I picked up a Tichy Coaling Tower last weekend at my clubs annual show. Has Anyone built one of these that could offer any tips or things to watch out for? The kit has a lot of detail and from what I read is about a 30 hour project.
This is a really nice kit to build, with very well-formed detail parts: everything fits together perfectly. I built two of them, and found the main difficulty was in attaching the “metal” parts to the “concrete” tower, as both need to be pre-painted. I’m not a fan of ca for joints that aren’t also mechanically secured, so I used music wire “pins” to attached the bucket hoist ironwork to the tower. Mine (a friend wanted me to build his, and gave me one in appreciation for doing the assembly on his) is still awaiting construction of a layout extension, although, technically, it is on the layout, stored at the south staging yard:
You should decide before starting on how many chutes you want and where they’d be best-placed. The two through tracks should have them, of course, but you can add one for a third, external, track, too. The coal delivery shed is elevated, so make sure to allow room for the approach track’s grade.
And finally, if you’re not planning on installing it on the layout when you’ve finished construction, make sure that you have a suitable place to store it in the interim - it requires some space and the details, because of their fineness, are not especially robust.
If you’d like more photos, it wouldn’t be a problem to take a few in a more open setting. [;)]
Wayne
Hi WAYNE.
Ihave just had delivery of the coaling tower from DON. I hope to start work on it next week,can i share the use of youe photos also.
regards
PATRICK.
I’ll take some pictures this evening and add them onto this thread later.
Wayne
Wayne,
Here are a few pictures of mine during mock up of the engine servicing facility. It was built by a late friend of mine Dennis who said he cursed me out every day when he worked on it but was really glad he built it. He felt it was one of his better pieces of work. Sadly it was the last kit he ever built but I do I recall him mentioning all the counter weights were a giant PIA you can’t even see them in the pics and unless your looking for them there hard to see. A lot of work but definitely a nice focal point. I painted the model prior to assembly and then he later weathered it. Most of the models I have seen were more of a white color but I wanted a little different color. It’s aged floquil aged concrete with a tint of depot buff the color by itself isn’t much but the weathering is what makes it in my O/P
Looks good, Brian, and all the more special because of the connection with your friend.
Some of the construction was a bit tedious, but the die work on the parts was excellent and everything fit like it should. Here are a couple of over-all views of mine:
I made the coal chutes and sand pipes positionable:
If you look closely, you can see the music wire pins within the U-channel stand-offs of the bucket track. I used them under all of the platforms, too.
A view of the bucket and counterweights:
A close-up of the platform detail:
Thanks Wayne, I hope mine turns out as nice as yours and Brian’s. I’ll leave my roof loose as well just in case it needs some maintenance down the road. I’m looking forward to starting this kit and I’ll be sure to post a picture of it when it’s finished.
Good afternoon .
thanks for the great pics of your modeling skills,and thanks to Dave for bringing the project up on the forum .I will commence building shortly and share some pics with everybody.
Regards
Patrick
Nice!
Too bad all my steamers are oil burners. Sniff.
Ed
Hi ED.
I overcame that problem on the" Fingal railway " by creating a heritage and folk park area where all kinds of locos ,wagons and buildings are assembled,this allows me to collect and run units outside of my era.
regards
PATRICK
Yesterday I came across a review of this model on page 39 in the April 1992 MR. In the category of things to watch out for, the reviewer came up with the following:
The molding gates had to be removed from inside the walls, near the tower legs, or the interior slope sheet would not fit properly.
He was one part short. He needed four B11 chain anchors and only found three. He cobbled up a facsimile from two extra C12 parts.
A few parts were mislabled. The sprue drawing erroneously labels B6. It should be B16. It lists two A22s instead of an A21 and A22.
No part C11 appears on the sprue drawing.
A tiny reinforcing piece on the counterweight idler pulley isn’t labled. Use a B7.
The assembly jig works well, but there is no explanation of its engraved dimensional markings. (there was an editor’s note that the marks indicate the pulldown chain lengths: 5/8 inch for the sand delivery pipes, and 1-1/8 inch for the coal chutes)
You may not have these issues as there may have been corrections to the instructions since the review, but I thought that I’d pass the above along just in case there had not.
And to give proper credit for the information, the reviewer of this item was Bob Mitchell
Thanks, I’ll be starting mine tomorrow so your info came just in time.
Thanks ,for the info i was working on that when your comment came in . I do not think the drawing of the sprues has been changed,the coal bucket assembly is quite a challange,but the model is taking shape very nicly
Patrick
Both of you are welcome. I hope the information proves to be helpful. I don’t have one of those kits myself, but a friend of mine has one, plus another similar model that I believe he got from Overland. I couldn’t tell you which one is plastic and which one is brass.
Good morning Wayne.
would you know if the counter weights on the tower were made from cast iron or concrete,i suspect that concrete was used.
regards
Patrick
Well I started it yesterday and all I have to say is OH MY GOD, what did I get myself into, lol. Is there ever a ton of parts to this kit. I can see this thing taking a few months to put together. [:D] The detail parts are just amazing and I can see why they are so expensive.
If you’re referring to those used for the bucket, Patrick; yes, they’re concrete. The smaller ones, on the chute chains, etc., are cast iron.
I was just now re-reading some of the instruction sheets and noticed the suggestion to use tube-type cement for the larger body sections and ca for final assembly. I used solvent-type cement (lacquer thinner) for all plastic-to-plastic joints, and where ca was used to affix sub-assemblies to the main structure, it was done only after devising a mechanical connection (usually music wire pins) to strengthen the joint. In my opinion, ca alone is not sufficiently permanent without such a modification.
Wayne
Thanks WAYNE,
I agree ca is not the may west without anchors. I have had bitter experiance with ca during my model ship building days.It was the bucket counter weights i was refering to,i am along way from the chains.
Thanks again,
patrick
PS. I used Revell contacta liquid glue for plastics on the tower it worked fine.