I’m in the process of adding smoke generators and blinking LEDs to some of my factory chimneys. I believe that in the real world, these smokestacks have some kind of lightning protection on them. What would be the best way to model this in N scale? I was thinking about using either dressn shirt pins of thumb tacks minus the flat part.
For me, personally, I would be uncomfortable with sharp metal objects sticking straight up in the air. I’m sure I would poke myself at least a half-dozen times [:'(] Anyway, I would probably use a small piece of styrene painted a dark gray.
Scott
Any that I have been close to were less than a 1/2" in diameter. Even the copper mesh cable going down to the ground was only about 3/4" in diameter. Divide this by 160 to get N scale and you would probably have difficulty seeing it even when you know it is there.
Good luck,
Richard
You might try a very fine wire (one strand out of a piece of #30 stranded) cemented into a hole in the top of each chimney.
Yes, the lightning rods are there (thank you, Ben Franklin) but they are very difficult to see.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I agree having a sharp metal pin could be dangerous. If someone were to reach over it they could get a nasty scratch. Maybe a bristle from a brush. It would be flexible so it would be a lot safer.
Steve S
“Careful, you’ll put your eye out!”
[:O]
I can hear your mom saying that right now.
Better to go with a bristle or hair…or even why bother in N?