view break.

The bricked up windows and window variations give the build a sense of time passage.   At the side by side brick-ups I plan to add the pre-fab structure you can kind of see in the proto photo.  The top part of the brick-up will peek out above the pre-fab.  Might look kind of interesting.

In one of the old postcard views there appears to be some garages next to the building and set back a bit.  A Maintenance Dept. shop perhaps?  I decided to assume the garages were torn down at some point and a brick addition for the Maintenance Dept. was built at the end of the main structure.  Cleaner brick, different windows and galvanized steel coping call it out as newer.


I've painted out the dust collection cyclones and some other roof top equipment this evening.  The end is in sight.

[Dwight in Toronto]

That has all come together as an extraordinary centre piece - very impressive.

I may have missed it, but do you intend to illuminate the structure?

[SAH]

That has all come together as an extraordinary centre piece - very impressive.

I may have missed it, but do you intend to illuminate the structure?

Thanks Dwight.  Sorry, no illumination for this project.

[motofavorite]

I enjoyed your lecture at Naperville earlier this autumn. I'm considering a craft cutter. I wonder how important downforce is to cutting. Some cutters crow about it and I wonder whether you feel limited by it. Also, I wonder about the lifetime of the blades when cutting styrene or paper. Finally, I wonder whether you have found an engraving tool useful for scoring fold lines or adding texture.

[bbussey]

Steve, looks fantastic. A question on the large loading dock platform. It appears to be taller than the boxcar floor heights, or is that an optical illusion?

[SAH]

I enjoyed your lecture at Naperville earlier this autumn. I'm considering a craft cutter. I wonder how important downforce is to cutting. Some cutters crow about it and I wonder whether you feel limited by it. Also, I wonder about the lifetime of the blades when cutting styrene or paper. Finally, I wonder whether you have found an engraving tool useful for scoring fold lines or adding texture.

Thanks.  The presentation was fun to give and the feedback was generally positive.  Naperville brings out the best in every attendee I think.

Yeah, when I was looking for a cutter I noticed downforce was thrown around like engine displacement would be in a group of gearheads.  My personal experience says if your cutting paper, thin styrene sheet or vinyl it's not the #1 important spec.  Repetition and precision is the most important attribute for our work.  If you can accept that the cutter will score thicker materials and you will provide the separation cut, I'll wager they're all good machines.  Mine will do multiple cuts on the same line if you really want to get to a through cut.  I've have less than success doing so though.

I've not worn out a blade yet.  I've not done miles of cutting either so I can't make a judgement here.  Nor have I looked at an engraving tool.  The machine will do WAY more than I've asked of it though, so maybe it's not outside the capabilities.

Steve, looks fantastic. A question on the large loading dock platform. It appears to be taller than the boxcar floor heights, or is that an optical illusion?

Thank you Bryan.  The box car floor matches the dock height.  Of course, it depends on which brand, lowered or not, yadda, yadda . . . Just kidding.  All my freight cars are lowered with body mounted couplers.  If they're not at dock height they're real close.  My definitive test was to make sure the deck of a flat car matched the dock height, since you can easily see the relationship.  Not so much with a box car.

[SAH]

The prefab rooftop structure is complete and affixed to the roof.  The first of the dust collectors has found a home too.  I'm noodling around with ideas to make the Walthers cooler unit look better.  I think it will go where shown in the photo but it's missing something.  Probably fans on top and clean up of the assembly fit at a minimum.
 

[SAH]

Added some trim and details to the Walthers cooler unit.  I used the cutter to make .005" thick styrene strips .060" and .075" wide. 
After painting the assembly I tried to simulate the shadow behind the air intake screen on the side of the unit.  There is not enough depth to the screen to allow the paint to be cleanly removed with 600 grit sandpaper.  I'll have to cover with weathering I suppose.  It looks OK as is.

[packers#1]

I wonder if you could try dry brushing or using a cosmetic sponge to try to put the grey color of the screen back on the raised portion that’s supposed to be the screen pieces themselves. Looks good as is but you might be able to hit the raised portions again while leaving the black in the recesses. Mix in a little white or pint it with white first to get better coverage over the black.

[SAH]

I didn't think to try that technique Sawyer.  I did try to kind of ink stamp the contrasting color onto the grill but found the grill face itself is not of a uniform depth.  Probably explains why the scraping technique did not go well either.  As you say, it looks OK and is certainly not the centerpiece of the build.