Steel Mill modeling Kiss of Death?

[Kentuckian]

Lately I've gotten interested in steel mill modeling. Many years ago I was in the union when I worked one summer at what was then Armco Steel; I shoveled slag. Anyway, I checked out John Glaab's peach creek site and the end of March. Checked in again a few days later and he had closed up shop!

Last night one of the steel mill special interest sites recommended Park Lane Hobbies. They are retiring tomorrow!

Of course, any of the Walthers steel mill kits are unobtainium. I'm almost afraid to keep looking! I guess the moral of the story is if you are interested in something in a niche market, get it while you can.

[Philip H]

John closed the brick and mortar Peach Creek over two years ago. He's been basically selling left over stock ever since. I am not surprised he's finally done. Sad, but not surprised.

[mu26aeh]

2 presentations at recent mini-con event hosted by Mainline Hobby and South Mountain Div of NMRA were on Steel Mill modeling.  Several members of the NMRA Steel Mill Modelers Special Interest Group were present at the event, and the 2 presentations were given by members.  Very informative in my views and were well received by the group in attendance.

http://www.smmsig.org/

[Kentuckian]

Thanks for the link. I'm sure things in this special interest are still active and I am glad; it just seems like lately there have been some coincidences of shops that cater to it closing.

[conrail98]

Steel in N is getting harder and harder to do, especially hearing Peach Creek is closing. Shapeways, especially Ndustrial, has a lot of the detail parts but the kits have never been rerun. Some say you can use the HO ones, but even those are getting harder to find. A few years ago, based off a layout in my area that models the steel mill industry, I had thought about doing a portion dedicated to that but realized that not only would structures be harder to come by, but so would things like torpedo cars, ore cars, and other specialty items needed for the mill itself,

Phil

[bman]

I'd seen where Peach Creek was closing but I didn't notice that Park Lane was as well.  That's quite the 1-2 punch so to speak.  After several conversations with and a visit to Dean Freytag's  layout several(6-8 maybe) years ago got me interested in steel industry modeling as well.
One of the things that has held me back(besides myself and space) is the availability of off the shelf products.  I'm working on developing the skills to be able to scratch build structures, etc.  Hopefully when I'm an empty nester and move south I'll be able to build a small steel industry and incorporate it into a larger railroad. 

[Kentuckian]

The HO scale Walthers Overhead Traveling Crane (933-3102) can be used for N scale I believe. The craneway beams look pretty good, but are a tad thick. The crane beams are probably too shallow for a 250 ton overhead crane with a 100' span in N scale; I know they are too short.  I am planning on cutting down the HO scale 250 ton crane to be the crane for my N scale electric furnace building. More to come I hope.

[thomasjmdavis]

There are areas of the hobby that have a "key element," and when if that disappears, or goes out of production, the various suppliers of other parts see their business dry up.  The example that has most affected me has been passenger car core kits.  Once those were out of production, car side makers saw their N scale sales drop off. 

The "key element" of steel mill modeling in N scale were the Walthers blast furnace and mill buildings.  With those no longer available (ok, you can pay $300 on eBay for a blast furnace, one comes up maybe once a month), the sales of slag cars and hot metal cars, and rolling mill details are all going to fall off radically.

I had plans to build a steel mill for the next layout (still cleaning the basement), but it is now looking like if I go ahead, it will be a backdrop and a couple of mill/foundry type buildings made from modulars or cut down from HO, and a backdrop of blast furnaces in the distance.  I spent some time searching for instructions on how to scratch build a blast furnace, but no such luck.  All the articles and videos I can find on steel mills in N scale (including the Kalmbach booklet) essentially begin with "buy a Walthers N scale blast furnace." 

So, I would argue that the key to getting more steel industry equipment back into N scale is for someone to either buy the tooling from Walthers (or the contract with Minitrix, whose model sold in Europe looks identical, and I think may have produced the kit for Walthers), or, more practically and less expensively, come up with alternative parts- maybe even based on ABS pipe with resin fittings, or some such, and a set of instructions for a blast furnace.

[nsbob]

You might want to check out KenRay Models.  I saw their products in person at the Roanoke N Scale Convention and I was very impressed.  (http://kenraymodels.com)

[basementcalling]

Definitely hard to offer industry specific details for any specific industry if the main buildings to create a place on the layout to need the details aren't available.

Then again, maybe in 15 years there are no more plastic kits at all. Everything will be a photo print cut and sized to scale that we apply to a backdrop or walls of foam core or some similar structure material.

[Kentuckian]

I hope that there will always be some sort of 3D kits.

Yes, I have found KenRay, and have an order pending with them right now. I do appreciate your recommendation. I'm always late to the party . . .

[thomasjmdavis]

The European model companies are moving increasingly towards laser cut kits in various composite materials and are seeing a big resurgence of paper models that can be printed out.  With the availability of low cost desk top 2-D cutters that can handle light plastic sheet, and even low cost laser cutters, it is not out of the question to download and "print" your own building components.  This is another technology in its infancy, so in another 10 years, "hobby grade" (ie- cheap) cutting machine capabilities will no doubt improve, and at some point, will include, say, 30 mil polystyrene- the wall thickness of many of our current injection molded kits. 

But in the meanwhile, brick sheet and various corrugated metal materials are readily available, along with trusswork and girders in styrene, so a mill building, while large, is not a particularly difficult scratchbuilding challennge or could be built with modulars or kitbashing avialble kits.  What is missing, and more difficult, are the blast furnace and coke ovens.

As long as Walthers has the tooling, or rights to the tooling, I can't see any other manufacturer taking the risk to produce these.  They could invest tens (or hundreds?) of thousands in tooling and advertising, and Walthers could at any time announce another run at half the price the new producer would have to charge.

[thomasjmdavis]

This conversation brings up a related question.  Did Dean Freytag (or another author) ever publish an article on scratchbuilding a blast furnace?  I remember several articles about his layout and steel mill, long before Walthers made a kit in any scale.  But I don't recall (and haven't found in internet searching) anything specific on scratchbuilding a blast furnace.  This is a sort of academic question for me, since I am just starting on scratchbuilding a passenger terminal- which I am guessing will tie up most of my structure modeling time for the next 6 months to a year.  But in the longer term, I plan to have a steel mill area on the layout, and would be happy if I can find a way to do a blast furnace in 3-D for less than the $150-300 that the old Walthers kits are going for on ebay.

[dougnelson]

I spoke with Gary at Park Lane Hobbies.  He will still be producing the steel mill cars and he will be at the N Scale Convention in Pittsburgh.  I ordered a couple of 200 ton bottle cars.

[Kentuckian]

But in the meanwhile, brick sheet and various corrugated metal materials are readily available, along with trusswork and girders in styrene, so a mill building, while large, is not a particularly difficult scratchbuilding challennge or could be built with modulars or kitbashing avialble kits.  What is missing, and more difficult, are the blast furnace and coke ovens.

That is one reason I am modeling an electric furnace mill. Kentucky Electric Steel is still in Coalton, KY but is just a rolling mill now. The melter was removed a few years ago. A few weeks ago I was able to find a NOS Walthers electric furnace kit from the website of a brick and mortar hobby shop. I am planning on  scratchbuilding the rolling mill, and kitbashing the overhead crane for the shipping yard. An electric mill is smaller, easier to build, and cheaper than a blast furnace mill. I grew up breathing basic oxygen dust anyway, so I'm not really interested.

I'm glad Park Lane is still in the mix.