Hi everyone!
I am still modeling my grain elevator from Walthers. I have finished modeling the elevator but now I am building one of the two other buildings in this kit, a storage bin. The problem is that there are no doors on this little building.
My stupid questions are:
1. What is the use of this building in relation to the grain elevator?
2. How can they store something inside this building if there are no doors?
Thanks for your help!
Stef
Mine has a door.
I often don't like the door(s) that come with many kits and have modified many. It should be easy enough to make a door, just look at mine for guidance.
The storage bin was just that, used for storage. The grain would be transferred back to the elevator for train loading.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
BATMAN Mine has a door. I often don't like the door(s) that come with many kits and have modified many. It should be easy enough to make a door, just look at mine for guidance. The storage bin was just that, used for storage. The grain would be transferred back to the elevator for train loading.
Do you have the same Walther kit than me? If yes, I don't understand why yours have a door and not mine.
And I am not sure I understand why this building was used. You said it was used for storage. Why, then, the grain is not brought directly to the grain elevator instead of putting it in this storage bin? Do they put grain in the storage bin because the grain elevator was full and could not receive more grain?
Generally a correct observation. My understainding is that the building is supposed to be a storage bin. Storage bins are for storing excess grain and would have the loading pipe. If it was my kit, I'd probably abutt it to the main building as best I could and assume egress happens through the walls. The Walthers illustration shows the building to be separated.
Looks like a close prototype for the Walthers Valley Growers kit.
Sometimes kit manufacturers simplify the kits as they are rerun. Maybe yours doesn't have the little extra bump up to the roof line.
- Douglas
Doughless Generally a correct observation. My understainding is that the building is supposed to be a storage bin. Storage bins are for storing excess grain and would have the loading pipe. If it was my kit, I'd probably abutt it to the main building as best I could and assume egress happens through the walls. The Walthers illustration shows the building to be separated. Looks like a close prototype for the Walthers Valley Growers kit. Sometimes kit manufacturers simplify the kits as they are rerun. Maybe yours doesn't have the little extra bump up to the roof line.
Thanks Douglas.
I think I will do as you suggest, put the bin very close to the grain elevator and paint it in the same colour.
Finally, it's impossible to put the storage bin very close to the grain elevator because the building is too large and the truck alley is blocking the way. If I put the storage bin on the side, I will still block the trains coming in. The office can and will be glued to the grain office but not the bin.
Maybe I should use this building for something else?
Its a model. A representation. If it doesnt fit I would just put it how Walthers has it or somewhere convenient where a loading pipe would make sense. I'd probably add the loading pipe and put a scrap door somewhere.
I'm not a grain expert, but with a big steel bin, you can load with a pipe or auger.
Or use an auger near the door for unloading.
I simply google searched grain bin images
I agree. I would think the model should come with a door or a pipe, but our model structure kits typically come with less detail. If you look closely, real structures have way more details than our represenatitive models do.
Many folks will build the kits as built or slightly altered, then go back later and super detail the structures as part of the finishing touches of a completed layout.
Since OP mentioned grain elevator kit, I believe it is the Valley Growers Association Elevator.
LastspikemikeYour kit is different from the one currently advertised as being priced with a special model discount and also out of stock! Can you post the Walthers kit model number or check for a web site link so we can find the product you have? That's a large grain storage building (if it is such a building) but not implausible. Such a building would have a loading hatch, probably several, cut high into the walls and some sort of low placed access door, not man height but large enough for a person to get in. The model is definitely not accurate for a grain bin. This building should be on piles or skids for moisture and vermin control. Commonly lined with "tin" at least on the floor and up the walls for some distance. This building could be filled from an elevator spout but before grain augurs would be shovelled out by hand. These buildings were not commonly that large before augurs.
Mike, Walthers makes another rural grain elevator kit, that has a different out building.
Do you know what this outbuilding would be used for storing? The doors seem too big and floppy to be storing loose grain. Walthers seems to think it belongs next to the tracks for loading or unloading.
ModelTrain What is the use of this building in relation to the grain elevator?
It just stores excess grain from the elevator. It would be filled by a small pipe to the roof from the elevator.
ModelTrainHow can they store something inside this building if there are no doors?
It is easier, and stronger, to construct the storage bin without a door. Some have access hatches in the roof, and some do have doors.
Very little grain would enter this building. It would be unloaded by an auger being inserted through a small opening in a wall.
This is a typical unloading auger in a steel grain bin. The one used on that wooden building would be something similar.
DoughlessDo you know what this outbuilding would be used for storing? The doors seem too big and floppy to be storing loose grain. Walthers seems to think it belongs next to the tracks for loading or unloading.
Doug, that one just looks like a generic rural storage building to me. I do not think it would be for bulk grain. I have no idea why it would be next the the track like that.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Lastspikemike That's the one we have. The doors and piles mean the floor will be at boxcar floor height. These buildings would serve as a type of general freight depot served by the elevator siding on one side and a road on the opposite long side. Given the way boxcars were spotted for loading grain and then when loaded rolled along the siding for storage until the pick up locomotive arrived it would be logical for the freight shed to be located between the elevator and the points if the siding sloped down from the main and the other way if the siding sloped up from the points (I would think that orientation would very much be the exception).
That's the one we have. The doors and piles mean the floor will be at boxcar floor height. These buildings would serve as a type of general freight depot served by the elevator siding on one side and a road on the opposite long side. Given the way boxcars were spotted for loading grain and then when loaded rolled along the siding for storage until the pick up locomotive arrived it would be logical for the freight shed to be located between the elevator and the points if the siding sloped down from the main and the other way if the siding sloped up from the points (I would think that orientation would very much be the exception).
Yeah, I figured it was general purpose but could not quite understand why such an elevator would have a need for a relatively large freight shed.
Its a nice gp building to place elsewhere.
In Southern GA, they have peanut farms and peanut processing facilities. They have a grain operation look to them but some of the buildings have unique shapes. Some of the properties are dotted with small storage bins or gp buildings all over the complex like the two buildings in question. Wooden, old, probably been there for decades.
There was often a freight shed on the elevator siding usually owned by the Co-op that ran the elevator. Supplies, bags of specialized feed supplements as an example would be dropped off.
Here are some of my pics including my trip to Vulcan.
Don't forget to use "dated" track on your elevator siding.
And if you want to add some details that can be seen through the open door.
Some of the elevators had the winch and cables in place that were used to pull the rail cars along and at one there was a pile of 64 old switch stands off in the grass.
Visiting these old elevators is like being on the "Life After People" TV show. The elevators are open and accessible without another soul around for miles.
Next time you drive across the Prairies take the back roads, it can be like stepping back in time. Driving a forty-mile stretch of section road I let my 14-year-old daughter drive the truck for a while. Why not all the farm kids were doing it.
DoughlessIn Southern GA, they have peanut farms and peanut processing facilities. They have a grain operation look to them but some of the buildings have unique shapes.
I took this picture near Ashburn, Georgia in 2016. The sign had the name of a peanut company, but I have no idea what this building actually is used for.
SeeYou190 Doughless In Southern GA, they have peanut farms and peanut processing facilities. They have a grain operation look to them but some of the buildings have unique shapes. I took this picture near Ashburn, Georgia in 2016. The sign had the name of a peanut company, but I have no idea what this building actually is used for. -Kevin
Doughless In Southern GA, they have peanut farms and peanut processing facilities. They have a grain operation look to them but some of the buildings have unique shapes.
I don't know enough about Peanut Farming to say. (BTW, Jimmy Carter still lives in Plains Ga and use to give Sunday sermon's at his local church at 90 something years old. He may have stopped by now).
Mike might be right. But if its on a peanut farm, it might be where farmers deliver their trucks of peanuts and then they are stored.
Golden Peanut Company has a plant in Ashburn. Bagging peanuts, shelling peanuts, and making peanut oil are all part of the process.
Hoppers for crushed shells (industrial uses). Tank cars for peanut oil. One of those industries that could generate different kinds of car traffic.
Atlas paints a 25,500 gal tank car for GPC, which is what got me interested.
Anyway, not trying to hijack the thread.
Deleted
York1 John
Doughless Since OP mentioned grain elevator kit, I believe it is the Valley Growers Association Elevator.
You are spot on. This is the kit I have.
Here are a few pictures of tonight's progress. I found out that if I put my storage bin on the side of my grain elevator, it goes flush and will be accessible to trains. The thing is that to do this, I have to remove a door from the truck entrance.
Should I remove one door?
What do you think of the office on the next picture?
What color should the storage bin be painted? I was thinking of using the same reddish colour but I am not sure.
ModelTrainHere are a few pictures of tonight's progress. I found out that if I put my storage bin on the side of my grain elevator, it goes flush and will be accessible to trains. The thing is that to do this, I have to remove a door from the truck entrance. Should I remove one door? What do you think of the office on the next picture? What color should the storage bin be painted? I was thinking of using the same reddish colour but I am not sure.
The kit looks very nice.
What you SHOULD do is do want you want.
I'm no expert on this stuff. You need to go with what you like.
A few thoughts:
You could cut out the litte ribs on the bin so the door would look like it tracked in between the bin and the elevator. But that would ruin the building for an alternative placement later.
I'm not sure why the doors would ever be closed. Too dusty to close them during bad weather I'd think. Maybe lock up the place to deter theft. I might just leave all of the doors off.
Color is personal choice. Once painted, you could always repaint it to something else. The complex would look larger if its all one color. But you might want it to look like that piecemeal added to look.
ModelTrainShould I remove one door? What do you think of the office on the next picture? What color should the storage bin be painted?
You should do whatever you need to do to make the building fit in on your layout and look right to YOUR eye.
DoughlessGolden Peanut Company has a plant in Ashburn. Bagging peanuts, shelling peanuts, and making peanut oil are all part of the process.
Like I said, I have no idea, but I love the picture I took and thought it was worth sharing.
When I saw the sky that day, I drove around for about an hour taking pictures with the beautiful backdrop God provided for a while. That building could have been a bit outside of Ashburn.
Ashburn, Georgia is a nifty city.
This was me in Ashburn on a less photo-friendly day.
I'm not knowledgable of grain elevators or the kits to build them but, I want to offer this. In the days when grain was shipped in forty foot boxcars with six foot wide doorways, wooden grain "doors" were coopered to fill the doorways. These grain doors were re-used each shipping season and, when not in use, they had to be stored at the elevators, somewhere secure, hence the outside hung, sliding door on the shed?
Thanks guys. I think I will use the storage bin somewhere else on my layout even if it doesn't have a door.
SeeYou190 This was me in Ashburn on a less photo-friendly day.
Rich
Alton Junction
Anyone here know what a facility for roasting and salting peanuts looks like?
I remember as a child wondering how they got the salt into the peanuts and pistachios without breaking the shells. One of those questions like how they got the blue stripes on the toothpaste coming out of the tube. What my daughter calls first-world questions.
Overmod Anyone here know what a facility for roasting and salting peanuts looks like? I remember as a child wondering how they got the salt into the peanuts and pistachios without breaking the shells. One of those questions like how they got the blue stripes on the toothpaste coming out of the tube. What my daughter calls first-world questions.
LOL.
Lets speculate about possibly saturating them with salt water, then drying out the moisture with the roasting process.
IOW, can't have the salted without the roasted.
Ever have boiled peanuts? One of those local gas station/roadside treats here in GA.
BATMAN There was often a freight shed on the elevator siding usually owned by the Co-op that ran the elevator. Supplies, bags of specialized feed supplements as an example would be dropped off. Here are some of my pics including my trip to Vulcan. Don't forget to use "dated" track on your elevator siding. And if you want to add some details that can be seen through the open door. Some of the elevators had the winch and cables in place that were used to pull the rail cars along and at one there was a pile of 64 old switch stands off in the grass. Visiting these old elevators is like being on the "Life After People" TV show. The elevators are open and accessible without another soul around for miles. Next time you drive across the Prairies take the back roads, it can be like stepping back in time. Driving a forty-mile stretch of section road I let my 14-year-old daughter drive the truck for a while. Why not all the farm kids were doing it.
Hi guys!
I have just began weathering my grain elevator. I am using a metal brush to try to remove a little bit of paint like the paint is chipping.
What do you think? Should I continue like this or stop right now and do something else?
Lastspikemike That effect looks exactly right to me.
That effect looks exactly right to me.
Thanks.
Do you think I should add more color like rust or any other colors that could improve the elevator?
Lastspikemike Depends how old a look you're shooting for. Your model is of a prototype made from galvanized sheet steel. Rust spots with streaking down from the spot would be appropriate but only if the paint is really old. Galvanized steel tends not to rust on large areas especially if painted. The zinc galvanizing takes a long time to corrode away exposing the underlying steel to rusting. So, there's a suggestion to use weathering pencils (Tamiya makes several packets of these for different effects but the ones I'm thinking of are actual pencils and made by AK Interactive) and these work well for spots and streaks. The weathering chalks that come in powder form are harder to apply in small streaks which is the look you are already producing. Best to experiment with very light rusting effects. You can always add more but removing too much weathering is less easy. Finally, you might wonder why these structures were painted rusty brown to begin with.......
Depends how old a look you're shooting for.
Your model is of a prototype made from galvanized sheet steel. Rust spots with streaking down from the spot would be appropriate but only if the paint is really old. Galvanized steel tends not to rust on large areas especially if painted. The zinc galvanizing takes a long time to corrode away exposing the underlying steel to rusting.
So, there's a suggestion to use weathering pencils (Tamiya makes several packets of these for different effects but the ones I'm thinking of are actual pencils and made by AK Interactive) and these work well for spots and streaks.
The weathering chalks that come in powder form are harder to apply in small streaks which is the look you are already producing.
Best to experiment with very light rusting effects. You can always add more but removing too much weathering is less easy.
Finally, you might wonder why these structures were painted rusty brown to begin with.......
Thanks for the info. In fact, I was just in the first weathering step. I wanted to know if I was in the good direction or if I should stop right now.
I have not continued to weather the grain elevator but I have just finished painting and weathering the storage shed that was included in this kit.
I added the paper decals (in fact they are not decals, they are just paper).
Here is the result.
Nice work, Stef.
You should post one or two of the pictures on the Weekend Photo Fun thread. It is a nice thread each weekend with pictures from different layouts. It ranges from beginners to masters.
Stef, I don't think you have anything to worry about as far as you thinking whether or not you have it right. I think you have a solid future ahead if this is your early work, good job.
York1 Nice work, Stef. You should post one or two of the pictures on the Weekend Photo Fun thread. It is a nice thread each weekend with pictures from different layouts. It ranges from beginners to masters.
Thanks, I will check that thread.
BATMAN Stef, I don't think you have anything to worry about as far as you thinking whether or not you have it right. I think you have a solid future ahead if this is your early work, good job.
Thank you very much. I love this new hobby. It's just sad that I didn't discover it earlier.