Conveyor Supports

Here I've mocked-up the Coal Dump and Conveyor to the transfer House. When I placed the supports that came with the kit under the Conveyor, they seemed to take up too much ground space. I wanted to be able to fit at least one line of track between them, which meant they needed to be farther apart.

Here are the supports as they come in the kit. I figured if I made one taller and the other shorter, they could be placed far enough apart to allow a line of track to fit.

I cut off the concrete piers from the bottom of both, then removed the bottom section of the shorter one, then finally separated the two H-beams.

Finishing the short support was easy, simply re-gluing the piers to the bottom. Those machinist's blocks sure are handy.

The taller support took a few more steps. Using a straight-edge, I glued the H-beams from the short support to the bottom here. The cross-beams were too small to be salvaged, so I made new ones from .060 x .060 styrene. A little cutting and filing, and they match up pretty well.

While waiting for glue to dry, I worked on this, the control room for the Coal Dump. The sides are leftovers, while the door, windows, and roof are Pikestuff.  You can see the roof detail pretty well in this shot.

Sadly, after fitting the altered supports back under the Conveyor, there was still not enough separation to allow a track  through. But by turning them nearly 90° (remember, the Conveyor is at an angle from the Coal Dump to the transfer House) and trimming the tops to fit, I'll gain the space I needed.

Have to say I'm having a lot of fun. Hope you're enjoying it too.  Don