Asia Cruise - March 2018

A selection of photographs from our 28-night Cruise aboard Celebrity Millennium.

Burning Building – Part 2, Execution

The next task was to figure out how to have the smoke exit the building. I first thought I could simply make some jagged cuts in the acrylic “glass” which covered the skylight on top of the building. This worked fine but the water from the humidifier would condense on the remaining plastic and droplets of water would drip back into the humidifier. This overwhelmed the ultrasonic disk which produces the water vapor stream, causing the water vapor stream to stop. It would clear in about 20 seconds and start working again. However, the 20 seconds on, 20 seconds off cycle was not very realistic. Also, the stream of water vapor was unrealistically straight and strong when it was running.

I removed the plastic skylight that came with the model and fashioned a new, larger one out of black styrene. I inserted a series of black plastic bars which ran down the angle of the skylight. These bars serve two purposes – they provide a smooth surface on which the water condenses so it runs down the bars to their lowest end without dripping; they serve as a good surface onto which the shards of clear acrylic “glass” can be fastened. I made a trough out of styrene that runs around the perimeter of the inside of the plastic skylight to collect the water droplets that run down the angled plastic bars. I then drilled a hole in one end of this trough and fastened a styrene tube to the underside of the hole. The water droplets collect in the trough and are returned to the reservoir via the styrene tube.

This approach worked fine except there were still two issues I wanted to correct. The stream of water vapor was still too straight and strong. Also, when someone looked in the top of the building when the water vapor was coming out (95% of people do) they could see the white plastic top of the humidifier – this spoiled the effect.

I fashioned a black plastic baffle which runs across the width of the opening from which the water vapor flows from the building. The baffle serves the purpose of disrupting the flow of water vapor, slowing it down and causing it to ‘waft’ somewhat randomly as much as it flows. The baffle, being black, also prevents viewers from being able to see the humidifier when they look in the top of the building. The baffle collects water droplets in addition to those collected by the bars. Because the baffle is angled in such a way that the water droplets fall into the water trough, they do not fall directly into the opening in the top of the humidifier.

When the reservoir is filled with distilled water (to avoid any contaminant build up in the humidifier) and the battery is hooked up (housed in a slot in the interior of the building) the water vapor flows out of the skylight quite realistically. The water that accumulates in the trough inside the skylight returns nicely to the water reservoir.

I installed two emergency vehicles with flashing lights in the street in front of the building and added a few fire fighter figures in various poses. This burning building gets a great deal of interest and positive reaction from members of the public as well as other modelers at train shows.

This approach could be easily adapted for a smokestack on an industrial building, a forest fire scene, a steel mill, etc. I suspect the project might be a lot simpler if the structure from which the “smoke” was to come were larger than my little building as it could accommodate a larger humidifier that would require less modification.

One final thought. If you are considering scratch-building a structure where this technique is employed, I suggest that styrene be used in all locations where there is any chance of exposure to water or water vapor. Otherwise your scratch-built structure will quickly turn into a soggy mess.

Burning Building – Part 1, Concept

Back in 2016 when our group was building its first Free-mo modules, I decided to make use of a Walther’s Burned Building kit that had been in my collection for some time. They also made one called Burning Building. A quick check on line suggests that these kits might not be in production any longer, but I have seen them for sale on occasion at train shows. Woodland Scenics has a nice-looking building which would also work well called Betty’s Burning Building.

Here are pictures of the front and back of the building, with fire fighters added. At our May 2019 train show it was pointed out to me by someone more knowledgeable than I that a fire fighter would never attach the hose directly to a fire hydrant. Instead, the hydrant would be connected to the pumper truck (not shown in this picture) and then the fire fighting hose with the nozzle would be attached to the pumper truck. As you can see, I have not yet made this modification.

The one condition I put on myself was that this building, to be in a Free-mo module called Aspen which depicts a small Saskatchewan prairie town, must have some sort of “smoke” coming from the building and fire vehicles with flashing lights and fire fighters on the scene.

I considered acquiring some sort of smoke machine. However, having used smoke machines on my former garden railway I find them to be more trouble than they are worth. They run on a light weight “smoke oil”. Many public venues where train shows are held will not permit an operating smoke machine because they are a potential fire hazard. In addition, one of the members of our train club suffers from asthma. In the presence of an operating smoke machine he has a serious asthma attack – not something one would want to inflict on show guests, exhibitors or vendors.

I considered some sort of vaping device. Not being a smoker or knowing any smokers that use these, I had no experience with these devices. However, from simple observation these tend to create a volume of smoke that would be very unrealistic when coming from a building in HO scale. Also, most public venues not only prohibit smoking indoors but also vaping.

One day I happened to be shopping in Canadian Tire which is a large and, in my opinion very good, automotive/hardware/housewares chain found across Canada. I was shopping for a replacement filter for a humidifier we use in our bedroom during the dry winter months. On the shelf beside the filters I noticed a miniature humidifier which was on sale for about C$20.00. What I liked about this humidifier made by Crane is that it was designed to be placed in a glass of water on an office desk and plug into a USB port on a computer or other device.

I then acquired a couple of rechargeable portable phone charger devices that have a USB port (need at least two to ensure have operation for a full-day train show). These ran the humidifier very well, lasting up to 5 hours on a charge. Being a humidifier, it produces only moisture and running on 5 volts is a low safety risk. I tried using a bridge rectifier and a voltage rectifier off the 16-volt AC accessory bus that runs under the Free-mo modules, but the current draw of the humidifier is too much for it. I shortened the USB cable so the cable would fit easily inside this small building.

This is an ultrasonic type humidifier which creates a steady visible stream of water vapor. While writing this blog post I checked Canadian Tire’s website and it appears that they don’t carry this product any longer. However, I did find the same product on Amazon.ca. Better still, I see that these are available in black and grey colours also. You will appreciate why one of these would have been better than the white one I have. A search of Amazon or eBay reveals hundreds of different styles of miniature humidifiers (also used are the terms personal and portable).

I needed to shorten the humidifier just over a centimeter because it was too long to fit in my building. I could have dug into the area beneath the building but decided I wanted to have a flat bottom on the building to make it easier to transport. I carefully cut the tube in half and rejoined it with epoxy while at the same time fastening a plastic collar around it.

The collar ensures that the humidifier stands upright inside the plastic container I intended for it – a clear hard plastic container in which a tube of super glue came it. It is roughly four centimetres in diameter.

I built a rectangular waterproof box from styrene to act as a water reservoir and then epoxied the clear hard plastic container to the bottom of the reservoir after carefully drilling a couple of holes in the container sides near the bottom to allow the passage of water.

To be continued…