Add scratch built realism to your high rail layout - 'A smoking chimney'

[dougdagrump]

A grouping of scratch-built homes, or if this could be adapted to ready made, would be way cool on a Christmas layout. Especially with some of the different scents available from sources like JT's.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Thanks for the idea.  I didn't know who sold or made smoke units like this.

[Anonymous]

I have found the Micro-Mark smoke unit and to be a reasonably rugged and versatile unit, capable of generating smoke in everything from wisps to a steady stream, depending on voltage. Two caveats, however. In mounting the smoke generator one must take care not to "pinch" its plastic sides, as just a little pressure will jam and stall the fan. Also, there seems to be a good deal of "engineering" in the design of the stack itself (much as in a home fireplace) in order to achieve the proper amount of "draw."

I made some extenders out of plain brass tubing. My early designs virtually killed the ability of the device to produce smoke out the top of a tall chimney. Perry seems to have avoided the problem with his design. I mention it only to caution that proper smoke output out the top of a tall chimney may require some experimentation, which should be done prior to the final finish work on the enclosure (smoke stack) so as not to put a lot of fine work into it only to have the output be disappointing.

[ferronut]

wow! thats grand perry! thanks for the tip!

[csxt30]

Very impressive.  I love the chimney and the scratch built house.

Mitch

So do I  !! Very nice !!

Thanks, John

[mitchelr]

Very impressive.  I love the chimney and the scratch built house.

Mitch

[dougdagrump]

The potential uses for this application are only limited by your imagination, or the power feed to your train room.

[Anonymous]

Perry - I really enjoyed your layout in CTT, hopefully one of these days I can hope to be that skilled.  I think it shows us that we don't have to have a huge layout to see and hear all the action that you have incorporated into.  Nice work!

Thanks,

Dan

[thatboy37]

this is a nice structure you have put together here man you are a great carpenter or should i say you have skills to scratch build something to this magnitude. it looks simple but it really isnt. hopefully one day i will get to the point of building small structures like that, but anyway nice work.

[FJ and G]

sweet!

[perry1060]

Hi all,

I thought I'd share with you my latest project that is quite easy to construct. It is a smoking chimney!

Instructions and picture to follow:

First you will need to purchase this item which is available at Micro Mark: It is the actual smoke unit that runs on dc power (5-14 volts)

http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=82602

Using balsa wood, construct the chimney as pictured: The main piece of the chimney is a 'block' of balsa wood that has been drilled out. The smoke stack has been inserted into the block and then balsa sheet wood has been used to finish the framing. Small rocks have then been glued onto the balsa wood framing with white glue to look like chimney rocks from a century ago The 'other' piece of the smoke unit has been mounted on the house deck.

Here is look straight down at the chimney and you can see the hole is drilled all the way from the base of the block through the top, which is where the smoke will rise out of.

Here is another view of the assembled unit on the house deck. The part of the smoke unit still exposed in this picture will be 'inside the house and not visible'

Here is the unit being powerd by a dc transformer and smoking nicely.

Here is the scratch built house that I am building. This can just as easily be a store-bought house or a 'kitbash' that is retro-fitted to add the chimney and the house deck that supports the chimney 'add on'

Here you can see how the cut-out has been made in the house to fit nicely over the smoke unit

I have almost finished construction of my house, and I can't wait to get it smoking and placed on my layout.

When not using the smoke unit, just place some cotton in the top of it and no one will even know you have this feature in your structure until you activate it when you are ready!