07/02/13 SCRATCH BUILT CAR FERRY FINISHED

This is where the Ferry will go.  Along the wall over the plumbing bump out.  It will be on a rolling cart so it can "sail" away when loaded.  The closet door in the background will be removed and drywalled over half way down.  I will put a smaller door on the bottom to access the sump pump.  The tracks to load the the ferry will go across that closet door and along the wall into the ferry.  When the ferry isn't docked the tracks will fold up against the wall so the asile way will not be as tight.  

Hope to get this started next month after I finish building a small train table for my son's birthday.

Awesome job Alex!

Looking forward to meeting you at York this week.

Charlie

Make sure you put your order in for Alex's 2nd car ferry build!

Wish I could make it to York but kids are too young and work is too busy.  I will meet Alex in July when I pick up the ferry from him.

Charlie thanks looking forward to meeting you also

Alex

Alex,

This is awesome!

Suggestion. What if you installed a small screen over the top end of the smoke unit tubes? It may break up the smoke stream more and make it appear more full so that it's not just exiting the stack in a tight stream. Or you could cut the tubes shorter so the smoke has time to fan out before it leaves the stacks. Just a thought. I'm loving this build.

Joe, we already beat him up on the screens, apparently he's already planning that, just hasn't installed them yet.

Alex:

Every aspect of it is excellent.  You need to get a booth at York so we can come and see your creations (and place orders!). 

I did not see these elsewhere, so I will ask:

What is the ferry's foot print (maximum L, W and H) ?

How will the ferry get from your house to Jim's house?

I'll be at York on Friday.  Hope we run into each other. 

John

How the heck did I miss that? I went back reread the post and there it was.

Thanks to all of you guys, I'm very lucky to have friends like all of you

Joe, Like Gunrunner John said they gave me a small beaten already LOL LOL

But it's totally my fault, I should have installed the screens before I posted the video

I'm trying to get them installed today, but I will explain later why it's taking so long

John, the overall length is 50 inches, width is 12 inches and the overall height is 18

inches. not the hull height. the hull height is 12 inches

Thanks again, Alex

Nice!... Very nice! Rail ferries are overlooked as an additional option far to often, as I've really only seen one other, and it was a poorly done bridge and bow gate only of the SS Chief Wawatam. As a kid on vacation in the Michigan Upper Peninsula during the 60s & 70s, I used to look forward to the weekly trip to the St. Ignance laundry mat. While Mom watched driers spin till she was dizzy, I was off to the docks, busy watching the red and white Soo diesels loading the SS Chief Wawatam for voyages across the Straights of Mackinaw. "Mouth" wide open and eating cars like candy(that crew really hustled), the heavy switching sounds amplified by, and pouring out of the hull. Echos bouncing off the hillsides of the west edge of town. These are some sounds, and sights I'll never forget. Alex, Thanks for flipping the "on" switch to these memories.  

Thanks Adriatic for the kind comments and a very very nice story

Alex

Good evening all,

Here's an update on the smoke unit, now with  diffused smoke. This wasn't as easy as I thought is was going to be. First I put screen material in the stacks and it totally stopped the smoke from coming out . Then I tried two plastic round disc's with holes drilled in them and smoke would only come out of one stack. Lastly I took some thin plastic tubing and slipped it into the larger tubes and put a very slight bend in the thin tubing so the smoke would hit the inner stack walls before it exhausted out. The result is in the video below. Tell me what you guys think,or if anyone has another idea I'm open for suggestions.

Thanks, Alex

That's great Alex you have taken away what I call the Seuthe Smoke unit waffling of smoke and gave it a billowing effect. Isn't it amazing the lengths we will go to get it right!

That does look much better.  The thin little stream wasn't getting it done.  Another trick is to have the tube farther down in the large stack, it tends to have a similar effect.  Also, I juiced up the airflow in mine to get better smoke out the stack.  The down side is that I have to fill it more often.

Looks good Alex

Alex will sail it from NYC through the locks, though lake erie, up the Detroit River onto Lake St Claire.  

Wow, Alex, fantastic!

Incredible project!  Stimulates the imagination of a lot of us who want to model ports, harbors, and dockside prototypical operations.

Congratulations on some wonderful work!

SnowedInColoradoBear

Alex,

That looks much better! Not to say it didn't look good before. Because it did. LOL!

Mike R

Alex....perfect solution!!  Looks great!

Alan

Thanks Don, John, Jim, Bearlead, Mike.R, and Alan for the nice words

I will have more progress photo's next week

Thanks,Alex

You got it down now Alex!

Great job!

That looks much better Alex. The only other thing to try is what GunRunnerJohn already said.... cut the tubes off towards the base of the stack so the smoke fills the entire stack before coming out the top. May not be any better than what you have going though. 

Looks superb! I grow more jealous with each pic. But are you still playing with the smoke flow? Would it help venting the box so supply air is not being drawn down the stacks? Creating conflicting airflow? I guess the filler tube could ventilate a little if not plugged. Lift the lid on toothpicks for a quick test? I think Gunrunner John has got it right too, the lower the tubes the better. Maybe seal /cap the stack bottoms, tube poked through the cap, so smoke not drafting straight up, could fill just the stack till it overflows the top edge? I wonder how much smoke fills the box? Sealing with caps, only the stacks would fill.. and quick too. 

I think that's all I got without really smoking up the place.

Hi Alex,  

That looks much better than the earlier version. I have an idea to provide more flow though. Rather than mess with the smoke units or tubing any more, how about fitting a small fan into the main housing shell to provide a positive airflow to the whole stack assembly. You could use a 'computer cooling fan' or similar device, and even fit a variable pot to it so that you could vary the airflow. Such an additional airflow could help to pull the smoke out of the stack with more oomph, but without affecting the quantity. Don't forget to allow enough air to enter the housing though, otherwise an extra fan won't be of much help. 

Alex, 

You are doing a great job in working out the problems that occur when custom building a structure. I know you have the ability to create a great finished product. Keep up the good work and know the next ship will be a lot easier.

Alan Graziano

Alex, just saw this thread today. Only have time to read some of it but Wow! Incredible job! You are very talented!

Thanks Charlie, Doug,Adriatic,Nicole, Alan, and Hudson J1e, for the kind words.

This is what I love about this forum, Besides everyone being so nice. I'm looking for some idea's to make this unit smoke more realistic and you guys come up with some great ways of doing that. So today I will first try venting the smoke box base and see the out come, if it's better I will post a video.If not I will move to the next idea. I can cut the tubes a little shorter but I can only do that to the front tube, I can't do it to the back tube because the smoke output is much weaker on the back tube. I like the idea of putting a small fan in the smoke box base. I will look into all these great idea's and report back.

Thanks to all, Alex

It just keeps getting better & better. Great work.

Also thank you for the help with the smoking caboose. It's working much better now that I did what you suggested.

Looks much better Alex. Great job.

Well it's been a month and a half since the last update. I've been working on the ferry

on and off since then. Still lots to do, I'm figuring at least two more weeks before it's complete. Touch up's still need to be done, more details, and weathering. Thanks for looking. Enjoy !!!!!!!!

ALEX

Alex what did you use for the railings?

That's obscene Alex, what a great project!  That will truly be one-of-a-kind!   That will certainly be an eye-catcher in it's new home!

Alex....this is my very favorite of your builds!  It is totally awsome....WOW!!!  As the little boy used to say in the American Flyer commercials..."Boy oh Boy oh Boy"!! 

I hope you have documented the build with lots of pictures and then submit it to OGR to be published.  It certainly would be right up there with the best article ever.

Alan

Alex, great job!

Doug

Alex,

It is really coming together. It looks great.

Alan Graziano

Alex,

You are very talented, and your work is amazing!

Thank you for posting.

Beautiful as always Alex.

Looking good.  Great progress.  One question............do the stacks puff and blow smoke rings?

Thanks guys for the nice words

Don the railings are from Plastruct

John thanks, Jim will be very happy

Alan thanks very very much

Doug, Alan, rtr12, and Brian thank you very much

Chris thanks,  It smokes but no smoke rings

Thanks, Alex

Amazing Alex.  I can not wait until this is on the layout.  

I have posted this on another thread but here is one option of how it will be incorporated into the layout.