Well, here is the start to my Kitbuild challenge for the Summer '09 Contest

Im going to be building and weathering the new Walthers Cornerstone Blast Furnace. There are over 400 detailed pieces in this kit!! I estimate this will take me about 60 hours to complete, and im exited! Can you believe it? LOL

Well here is the kit: http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-2973



Not sure when i will get a chance to start this build, but im hoping soon when things start to calm down a bit lol

Is that the old model, or the re-release from a couple of years ago?
Anyway, can't wait to see the results.

eightyeightfan1 Wrote:Is that the old model, or the re-release from a couple of years ago?
Anyway, can't wait to see the results.

This is the brand spanken new model that Walthers has just released

Also have them here on my site: http://www.maderstrains.com/index.php?ro...duct_id=53

I broke ground on the kit last night. Here are a couple shots showing the amount of pieces in this MASSIVE kit:

"Ambitious" wouldn't be enough to describe this project... Have fun.

ezdays Wrote:"Ambitious" wouldn't be enough to describe this project... Have fun.

LOL thanks Don, im already having fun and ive only completed less then 10% of this kit LOL

Now it was time for steps 1 and 2 of the 68 steps in the instructions (btw, the instruction sheet is 12 pages long!) lol

Step's 1 and 2 refer to putting the Bustle Pipe and Mantle Ring together. The Bustle pipe has been glued together and the mantle ring is shown in this pic:

Next step was to glue the Mantle Ring to the Bustle Pipe. I glued the Bustle Pipe Hangers to the Mantle Ring, and then glue the Mantle Ring/Bustle Pipe Hangers assembly to the Bustle Pipe. After this, i glued the Furnace Halves together and then slipped it into place in the Manlte Ring/Bustle Pipe assembly.

Steps 6-14 were alot of little parts so i assembled them all and then took 2 shots of the end product. Here is a summary of what took place in steps 6-14:

• 1. Glued the Lower Offtake Halves together and into the openings on the top of the Furnace
  2. Glued the Bell Platform in place ontop of the Furnace.
  3. Bell Platform Supports were glued in place
  4. Glued the Mantle Columns in place on the underside of the Mantle Ring
  5. Glued the Sheaves onto the Sheave Rod, and then glued this completed assembly into the holes on the tops of the Trolley Support Trusses.
  6. Glued the Trolley Support Trusses to the Bell Platform Platform
  7. Small Bell Beam and Big Bell Beam were glued in place on the Bell Beam Support and then to the tops of the Trolley Support Trusses
  8. The front and rear Trolley Support Braces were glued to the front and the back of the Trolley Support Trusses
  9. Then glued the Crane Support Beams in place atop the Trolley Support Trusses
  

NOTE: there are more steps listed above, in the instructions, some of the steps were combined into one..... lol

Now it was time to spray paint the work done so far. For this, im using Rustoleum Primer "Rust" which in my opinion is a perfect color for such Steel Mill Structures.

Here is the Furnace assembly painted as it is right now:

NOTE, Step 15 has been skipped for now, railings will be installed once this assembly is completely done to eliminate the risk of damaging them when doing more construction on the furnace

Steps 16 and 17 involved gluing together the Upper Offtake Halves, Upper Offtake Elbows, the Downcomer Halves, and the Downcomer End Cap together, gluing the Upper Offtake Halves to the Upper Offtake Elbows at right 90 degree angles. Here is a pic of the Upper Offtake Halves:

Now the instructions state to place the Upper Offtake Assemblies into the Lower Offtake Halves located on the Furnace Assembly. It also says to set in place the Downcomer Assembly to connect the Upper Offtake Halves together. This is currently where i am at with this project right now. Here is a pic of that assembly as it stands right now:

See, I could never build something like that. I'd work on it like gangbusters for a weekend, then get bored or sidetracked onto something else. A year later, i will see it sitting on my workbench, notice it is about 75% complete, and want to return to work on it, but find I have lost the instructions. So, I will then glue the few detail parts on that I can figure out where they go, and let it sit again until the following april when I find the instructions while searching for tax receipts. By then, i am too busy with other things, or perhaps I changed my mind on my layout and that structure no longer fits in with my new plans. A few months after that, I may decide certain elements of the kit can be incorporated into something else I am kitbashing, and over the course of the next 5 years, I will eventually use everything from the kit.

An impressive kit for sure. Looks like you've made a great start.

Lookin' good already Josh!
Ralph