FORD Auto Module


Trucklover said:
Been a little over a week since i worked on the module, i worked on it for about an hour last Wednesday when my girlfriend was over at my house, she was helping too, it was fun LOL. She had spring break last week, so pretty much for the past 9 days, i have spent all my time with her :D Well she went back to skool yesterday, and i spent all day yesterday and a few hours this morning working on the module. Ive gotten a few things done, and im really happy with how this Assembly Plant is turning out.

First, i layed out some more Smooth-It for the Assembly Plant truck docks and "yard" around the building. I also paved the area where the 2 Auto Loading Ramps will be. Painted all the areas i poured, and i also weathered the rails that the Loading Ramps roll on. Loading Ramps for the Shipping and Receiving docks for the Assembly Plant were painted with "Concrete" Color, and the rest painted with a custom mix of Gray i mixed using the WS Asphalt Top Coat and some White craft Paint.

Retaining Walls for around the Loading Docks were painted and a yellow stripe was added atop all 4 of them. I also installed a section of Retaining Wall next to the Auto Loading Ramps to separate rail traffic from truck traffic and keep loading separate from normal truck traffic around the plant. Ive installed yellow Bumping Posts around all 3 large cargo doors on the front of the plant. Cadged Laddes were painted and installed in a few locations (2 of them from ground level to roof level, and 2 from roof level to the tops of the rectangular structures on the roof. I also added ladders on the "office" part of the roof)

Various Piping was added on the roof, and a rather large horizontal storage tank was set in place on the ground next to the plant and just in front of the large Receiving Cargo Door. The top rear of the Tank has a pipe coming out and leads to the roof where it goes into the building just past the cooling buildings ductwork, which is also located on the roof. 3 Pipes next to the large storage tank lead from ground level from an underground storage tank up to the roof and are distributed to various locations in the plant via wholes in the roof. One pipe goes to the front rectangular structure with the stacks. Another goes to the rear rectangular structure with the stacks. And the third drops down in the roof just past the last support on the roof for the piping.

Ive also added a large and small vertical storage tanks to the roof in front of the rear rectangular structure with the stacks. The pipe from the storage tanks drops into the roof. A small pipe was installed from the front rectangular structure to the rear rectangular structure with the stacks. Air Conditioner Units were added to the roofs of the "Office" portion of the Assembly Plant.

I also decided to change the color of the ducting for the Cooling Building. Ducting, pipes, tanks, and supports were all painted the same color to match.

One last thing, the roofs will all be covered in a layer of gravel when im finished detailing the roofs and such, so the paint you see on the roofs will not be visible when im done :D

Here are a few pictures i snapped off a few minutes ago of the recent progress i have made:

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An Overall shot of the Assembly Plant


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Shipping Truck Docks and the large Shipping Cargo Door


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Receiving Truck Docks, Large Receiving Cargo Door, and the large horizontal storage tank with bumping posts


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Cooling Building and Ductwork, Large Cargo Door, Piping, and some Auto-Racks waiting to be loaded with some new cars out of the plant


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The right side of the plant, near the "office" of the plant. This is the entrance to the loading docks and such where a guard shack is located with chain-link fences and gates. In the upper right of this picture is the entrance to the "employee/customer" parking for the plant which also has a guard shack and chain-link fencing with gates.


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Auto-Loading Racks on rails. 2 of the 3 tracks will be used as loading tracks for autoracks, the third, closest to the wall, will be used as a unloading track for flats and such, as it wont be a long enough siding for auto-racks.


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The rooftop piping


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Roof-Top Storage Tanks


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"Office" Air Conditioner Units


And a few random pics:

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Sorry for the "fuzzy" pictures, this is right in front of my window, and its hard to take pictures during the day, but i wanted to snap some off and post them before i do any more work lol. Even with the blinds closed, the light is still bright and shines through, making the pictures kinda fuzzy.... :eek: lol
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If it was FED-EX, they would have hit the tank...lol
 
Josh, I just now stumbled onto this thread - and all I can say is WOW!!

That's probably the most real-looking auto plant I've ever seen modeled in HO [and I've seen many prototype plants, since I grew up near Detroit]. If I was to make my steel mill layout a series of modules, and hook them up with yours, then between us we'd have a model of Ford's River Rouge complex in Dearborn, MI!
 
Josh, the pictures are fine and the detail and quality of construction is outstanding. This is not to mention the trucks, the real reason you built a factory. :) It will look great on your layout when the time comes.
 
This looks really great. Being a Michigan native, I can say this reminds me of home.

Have you thought about actuating those gates? Might not be your cup of tea, but here is a post from a guy "Wolfgang Dudler" that shows how he detailed his fencing and created an actuator to operate the gates. He's got a lot of things posted on his own website that shows how he did the linkages.
Post #72 on this page:
http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=104664&page=8
 
CSX_road_slug said:
Josh, I just now stumbled onto this thread - and all I can say is WOW!!

That's probably the most real-looking auto plant I've ever seen modeled in HO [and I've seen many prototype plants, since I grew up near Detroit]. If I was to make my steel mill layout a series of modules, and hook them up with yours, then between us we'd have a model of Ford's River Rouge complex in Dearborn, MI!
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Ken, thanks buddy for all the complements :D

You know you gave me an idea, i will have to try and fit this module in somewhere on my future Steel Mill layout, that would be awesome!!
 
UP2CSX said:
Josh, the pictures are fine and the detail and quality of construction is outstanding. This is not to mention the trucks, the real reason you built a factory. :) It will look great on your layout when the time comes.
Click to expand...

sackohammers said:
This looks really great. Being a Michigan native, I can say this reminds me of home.

Have you thought about actuating those gates? Might not be your cup of tea, but here is a post from a guy "Wolfgang Dudler" that shows how he detailed his fencing and created an actuator to operate the gates. He's got a lot of things posted on his own website that shows how he did the linkages.
Post #72 on this page:
http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=104664&page=8
Click to expand...

Jim and Hammers, thanks guys :D I havnt done any work on this module in quite some time, but i think its due to come down off the wall and get worked on some more. Maybe after the 1st of the year :D

Hammers, thanks for the link! Its going to take me some time to get through that thread, 42 pages! Im a member over on that forum, but ive never seen that thread. I have seen that video as well, he does some excellent work and the working gates are ingenious!
 
All pictures have been restored to this thread now as of 12-03-2009. Sorry for all the broken links, alot of my older threads have this issue from when i re-arranged my photobucket album in the summer :(
 
UP2CSX said:
Josh, none of the pictures show up for me, just the broken link PB placeholder :(
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HUH? lol, there all showing up for me, does anyone else have any problems seeing the pictures in this thread? I have them all linked to my photobucket album....
 
HUH? lol, there all showing up for me, does anyone else have any problems seeing the pictures in this thread? I have them all linked to my photobucket album....
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Sorry Josh all I see is a thumbnail stating the photo missing or has been deleted. Something like that, in short they're gone

Cheers
Willis
 
CBCNSfan said:
Sorry Josh all I see is a thumbnail stating the photo missing or has been deleted. Something like that, in short they're gone

Cheers
Willis
Click to expand...

I restored them all with the NEW links to the photos in my photobucket album last night, i dont understand why they are still showing up as broken links?

Help :(

Why do they all show up just fine for me but dont show for anyone else?
 
Something is wrong with your links. Even when I copy and paste the link direct to my browser, I still get the same "deleted" message.
 
That looks great Josh!

I live in Louisville, KY, & a HUGE part of the rail traffic in & around this city is based on the two Ford plants we have here...

I remember a few years back, several articles in MR on modeling various eras, & aspects of the auto industry...at least one on building a layout based on that one industry...interesting stuff!
 
UP2CSX said:
Something is wrong with your links. Even when I copy and paste the link direct to my browser, I still get the same "deleted" message.
Click to expand...

Jim i dont know what to tell you :confused: It seems to work for some, but not for others. The last 3 people to post in this thread besides you have all said they work for them, so this is very odd why the new links work for some but not for others :eek:
 
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