Grain elevator project - Updated 11-30-18

Nice start Nick, KIRK B Scratch built an addition to his Morton Salt building and used a 5 inch plastic fence post for the Head house "the square tower" structure. I look forward to seeing your progress.

https://ogrforum.com/...50#72101420803971250

Rusty

Thanks for the reminder, Rusty. Kirk B's Morton silos look awesome!   That was a great idea using the fence post, I just might steal it! 

- Nick

Hi Nick, I see you found my milling district pictures on the industry topic. I like what you're up to here. I'm doing the same thing only on a much bigger scale. The idea of the plastic fence post for the square parts of the elevators is interesting, but you may want something larger with windows. You saw my Masonite wall, but here's a topic I started, explaining how I made it.

Out of curiosity, what method did you use to get that nice Google Earth image? My screen captures always have a bunch of other stuff up at the top.

Thanks for the tips Elliot,  I have a Samsung S5 and the screenshots on google maps street view just turns out that way.  

- Nick

A little more progress made today.  Im finished cutting pipe, but I should probably glue the pipes together before I paint them, right?  

What glue would be best?  I thought about a small bead of pvc glue, but Im not sure if it will be paintable afterword.  Maybe just good old testors model glue?

The gray turned out quite a bit darker than I wanted so Im going pick up something lighter  and add some strips of basswood to add details to the building portion and hide those ugly corners. 

Im realizing I need to invest in some better modeling tools.  My jigsaw just isnt cutting it for long straight lines...

-Nick

Nice work, Nick. I'm not sure about the best way to marry all those silo's up. I've seen where someone used small bolts and nuts (#10 or smaller) to bolt them together. I thought maybe ACC cement would work, bonding them together, to make a solid group of silo's. As for paint, I thought about trying textured Caribbean Sand or Desert Bisque for aged~weathered concrete on a few future projects I have planned. I look forward to the next update!

Rusty

I forgot to add, if you're looking for a painted structure, would a flat white work, and, add a company name on the silo's or head house?

Those are great suggestions!  Thank you!

- Nick

I have used the square fence post.

Nick R. posted:

A little more progress made today.  Im finished cutting pipe, but I should probably glue the pipes together before I paint them, right?  

What glue would be best?  I thought about a small bead of pvc glue, but Im not sure if it will be paintable afterword.  Maybe just good old testors model glue?

The gray turned out quite a bit darker than I wanted so Im going pick up something lighter  and add some strips of basswood to add details to the building portion and hide those ugly corners. 

Im realizing I need to invest in some better modeling tools.  My jigsaw just isnt cutting it for long straight lines...

-Nick

Nick:

Urethane glue like Liquid Fusion (Hobby Lobby / Micheals) will work on PVC. I used it all the time before I switched over to ABS tubing. Run a bead down the side of one tube then clamp it to the next and so on. Don't clamp first then run a bead. It will show.
For the building sides you can get basswood right angles (Northwestern Scale Lumber) or plastic right angles (Plastruct).
If you are only interested in small hobby stuff like the basswood or balsa a mini bench top table saw is ok. Micro Mark sells them but you can get bigger at less cost by checking out Ebay or Amazon.
If you plan on cutting out windows in the basswood though I have not tried it on wood Micro Mark sells a nibbler tool I use all the time on plastic. I drill a 3/8 inch hole to accommodate the nibbler then work my way to the cut lines.

Joe

Forgot to mention - reason I got away from PVC is that I needed to sand the tubing because of all the scratches inherent with it.

Thank you Joe,  I really appreciate the info!  And I see what you mean about the scratches in pvc.

-Nick

Nick, I just use the PVC cement and clear primer from the plumbing department.

CBS072 posted:

I have used the square fence post.

Great idea on the post, and the bolted tubes too. We marked ours, made a little jig and sanded a flat spot on the side.

Back in the 1980"s when I built my first "O" scale elevator. I was working in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles and Southwest Kansas.  I looked at a lot of elevators.  I found that no two were alike, some small and some very large, some short and most were tall but not all the same height. Not all have round silos.

In the last picture, notice the small elevator on the left side of the telephone pole, left of the large elevator.

CBS072 posted:

Back in the 1980"s when I built my first "O" scale elevator. I was working in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles and Southwest Kansas.  I looked at a lot of elevators.  I found that no two were alike, some small and some very large, some short and most were tall but not all the same height. Not all have round silos.

In the last picture, notice the small elevator on the left side of the telephone pole, left of the large elevator.

 

Thats true, Keith I dont think any two are the same!  Thanks for the pics

-Nick

Thanks for the tip, Elliot  Im going to experiment this weekend with the scrap pieces.

-Nick

You're welcome Nick. If you are doing just a single line of silos, Keith's bolting method might work best, because the glue joint isn't super strong. I did some of mine in a single line, but I just took some small scraps of pipe, and cut them into segments lengthwise, using them as supports on the back side. Those units are up against the backdrop where it doesn't matter.

I did this batch in an odd configuration, because the street runs at an angle to the track. When I build the tower, it will have the offset in the lower stories to fill in the space. It won't really be noticeable because it will be on the back side. This is a very strong structure in terms of gluing, as is a normal rectangular pattern.

Little bit more progress this weekend.  I used pvc glue to attach the pipes to each other and even though there isnt much surface area glued its holding pretty well.  I also picked Slate Gray for the paint which Im happy with and ditched the masonite tower and went with a plactic fence post.  Im going to add trim pieces to sharpen up the corners on the fence post tower and I need to figure out windows.  Maybe a dremel will work for that?  Next step is getting the lid for the tubes made.  Im working with poster board and foam board for that.

Thanks again to everyone for all the great tips and please keep them coming!   Isnt this forum great?!

-Nick

Nick, go to Walmart and get the large "For Sale" signs made out of styrene. Lower cost and larger size than hobby styrene.  That is what I use on the tops of my elevators. 

I found a sign at a hardware store that was about .100" thick and used it for a building front wall.

Nick, if you have room need to make a covered shed, so to keep the rain and snow off of the covered hoppers as they are being loaded with grain.

CBS072 posted:

Back in the 1980"s when I built my first "O" scale elevator. I was working in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles and Southwest Kansas.  I looked at a lot of elevators.  I found that no two were alike, some small and some very large, some short and most were tall but not all the same height. Not all have round silos.

In the last picture, notice the small elevator on the left side of the telephone pole, left of the large elevator.

Your color picture resembles Watonga, OK, one of my stops e/r to both OK & TX panhandles.

CBS072 posted:

Nick, if you have room need to make a covered shed, so to keep the rain and snow off of the covered hoppers as they are being loaded with grain.

I was thinking of trying to build a covering like this one with an extra section for the trucks:

I made lids for the tubes out of posterboard and made corners and trim for the tower from basswood.  In hindsight I wish I would have used styrene.  I learned the wood can be difficult as it absorbs the glue and warps if you use too much!    Also Ive got ahead of myself and need to do something about small windows in the tower.  I may just print some out for now...   

I think I'll focus on the long shed type structure on the top and hopefully some details like the cover for the hoppers and guardrails, pipes, ladders, etc.  

It really takes up a lot of space on my small layout, but Im considering changing this to a shelf layout over the winter which I think will be more fun to operate.  Either way I really like how its coming along so far.

Thanks for looking and all the tips!

- Nick

Finally made some progress tonight on the long shed-like building on top of the silos.  This is the first time I've used styrene and I really like it!  The challenge for me is bracing it so it stays together.

Thanks for looking

- Nick

Guys, how tall are your tubes?  Great work!

That is gonna be AWESOME!!!!!!

Nick:

May I make a suggestion?

Move the taller silos to the main building and the shorter ones to the end so the grain runs 'downhill' through the conveyor house.

You are doing a beautiful job. If you need some input on details (dust collectors, vents, dryers etc) just let me know.

Joe

Thanks for the kind words!  I need to finish the roof of the conveyor house and then my focus will be on details like dust collectors railings and ladders, etc.   Im going with HO details on top to hopefully add to the illusion of height.  Plus the covered loading/unloading area for trucks and hopper cars.

One thing Ive put off and hopefully Im not screwwing myself up, is windows.  The prototype of this particular elevator has a bunch of windows on the conveyor house which Im just not going to add.  The tower will get windows, but they might not be functional.  

Joe,  I would appreciate any info on details,  Ive looked at Tichy Trains and other forum sponsors, but havent purchased any yet.

Brada,  my tower is 4x4,  24" tall  and the large tubes are 4" x 18".  Smaller are 2" x 14 or 15" I cant remember.

Thanks again!

- Nick

The reason I arranged the tubes the way I did is because of the prototype:

And hear is a close up of the dust collector (I think).  It looks more like a water tower, but must have been a covering for the collector?  

Before this project I literally new nothing about these elevators.  It been interesting learning about them.

- Nick

Nick:

I use the following:

Roof vents / Roof mounted Cyclone (dust collector) - Rix Product 628-0611 for vents / cyclone or Faller 130530 HO scale feed silo for dust collector the small circular vent I think is from a Walthers HO scale roof detail collection kit.

For ground or loading dock roof mounted dryer / surge bin I use either Faller HO scale Industrial Silo or Walthers HO scale surge bin. A new kit on the market you may like is Walthers 933-4087 Particulate Dust Cyclone

A product I use a lot is Walhers HO scale wall mounted dust collectors 933-3510

Nick R. posted:

The reason I arranged the tubes the way I did is because of the prototype:

And hear is a close up of the dust collector (I think).  It looks more like a water tower, but must have been a covering for the collector?  

Before this project I literally new nothing about these elevators.  It been interesting learning about them.

- Nick

Nick - never seen this before but I am no expert by far. I'd say keep your style. It is unique and based on real life.

I'm nor sure about the tank structure. It could be a big dust collector with a cyclone at the bottom and maybe a filter / separator along side

Joe

Thanks for the info Joe!  The elevator you built looks awesome!  

-Nick

Well,  Im finally going to consider this thing "done".  I added some windows and doors from Tichy Trains and its time to move on to something else.  Thanks again for the tips everyone!

Nick, it looks great, you did an awesome job building this elevator! If you build anything new, please share your progress once again! I for one enjoyed your updates.

Rusty

Nick:

Excellent work!

Joe

Nice work. I like the weathering on the conveyor house.