Eric Mueller said:
Update,
First, GAP, thanks for numerous tips. I cut the stack as you suggested. Based on photos, the local ones came in dark, light, and dark-and-light. I think I am going to go with “spray can primer black” to make it stand out from the mill! All had some sort of lip near the top I will have to emulate, too.
Second, I proceeded applying siding to the mill today. Again, GAP, to you the honors for tipping me off to “DAP 3.0” It is foam safe, tacky enough to adhere on contact, and slow drying enough to allow for adjustments. I needed a lot of those!
I decided to start with the mill’s backside to allow for experimentation and mistakes. I first marked up some basic dimensions to begin estimating the number of panels, each of which is about 4"x2.5":
I then began experimenting with placement. I knew there were variances in width and length of my panels, so I figured I had to leave room for overlap and screen for “too skinny” pieces, saving them for other areas near the edge. I found that the crimping crunched the width about 1/8", so I made marks every 2 1/8". This proved to allow for overlap and the occasional “skinny” panel. I also dressed the edges to their tops, using a straight edge. I found it was easier to layer glue on the foam and press panels in place than to put glue on the panels and then press them to the core. The results are below:
Note, GAP, I cheated and bought a cap when I got the adhesive! Residual curl in the panels meant some did not adhere. I am not sure if I should let this be and call it “character” or try to fix it with CA glue later. The bond would be panel-to-panel, so there would be minimal threat to the foam underneath. These gaps, though, are enough cause for concern to disabuse me of spray painting panels on the foam! I have lots of annealed scrap waiting to be trimmed, crimped, and painted to cover that remaining strip of foam along the top.
There was only minimal overhang, and, by shear dumb luck, the placement of the panels corresponds to the sill of the windows! See below:
Incidentally, the PLAYMOBIL crew was doing MOW work. TONKA-Dude stepped in.
I’ll let all this dry overnight before proceeding with the paneling. GAP, if you go this route, be advised the only fun part of the paneling may be the VB that stands between you and the raw material! Glad I can show you a way, even if it is a way to avoid!
Before closing, Rooster, thanks for your compliment. The loader shed part of the project, while perhaps the least visible, has consumed a good bit of mental energy. The Mill is in an illogical position due to constraints of my garden, so showing a plausible work flow has become and increasingly important goal along the way. This required just enough detail in this area to imply it without so much the project bogged down on things that would largely remain barely seen. I did consider adding railings on the walk ways to protect the employees pushing / raking cane onto the conveyor, but the constraints of space might have impeded the more important visual aspect of cane cars actually travelling through the shed! The little side projects to bring this part of the project along have broken the tedium of the siding effort.
Updates and progress dictates!
Eric
Eric,
The “iron” looks very good and the rumpled look adds character I would just add a bit of rust paint in places to age the metal a bit.
I am cheating with my corrugated iron I am using the sides of an old above ground swimming pool. In the old days they were made with super small corrugated iron before they were banned because people were cutting themselves on it.
Over here we do not cut up aluminium cans we take them to the recycle depots and get 10c for them. (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
The VB does help the creative juices flow, so partaking in a cooling ale while thinking about the next step is always welcome.
For the adhesive I would use both a cap and the clingwrap between nozzle and cartridge but then I can be a “belt and braces” person sometimes.
The lip around the top of the stack was most likely a walkway for the maintenance workers so they could look down into the stack.
They would need to do that on a modern mill to see if the scrubber nozzles were working and not clogged. The scrubbers are actually just sprayers that spray water into the exhaust gas to wash out any heavy particles (usually unburnt cane fibre) so that it did not float over the town, all part of being environmentally friendly. I remember before they became mandatory there was black fibre blowing all over town.
