Iowa Class Engine Room #3 Model for BB62 Permanent Display

[Builder2010]

These sessions don’t produce a lot of drama, but they’re essential. I’m basically doing assembly prep… that is… getting everything ready to actually assemble this beast. This includes things like re-printing the main gauge panel platform, painting the mezzanine walkway to conform to the red color I’m using on the rest of the model, painting a lot of grating prints in prep to install them, painting the re-printed lube oil purifier, cutting the clearances to install the escape trunk and opening the main gauge panel frame to accept the lube oil settling tank. I also isolated and 2D printed out views of the SketchUp master drawing to refresn my memory of where all this stuff actually goes. I have a lot of piping that has very specific locatiions and the drawings show what goes where.

The mezzanine decks needs a corner cut out to accept the escape trunk. I could have re-printed both mezzanine decks with the cut out buiit in, but since it took a lot of resin, and it seemed feasible to alter the part after print, I chose the latter. I marked where it would go and use an abrasive cutoff saw with the Dremel to remove the corner. Since cured UV resin is not a thermoplastic, it does not melt when you abrasive cut it. I had already re-designed the walkway and lower floor system to accommodate the trunk. I will put some trim to close up that gap between the trunk and the upper mezzanine.

I repainted the cut area and it looks good.

I used a plan view of the starboard side to determine the placement of the lube oil settling tank. I also drilled the bottom with two holes of a #30 drill to accept some solid core solder of the same size that will serve as the inlet and outlet to this tank. I have no idea of where these pipes will go, so I’ll use some modeler’s license to send them somewhare under the flooring system and let them disappear into the darkness. Using solder enables me to do some “field modifications” to determine their routing.

Lastly, I stuck all fhose wonderful floor greating prints to cardboard with some blue tape and airbrushed them all with semi-gloss black. I think I may have enough to do the job, but if I need more I’ll just print them. Ah… the joys of 3D printing your own parts. I thought these parts that would be floorinng red, but they are painted black in photos I have. So… black it is.

I’m hand painting the replacement lube oil purifier print. If you recall, I have to re-print them as a two-part affair (base and unit) so I could install it. It’s way underneath the flooing, but there will be lighting.

I’m itching to get started soldering the railings. It’s an essential detail that really makes a model pope. This scale is way to big for photo-etched rails and demands real, honest-to-goodness soldered railings. I’m also ready to layout and drill the flooring to accept all the light wiring and penetrating piping. And then assembly will begin.

[Builder2010]

Things are moving right along…

I needed to add piping under the lube oil settling tank. For this I simply used some appropriately-sized solder wire. I polished the solder with steel wool and then used a mix of Tamiya Clear Red and Clear Yellow (mostly yellow) and airbrushed the mix directly on the polished metal, and Voila… copper!

These pipes will be bent to go somewhare, but I’m not sure where that is at this time. That’s why solder was the best choice because it’s very bendy.

I cut the framing of the main gauge panel floor to accept the oil tank. I then was trying out the wiring scheme and dropped the evaporator/main gauge panel floor assembly. The gauge panel floor disassembled in a bad way.

I wasn’t happy with this floor, even though it was already a reprint of the first interation. So breaking it forced me to re-engineer it again, and this time I made it much more elegant. For example: Instead of a piece of styrene glued on the mid-line edge to attach to the HP foundation, I designed a interface that really sits nicely into the flange of the HP girder. I also got rid of the I-beam profile on all but the two outward (visibe) faces. There rest are solid rectangluar shapes. The result is a part that is structurally robust in its own right. I had to modify the engagement end on the evaporator foundation to improve the strenght of that joint also.

All the holes to accept wiring were drilled on the two floor pieces using a spade bit with the shape cutting edges reduce to almost zero rake angle. This prevented breakout cutting the thin styrene sheets.

It was time to permanently glue in the floors. I used Testor’s Tube Cement since it has a longer working time, but before that I had to scrape all the Rust-oleum primer red off the gluing surface so it had a better chance to join. I scraped the lattice with a new single-edged razor blade, and used the mini-sander to remove paint from the underside of the floors.

After gluing I used gravity clamps to hold it all together while glue set.

After a while I drilled all the way through the entire floor system and then CA’d plastic straws to serve as conduit to guide the wire out the bottom.

Today, I went back and touched up all the paint to make it more presentable. Most of these things will be very hard to see when it’s all together.

I needed a flange around the bulkhead opening from the main steam line and drew and printed that yesterday. Today I glued it in place and after this pic was taken, I painted it white.

Along with the flange I drew and printed a small detail; a spring-loader relief valve that protrudes from the top of the LP Turbine housing.

I painted and installed it today.

I finished painting the now-two-part lube oil purifier. I did the copper piping by brush painting decanted Tamiya SIlver Leaf spray and then the same clear color mix on top.\

Finally, I started making some railings. I used an American Beauty Resistance Soldering Unit (RSU) to solder these small assemblies. The took has a conductive tweezers that enables you to clamp, apply current, heat, solder and then continue to holder while the solder hardens. It makes very difficult things to solder much easier.

I’m using 0.032" phos-bronze wire for this. It scales at 1.5" (38mm) which is just a little oversized, but I wanted railings that would be stiff and hold up. I drew all these railing schemes before starting this and printed out my plans so I wouldn’t be “faking” it. To solder the supports I first flatten one end by using a very old pair of Vise Grips. I then form a bend on the end so it will wrap over the main wire, and the then bent a slight reverse curve it it so it will lie more directly under the handrail.

This is the first rail that I bent and solder. The rails encircling the duck unders are the most complex and difficut so, of course, I did these first.

To set the height I’m using my gauge blocks that I printed. The scale height is 32"

The second railing follows a more curvy route.

Abvoe were taken before filing and shaping the soldered joint.

Afer filing I’m soaking the parts in JAX darkening solution that may create a finish that’s dark enough to mean I won’t have to paint them. The only problem is the solder doesn’t take to the chemicals as well as the bronze. The starboard side duck under has the most complex rails. The port side’s are much straighter.

[Builder2010]

Working on railings. Got all the duck under rails finished, and then started on the longer mezzanine railings. Thought I had enough 0.032 phos-bronze stock, but ran out and had to make an “emergency” trip to the hobby shop. Mike, one of the train guys at the store, hadn’t been brought up to date on the engine room project, so I took the time to debrief him. He’s a good guy and relates well to what I’m doing.

These two images show the port-side duck under of Prop Shaft #4, with the first showing how the metal looks prior to soldering.

I tried to proactive with the mezzanines by 3D printing the railing sockets. This worked pretty well until it didn’t. I printed the 0.032" holes, but they needed cleaning out. In a couple of cases, the wall broke out during that operation. Then the fore-end sockets broke more seriously. These were reconstructed with Bondic and drilled with the same drill. The port end rail ends at the escape trunk. Right now it just goes into hole, but I’m going to draw a small flange and print it to dress it up a bit.

The repair still needs a bit of final shaping before it will pass quality inspection.

Here are all the mezzanine rails fitted. I’m not painting any rails until they’re all finished. The lower mezzanine rails also will penetrate the escape trunk aft and be straight across the entire deck. Soldering will not be as easy on the lower deck with interference from the catwalk. While I’m writing this I’m thinking about soldering it off the model after laying out a jig with the same socket spacing. The spacing in accurate since it was done via Multi-copy-array task in SketchUp.

The escape trunk will get epoxied to the mezzanine decks once all the rails are ready to install. The upper mezzanine decking got a litte beat up during the soldering an will have to have another coat of paint, I suspect all the rails should be done tomorrow.

I took this image yesterday. It’s the fully glued flooring in place. I did some touch up painting, and it’s not great, but it will be almost entirely hidden as the hold floor is on the real ship. The wiring conduits are visible, but not conspicuous.

The big holes are for the main condensate inlet and discharge piping. The duck-unders are errors, but will be invisible. it’s why I didn’t take the time to patch the holes.

[Builder2010]

I used my idea of last night and made a jig to solder the lower mezzanine rail off the model. I used a divider to capture the spacing drilled the wood to accept the wire. Using Scotch double-sided tape to secure the height blocks to the wood and then taped the top rail to the blocks. The one end is just a 90º bend, and the other belays on the escape trunk. I didn’t worry about the stanchion length at this point. After soldering, they were measured with the mezzanine lugs and trimmed to the correct length.

It was easy to solder them on the jig as it was nice and stable.

The trial fit of the rail was very nice validating that my jig hole spacing was correct. The open space on the right side is for a ladder that extends down from the TG deck. It’s the only way onto the lower mezzanine deck.

There’s another small rail that surrounds the ladder leading down from the evaporator deck. But before I could do that I had to make a correction. I had the ladder reversed with the top in front (fore) and the bottom in the aft position. I designed the foundation frame for this orientation and had to modify it. I removed a thick crossbar and substituted a styrene on in the right spot. The part is held with thin CA.

I was then able to lay out the hole locations and build the rail similar to the style on the duckunders.

So here’s the railing progress to date. I have an error in my model which i haven’t been able to rectify. I have the grating next to the main reduction gear at a lower level than the turbogenerator decking. On the plans it shows them level and I seem to remember that they are in my visit. I’m just adding a short stair to go from one level to the other and a railing on the TG deck since there’s and 18" drop off between them. Fixing this involves a lot of deck changes and I don’t think it a) very noticeable and b) therefore, not worth the hassle to correct. I made that railing also.

One of last railing projects, and frankly, one of the most challenging, is the rails and hangers on the entry catwalk. There is a discrepency between the plans and the actual ship. The plans show the entry walk to go fore and aft at the bottom of the ladder and then continue in both directions port and starboard passing over the gear box. In the real ship, the catwalk only exits on the port side, and this is the way I’m making the model. There is a bridge that crosses over the turbine torque tubes that I am modeling… that needs a railing too. This image looking down the ladder clearly shows the left (port) entry and nothing crossing over the gear box.

Here’s the proof. Plans clearly show catwalk over top of the MRG and ladders on both sides.

[Builder2010]

Even though yesterday was my 80th birthday, I was still able to get some work done in the shop. We had a nice dinner at my daughter’s house. It’s hard to get my head wrapped around that my wife and I are now in our 9th decade of our life. It is now a certainty that I will not die in my 70s. There are no guarantees about living longer, but I have that fact to make me feel better.

In the short session I dug in and built the entry catwalk system. The hairy part was getting its correct position in space. First I had to position the main gear box and it’s attendant foundation in its final location. I did find that the foundation did foul with the secondary framework I built to stiffen the entry platform bulkhead. I trimmed it so it all nestled in correctly. I taped the main column in place and the platform’s connection to the bulkhead. Then I had to somehow hold the entry ladder in the proper place and orientation and measure the distance from the lowest point on the ceiling. The drop was 2.5" from the ceiling bottom. I then transferred this to a piece of paper to work it out off the model. I determined that the catwalk frame was 3/16" forward of the hatch edge. I taped the frame into place so I could drill the holes aligned through both parts.

After drillng the first through holes, I further stabilized it with a couple of rods.

I made a jig 2.5" high block to position the frame at the proper drop distance and then, using thin CA, glued all the contact points. I tested the fit and it was satisfactory. Here’s a testiment to dumb luck. The 2.5" dimension that I measured and cut on the jig block was actually the exposed edge you see. I had it rotated 90º, but, the block was already 2.5" so the rotation was moot. Needless to say, I lucked out on that one.

Again, using my hand rail spacing blocks, I managed to position and solder all the hand rails. It was touch and go since it was a bit “squirrely”. I had to break and remake several joiints that were out of alignment. I trimmed the long ends and here’s what we’ve got. I ran out of time and will finish file those rough ends in the next session.

​Next session will work on the little bridge, which I believe is the last hand rail that needs to be created. They all need painting.

[jfrank]

Happy Birthday! You’re an inspiration to us older guys! and your work is excellent!

[RandyT]

Happy Birthday!!! Your work is amazing!

[Tank_1812]

Happy Birthday. Congrats on the milestone.

[Dioramartin]

Many happy returns! As you know, arithmetically you’re now in the final year of your 70’s, so next year is the real “Myles-stone”

[RDT1953]

Happy birthday ! If it’s July 30 then we are in the same club - I turned 72 yesterday. Hmm..same birthday - both modelers - both guitar players- both have a connection to the Big J - this is a bit scary.
lol.
Cheers- RT

[Russelle]

Happy birthday Myles

Hope you had a great day and were suitable spoiled

[Builder2010]

Thanks guys! So… July 30, models, guitars, Big J, eerie! What’s your connection to the ship? Guitars? My skills have atrophied terribly. Besides simply losing muscle mass so playing is more difficult, I haven’t played enough to maintain my callouses and can only play 15 minutes before the fingers complain. I keep promising myself that I’ll start playing, but this level of modeling has consumed my time and imagination.

I’m happy to be in the club!

All the railings and ladders are painted and all are ready for assembly. Today… assembly will being in earnest.

The last part to be “railed” is the bridge that enables travel athwartship and crosses on top of the two torque tubes that cover the HP/LP input shafts to the main reduction gear.

I glued these railings in and then masked them so I could paint the railings without painting the bridge.

​The remaining railings were pushed into a chunk of hard foam. I first shot them with Tamiya gray primer. I did it indoors while spraying it into a large trash bag in my waste can in the basement. It was a very quick job and overspray was more or less contained, eabling me to do it inside instead of out.

Here they all are with a coat of Tamiya semi-gloss black.

For the entry catwalk, I hand painted the black due to the difficulty of masking that oddly shaped spaced. The ladder is also finished in this image, but not glued.

I took the ladders outside to spray them rattle can Tamiya Silver Leaf. It was a bigger spray job and wasn’t amenable to spraying in the waste can.

When the silver was dry I went back and painted the railings the same black as before. I have more ladders than I need.

If I’m not mistaken, these are the last “Assembly-prep” steps needed before actual assembly can begin. That’s today. There are still many unanswered questions regarding positioning vs. gluing. Much of the fits will be dictated by the printing piping systems. They’re the key to the job especially regarding the auxiliaries. The main propulsion system position is dictated by the alignment of the HP’s support shelf of the fore bulkhead and the output shafts seal and shaft as it exits the aft bulkhead. The position of the main condenser is now dictated by the openings in the floor to accept the condensate water intake and discharge pipes. The adventure continues.

[RDT1953]

PM sent .

[Builder2010]

Assembly is beginning. I started by finishing up the duck unders with gluing in the rails and adding the ladders. It required a bit of dark red touch up.

Then big stuff building started with the main condenser. It has to go in first. I can’t install the entire unit due to the interference created by the oppositely-facing intake and discharge mains. I chose to epoxy the intake side due to it’s complexity and glue the discharge side after the unit is in the ship. The joint isn’t so hot due to warpage in the print. I filled it as good as I could.

I then had to epoxy the main supports under it. The first attempt needed a redo when one side had slipped forward before fully curing (5 minute epoxy). I held it in place with a big gravity clamp.

I put all the necessary main propulsion pieces on the ship that required alignment. I found that I couldn’t twist the 3º rotation needed by the No. 2 prop shaft.

The reason was insufficient clearance in the holes receiving the piping. With some careful surgery I opened both inlet and discharge openings to give more mobility to the condenser.

It’s still not perfect, but better. If I rotate any more the valve wheel on the discharge gate valve sticks out beyond the imaginary bulkhead line. I can rotate the LP turbine itself to align it.

There is one more piece of large framing that surrounds the main gear box; the angle braces at the aftmost gear box wall. I was worried that this piece would need some “doctoring” for the same reason as the other part of the frame due to inpingement with the added vertical bracing that I built. It did need some strategic trimming. I found it best glue this piece directly onto the gear box and not the ship floor. I did this. It took two tries when it broke loose during a trial fit. The failure was gluing to paint and not the substrate. I removed the old CA, sanded the mating surfaces and re-glued.

This view shows this part in place. It’s just as hard to view on the real ship as it is in the model.

Another trial fit of the startboard lower floor unit showed it’s not nestling tight enough and was hanging out over the edge. The cure will be to open the slots around the angle braces more so it cane slide in further.

​Just when I was thinking about gluing down the main condenser, my brain worked again and realized that I need to fasten all the faux concrete dry dock supports before adding anything to the model. This is for several reasons including not being able to easily invert the model with components added. I also have to figure out the wiring runs vis-a-vis these blocks.

While lying in bed in my “create-while-awakening” period, I came up with a workable plan to attach the block by making a template of the bottom laying out where all the conduits are. Taping the template down and coving with Press-n-Seal food storage film; also taped down. Stick the blocks to the film in their correct locations regarding the conduits and then apply adhesive to all of them and bring the model down on top. I’m still thinking about what kind of adhesive. Of course I can use epoxy since it’s longer cure time is a benefit. The other choices would be the 3M Transfer Tape or Servo Foam Tape. Both are pressure sensitive and positioning would have to be correct from the get go. Epoxy would be more forgiving. Any thoughts? I have found that both servo tape and the transfer tape can let go after a whlle, in this use there will be no sheer loads.

On another topic, I got tired of little plastic measuring cups tipping over and spilling. I designed and printed a cup holder. I’m going to make it available on Cults3D as printable .STL files. I tried it yesterday and it worked perfectly. Version 2.0 is being printed today and slimmed down the angle braces and added some finger grooves around the perimeter to facilitate lifting out the cup. I’m printing at least three for myself. I had one cup with paint and the other with CA Accelerator. Since I only had one, the accelerator was sitting on the bench and, of course, I knocked over.

Version 2.0

[srmalloy]

@Builder2010

On another topic, I got tired of little plastic measuring cups tipping over and spilling. I designed and printed a cup holder. I’m going to make it available on Cults3D as printable .STL files. I tried it yesterday and it worked perfectly. Version 2.0 is being printed today and slimmed down the angle braces and added some finger grooves around the perimeter to facilitate lifting out the cup.

I saw Barbatos Rex commenting in one of his YouTube videos about how easy it was to tip over those cups, with one of his subscribers suggesting PVC end caps, which only held the bottom of the cup and didn’t look too stable, and threw together a holder in OpenSCAD, then put it up for download on Printables. My version is considerably more simplified, though:

[Builder2010]

It was seeing your version that sparked me to draw and print my own. I printed 2 copies of version 2.0 today and they worked very well and are very stable..

Things are moving along.

First thing I did was further attack that floor piece to get it to fit. It took the removal of a bunch of the underneath framing until the angles cleared everything. I also had to notch a part to nestle to the athwartship angle brace. It’s a bit ugly, but all of this is out of side. There is the evaporator deck over top with gratings. You will be viewing this area on a very oblique angle. At least that’s one break I’m getting.

After taking this I plopped the assembly into the ultrasonic cleaner for a few minutes and made it all pretty again.

The underneath is really ugly, but functional. There is no load on this part so having missing bracing means nothing. I way over-engineered this part.

I implemented my idea and it worked exactly as I envisioned. I laid out the bottom design on the previously used floor templates. I had to modify the templates slightly because the bottom skin’s width is narrower than the hold floor’s. This effected some of the conduit locations. I used a transfer punch to locate the holes on the modified template.

I then taped down the Press-n-Seal (sticky side up) over this plan. Each block was stuck to the film and it held strong enough to keep them from shifting.

After several trial passes to get the model properly positioned on the blocks, I dabbed a dollop of epoxy on each and placed the model. The epoxy gave me a little manouvering time until it started to set up.

When the blocks setup I was rewarded with the P-n-S releasing easily and the block firmly glued to the model.

I was able to position every block so none fouled the conduit passages. I had to replace on of the soda straw conduits when it broke loose. I used one of the pieces of brass to carry the conduit to the bottom. Actuall all of the them should go to the base and I may add something to do that.

That was a big step, and I now can proceed mounting hardware on the model without worrying above the blocks.

Next big step… building the entire turbo-generator starting with the condensers. They have an opening at the top that must engage with the large transfer duct coming down from the TGs. There are four brackets on the condensers that mate with four on the frame. The joint is upwards, and clamping was next to impossible. But if I had some stock of the correct thickness, I could wedge the condenser into position long enough for the epoxy to cure. I stacked several pieces glued with CA to made this shim.

​The brackets are hard to visual on the model and the real deal, but if you look closely you can see it.

​Condenser #2 needed a little clamping help along with the shim to orient it correctly until cured. I’m using 5 minute eppxy so curing is pretty fast.

The second’s condensate pump got too cozy with the column next to it.

I first thought to grind material off the pump, but that was not good. It needed to have the column relocated. I cut of the 3D printed resin one, and drilled #20 and epoxied brass as a replacement. All the columns should have been brass as the resin ones definitely have warping issues.

Tomorrow I will install the TGs and then all the piping surroounding this unit. I could possibly be finished tomorrow, but surely on Monday.

[Builder2010]

Friday wasn’t such a good day. I was on the phone with my friend Bryant, who’s building the base, and noticed that an upper joint of one of the vertical pipes out of one condenser was failing. One of the challenges of drilling resin to add metal rod reinforcement is that it can weaken the resin that’s surrounds it. I think that’s what was happening in this case. I repaired it with epoxy while still on the phone.

I then put the TG deck and condensers onto my pull-out tray on the main workbench that is 90º to my movable bench. It was too close to the edge (apparently). My new desk chair is pretty big and tend to run into thing behind me when I swivel it. Usually it knocks over the trash receptacle behind me. NOT THIS TIME!. This time it knocked the entire TG assembly onto the floor. Thank goodness that all that was glued on were the condensers and the TGs themselves. IT BASICALLY WRECKED IT!

Enough of the support columns were whacked that I removed the rest of them. All that remained unscathed were the brass ones. So that’s the bad news.

In addition to the condensers themselves, there was some damage the foundation frame. I took care of it with Bondic.

There’s always a silver lining. In this case that optimistic view was my opportunity to improve the things that I didn’t like about what I have made originally. I had printed the entire condenser assembly as a single part which led to some significant compromises. I also didn’t like how the suspension frame came out. It wasn’t staight or parallel and I didn’t like it. Lastly, the resin columns were warping and weren’t responding to my attempts to straighten them. This catastrophe made it essential to fix these things. I keep saying, the biggest advantage of building custom with your own designed and 3D printed parts is the ability to make new ones.

​I am substituting brass for all the columns like I did on the mezzanine decks. This neccessitated redesinging the condenser mounting frame to column interface. I had printed the frames with the columns. It seemed like a good ideaat the time to ensure alignment. Except the alignment was off. There were other aspects of the mount that were troublesome especially the cross-brace that tied the two sides together. It was too thin, broke and required a jerry-rigged doubling that looked awful, but no one would see it bured under the turbos. I didn’t like that either.

The new design has tubular structures that capture the columns. It’s not exactly as the ship does it, but it will be more effective with the materials I’m using.

The other changes dealt with designing the condenser itself for better printing. I separated the main parts and am printing them individually. The original had the interior of the solid structure hollowed out that required a large drain hole at the bottom. In this iteration, I’m printing the central part as a simple, open cylinder that will print much more easily, and the only surface details is the bolt circle one end that has no suports, ergo no damage to worry about. All of the parts having adjoinng sheelves to assist in assembly.

​

I need two and the first set just finished on the printer. 3 out of 4 parts were perfect. The end bell without the down pipe dlaminated between the bolt flange and the dome. It looks lke a drawing error where the parts were in actual contact. Meanwhile, I started the job again since the good parts will work and I’ll print the other as a separate job. It’s much lower and should print in less than two hours.

While the printing was progressing there was more to do. I almost finished building the mezzanine deck. I’m trying an experiment by using the 3M high strength transfer tape instead of glue. I did test with one of the extra cabinets and it seems pretty strong. Gosh I sure hope so. It makes the joint perfectly clean. After adhering the switch gear cabinets, drilled a hole for the control console wiring. I quickly found out that I could stuff all four wires down the 4mm brass tube so I soldered the ground from the console’s lighting to the ground connection from the other LEDs. It’s not a pretty joint and I may make a little junction box to hide it a bit.

The other end looks like this.

Here’s the mezzanine with cabinets permanently attached.

There’s a small angle iron frame at the base of the triple lighting transformes. I painted them off the model by sticking them to some Scotch Double-sided tape. I attach them tomorrow.

​What remains on the mezzanine is the railings and floor gratings plus some more touch up painting.

While I’m waiting for all the replacement turbo gen parts, I will keep moving through those things that I can assemble. Next up will be the evaporator decks. I have to get the vinyl cutter working. I want to make some of the graphics that way. Oh… I might have found a vendor to produce some 1:48 sailors in proper engine room dress. He’s from Greece and I saw his stuff on eBay and Etsy. If it works out, I will publish his information.

[golikell]

Never a dull moment, is there??

[Russelle]

Whoa Myles!

After such a catastrophe many would throw their hands up in the air and walk away!

Well done for going into repairs straight away and even better making improvements

[Builder2010]

People always comment on my “patience” to do this work. I am NOT patient. What am I is persistent. I used “test pilot management” where you try A, B, C, D, E, etc. until you either auger in or pull up. I will try everything I can think of before giving up. And I never, ever, throw tools, or projects across the room when I’m frustrated. I just leave and let my subconscious solve it off line.

The newly minted condenser parts are working out well… except for one little slip up that needed an on site correction. While my intention was to have bosses on the end bells that would engage in a smaller opening at the condenser end. But that’s not quite how it worked out. My hole was as big as the outer diameter of the bell. So I had to fill the hole with some sheet styrene epoxied in place and then epoxy the end bell on top. While it was annoying, applying some conventional modeling skills worked out okay.

On the first one above, I forgot to cut the hole for the boss. I ended up grinding it off flat and just glued it straight on. I do learn… the second one I cut the hole while I was cutting the styrene circle and it was a simpler job to glue it in place.

While this was going on, the rest of the new design was printing. This included the other end bell and the hanger frame. The other end bell did have the classic 3D drawing error. The bell portion of the drawing was not in actual contact with the flange. As I zoomed in I could see they were actually not in contact. It prints it EXACTLY as you draw it.

The end bells are both on and look okay.

Notice the new method of connecting to the columns. This way I can use brass all the way around, have no warpage, and because I are the becauce I drew the parts square with the hanger, the columns will be nicely plumb. I am going to see if I can glue the condenser to the hanger BEFORE gluing the hanger onto the foundation. It will be much easier to hold it inplace during curing.

I have to take these outside tomorrow to do the bronze painting again using the Alclad black primer and the mixture of pale burnt metal and titanium yellow metallic lacquers.

And while all the curing and printing as going on, I was finishing up the electrical mezzanine decks. It is almost 100% finished. All that’s left is working on some uneven tocuhup painting.

The conduit leg was about 1/8" longer than the others. This was unintentional, but I left it that way so the wiring would be directed straight down the floor opening. It turns out that with the escape trunk epoxied in place, that the entire assembly had to shift a bit forward. This put that longer leg no longer aligned with the floor conduit. I trimmed the longer let with razor saw, holding the entire build in my left hand. I’m not sure about just butt gluing all the legs onto the hold floor. Instead, I’m going to epoxy some slightly smaller tubing into the legs, drilling the floor for the smaller tubes and then epoxying them in places. This will provide better positioning control and better gluing.

The grating went down pretty well and it’s the first walkway getting it. I think it adds tremendous detail focus to the model.

Looking straight down really show just how ephemeral the grating is. The red expose edge of the walkway will be inserted into the H-beam structure of the TG foundation and will not be visible any longer.

On another front, here are the three paint cup holders I designed and printed. The two on the right are version 2 with the finger clearance facilitating getting the cups out. I also thinned the webbing. There’s not real load, but I just like the way it looks. I did want them to have a bit of heft so they wouldn’t move all over the plave when you stick a brush into whatever they’re containing.

​Tomorrow, all the repairs would be complete inclduing paint so building the turbo-gen deck will continue, hopefully without further angst.