I have just completed the assembly of a rural style grain elevator for a customer. Being an architect the customer sent me detailed drawings of the elevator. I started out by making mock-ups of the building in hardboard and confirming measurements with the customer. Once this was completed I assembled each individual wall from separate 60 mil thick styrene panels (cookie cutter method). This method made sure all windows were square and aligned with each on each wall. Plastruct clapboard siding was then glued onto the walls with the excess covering the widow and door openings cut away.
The pictures below show the assembly and final construction.
Customer supplied drawings
Hardboard mock up along side the walls
The completed walls before clap board siding
Clapboard siding was glued on and the walls assembled
Picture showing the internal bracing
The silos were made from Plastruct 2 inch diameter tubing
Glue blocks for the top roof
Bracing for the roof – I was worried about warping since the roof would be shipped independent of the building allowing the customer to get to the interior lights
Start of work on the conveyor system / Plastruct diamond plate laminated to 80 mil styrene – see the next 3 photos
Bracing on bottom of platform to ensure no warping
Next came assembly of the dock. I used bass wood for the frame and 1/8 hardboard laminated with wood decking from Northeastern Scale Lumber
Glue up
The loading bay was then added
The various roofs were laminated with Plastruct corrugated siding and painted to look like rusty metal. The building was painted with light gray followed by Caribbean sand. The silos were painted a dirty white.
Finished photos are shown below. The checkerboard decals were supplied by Cedarleaf Decals. The "Purina Chows" signboards were made by printing on dry transfer sheets and mounting to 40 mil thick styrene.
The next post shows the finished structure.
Joe
Great tutorial and I really like the finished product, well done! Russ
