Jon H Olson Chemical Co DBA Skeeter's Fly Dope

[Jim Donovan]

I used the same technique to make the bands for the chemical tanks done for the water tank, however I was able to eliminate the turnbuckle appearance of the fasteners. Using the resin printer I made and installed the pipes and fittings. The detail of the printer is amazing, especially for a machine costing $160.00. The castings show rivets, nuts, bolts and flanges in perfect scale.


I had to re-print the pipes and fitting a couple of times to get sizing realistic. The large tank fittings are still a little big but I decided they would do. I found metal ladder files on Thingiverse producing exact scale copies including the metal brackets holding the ladder to the tank. The man climbing the ladder was also a file and printed. The detail he has rivels Priser figures, perhaps better since there are no mold release lines.


Here is a better view of the plumbing. The parts were first primed using Krylon flat black spray can, then weathered with pastel powders to bring out the detail.


These old wooden tanks leak a lot so Sam is on his way up to find out what is going on.

[Jim Donovan]

Something I would like to share is the trick I did for the Zip Kicker. The plumbing was all connected using Hobby Lobby Thick CA Glue. To get the parts to dry fast and in the right place I used the Kicker, however applying it was driving me nuts. Finally I settled on using a small eye dropper which would wander off it seemed after every use. The cure was sticking it to the bottle. Here I have velcro but later I found a simple strip of two sided tape worked best.

[deemery]

I epoxied a small brass rod to my bottle of kicker to hold the dropper, great minds think alike! 

By the way, Grandt Line has tank hoop fasteners:  https://www.walthers.com/hoop-fasteners-water-tank

dave

[Jim Donovan]

Thanks Dave for checking in and thanks for where the correct fasteners can be had. I knew someone must have them but could not locate them. I never use to use Zip Kicker and hardly ever use regular super glue but on this project I am finding it my go to glue in a lot of cases.



So here is the finished result. You will note the fence has been replaced with a 3D printed frame with a fabric mesh glued to it using UV CA Glue. It was painted and weathered using same method as the plumbing. Also note that the main plumbing to the building is attached to boards. The boards have bolts and are weathered so when the tank farm is placed next to the building it appears all connected but allows for the section to be moved as needed.

And that is it for now.

[ACL1504]

Jim,

I've been following this build and realized I haven't commented. I thought I did but I guess I forgot to press "post".

This is an amazing build. Love all the details and fine work. A wonderful build and it looks fantastic.

Great job my friend.

Tom 

[S&S RR]

Jim


I'm just getting caught up on your build, great work and build thread. I will be following along.

[GPdemayo]

Well done with the tank farm Jim.....looks great. 

[Jim Donovan]

Jim,

I've been following this build and realized I haven't commented. I thought I did but I guess I forgot to press "post".

This is an amazing build. Love all the details and fine work. A wonderful build and it looks fantastic.

Great job my friend.


Tom 

Thank you Tom. I truly appreciate the the kind words. I have enjoyed and learned a tremendous amount with this build. Hopefully I can keep it going there are two more structures as part of this chemical facility.

[Jim Donovan]

Jim


I'm just getting caught up on your build, great work and build thread. I will be following along.

Hi John glad you checked in and the compliment. This build is going slowly, mostly because I need to re-check my work constantly but sure have learned a lot. More to come.

[Jim Donovan]

Well done with the tank farm Jim.....looks great. 

Thanks Greg, hope you like seeing your idea come to life.

[Jim Donovan]

One of the interesting features of this structure is the amount of lighting. There are gooseneck lights over doors, signs and work areas. When the kit version was produced in 1994 they were only able to use dummy versions that did not function. With LED now common I was able to bring this feature to life. I used Even Design Gooseneck 3.5 volt lights wherever a gooseneck light was placed.


Here you see where I have added two copper tape strips up the wall of the interior to the bottom of the roof floor. This is the main line all of the lights are attached and will connect to the 12 volt DC accessory line on the layout.

The two office gooseneck lights were attached together in series with the thin wires of the lights run to a small 'cooper pad' so they could be connected to each other and the main line easier. A Mirro Lumina current limiter was placed ahead of the lights on the (+) side to make sure the lights receivedonly 3.5 volts. The same was done for the other gooseneck lights. Finally, a three yellow light LED strip was glued to the bottom of the roof and wired direct to the main line. These strip lights operate on 12 volts so did not need a current limiter. It all looks more involved then it is and did not take a lot of time to accomplish

[Jim Donovan]

The orgional kit has no interior features however I decided to have a floor separating the first and second levels. The second floor would be lighted and the first would not so the floor acts as a light block. I started with a sheet of .3mm styrene cut to fit then added a stained (Hunterline Driftwood) fitted sheet of simulated board on board flooring using super glue. To the floor I added several resin printed office  items the 3D printer had made. I had kept the glass windows intentionally as clean as possible so you could see into the room. When lighted you can indeed objects adding a little flavor. I may add a chemical vat in the future but not much more since you can only glimpse what is inside.


I would love to tell you the complicated attachment system I came up with to hold the floor in place but allow for it to be removed as needed. Instead this is what I came up with, the small clothes pins work just fine and any light bleed to the first floor when lighted is not noticeable.

[Jim Donovan]

 

I used Tinkercad to create a version of the lighting rods seen on the original model. Tinkercad (tinkercad.com) is a web based 3D Cad program free to use and supported by Autocad. By using the kid class tutorials found on the site along with watching YouTube videos I have learned enough to produce very simple objects like this. The original were brass etched and interconnected to form the X look of the base. WIth Tinkercad I was able to make a close version.

With the lighting rods in place all that was left was adding signs and some trim parts. In the photo in last post you can see some of the signs. I am trying something different. Rather then the tried and true paper signs method I printed mine on very thin vinyl sheeting that has adhesive on one side. Made for use on the Cricut Maker I designed the signs in Silhouette, printed them on the Canon laser printer and had the Maker cut them out. They were placed and then Tim Holtz distressed vintage matte finish paste applied. They seem to work, time will tell.

[Jim Donovan]

At this point the main building is essentially done. Next up the power plant.

[GPdemayo]

Love the lighting Jim.....G. DeMayo Chemical Company.....