Thanks Joe... I aim to inspire.
Tomorrow we leave for 11 days in Hawaii so I got in one last shot in the shop before the hiatus.
I started installing equipment on the site, starting with getting the loading rack nailed down since it's the farthest away from the front and needed to be finalized before anything went in front. I then installed the HP Spheres and it's attendant ladder. During this I knocked the flare of the base (it was just sitting there, not finally glued) and I caught it falling towards the concrete in mid-air. My death grip broke the lower caged ladder off the tower. At the end of the session I fixed it, but that wasn't so easy.
First up was adding the pipe supports for the final product piping that feeds the filling pipes. I used some Plastruct I-beam glued to the vertical supports, and then made some individual pipe supports to glue to the beams. This was all done with the loading rack in the shop. I then added the two pipes feeding the fillers. Then I moved it to the layout and glued it to the base with Aleen's PVA. I put weights on top to hold it down while the glue set.
The stairs sit on "concrete" pads which I cut from some Masonite. I glued these to the base with PVA and then CA'd the ladders in place. I then painted the base with "aged concrete" paint. It took several coats to cover since the paint is absorbed by the Masonite. I've left these pipes white. This pic was before the painting.
I located the product feed pumps so they lined up with each other and then so they each fed one of the product pipes. There was a slight altitude difference which I matched with some elbows and short pipe pieces. For pipe supports here I used Plastruct H-beam (which I have very little left) and again some pipe supports made by drilling the correct sized hole in some plastic bar stock and then splitting it down the middle to make two pipe supports. After this picture I painted the supports the dark green I'm using for structural steel.
I put the Spheres in spacing them so there was clearance for the product piping. Again, I'm holding it down with PVA since it's Masonite to Masonite (the foot pads are Masonite).
The last thing I did on the layout today was install the first light pole. Again, held in place with PVA. This may not work and I may resort to epoxy.
So now back to the bench to reinstall that ladder. I first drilled with the 0.021" carbide drill and then used the same size brass wire to pin the ladder supports back together. Great! Then I used too much force trying to get the last ladder holder's pin in deep enough and the whole deal blew off re-breaking the remaining ladder holders at their base. Time for Plan C. Having no more Plastruct ladder holders I had to make them from scratch. I did this using the 1/16" brass rod. I drilled out the places where I could for the larger rod, but the top one I had to drill a new spot a little below the original since I also broke off a small carbide drill when drilling the pilot and you can drill onto a chuck of carbide. I got the ladder re-attached, but ran out of time to get it repainted. When I had that tall flare just sitting there near where I was working that little voice in my head mentioned how unstable it was and that it could fall. I'm 72, you'd think that I'd learn to pay attention to that voice!
That gouge is where the previous ladder holder with the piece of brass wire sticking out of it went into the ether. Frankly, using the 1/16" brass to support
Aloha... see y'all in a little over a week.
