O14 Day

My kits from KB Scale arrived today. They specialize in 7mm narrow gauge, I had ordered a track demo kit, a side dump wagon and a locomotive kit. The track demo included a flat bed wagon so I decided it would be a great place to get my feet wet in two foot gauge modeling. It was a simple build the only trick was to narrow up the bolster frame to provide additional space for the axles this yielded free rolling wheels. The photo shows the completed model. What is really cool is that it comes with a link and pin coupler.

As far as a layout for two foot gauge is concerned I am going to model a typical copper smelter as seen in the Upper Michigan copper country in the 1920's. I have laid out some track on the work bench in a 1 x 4 foot area and will start with that. On the far end is the railroad warehouse and next to that will be the mineral house. Not totally sure what will be next but possibly the machine shop and a small building for the locomotive. The locomotive is a KB McEwan Pratt Baguley 10 HP locomotive, I have open the box and reviewed the instructions, it is going to be a challenge!

Slaters Continued, Upson Building Update

The construction of the Slaters model continues. These two views show the current state of the project. I added a lot of wood grain effect to the exterior ends and sides I am not sure if this is how weathered these cars would have become but there use in the coal trade and apparent longevity in service suggest to me that this would be likely.

So far everything has fit well with only a minimum of filing needed to get things to fit well. One point that took a bit of figuring was adding the solebars, they needed to fit flush with the floor deck side, they do not touch the center frame cross bearers (gap is about 1/16")

The next step will be painting, as can be seen the iron work on the ends and the solebars is not factory finished, since this is a in service car I will proceed to paint the metal parts dark rust and then add black overtones.

I really like the size of the model, it feels good in your hand.




I have been working on the Upson building since last summer when I discovered the prototype in northern Wisconsin. Here are a couple of views both prototype and model. It has been a long project. Fortunately I am now able to work on something for an extended period and not loose interest, I seems when I was young I needed to get the whole thing done in a week or it would never be completed. This model is in 3.5mm scale.

Tomorrow, David

7mm O Scale

Can't believe that it has been a year since I posted to this blog. Well I am still here so that is very good from my point of view. I am currently expanding my modeling skills by doing some builds in UK 7mm O Scale. This is quite a change from all of my past modeling experience which has been confined to North American US models.

I have chosen to start with a kit of a open coal wagon from the turn of the twentieth century, Slaters kit 7044S. Everything about this is new to me, terminology, parts, how the cars are constructed ( both prototype and model) so it is quite exciting to undertake this build. I have been directed to some useful 7mm modeling sites which have helped bring me up to speed.

The following photos on Picasa show what is included in the kit.

Slaters Kit 7044S

The first thing of note is that the interior of the model is not detailed. In searching the internet I discovered a vendor who provides etched brass interior side an floor components. They look really nice but since this is my first attempt at one of these kits I have chosen to take a conservative approach and create my own interior details. By using no.40 grit sand paper I textured wood grain on the interior surfaces of the sides, ends and floor (both top and bottom). I then scribe planks to match the exterior spacing and 6" floor boards. I also textured the underframe members as well as adding the seams for the side door.

More later, David

Update On Snow Shed

The humid weather we have been having lately is causing adverse effects on the urethane casting resin. I have ordered some new types of resin from Smooth-On to see how they work. Have added a dehumidifier in the work shop unfortunately it raises the ambient temperature causing the resin to catalyze to rapidly. New resin has a longer pot life and slower set time.

David

1897 Niter Storage Building

The final building associated with the sulfuric acid plant is the salt peter storage shed. It is a single story building with 9 foot eaves and is 15' x 12' in size. It should be noted that this building is set apart form other buildings in this complex. This is due to the explosive nature of the product being stored.

A Google Book Reference

http://books.google.com/books?id=uRJDAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=a+treatise+on+chemistry&hl=en&ei=HZhXTKbEMNC2ngfK54CcBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA

The above link is to a Google book (A Treatise On Chemistry) that gives a very good review of the chamber process for creating sulfuric acid. The description begins on PDF page 440. It is contemporary to the time period and has several illustrations of the manufacturing facilities. I have reviewed several other period references and they are essentially the same in there descriptions of the manufacturing process. My continued discussion will utilized the information learned to make educated guesses as to how these buildings looked as I have not been able to locate any photographs of the Carbon Works.

David

1897 Chamber Building

The acid chamber building is 190 feet long and 72 feet wide with eaves 32 feet above the ground. There is a raised roof 8 feet wide and 3 feet high at the peak and it is indicated that the structure is 3 stories tall with the first story empty. A single story 18' x 50' office and engine room with eaves at 12 feet is on the end of the chamber building.

The acid chambers are voluminous lead walled rooms built on wooden frames and supported above the ground, in this case about 12 feet to match the single story eave height. If we assume that there are 10 foot walk ways around the entire interior of the chamber building for inspection purposes and that this is a three chamber process then the size of an individual cell could be 15 feet wide by 170 feet long. The height of the chamber can be estimated as 15 feet; 20 foot height of walls less 5 feet for the support frames. This calculates to be about 38,000 cubic feet per chamber which is well within the established specifications for these types of facilities.

As the acid collects in the bottom of each chamber it flows by gravity to storage tanks under the chambers. It is then pumped from the tanks to the Glover tower for concentration. The usual means employed for pumping the acid is compressed air, I speculate that the engine room has a steam driven compressor to provide this air for the entire acid facility.