This facility is great and I really like all the details you have built. I really think the elevator legs are impressive and look much better than a lot of the commercial operations.

I have a Feed and Seed elevator that I have wanted to build and you gave me some great ideas and excellent motivation.

Please keep us posted with your progress.

I like it. Im looking forward to seeing it when it is finished

You have built a really great structure. Looking forward to seeing further post & pictures. Keep up the good work.

Richard - Superintendent CNW Peninsula Div.

blog - http://mrhmag.com/blog.richard_harden

Thanks, guys. I really appreciate your kind words and I am glad that you like my little project.

Greg, I had a look at the elevator legs from Rix and Walthers, but the one from Rix did not look right, one of the Walthers legs was too short and the other one is way too expensive ($49.98 – Ouch!). Two of them would have cost much more than my entire diorama. Scratch building is much more fun anyway and fortunately it is no problem to find good pics and drawings on the internet.

I made a little progress yesterday by painting the foam and casting the foundations of the grain bins and the dryer.

Only have to add a few more details, then I can paint the elevator.

I will have to look into building a static grass applicator. Using grass mats and gluing down countless pieces one by one to make it look realistic is quite tedious, but I hope a grass applicator will speed things up when I am building my layout.

Kurt

Great looking structure, Kurt- the details are really impressive. Did you scratch-build the distributor system (I think that's the right term- remember, I'm a coal guy)? The scribe marks on the corrugated siding are extremely effective. I wasn't aware that Evergreen made this product, and I'll have to look into this for future tipple projects.

Nice work!

Tom Patterson 

Superb looking model!
It makes me want to rip out my Walthers ADM elevator and replace it with a similar scratchbuilt copy.
But then isn't that improving as you go along.
And, by the way, the grass looks just as good, if not better, than using a static applicator.

Brian

Fantastic work!  Very realistic and well proportioned - in fact, maybe too realistic!  If I may offer one nit pick - OSHA is going to cite you for the ladder and cage at the end of the conveyor walk way.  The ladder needs to extend down to the cat walk and the cage has to extend 3'-6" (minimum) above the roof - if that is where the ladder is leading.  It will be hard to get on the roof as it is now.  The top of the cage should have a safety gate, too, but that is somewhat era dependent.  You might even need guard rails around the perimeter of the roof to protect anyone working up there.  Working in industrial architecture has made me very aware of these details!

Really, this is a fantastic model.  Can't wait to see the finished product!

Tom, apart from the grain bins, the entire structure is scratch-built. I first thought of putting the corrugated siding together from individual panels, but the I took the easy way out and simply scribed it. I hope the scribed siding will still look good when it is painted.

Brian, I fear you might be right about the look of the grass and I will end up stying with my grass mats … that is why I will not buy an expensive applicator from Noch, but build a cheap one to try it out.

Alan, thank you for your nit picking. I am not really satisfied with the safety cage ladder myself. Your comment gave me the nudge I needed to try to come up with something better. Guard rails along the perimeter of the roof will not be necessary, as there are not any on the roof of the prototype.

Kurt

Very nice. I work around these types of operations every day and it looks very accurate. I assume that your putting a railing around the leg head platform?