Building the Walthers Ashland Rolling Mill - Round Two

Trucklover · Dec 30, 2011

Figured I would start a new thread with the latest build ive just started working on. I sold my last Rolling Mill on ebay last week, and was pretty pleased with the selling price. It motivated me enough to build another, but this time make a few changes and additions to the overall structure of the Rolling Mill. Here was the link to the last Mill I built: http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19729

1) Make the mill shorter for those who cannot and do not have the room for the full length structure.
2) Changing the location of the Smoke Stacks on the rear of the Mill and move them to the side to allow for a flush fitting up against a wall if desired.
3) Super detail the inside of the mill with various details such as:

Coil Cradles loaded with finished coils waiting to be transported placed along the back side and between the back 2 Coil Car tracks of the Mill
Empty Ingot Molds placed by the Soaking Pits
Loaded Ingot Cars placed on the track in front of the soaking pits
Red Hot Steel Slabs on the right side of the rolling stand
Cooled Steel Slabs on the left of the Mill on blocking waiting to be loaded on flatcars
Heavy Duty Overhead Crane kitbashed to fit on the craneways of the Mill to move coils, slabs, ingots...
Track Bumpers placed on inside of the mill
Extra track to be laid by the Soaking Pits for Ingot Flats

Trucklover · Dec 30, 2011

First thing was first, shorting the length of the mill by leaving out an entire length of one of the base pieces. This shortens the mill by 8", instead of being 32" long it is now 24" long.

Next step was to cut the Smoke Stacks foundation and relocate it to the side of the soaking pits on the right side of the structure. Doing this allows for placement directly up against a wall.

After that it was time to add in another track by the Soaking Pits so that Ingot Flatcars can be spotted next to the Soaking Pits where the Overhead Crane can unload the ingots into the Pits.

Finally I added 4 Track Bumpers to each of the 4 tracks in the mill, 2 for the Coil Car tracks and 1 for the Slab Car track on the left side of the mill and 1 for the Ingot Track on the right side of the mill.

Here are a few pictures to show the start of the build:

Trucklover · Jan 3, 2012

Got some more progress done this evening. The rolling stands as well as the mill stand have been assembled and painted. The large and small motors have been put together and are ready for painting, as are the soaking pit lids

These shots are just showing some closeups while playing around with the new camera I got on black friday for $100 at Target, a Nikon Coolpix L105

Rico · Jan 4, 2012

Lookin' good Josh, and nice deal on the camera!
A friend is building a huge layout and is planning a steel mill scene, he has all the Walthers series kits X two and then some.

Trucklover · Jan 5, 2012

Rico said:
Lookin' good Josh, and nice deal on the camera!
A friend is building a huge layout and is planning a steel mill scene, he has all the Walthers series kits X two and then some.

Thanks

Im looking forward to detailing the inside of this one, its something ive always thought about doing but one of those things I just never really did, figured the 4th time around building this kit was a good time to start detailing the inside... lol

Your buddy wouldnt happen to be interested in having his Steel Mill kits custom built and painted for him would he? Im also going to be doing an Ore Boat/Hulett Unloader Dock Scene complete with a dock, water, and tracks running under the Hulett so it will be all ready to be set into someones layout. Ill be starting that coming up here real soon after I finish this Rolling Mill, not sure if your buddy will have a dock scene going with the Huletts but if he may be interested please do let me know

Rico · Jan 5, 2012

Actually he's doing the Hulett loader and all!
He'll be modifying the kits heavily to fit the scenes and adding two or more kits together.
It's going to be bloody huge when he gets that far!
Thanx for the offer to build, but he is quite the accomplished modeller and puts my work to shame. (He's also retired so time is on his side as Mick says)

Trucklover · Jan 5, 2012

LOL well it sounds like hes going to have a massive Mill! I want to see pictures as he goes, will he be posting on any forums with his work in progress?

Rico · Jan 5, 2012

He won't, but I will!

Trucklover · Jan 5, 2012

AHH good! I am really looking forward to seeing some progress on that project, so please do post some pictures when he gets off and rolling, of coarse if he doesnt mind you doing so

Rico · Jan 6, 2012

I go into a steel mill for work at times and plan on taking pics for him, I can send some to you as well.
There's some great trackwork that begs to be modeled!
Side note: Had to get something unloaded today and the forklift guy was bitching because he had to spread his forks for the load, what if he has to load a pallet right after?
So they actualy sent someone out to move the forks then close them again for him.
(Umm, just why is it jobs are going to China again??)

Now that's what I call a union!

IronBeltKen · Jan 6, 2012

Rico -

Do you know the guys in this mill well enough that they won't mind you shooting photos? The reason I ask is because whenever I've toured a steel mill with the RRISIG, the mill management and security folks always strictly forbade any cameras to be brought on the property unless special arrangements were made far in advance. Probably worried about the photos falling into the wrong hands [OSHA, ambulance chasers, etc.] and being used against them.

Then again, if your cell phone has a camera attachment on it [they didn't back in my RRISIG days], you can probably do some discreet shooting...

Rico · Jan 7, 2012

Yeah I've taken a few already, love to watch them dig the molten slag out with the machines and dump it. It's like standing next to a volcano!
I should be there this week, I'll snag a few and throw them here, if Josh doesn't mind his thread getting hijacked!

Trucklover · Jan 7, 2012

Not at all, I would love to see some pictures!

Trucklover · Jan 10, 2012

Some more work has been completed on the Mill including assembling and installing the Roller Motors, installing the 4 Roller Guard Assemblies, installing the handrails and stairs around the Mill Roller Machine, the railings around the Motor on the backside of the Mill, the Stairs for the crossover of the Rollers, Installing the lifting brackets on the Soaking Pit Lids and setting them in place, and starting the main structure walls and roof on the right side of the Mill.

bmurphy1047 · Jan 17, 2012

Josh, I am just beginning a small HO Steel based layout, and the Rolling Mill is going to be my first project. I was wondering if you could tell what color and or brand you used on the mill stand? Thanks in advance

Trucklover · Jan 17, 2012

bmurphy1047 said:
Josh, I am just beginning a small HO Steel based layout, and the Rolling Mill is going to be my first project. I was wondering if you could tell what color and or brand you used on the mill stand? Thanks in advance

Murphy,

The spray paint is from American Accents and the color is called Moss Green. I picked it up at Lowes along with a few other colors. I like them because they are kinda a matte finish, they have some shine to them but not too much

Please post some pictures of your layout progress, I always love seeing Steel Mills!

bmurphy1047 · Jan 18, 2012

Thanks for the info Josh. It may be awhile before any layout progress photos will be posted. I am in the very beginning stages. I am planning on building a few of the kits, Rolling Mill, Blast Furnace, Coke Works etc. Then work on mocking the layout up knowing what I need for building sizes. As a newbie to scale modelling I would be open to any suggestions and or tips on building the steel mills. Also what kind of bumpers you used inside the mill, that looks like an exellent addition to the kit. Thanks again!!

Ben

Trucklover · Jan 18, 2012

Ben,

I would highly suggest taking your time on the blast furnace build! It is a massive kit with alot of pieces to be assembled. I did a thread here of a step by step build of the blast furnace a little while back... It is located here: http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13154

I would also suggest painting as you build, by this I mean assembling sub assemblies and painting them and then assembling them into the main structure. You will see what I mean by seeing the above thread. While it may take twice as long, It makes everything so much easier in the end. I would also suggest the same for any weathering that you will be applying to the structures.

The track bumpers on the inside are just regular old Walthers Track Bumpers they have

https://walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3511

Trucklover · Jan 22, 2012

Well, I have gotten alot done on this since i last updated. Pretty much all that remains to do is finish off the Heavy Duty Overhead Crane, build and paint a few more steel coils for the coil cradles and add some decals (which im working on doing right now)

As I was building the main exterior walls of the Mill, I got an idea that sounded like it would be pretty neat so I went through with it. I think it adds alot of character to the building and makes it stand out that much more. Not too sure if its prototypical, but I liked how it looked so I went through with it. Instead of closing the whole mill off and surrounding it all with exterior walls, I left the left side of the mill over the coil and slab tracks exposed with no roof or walls. This also meant i had to extend the craneways with no supports so I cut some of the vertical beam supports and used them to extend the craneways all the way out. This leaves part of the mill exposed for more viewing opportunities of the interior of the mill.

Here are some pictures for you guys

Showing the overall view of the mill. I decided to go with the larger enclosed roof vents for the roof instead of the rounded smaller vents I used on the other Rolling Mill i built.

These next shots are all shots from down at eye level of the Mill looking inside.
View from left end

View from right end

And these last ones are all close-ups looking inside the mill showing details
Looking at one of the 2 Ingot Mold Flatcars (#'s 259 & 134) that will be included with the mill when it is sold

Right end of the Mill Stand

Mill Stand (Center of Mill)

Left end of the Mill Stand

Looking at the Slab Track (front track) which will include a Slab Flatcar (#806) being loaded with steel slabs. All the steel slabs have been put on blocking which are scale 8x10" pieces of lumber.