Sweet looking!
Oh...They already look like concrete footings.

I was planning on making some of the tanks and stills that go in front of the plant, but after checking out PVC pipe and drill presses (to drill holes in the pipe) at various big box stores I changed my mind. Let's face it, why buy a $150 tool that I will never use again, to save $50 in plastic tubing?

So... I hit the Plastruct website, and went on a little shopping spree there instead, loading up on 1" tube for the stills, 1/8" rod for the larger pipes, and various cool pipe fittings such as stop valves, check valves, elbows and various other parts.

Meanwhile, thanks to reading week at school, I have some time on my hands, so I had to find something else to do while I'm waiting for these parts. The funny thing is, this project is actually something to do while I'm waiting for my blast furnace to arrive!

So, I decided to tackle part of the superstructure: another platform that holds the light oil condensers, and a small still.



These are the scratchbuilt condensers, that go on top of the platform. There is another larger one to be done as well.



Placed on the platform along with another smaller platform for the still.

Here, I'm making a small horizontal tank that is used for heating. I used a hole punch to make the ends, and also to make the supports.



Now they're painted, and some pipes added.



Here's an overall view from the back:



A closeup:



From the side:





And from the front:



I will have to add the small still to the little platform, and of course lots more pipes once I get the larger stills in place. There are two pipes going from underneath the two smaller condensers to the agitator, and getting them to fit under the stairway that runs between them was a little bit tricky.

Once I get my parts from Plastruct I can start constructing the larger stills.

Thanks for looking!

cheers
Val

Very impressive, Val: it looks so good I can almost smell it. Nice work on the colouring, too.

Wayne

Nice! I like all of the scaffolding, stairs, railings, and pipes.

Ralph

so cool val ,the side industries of a steel mill atleast i feel,more appealing than most of the long bland steel buildings.great job on an often never modeled feature --josh

Very nicely done, just the right touch of coloring in the right places.

doctorwayne Wrote:Very impressive, Val: it looks so good I can almost smell it. Nice work on the colouring, too.

Wayne

"Benzol, or benzene, is an aromatic hydrocarbon and the second [n]-annulene ([6]-annulene), a cyclic hydrocarbon with a continuous pi bond." Mine seems to smell a lot like plastic and Ambroid pro-weld, with a definite hint of toast. Well, that's what happens when you take the photos in the kitchen! LOL!

Ralph Wrote:Nice! I like all of the scaffolding, stairs, railings, and pipes.

Ralph

Thanks Ralph. There are a lot more pipes to come...... a LOT!

Bigsteel Wrote:so cool val ,the side industries of a steel mill atleast i feel,more appealing than most of the long bland steel buildings.great job on an often never modeled feature --josh

Thanks Josh. I must say, after finding the Thomas Coke By Products plant on HABS, complete with diagrams, I was inspired by both the small footprint of the benzol plant, and the huge amount of details packed into that little space. It would actually make a great kit for someone like Walthers to produce.

cheers
Val

Oops, didn't mean to skip you Lynn - I think we were posting at the same time. Thanks for the comments on the colouring. I actually spend a lot of time agonizing over colour choices for things.... it really slows me down, but it's worth it.

cheers
Val

Spitfire Wrote:Oops, didn't mean to skip you Lynn - I think we were posting at the same time. Thanks for the comments on the colouring. I actually spend a lot of time agonizing over colour choices for things.... it really slows me down, but it's worth it.

cheers
Val

I know exactley what you mean, I have the same problem with colors.

Wow, it is really coming along nicely! It's great that you are posting photos of the process you are using, it helps me to see that the complex nature of the plant is more easily understood when you successfully break it down to many subassemblies. When I look at photos of these prototypes, I've had trouble seeing them clearly enough to discern the individual components. Yours sure are going together nicely, great work!

Gary

jglfan Wrote:Wow, it is really coming along nicely! It's great that you are posting photos of the process you are using, it helps me to see that the complex nature of the plant is more easily understood when you successfully break it down to many subassemblies. When I look at photos of these prototypes, I've had trouble seeing them clearly enough to discern the individual components. Yours sure are going together nicely, great work!

Gary

Thanks Gary, I'm glad you like it! Does this mean you are thinking of making something similar? If you are, or if anyone else is, I'd be glad to also point out all the mistakes I've made along the way.

I'm lucky to have some amazing photo documentation of this structure from the HABS/HAER website.
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It's from the Thomas Coke By-Products plant in Alabama. I'd post a direct link, but it doesn't work, because it's a CGI search script. But, if you do a search for it, you'll see that the part I'm modelling starts around photo #87. The beauty of this photo collection is that it's basically a "walkaround", with shots from all angles. This really helps figuring out where things go, especially all those pipes!!!

If there's a downside to the photo's it's all the details that are so clearly shown. I've had to use "modeller's licence" a lot in deciding what level of detail to include. For just one example, the plates, or whatever they are on the oil condensers are actually studded with rivets. I just did not have the patience to attempt to make them.

When I started this project I thought it would be a lot easier. This is how I trick myself into things, hehe. At first I thought the brick building could be slapped together with Walthers modular parts, and that I would just have a bunch of tanks, with a bunch of random pipes, and not worry too much how the real thing went together as long as it had the "look" of a benzol plant.

The first thing I found out was that I could only use the modulars for part of the building: the sides. Looking at the photos, I realized I would have to modify the middle storey's windows, and the next thing you know, I'm buying Walthers brick sheet, cutting my own window openings, shortening the kit windows, cutting down the peaks....

That's the downside of having such good reference, but it's also very satisfying. Three weeks ago, I'd never even heard of benzol, now I'm gradually beginning to understand how the whole by-product process works. It's fascinating. And also, it's a pretty small footprint structure that produces oil and other things (toluene, xylene, ammonium sulfate) that generate rail traffic.

Okay, I'll stop blathering now.....

cheers
Val

After I posted the photo's yesterday, I was not happy with the contrast and brightness of the indoor shots, so I brought it outside today. Also I've started a little "landscaping" around the plant.

My technique is pretty simple. I had a gallon of earth-coloured paint mixed up at the hardware store when I started the layout, so that's what I use. I slather it on fairly thickly, and while it's still wet, I sprinkle on either ground foam or sifted dirt from the backyard that I baked in the oven to kill all the micro-crawlies. When that's dry, I add some Scenic Express "Prairie Tufts" wherever I want taller weeds.

The back side:


Around the front:


And an overview:


The unscenicked parts are where I am going to place tanks. Once they're in place I can finish off the ground cover.

cheers
Val

The prairie tuffs are something I can really use. I had ordered from them twice last year for the super trees and some ground cover bottles, I wish I would have seen the prairie tuffs at the time. Imodel my dirt roads the same way putting down paint then sifting baseball diamond dirt through a panty hose. Your build looks great outside in natural sunlite , I have to learn to do the same with pics.

Quote:If there's a downside to the photo's it's all the details that are so clearly shown. I've had to use "modeller's licence" a lot in deciding what level of detail to include. For just one example, the plates, or whatever they are on the oil condensers are actually studded with rivets. I just did not have the patience to attempt to make them.

Then, there's the bright side: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
If there's no rivets modeled, there's no rivets to count! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Quote:and the next thing you know, I'm buying Walthers brick sheet, cutting my own window openings, shortening the kit windows, cutting down the peaks....

Face it kid, you're one of us.
Just keep on doing what you do so well.....impressing us with your excellent model building skills. This is looking good! The ground cover works!, and the crushed and rusted 55 Gal. drum looks great.

Fantastic, I did follow your link to the pictures and I feel you are right on with it. By the time you get the building you are waiting on you will have it completed with modules and then just setting it in place. Waiting to see that like all the rest!
Thanks,
Jim