1/87 scale sand silos and elevator

[ennder]

Beautiful work so far
That is a good looking elevator.

[hjlyuen]

Part of the fun of building scale models is the research and learning about a new industry. However, the more I learn, the more questions that I have and less confidence about what I thought I had figured out. I just completed what I thought was a “bag house”. However, if this was a bag house, there would have been a dirty air inlet towards the bottom and a clear air outlet on top. Instead, the photo shows an inlet pipe coming directly from the bucket elevator. Therefore, I think this is a surge bin (or feed hopper). If anyone knows better, please let me know. Next, the silos, bin, and elevator get tied together with pipes and catwalks.

[rmks2000]

For something as mundane as a silo, I am learning that the is a complexity to them. I am amazed at such precision cutting of the parts.

[hjlyuen]

The walkways, ladders and safety cages took much longer than expected. The safety cages get damaged so easy while trying to glue them on. I don't look forward to the railings, which is next.

[hjlyuen]

I forgot, before the walkways could be glued on, I had to glue the 2 silos, elevator and bin onto a base or concrete pad and get everything aligned with each other.

[hjlyuen]

The sand silos are finally completed: the railings, distributor, supply pipes from the distributor to each of the yellow silos and the bin (the photo did not show piping to the oxide colored skirted silo), piping from the tallest silo to the short and skirted silos, access hatches, vents, and lift rings (so the silos can be lifted up and into place with a crane). As a way of giving back to paper modeling community, I am posting the patterns and instructions to the download section for who ever wants it. If anyone plans to use this for cement, let me know and I will design and post patterns for the vent filters as the photo of the model that I built did not show any. Those dust filters are between waist and chest high and you can’t miss them in a photo.

My next project will be an ACF 4650 cu ft 3-bay centerflow covered hopper to deliver material to the silos and a pneumatic bulk trailer to pick up the material and haul to a job site.

[whulsey]

Been following this along. Excellent work.

[hjlyuen]

To complete my diorama, I used Inkscape to design both an ACF 2970 cu ft Centerflow covered hopper to deliver sand to the silos and a Trail King APB 1033 cu ft pneumatic dry bulk transport trailer to pick up deliveries. The highway trailer is more complicated due to its smaller size and a design where cones intersect a cylinder. I used Sketchup to design the trailer tank (vessel) and to unfold the parts. My sister-in-law once asked why didn't I just buy a plastic model. I had to explain the challenge was to take a shape with compound curves and unfold it. The proof of concept (in my line of work but to her I said the proof of the pudding) was if I was able to assemble a model from shapes cut out of a flat sheet of paper. If I succeed with the pneumatic dry bulk transport trailer, then the ACF Centerflow hopper will be easy by comparison because of its simpler shape and larger size which would make handling easier. Anyway, I began by assembling the tank (vessel) and chassis. Next, the wheels and undercarriage.

[sgoti]

Impressive work, can't wait to see the final diorama!

[hjlyuen]

For this model, the wheels has a strip of card stock coiled inside of the tire. There wasn’t enough room for glue tabs on the 1/87 scale tire where I had to cut the center out for the wheel rims. Next, the air suspension system.