Large Scale Central

CN Spadina coal tower, my way

Modeling
#81

boyd hanby said:

HELLO i am new here i have read all your posts up to this part and you did not provide any diementions of the parts of this build so we could build one of our own … WHY ??

Hey Boyd, welcome.

I don’t generally write my articles as a how-to, as I often forget to document steps. It took several tries to get my EBT boxcar article correct, and I supplied the parts!

But I can give you some rough figures. These are approximate as the measurements are in 1;20.3, and your scale may be different.

The base legs are about 11 3/4" square, and 13" tall. The cylinder is a piece of 10" pvc pipe, a bit less than 15" tall. The hoist house is about 5 1/2 deep, 8 1/4 wide, and 32 1/4 tall. The top house is about 16 1/4 deep.

Hope this helps

#82

And are we getting an update soon ?

#83

Dave Marconi said:

And are we getting an update soon ?

Sure! Progress since last update: Nuttin’. Hope to get one of the chutes cut out of brass today. We’ll see…

#84

Yea, the holidays slow me down too

#85

Some progress today on the chute design. I had to redesign it to be four pieces instead of two, since the brass sheet I had wasnt wide enough. Here’s the pieces ‘dry fit’ before soldering together.

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#86

Cool…I think you should send it to Bart and let him solder it for you!

#87

looks like they test very well together

#88

Spent two hours trying to solder two of the pieces together. Ended up with a giant mess. Gave up.

Going to make the chutes out of styrene I think. Not sure what Im going to do with the railings, styrene wont last a year, and welded wire looks all wrong. Ive already done both on another building.

#89

Then glue it together

#90

Or fold it drill it and pin it together

#91

I’m not the right guy for this but…
have you tried a small micro torch?
anyone you could borrow a resistance soldering unit from?
just shootin’ out what I hear guys use…
What are you using to solder?
I would think brass railings would be fairly easy? and the way to go, but hey, I can mess up anything.

#92

maybe drill tiny holes for soldering like spot welding??
(I’m full of it???)
Ooops. David chimed in so I can drop it. Keep the patience Bob. I’m sure you’ll get it right and I can learn something.

#93

Bob,

Not to embarrass, but a picture of the unsuccessful attempt might help, but here goes. Let me make sure I understand the part. The left side is the top of the chute and the right is the baffle plate to slow the coal flow at the discharge point.

On the chute end, if you were to drill through the end plate slde flange and the chute side plate, say .020 and pin through BOTH sides of the chute with the same piece of brass wire. Do this in two places, a little bit back from the end to allow clipping and filing after soldering.

Pre tin the sides and bottom pieces at the joint. I assume you have access to some small pieces of aluminum you could cut as spacers between the sides. Rig the sides and bottom of the main chute securely. Now all you need do is to heat the existing tinning to flow together and the joint should be sound. After soldering the pins in the chute end, clip out the excess brass wire and file smooth.

Hope you will be able to read my mind through the verbal description of the method I would follow.

Bob c.

#94

I think Bob C. has it right. A few pins of brass wire will make all the difference in trying to solder that. I hope you have a big gun, not just a little iron made for electronics.

Dang, those pieces look very nice. The other option is something like JB Weld, but that will not be as strong as a good solder joint.

As for the railings, don’t give up on brass; I don’t think you’ll be happy with styrene for that. You can always go for a simpler design.

This was fairly easy to do…

(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Turntable/IMG_0160.jpg)

#95

I’m terrible at soldering anything but wire together.
So, I’ll share my ‘never fail’ technique…

I clean the parts, add enough flux to gag a small elephant, then I use a plumbers torch and heat the entire setup to oh, about 4 billion degrees you know the point where it almost melts into a pile of molten goo. Then as it cools I just add solder to my joints. Then I get out the wire brush and file…

Terry

#96

After a few deep breaths, I decided to try the riveted look. I filed clean the side I had tried to solder, straightened it, and cut a new base. I used brass escutcheon pins, through drilled holes, cut them off short, and hammered them down.

Not bad. And temporarily clamped in the approximate location it will go.

#97

Bob looking good. I see you have a nice pile of piko windows there.

#98

Bob McCown said:

After a few deep breaths, I decided to try the riveted look.

I think breathing suits you. :wink: That looks good. Rustoleum makes a “hammered” metal spray that might look pretty good on that, but then so would their metallic finish.

Thought any more about the railing?

#99

To attach the front plate to the chute, I cant get underneath it with any kind of anvil or piece of steel. So, I dug into my Microfasteners box, and found some 0-80 machine screws, washers and nuts. I drilled the center hole on each side to align the piece, and will go back and add the other four when my order from Microfasteners comes in! (I only had two, of course)

#100

Well alrighty then, that looks great. I kinda like the riveted look. I am sure it is prototypical somewehre.

At least you had two, I would have only found one complete N/B/W, I like the metalwork, great job.

Bob C