This was supposed to be a magazine article but the pressure of picking out photos which number over 100 and writing it up over many pages was just to much for me, posting it here is much easier as there are no deadlines or pressure besides there was always the chance a magazine would not want the article so it would all be for nothing.
A blast furnace in O scale has to be scratchbuilt to do this a reasonable knowledge of how a furnace operates is needed plus the ability to be able to know what to include and what to leave out (unless your building for a museum where every part has to be included) I chose my approach as sufficent for what I wanted on the layout.
After deciding the size I wanted I found the biggest problem in this model was how to build the main barrel of the furnace I finally chose wood, yes, wood turned up on a lathe by a very good wood turner he also turned the Ovens, Dust Precipitator, venturi scrubber and gas cooler. I have drawings of all these items including the pipework and all the sizes so anyone can now build an O scale Blast furnace using these drawings They were drawn using CAD by a good friend using my measurements, advice and enthusiasm, they are mine so feel free to copy them I won't sue you for copyright they are 100% owned by me.
To start the ball or barrel rolling today here are some photos of the barrel fresh off the lathe, drawings and photos will follow of every item if there is any interest, please let me know because there are lots of drawings and photos and will take some time to post them and I am a busy man building rolling stock and buildings for the layout and baby sitting nine grandchildren,n I also keep the layout going all the year round (see the 2-rail thread). If this helps someone it's worth it.
Keep in mind I am not a master modeller or a professional modeller just an average bumbling old bloke, so if I can do it you can. Thanks Roo.
