Large Grain Elevator Complex construction progress

This is a large grain elevator complex I am scratch building for Ed Turner to use on one of his new Modules he is building. This complex is in downtown Richmond VA. and has been abandoned for many years but it has a lot of history for the area. The complex is made up of 6 major structures ranging in size from the large concrete silos to the smaller truck loading areas.
Everything is styrene or PVC to this point and other then some brass details i plan to use nothing else. I will keep adding photos as i work on finishing everything.
I hope you enjoy!!

Steve aka "Slugger"

Great stuff! Mr. Styrene!

Wonderful, but where find you the measures for this build?

A Whole lot of fine craftsmanship going on heah. Nice Work Steve.
Fred

I'm liking it Steve. How did you get the pointed roof on the tank?

Thanks for the nice comments and im glad you like it. Sky 68. i got the measurements for the building by useing the satalite photos which give you a scale to work with and i used photos and used points of reference in them that you know the size of and figure out things around it. It took me a few days of work to get all the important measurements before i could start building.Some things i had to guess at the meassurements to make it look right.
To make the cone for the top of the tank Loren. I took a peice of .010 thick sheet styrene and cut out a cirle about 1/4 inch larger then the diameter of the tank. If you think of the roof as a whole pie, i took a wedge out of it the size of one peice.Now some would take a larger piece then others would(like me)but it doesnt have to be a very large wedge to work.Now all you do is take the two sides of the wedge and pull them together so they overlap till the outside of the cone is the right size then glue it together. Since the cone is so thin it doesnt have much strength so what i did was make a second cone the same size and glued it inside the first so its .020 thick.now its strong enought to hold up.
Thanks
Steve aka "Slugger"

Hello Steve,

Great work, thanks for sharing.
I like the nice way you cut out the window and door openings. Did you cut these by hand, and if so, how do you do it so neatly?

thanks,
Matt

Hi Matt
Yes the holes for the doors and windows are all hand cut. I mark out the hole with a small square and a pencil then i use a number 11 blade to carefully cut on the lines. If i can i use the square also to guide the blade but most of the time its freehanded. On the smallest window i use i do have a hole punch that is perfect for the hole but its the only one its good for. To finish the holes i use files to straighten and smooth the edges.
Thanks
Steve

Nice going, Steve. I built a large grain elevator in N scale about 5 years ago, before I got sick,
and shakey. Whe I got it finished, and put it on my layout. I didn't like it anymore. Because
it took over the whole layout. Everybody saw it first, and didn't look at anything else.
Keep up the good work.

It been a while so here are more photos of the main part of the complex, the silos. Ive started to lay buildings out and putting them on a main base so now its really coming together.I have to keep the whole complex divided up into parts so Ed can paint easier then put them back together. It should come out when done being 3 or 4 sections. Any guestion please feel free to ask, i'll help if i can.
Enjoy!!

Steve aka "Slugger"

Looking great Steve. Really starting to take shape. Very nice job!!

The only problem I see, it will cause my modules to grow!! Need to fire the saws up and build another.

Very nice, Steve. I like the dimensions and the "massiveness" of it.

What did you use for windows?

Matt

Thanks Ed. Im glad you are likeing what you see and i agree you better start building a new modual.

I agree Matt about the Massiveness of the silos. in z scale it really makes the trains stand out. The windows are really N scale windows from Tichy Train Group. They have a few items that can work for z scale , you just have to double check your math when you convert from N to Z so you dont screw up the whole look

Excelent work, looks great.

Steve... post some photos of the Z-scale ICBMs you are going to load into those silos. I still don't understand how you can launch the missles out of the silos if the command and control rooms are mounted on top of the silos.

It all looks great, Mr. Styrene!

Steve, Outstanding work. This reminds me of the complex in Lincoln, NE. I guess they all look mostly the same. Keep up the good work. Jim

Steve,

Outstanding! This is THE benefit of Z scale - actual large size due the small size of Z!

Great work. Keep us posted with you great how to photos and updates. This would be a great article for Ztrack Magazine.

John Bartolotto

Its been a while since i posted any photos so its time to update you with what i have done so far. All the main buildings are done and im just doing the small pipeing and details to finish it off.so have a look and enjoy!
Any questions, please ask. Im happy to help

Steve aka "Mr. Styrene"

AMAZING, Mr. Styrene!

Hey Ed, now don't go and screw up Steve's fine workmanship with a cheap Walmart rattle can finish. We expect a stellar paint job on this beauty.

I think we are all very impressed.