Is there anything out there besides Walthers or Rix grain bins? I need something bigger so it looks as if scratch building is the only option. Does anybody out there have any advise or has tried the same? Thanks
-Tom
Well there are some old time looking ones. Campbell has an old fashioned grain bin of wood. Actually it somewhat resembles buildings used by some municipalities to store road salt.
Plastruct makes a concrete type elevator that is somewhat generic as to whether it is for grain or cement.
I have noticed some buildings used for grain storage that look more like the kind of huge steel tanks you used to see in “tank farms” holding oil or gasoline.
Not large but distinctive and prototypical – i have seen the “modern” style steel railroad water tanks similar to the Walthers model used as grain storage bins in several locations along the former CB&Q, including Mendota IL.
Dave Nelson
You can make the grain bins any diameter and height due to the variety of PVC pipes available from Home Depot or a plumbing supply company.
I cut a large sewer pipe to size in smaller lengths and combined them with the little operator’s structure from the top of a Walther’s grain elevator kit. After painting and weathering, everything looks pretty good. The smooth PVC suface gives the illusion of cement grain bins.
For the appearance of a galvanized and/or ribbed bin surfaces, you can buy roofing materials from any of the fine scale building suppliers in printed sheets or rolls and glue them to the PVC. Add a little weathering and…you’re in business.
I have used pvc for making concrete silos but with an open top to show the details of the leg and distributer, ill post photos of it later. Would the roofing material that your talking about have the bolts or does that lack that level of detail. Thanks
There are several paper sheet/roll galvanized roof suppliers to the hobby. I don’t specifically remember where I got my roof stuff but yes, it has lots of detail—rivets, ribbing, individual planks, etc.
You might check Fine Scale Modeler Magazine for possible vendors. Google would be my second search choice. If I find anything that might be helpful, I’ll contact you. Mac
Here in the West, I’ve seen storage buildings that look like the storage building used in Walther’s Valley Cement kit, used to store grain. In fact, there is a rice milling operation along I-5 north of Williams, California that has several of these concrete buildings.
Bob Hayes
Here in the south in the farms, you have smaller galvanized metal bins similar to the Rix offerings, fatter ones, skinny ones and bigger ones. A bin is a bin.
There are some alternatives others have already listed or you can build your own. But I suspect the end result that stores scale crops will very much be a bin.
Farm Toys websites are a place to find Scale Models of Grain Bins.
Ertl once made large grain bins. They are very rare. If you look hard you can find some big grain bins on-line. Farm Equipment models or farm toys or farm models are search terms to use.
Andrew
Thank you for the advice but what I am planning to do is to scratchbuild an ethanol plant. My last project was a shuttle train loading facility. That was a large structure, 22inch tall with the silos being 14inch tall so I am planning on making this large as well. The grain bins that I want will be about 10inch tall by 10inch wide. So what is available is either not big enough or not detailed enough.
-Tom