Trucklover's Kitbuild '09 Summer Challenge

[Trucklover]

thanks guys Kevin, ive had that happen to me once, but it didnt take me quite as long to complete LOL

I just realized i forgot to keep track of my time spend working on the kit lol

Well 2 nights ago, i spent less then 30 mins working on it, yesterday i worked on it from about 9-12 on the Furnace Assembly, so thats 3 hours. And today i woke up at 9:30AM and started working at about 10:00AM, its now 1:20, but i havnt been working non-stop so im going to say ive spent about 2 hours today working on it so far..... (had to make a trip to Lowes to get some more spray paint, and i ended up staying for a while chatting with guys i used to work with there lol). So altogether, ive spent about 5-1/2 hours working on this kit. Ive got some more progress to post, see my next post

[Trucklover]

Steps 18 and 19 involved gluing the Upper Offtake Platform ontop of the 2 Upper Offtakes, gluing the Bleeder Values together and to the top of the Platform, and gluing the Railings and Railing Bracing to the Platform.

Here are a couple pics showing the completed Upper Offtake Assembly and then showing the Assembly glued to the Furnace Assembly:

[csiguy68]

looking good ! what color/brand spray paint are you using?



todd

[Trucklover]

looking good ! what color/brand spray paint are you using?

Thanks Todd

Im using Rustoleum Brown Primer. Its perfect for a rusty color lol

[Trucklover]

Steps 20 and 21 were to glue the Foundation Walls for the Furnace to the base and then to glue the H-Columns to the inside of one of the walls and to the base. Here is where im at right now:

[Trucklover]

I finished Steps 22 and 23 and then decided i better start weathering before i get to much further and it starts to get real difficult to reach tight spaces. This way, when new parts are added, i can weather them as i go to, and not have to worry about whether or not i will be able to reach all the areas that are blocked by other pieces lol

Steps 22 and 23 were to add the glue in place the side and back walls ontop of the Foundation Walls. The side wall is the one that the Bustle Pipe will protrude through once the Furnace Assembly is installed. I also glued in place the large H-Columns and the Brick Details around the bases of them, followed by the small H-Columns for the support beams for the Cast House Floor.

These pics show some weathering done on this Assembly. Next up ill post some shots of the weathered Furnace Assembly.

[Trucklover]

Steps 24-26 were to glue the Cast House Support Structure together. Brick encasement's surround the bases of each support for the Cast House Floor. Here is the assembly build and weathered:

[Trucklover]

I finished weathering the furnace assembly. It wasnt easy, there are so many nooks and crannies and angles, it took about 2 hours to do, and i still didnt get everything lol. i had to take a few breaks here and there, because i just couldnt sit through the weathering of the whole thing lol.






Its a little hard to see the weathering on the furnace from the pictures, but it looks darker and dirtier in person lol. The bottom half has not been weathered, and if it can be seen when looking into the building, then those faces will be weathered as well....

Up until this point, i have been working on the Blast Furnace for about 13-1/2 hours

[Trucklover]

Steps 27-31 were no easy task lets just say that. and i think what made them so difficult was the fact that i had painted all the parts before assembly. In these steps you have to put the Cast House Floor in place over the Furnace Foundation and Cast House Assemblies. The Floor must go through upright beams on both of the sub assemblies, and they didnt exactly just slide right down over the beams and in place. I ended up just about re-gluing the entire Cast House Support Assembly and part of the Furnace Foundation Assembly after the floor was in place. Im thinking that the paint made the openings for the beams too small, so i had to force the floor down little by little on each beam. Took about an hour or so to get it in place and everything glued back together to get whats in the pics below lol

Here is what was involved:

• 1. Glue the Flooring Spouts in place on the Cast House Floor in the Pouring Hole Openings
  2. Paint the Cast House Floor
  3. Put the floor in place over the Cast House and Furnace Assemblies
  4. Glue the right side wall in place (which was a very tight fit i might add lol)
  5. Glue the Roof Supports in place along the front of the Cast House
  6, Glue the Craneways in place atop the beams in the Cast House
  

Time spent on the kit now about 15-1/2 hours. Next up will be the weathering of the Cast House Floor and Structure

[Trucklover]

This first pic shows the weathering done on the Furnace Foundation/Cast House Assemblies:






Step 33 was to glue the furnace assembly in place in the furnace foundation assembly.




After cutting all the remaining roof and wall sections off the spurs, they were all sprayed aluminum and then dusted with chalks, then sprayed with flat finish. From here it was pretty much smooth sailing putting them on the Furnace/Cast House Assembly. Here are a couple pics. The only thing left to do is add the railings around the cast house floor.

Time spent on the kit now is about 19-1/2 hours of work










Now i just need to paint and install the railings around the Cast House Floor and then do some touch up weathering here and there lol

[jbaakko]

Looking good Josh! I cannot wait to order my Blower house, even if it will be in a box for a few years... Just wish I could afford it now.

[Lester Perry]

Lots of luck man. That looks like nightmare to assemble. I agree with Kevin except for the five year thing. I still have parts from a derailed project from 10 years ago. I am anxiously waiting to see this come to being.

[eightyeightfan1]

Looks pretty good.
Mopving right along at a pretty good pace.

[Trucklover]

Josh, Les, and 88, thanks for the comments guys

Josh, those Blower Houses should be around for a while. Ive got one sitting in front of me right now, thats next on the list to build along with the piping kit lol. ive heard it is a very basic kit to assemble

[Trucklover]

I took a bit of a break on the Blast Furnace, havnt worked on it in a few days, but this morning i got back at it.

I managed to complete a few steps.

These first 2 pictures show steps 36-40. These involved:

• 1. Gluing the Stove Base/Foundation together
  2. Gluing the Lower Stack Halves and the Stack Breach Halves together.
  3. Gluing the Stack Riser Halves together
  4. Cutting the holes in the 6 Stove Halves. 3 of them had to have 2 holes drilled, and the other 3 had to have 1 hole drilled in them.
  5. Gluing the Stove Halves together
  6. Gluing the Stove Halves, Lower Stack/Stack Breach Pipes, and the Stack Riser Pipes to the Foundation.
  7. Glue the Upper Stack Halves together and then to the Lower Stack Pipe
  

Steps 40-42 were to gluw the Stove Platform to the tops of the 3 Stoves, and glue the Elevator pieces together. The Elevator was weathered before it was glued in place:






Time spent on this kit now is about 24-1/2 hours