Hi, I am building a 9' x 9' 8" L shaped layout designed after Phoenixville, PA. The town had a large iron and steel mill called Phoenix steel I think (look it up) and I would like to model it. The issue is I have a small amount of room for the steel mill (like 4' x 1' 2"), plus I don't have $100 to put down just for the rolling mill! So I really need to model it because it pretty much made the town. I'll post some pictures of the layout in the forum gallery. Any help or info will be appreciated. Thanks.
Hey there CSX - I am not sure I understand the question correctly, mind you I am also building a large layout so I feel your pain about trying to keep a budget. May I suggest a photo back drop to scale and maybe kit bash some 3-D aspects to it to get you by until your funds come available?
Angelo
Freelancing MCRR/NYC Northern Division - Angelo
Originally Phoenix Iron, http://www.hspa-pa.org/iron_works.html
http://www.hspa-pa.org/phoenix_bridge.html
The first link has changing pics of the mill about 3/4 of the way down. The town had some cool bridges.
I think you are asking how to model the steel mill given your space and money constraints. But I can also read your post as asking about layout design or information about Phoenix Iron & Steel
There are some talented scratch builders here, I wouldn't be one of them... yet.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Judging by the photos in the links provided by BigDaddy, the Phoenix plant wasn't an especially large one, but you won't likely be able to fit it into a 4'x14" space. I scratchbuilt a large blast furnace, and it and its casthouse took up most of a 4'x4' sheet of plywood. The stoves, scrubbers and baghouses, along with the stockhouse, would have more than doubled the needed space.
For your area, I'd suggest some photo backdrops, with some "flats" or low-relief mill buildings in front of that. Most buildings of that type were covered in corrugated steel sheets, with little external detail. Evergreen sells styrene sheets of corrugated siding and two or three to scratchbuild a mill or two might be enough to suggest a bigger operation. Add a couple of tracks in front for a few coal hoppers or ore cars, and perhaps a chain link fence and a billboard-size sign sporting the company's name.Walthers offers (or offered) a blast furnace kit, but even it, a model of a very small furnace, would take up too much room to look convincing.
Wayne
Ho scale?
Like in ho, ho,ho?
I can't help on modeling steel, but can direct you to the Walthers site for steel-related industries. Of course you don't have to purchase their products from that site or even any at all, but this link gives you an idea of the dimensions of their various steel-related industries and types of things likely needed: https://www.walthers.com/exec/page/steel. You can also open the instructions to read about how the various buildings are used in the industry.
Trying to compress real life into a layout is a challenge. Doing research is helpful since you have to make sacrifices for space and time. For instance, I'd love to have everything related all of my industries but I try to compress what is typical for small distributers.
I suggest you acquire a copy of Dean Freytag's book "The Cyclopedia of Industrial Modeling." Much of the book concerns modeling the steel industry, with very practical and often quite frugal suggestions for how it is to be done. It is a great compansion to Freytag's book , The History, Making, and Modeling of Steel that Walthers published years ago, and the NMRA reprinted from time to time.
Dave Nelson
So, based upon what everyone has said so far, a backdrop is the way to go. I want to put it on to wall behind my layout because Phoenixville steel co. was in the sorta in the back of town. So the complicated part is taking at least the main buildings (the foundry, blast furnace, and the rolling mills) and making a backdrop. The issues are: A. taking photos of the buildings from like the turn of the century (19th to 20th century). B. There are no photos online of the mill for the view that I want.
Anyway, should I try my hardest to find a photo in black and white and color the photo anew stick it on the wall, or find a photo of the mill and paint a picture of the buildings on the wall.
Sorry for the really long message. Hopefully you guys understand all this. Thanks.
Just as food for thought - some time ago, MR featured a layout called the Schuylkill Iron Works.
CSXman14 Phoenixville steel co.
It is actually Phoenix Steel Company. Phoenixville is the name of the town.
Some history here: http://phoenixville.org/
Historical Society here: http://www.hspa-pa.org/iron_works.html
Some photos here: http://www.hspa-pa.org/old_phoenix_iron_and_steel_co_photos.html