I’m starting on lighting some buildings and the 2nd one I may attack is the Cornerstone (city) Gas Plant. With so many large windows it will be a large, well lit open space. I googled some gas works images and noted these interior spaces often included large compressors. So, I’d like to add a workshop and some small tanks inside, some pipes, maybe an overhead crane and find kits for all those (see links). But the compressors have me stumped so far. Does anyone make machinery kits that might pass? Or is there a way to scratch build them (and how difficult). Any ideas here appreciated.
Compressors are pretty simple devises regardless of how big they are.
There are three basic components: tank, compression cylinder(s)/crankcase, and motor.There are some different configurations, i.e. the tank can be horizontal or vertical, and there can be one or more cylinders. This example shows the basic components:
Coming up with the bits to scratch build a large industrial compressor shouldn’t be too difficult. The trickiest part will be the ends of the tank. Scratchbuilding that rounded profile is certainly doable but it might be faster to use something like these:
The cylinders and crank case can be made from styrene sheet. For the cylinders I would start with a square box made from .040" styrene two layers thick and the approximate height and diameter of the cylinder(s). After the glue has dried hard (don’t be impatient!) I would round the corners a bit and then use a razor saw or file to cut the cooling fins into the sides. That will be a bit fussy but you only need to ‘suggest’ the effect. They don’t have to be perfect.
The crank case is a square box. Detail it if you want to but remember that the compressor is inside a building.
The motor would most likely be electric. A suitably sized piece of dowel will do fine. If you really want to do it up, then you could make up a pulley system from the motor to the cylinders. If you have a hole punch then you can make the pulleys. If you want to model drive belts I have had success with simple masking tape cut into strips.
All that’s left is some rudimentary air lines running to where ever you think they should go.
There you have it! Easy peasy (to quote Jason Shron).
Fuel gas or “City Gas” was generally handled in very low pressures and very high volumes meaning huge pistons at long strokes at low RPMs. Thay usually entails a large diameter flywheel.
Here’s five views of the gas purification operation I used to work in. We handled more Hydrogen, Argon, Nitrogen and Oxygen but we had some fuel gas as well.
Low pressure nitrogen compressors.
Hydrogen compressors, steam driven.
Fuel Gas compressors. These flywheels are 84" diameter! Once, the crankshaft broke and the flywheel skittered across the floor and punched a hole in a 12" brick wall!
Walthers has their Power Plant Interior kit #933-3130 on sale right now. M.B. Klein also has it on sale. I think that would give you a lot of industrial stuff to work with.
The windows on your structure will obstruct the view of the interior, though. It’s going to be hard to see any interior modeling. I’ve got a similar structure that I assembled from DPM modulars. I used the “Powerhouse Window” on the front wall.
I modeled the interior by Googling a photo of a factory/mill and printing it out. That forms the back, or left side as seen in this photo. I scratched an overhead catwalk with bright yellow safety rails for the second floor. When you look in, it appears that the interior has a lot going on, but there really isn’t.
I built the Watthers power plant kit which is the same structure as the gas plant. I did an interior and lighted it. Surprisingly, the interior does not show up that well. The window gratings are a bit wide and thick, so viewing inside does not work that well. If I was to build another, I would cut away some of the window grates to open up the view inside.
I have the power plant interior, an overhead crane, large gears and some other goodies ordered, for the gas plant as well as the Crane & Shovel building that is the first I am lighting. On that, I have three, 3-LED strips installed on the roof and it is very well lit, with the interior walls and floor painted lighter colors than the first built gray primer. I may tone them down a bit with some thin yellow paint to move the (nominal) fairly bright “warm white” color toward incandescent (were shops commonly flourescent lit in the 50s/60s)?
This is a photo I took of the power plant kit before I took it to Boothbay to install on the layout. The lighting is not on, but you can see how ‘dense’ the windows are. On the layout, best way to see the interior is looking in the door. That is the reason I suggested removing parts of the window to better show off what is inside.
(My earlier reply was from my IPad, so I could not easily get to Photobucket)
