Trucklover's Kitbuild '09 Summer Challenge

[Trucklover]

Man its been a LONG time since i worked on this MASSIVE project lol

Well i finally got back into the swing of things and got working again on the kit. It was all summer since i touched this last, but now that my girlfriend is back in school, and still not having a job (going in this morning to Lowes to see about getting my old job back) i had some down time to sit down and start work again lol

The first thing i did was pick up where i left off in the weathering stage of weathering the Stoves. Then i prepared all the Railings for the entire kit, cutting excess spur sections off to better cover all the railings with the rattle can. I primed all the railings with gray, then sprayed them all yellow. After that, i started to glue the railings ontop of the Stoves. The Safety Cadge Ladders were glued together and placed in there appropriate spots atop the stoves to the lower platforms on the sides of the stoves.

After this, it was off to start the piping for the lower portion of the Stove structure. Supports were all sprayed with oxide red primer and glued in place. The i assembled the Clean Gas Pipes, Burner Feeds, Lower and Upper Stove Pipes, and the Hot Blast Main Pipe. Once everything was aligned properly, i glued it all in place and that is where i am at as of right now. This took care of steps 43-49. Here are the pics of the latest progress
















Next i will be weathering the newly completed piped and railings i have shown above

Time spent on this build is not up to 35-1/2 hours

[Trucklover]

Last night i got to weathering the Pipe Supports, Clean Gas Pipes, Burner Feeds, Lower and Upper Stove Pipes, and the Hot Blast Main Pipe.

After i had weathered those i started on the Gas Collector Tank, Gas Washer Tank, and the Gas Washer Pipes. I assembled those and then glued the supports to the bottoms of the tanks. Took them out back and sprayed them with the rattle can. When they were dry, i weathered them and then glued the tanks to the base in there appropriate slots. Put the Gas Washer Pipes in and glued it in place. Connected the Clean Gas Pipe to the Large pipe atop the small Gas Collector Tank and glued in place. This is where we are at now with the project













Time spent on the project now is up to 39-1/2 hours

[Lester Perry]

Looks good to me. there is a lot of details in that kit.

[ezdays]

Very impressive, great kit, great adaptation of a neat kit.

[Trucklover]

Les and Don, thanks for the kind words guys It is nearing completion

[Trucklover]

This latest progress report is for Steps 52-54 on the instruction sheet. I also jumped ahead and did Step 60. Steps 55-59 involve stairwells and railings which will be done in the next report.

These steps involved assembling the Dust Collector, assembling the Collector Pipes, and assembling the Upper and Lower Downcomer Pipes together. The Dust Collector and the Pipes for it were assembled, painted, weathered, then glued in place to the base and connected to the bottom of the tall Gas Washer Tank. The Downcomer pipe was assembled and connected to the top of the Dust Collector Tank and then fitted to the very top of the Furnace to connect the two Upper Downcomer Pipes. The joint connecting the Upper Downcomer Pipes and the joint connecting the Lower Downcomer Pipe were left loose so that i can dis-assemble the structure when handling. This will also allow me to ship this massive structure in two separate boxes to cut down on the shipping costs when it comes time to ship it to someone.

Up to this point, everything is weathered on the structure except for the railings and walkways on the tops of the Stoves. Here are some pics















Time spent on the kit build is now up to 44-1/2 hours. It is estimated that the kit is 85% completed

[e-paw]

Looks good Looks a lot like the bethlehem steal plant in my neck of the woods. The color and weathering are dead on. What paint did you use?

[Trucklover]

Looks good Looks a lot like the bethlehem steal plant in my neck of the woods. The color and weathering are dead on. What paint did you use?

Hey Steve, thanks bud

Im using Rustoleum Brown Primer. Its the perfect color for the Steel Mill stuff. Im also using Bragdon Weathering Powders, the combination of the 2 have given some excellent results

[Trucklover]

As mentioned in my last update post, steps 55-59 were skipped briefly in order to assemble the Upper and Lower Downcomer Pipes and temporarily connect the Furnace with the Stoves Structure

Steps 55-59 involved assembling and gluing ALOT of railings and walkways. The Upper Elevator Walkway, the Trolley Support Walkway, The Upper Offtake Safety Cadge Ladder, The Bell Platform Stairway, the Hoist Stairway and the Cast House Stairway were among the parts involved in these steps. I also went back to Step 32 which was skipped a while back, this step involved mounting the railings around the entire Cast House Floor.

The reason for the large opening on the front of the structure where the Cast House Stairway is because the part that was supposed to go there got completely demolished. It must have been damaged during shipping or handling at the warehouse, because it was all broken up when i first opened the box. There were a few other railings that were damaged but i was able to fix them for the most part. I could not however fix this one, as most of the parts to this specific part were missing and not in the bottom of the massive kit box lol. I contacted the parts department at Walthers this afternoon and left a message, so i should be hearing back from the tomorrow to see about getting a replacement part....

Steps 61-64 were also skipped briefly and will be covered on the next progress report.

Here is a look at the kit with most of its platforms and railings assembled and in place. I have not decided at this time if i will be weathering all the railings, im kinda liking the way they stand out right now, but we will see, i think it might look better if they were weathered like the rest of the structure is. In the meantime, here are some more pics of the latest progress
















Time spent on the kitbuild now up to 50-1/2 hours

[Trucklover]

Well, i finished the construction of the Ashland Iron & Steel Blast Furnace this afternoon. All that is left to do is weather the Skip Hoist, and weather the Highline Trestle.

As mentioned in my last post, steps 61-64 were skipped to jump ahead and knock out the rest of the railings, walkways, and stairwells. Steps 61-64 involved assembling the Skip Hoist and the Skip Hoist Buckets. Once this was completed, it was painted then mounted in place to the top of the Bell Tower Hopper. Steps 66-68 were the final steps of the instruction sheet and involved assembling the Highline and the Highline Walkway which connects the Highline and the Cast House.

I also modified a piece of leftover railing to replace the part that was broken that went on the front of the furnace. It wasnt too hard, and it doesnt look great, but it will do... lol

So without further ado, here is some pics of the Furnace. A final post will be made with more pictures once the Highline and Skip Hoist have been weathered. Hope you enjoy the pictures




















































Total time spent on the kit as of right now is 55-1/2 hours

[Trucklover]

Well after roughly 58 hours of work, the Blast Furnace has finally been fully 100% constructed and weathered. Here are some shots of the front of the Furnace:























And here are some shots of the rear of the furnace

[Trucklover]

And that about wraps up this thread for my Summer Kitbuild Challenge

The next thing ill be doing with the furnace will be adding the Blower Engine House and the Piping on the other right of the stoves. After that, it goes up for sale

Questions, comments, suggestions are welcome on the build are welcome

[ezdays]

What to say Josh, other than that's a first-class job.

[tv_man]

Looks great! Especially love the pictures which suggest it to be immensely huge. A lone LPB worker climbing up the endless stairs would be a nice touch to add to the effect.

[Lester Perry]

Wow.I get a stiff neck looking up at the top of that thing. I know someone is going to take this comment and run with it.