On Top of Ole Smokey

It's been a few days since my last post, I've had a stomach bug that's been kicking my butt. Well, at least I caught up on my sleep.

Today's project is the smokestack for the Coke Oven. The kit has a four-sided stack that fits together well, but doesn't seem tall enough. I need it to be at least as tall as the surrounding buildings. I took four of the Quench Tower's open ends, and made a square, concrete base for the stack. I filled in the openings at the bottom with more of the Pikestuff concrete block.

The base with the smokestack attached......

.......well, sort of. I thought working with a tall, skinny stack during construction, might be awkward, so I recessed the stack into the base and drilled holes to accept these tubes, which register and secure the stack  to the base. This allows the stack to be removed while working on the base.

I thought I'd like a precipitator for the stack, and made this top-piece from a core of a cash register receipt paper.

There needs to be a way inside the base, and this roll-up door provides it.

The sidewalls attached...............

............as well as the roof. A snug fit on one of the block walls.

There has to be a way for the smoke to get from the ovens to the stack, and ............. well, I find straight pipes so boring, don't you. Plastruct parts to the rescue. (Along with making ladles, I find making convoluted pipes very relaxing.) I try to keep a good supply of various size fittings on hand, because once I start layin' pipe, who knows when I'll finish.

Here it is installed. OK, are you ready for a dirty, little secret?  This pipe was actually the first part done in this project. Remember in my last post where I said that all I need to do now is hide these screw heads.? Guess what is under the left end of this pipe? Yeah, an exposed screw head. When I started this project, my only goal was to cover up that screw head, but hey, a pipe's gotta go somewhere, and .............it just goes to show how easily things can snowball  away from your original intention.

If one pipe is good, three has to be better. Don't worry, those mold lines will file right off.

Now the precipitator. Eight "T's" and four "Elbows"...............

................and eight "Reducers..............

....................with eight pipes and sixteen smaller "Elbows" and I have the start of a precipitator.

Installed on the smokestack.

With the pipes painted.

I also attached a square piece of  3/4" plywood under the base to the Masonite. It's a snug fit, but I'll attach the smokestack permanently when this part of the project is done.

That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed it. Don