This is a probably simple (but not to me). How does one install a crane (in my case a heavy duty one) in a Walthers 3040 car shop?
I am pretty sure that in addition to the heavy duty crane, I would need to get an overhead crane for the girders. Where I am unsure is how I would go about installing the girders in the shop and if the crane can be installed to cover the entire floor if two kits were to be bashed together or if I would need two cranes to do that. (I haven't completly decided if I want to do that but I want the flexibility if I do.)
As usual, thank you for any assistance that the forums can provide.
Hi, FRRY
I have two of the nice Walthers car shop kits spliced to make my Diesel shop.
Although I didn't use the heavy duty crane, since I didn't plan to lift entire locomotives, (there's not enough headroom for that anyway) only prime movers/generators, hoods and cowls, etc. So a smaller hoist was capable enough.
Backshop2 by Edmund, on Flickr
I didn't use the heavy duty crane since I thought it would "overpower" the scale of the building. The crane rails would have had to be taller, too, blocking more of the window area.
Here's another view:
Backshop1 by Edmund, on Flickr
You can see the yellow crane rails resting on the gussets of the columns. These gussets are way too light to support the 250 ton crane. You would need to run a solid column down to the floor to make it look believeable.
Another thing I did was to design the roof so that it can lift off. It fits nice and snug between the walls so this is not a difficult task.
I did use the heavy duty crane in the electric furnace building and I had to trim about two inches off the length to get the bridge to fit between the crane rails.
This fellow does a bit of a kitbash but you can see what I mean by the H.D. crane being a bit much for a scaled-down structure like this.
You can see the height difference in this building (backshop) over the 3040 carshop.
Hope that helps, Ed
That answers most of my questions. It also changes plans back to my original thought then. (Getting two overhead cranes and bashing them together.) If I decide to do two kits that should also give enough rail to cover the whole floor.
I do have a couple more questions: Am I correct that I would use the hooks for the overhead crane given that items will be lifted? Second, the rails and the crane would be yellow as it is industrial?
FRRYKidSecond, the rails and the crane would be yellow as it is industrial?
.
Yellow and gray are the two most common colors for overhead cranes. I have also seen them green and orange.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I forget if I used my own Evergreen strips (they offer a 24" length so you could do it in one continuous strip) or if I spliced pieces of the Walthers Overhead Crane 933-3102 kit.
https://evergreenscalemodels.com/collections/24-60-cm-white-opaque-polystyrene-dimensional-strips
If you Google walthers overhead crane > images you will get lots of ideas. They even show the 250 ton crane bridge resting on a 50 ton crane rail!
In my observation, the yellow paint is probably era-dependant. In the old factory I worked in, the crane rails that were original to the building were painted the building interior color.
Cranes that were installed later, usually by the crane manufacturer or their contractor, were painted yellow or orange depending on the manufacturer's prefered color. OSHA, after about 1971, probably had some bearing on the safety aspect of using brighter colors on moving equipment, too.
I painted mine yellow, before installation, just to make them show up and viewers could see that there is a crane in there.
FRRYKidAm I correct that I would use the hooks for the overhead crane given that items will be lifted?
Items lifted, meaning lifting the whole building off the layout or "items" found in the shop?
Often there is a special lifting rig attached to the "block" of the crane. Sometimes the hook is removed and a "spreader bar" is used to lift odd shaped loads or, say, a prime mover/generator assembly to be dropped into a locomotive frame.
There are some tiny neodynium magnets out there, you could use one of them on the block and attach a variety of lifting devices with the magnet and a small steel washer glued (hidden) in the device.
Tichy makes some neat looking rigging equipment that comes (if I recall correctly) with the boom car.
Look here for some good photos showing a variety of hoists:
http://www.altoonaworks.info/pics/insideshop.html
Sometimes there are two or more bridges that share the same rails and other times there are smaller cranes on a different set of rails running below the larger ones. A few of the Tichy Jib cranes scattered around the shop makes a nice detail, too.
https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/tabid/91/p/8007/Default.aspx
Have Fun,
Good Luck, Ed
gmpullmanThis fellow does a bit of a kitbash but you can see what I mean by the H.D. crane being a bit much for a scaled-down structure like this.
Anyone have an idea which cement product product he is using? I like the applicator tip on the bottle, and the cement seems to ahve a little hevier consistancy.
maxmanAnyone have an idea which cement product product he is using?
It might be the Faller plastic cement.
I have some and use it for slower-setting fit-ups.
https://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Faller-Super-Expert-Plastic-Glue-p/flr-170490.htm
And this is the faster setting stuff:
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Faller-170492-Expert-Normal-p/flr-170492.htm
Cheers, Ed
gmpullmanIt might be the Faller plastic cement.
Looks like it. I'll have to get some to try.
Thanks