Steamtrains' 2010 Summer structure challenge entry

[doctorwayne]

OK...I'll give that a try...Thanks.

Update....It works...!!! And I note that the size of the wedge determines the "coneniness" (yes, that IS a word... ) of the cone....

Actually, the tighter you wind the face of the cuts, the conier it gets - a simple cut from centre to circumference will work, too, although winding too tight could cause some puckering at the peak of the cone.

You could also build pyramidically-shaped smoke collector hoods by cutting and assembling four triangular pieces - sheet styrene would work well. Make them with the opposite sides as identical pairs, with all mating edges the same length. Vary the lengths of the lower edges (again, in pairs) to create rectangular-bottomed pyramids or make all four triangles the same dimensions for a square-bottomed hood.
The exhaust pipes through the roof can be round or square for either cone- or pyramid-shaped hoods.

Wayne

[Steamtrains]

Gary...Your threads are so full of information and "tips", that you don't need to address any one issue directly. I'm sure I speak for all Gaugers where this is concerned.

Dr. W.-The smoke hoods inside the r'house are 4-sided pyramid shaped with the smoke stack exiting from these through the roof. Now that I got the "Chinese-hat" stack covers done, I'll tackle them next. I'll be using 1/32" ply for this - I'm a wood kinda' guy...

[P5se Camelback]

... You could also build pyramidically-shaped smoke collector hoods by cutting and assembling four triangular pieces - sheet styrene would work well. Make them with the opposite sides as identical pairs, with all mating edges the same length. Vary the lengths of the lower edges (again, in pairs) to create rectangular-bottomed pyramids or make all four triangles the same dimensions for a square-bottomed hood. The exhaust pipes through the roof can be round or square for either cone- or pyramid-shaped hoods. -- Wayne

Kool! I'll burn that info into the cranial hard drive for use when I get a bit farther down the tracks during the "Building a Layout in Southwest Florida" part of my model railroad experiences. But, alas, for now, it's back to the breakfast nook table and fabricating the shadowbox interior to my Challenge building.

I am looking forward to building the roundhouse, though. and being at 54" - 56" off the deck, all these little roundhouse/enginehouse interior tidbits are valuable information! Thanks to all for discussing them and their fabrication!

[cn nutbar]

Beautiful work Gus---you're going to have an excellent scene for taking shots "down at the roundhouse"

[Steamtrains]

OK....After scouring stores & home, I came up with the material for the chimenys' caps....Wet sandpaper #320.... Turns out it's pliable enough to shape, and strong enough to withstand the handling. And since no one is going to be climbing on top of them, it'll do.... Take into account the "blank" is the size of a dime....

Here's a couple of pics of the caps and tools involved. I glued the piece of sandpaper to a dime using contact cement, and after a little while, cut out the shape with scissors. I sanded the blank still attached to the dime to get it to be perfectly round. I then removed it and made the cut from the center out, and glued the "pie" together. I used the little "clamp" to hold the joint until the glue dried. Now they're ready to paint....

[Gary S]

There ya go! Your idea of sandpaper is much better than styrene for such small cones. I made some big cones for the bottoms of silos this way, using styrene, that's where i got the idea.

[Steve]

Gus...Awesome work my friend! I am saving my patented "5 thumbs up" for the finished work, but I believe you already earned at least a 4 spot

[Drew]

WOW!!

AMAZING work!

[Steamtrains]

Thanks for your comments....Makes the "pain" worthwhile...
A few pics of the latest "progress"...

A view of the 3 stacks with their caps and the mounting "straps"... (the sticks are for holding while painting....)


Painted...

Sorry for the fuzziness...The camera is acting up...

And a couple of views with the stacks in place...




They're not glued in place yet (they'll "sit "little lower), as they need to be mated to the smoke hoods inside the r'house. The hoods are still on the workbench...

I'm still not sure if the roof should be tar paper, or perhaps corrugated metal. Just in case I ordered some dies for making the corrugated metal....

I'll be away for a few days...Going to see the kids & grandkids...
So further updates will be in about a week's time....

[Gary S]

Lookin good Gus! Don't stay gone too long, that Challenge deadline is looming close.

hey, have fun with the grandkids, see ya when ya get back!

[Steamtrains]

Made it back....Great to see kids & grandkids....
Finally got around to working on the smoke hoods. Here's a couple of pics...







They're made of 1/32" ply and just primed gray. They'll be suitably "grunged up" before installation.
I'm just waiting on the dies for making the corrugated metal for the roof. I was hoping they'd be in by the time I got back...But no such luck...
If they're not here by Monday at the latest, I'll be making it with "tar paper". Keeping fingers crossed...

[Gary S]

Nice work with the thin plywood. I'm hoping your die shows up, I want your enginehouse to have a metal roof - errr - mainly because i want to see how the die works!

And good to have you back!

[Steve]

Neat work there Gus.......looks great!

[Steamtrains]

Appreciate your comments...

The dies came in yesterday's mail...So I got my butt movin'...
I did a couple of trials using "standard" and heavy duty foil, and settled on the HD. The standard seemed just a bit flimsy. While testing the foils I quickly realized that making the "sheets" by hand was gonna be some kind'a chore. So I started dreaming up a quick(er), more reliable way of making the sheeting. The ol' lightbulb lit up when I saw my vice - which I turned into a "press"...Here's a couple of views of my "hydraulic" press....




I just glued the dies to the jaws of the vice, making sure they were mated properly...and PRESTO..!! The first of 50+ sheets rolled off the line...



Then came the chore of cutting the blanks to be fed into the cruncher....I use a piece 0f 1/4" safety glass as a cutting "board" to make sure I get nice clean cuts - no raggedy edges here....



And after a couple of hours' work, I got 50+ corrugated metal pieces ready to be fitted to the roof..!!


That'll be the subject of the next installment. That "triangular" piece of balsa seen in a couple of the pics is my version of a "feasibility study", to see how they were to be glued and painted....Just used yellow carpenters glue, and acrylics for painting & weathering....

BTW...When is the contest deadline..?? :oops:

[cnw1961]

Great idea to use the vice, Gus . Where did you order the dies?