Decided to begin a project to test the limits of my sanity - a 1:32 scale beehive brick kiln, built up of individual brick. These batch-process kilns for firing brick were common throughout North America and Europe. They were originally coal-fired, but many were later converted to oil. The Medora (Indiana) Brick Plant historic web site has a lot of good information about the week-long loading, firing, and cooling cycle of the kilns, as well as photos of the loading process: http://www.medorabrickplant.org/ (http://www.medorabrickplant.org/)
"The Medora Brick Plant kilns are about 30 feet in diameter. The walls - 8 feet high and 24 inches thick. The domes ceiling/roofs were self supporting sitting on the walls. When loaded and processed each kiln (1950's-1992) was to yield 70,000 saleable brick from the 72,000 to 73,000 brick that it contained per firing. A three to five percent loss. It took about 1 lb. of coal (that generated the heat) to produce one brick." Of course, I'm not planning to make the walls that thick!
Below are photos of...
1. a surviving kiln in a park near Lorton, VA.
2. an abandoned brick plant in Northwest Washington, DC that is well documented on the HABS-HAER site
Mark
More photos...
1. detail of the band clamps on the kiln in Virginia
2. a kiln in the UK showing conversion to oil
3. detail of loading door on kiln in Virginia. Steel doors are just to keep people out of the sturcture
Mark
I bought some of Heinrich Schmid's nice 1:32 scale brick, but they don't have the same proportions as most common US face brick. We corresponded for a bit, and an order for 40,000 bricks convinced Heinrich to make some to the size that I wanted. They're slightly thinner than a US brick, but that compromise saved him a lot of tooling development.
The photo shows that sometimes bricks are stuck together. Those separate easily with a knife. Some of the bricks do have some 'flash,' but that cleans up easily with a pass over sandpaper.
Yes, that's 40,000 bricks... "They're coming to take be away, ho-ho, ha-ha, to the funny farm..."
Picked up a length of 10" concrete forming tube, and am building the form. More to follow...
Mark
40,000 bricks.... :o :o :o
You're going to be giving Sir Nick a run for his money in the bricklaying department. Well, as a good friend of mine says about such tasks... "It's a zen thing."
Paul
Good God man why!!!...just kidding.
Actually laying that many bricks sounds easier than scribing them into cast plaster or the like. I want to scratchbuild some brick buildings in 1:48 and am thinking of cutting bricks out of .030" x .020" strip styrene and laying them one at a time. Can't wait to see your progress.
Tom
And they say I'm nuts! ;D ;D
Great reference photos, this looks like it will be a neat project. I look forward to your progress.
Marc
I'm going to count the bricks in the full size structure, then compare the number of bricks in yours. If you are off by more than two bricks your model will be disqualified. -- Russ
Quote from: finescalerr on January 25, 2010, 12:46:07 AM
I'm going to count the bricks in the full size structure, then compare the number of bricks in yours. If you are off by more than two bricks your model will be disqualified. -- Russ
Disqualified from what ?
Nick
Mark ,
40,000 f...... bricks ? Herr Schmid must be laughing all the way to the bank . And I thought I was pushing the boat out at 3000 bricks . Man , you must have some deep pockets .
So will you have this structure built by the 2013 narrow Gauge Convention ? No ? How about the 2015 Convention ? Oh well , just bring along what you have completed !
How do you intend keeping the bricks apart for the mortar courses . I used HO 6x1 stripwood , but as your structure is circular you might need to find something else .
As the only ,or one of the only, other fools to build a structure out of individual bricks I know what you are going to have to do to achieve acceptable results . Good luck .
Still , when yopu throw in the towel after laying 10,000 you can always sell the rest of the bricks off . I reckon that in ten years time there will be many structures around built in this way .
Have fun ,
Nick
Thanks for the encouragement!
The next step is to become efficient at cutting the brick. An old NWSL stripwood Chopper actually does a great job of breaking these mini bricks in half without any scoring. As Nick will recognize, the kilns are laid up in an English bond, where every other row is set end-wise. Since on the model there is no mortar joint behind the bricks set length-wise, a full half brick is slightly too long, so I will make a jig for the disc sander to dress the broken end and get the length right.
Home Depot carries lightweight cardboard form tubes up to 16". Got a 48" length of 10" diameter, and carefully cut a section with a utility knife. It isn't really stiff enough to hold shape, so I reinforced it with 3/8" plywood disks cut on the bandsaw. Am applying a printed paper wrapper with lines for the courses, arches, and openings.
Mark
Quote from: marklayton on January 24, 2010, 07:50:12 PM
Yes, that's 40,000 bricks... "They're coming to take be away, ho-ho, ha-ha, to the funny farm..."
Fools rush in where angels fear to thread!
This will be an interesting project to follow!
Regards, Håvard H.
Egad!
Mark, much success in your latest endeavor to drive yourself insane. ;D This will be a great undertaking, do you envision using all the bricks for your project?
One quick question when laying the bricks up in a circle, I wonder do you have to remove any of the rear corners as not to have too large a gap in the front face? Look forward to your project and your techniques for curving the top closed. Pat
Pat -
I'm modeling this kiln with bricked-up openings (i.e. during a firing cycle), so a single layer of face of brick is all that's needed. 121 bricks makes one course, and their are 43 courses. So only about 5,200 bricks, if I've measured correctly.
The form tube is 10-3/16" in diameter, or just over 27 scale feet in diameter. With that large a curvature, there is no need to even have the brick touch at the back corners.
I've just about finished the top course. I'm working top-down in case there's less than a brick's worth of room at the bottom, so the dirt and pavers will hide it! Using 60-minute Epoxy, and finding it doesn't have enough initial grab, so bricks tend to move and I have to be very careful of bumping a neighboring brick. Decide to experiment with double-stick foam tape. While the glue isn't as permanent or strong as Epoxy, once the structure is grouted, it should become a rigid shell not relying on good adhesion to the form. Will post some more pictures tomorrow.
Mark
Don't worry about it driving you insane. Just the fact that you're attempting this seems to indicate you're already there!
Seriously, very cool project -- should be a fun and interesting build. The prototypes look great.
I'd like to try hand-laid brick sometime, if I can find (or create) a source for 1/24th scale bricks that will hold up outdoors.
Mark ,
I used a tacky glue to stick my bricks . Once the mortar is in place , nothing will move . It is stronger than the real thing . I just used casting plaster for the mortar .
What are you going to do with the other 34,800 bricks ? I guess you are going to need piles of fired bricks surrounding the kiln , and loads of unfired ones in the drying sheds . You are going to model some open sheds filled with bricks, aren't you ?
There is a chap on one of the German forums , Buntbahn I think , who has been building a large brick structure in 1/24th scale who uses some sort of drill press to cut his bricks . If you are a member of the Yahoo FS32NG Forum there was a link to the relevant webpage a couple of days ago .
Nick
Impressive project!
I will be following this with interest since I have had the urge to build a turpentine still for some time now. These stills were built on top of a round brick firebox quite similar to a small brick kiln. I've been wondering how best to model a round brick form, since I want to use my model as a master for castings. I've tried a cardboard tube form wrapped with brick sheet, didn't like. Thought about using individual styrene bricks, but in HO that's a little insane even for me. Carved plaster seems like the least bad option right now.
Mark as the others have said I admire your dedication , and courage to go this route
Quote from: gin sot on January 26, 2010, 11:04:30 AM
Carved plaster seems like the least bad option right now.
I've never really got on with carving plaster, the master for these 3 were done in plaster and it was a real so & so !!
Lime kilns in 16mm
(https://www.finescalerr.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi232.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee275%2Fgfadvance%2FTywford%2F16mm002.jpg&hash=b95c18e902f6b8c71824b24fcf788ec9d6067c60)
Gordon
Is your middle name 'masochist'?
John
Mark, thanks for the info. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that you started at the top, if you are going to totally enclose it anyway why not start at the bottom and if need be trim a small bit of the tube if it is visible? I think if you started at the bottom your 60 minute epoxy would have time to cure and not have to risk moving anything around it. Look forward to the pics maybe that will give me a better grip on it. Pat
It's been a couple of months since the last post. I would love to know how this is progressing. Do I see a job-lot of spare bricks coming up on ebay soon?
Have no idea where this project went but this seems a good place to post the following link. I was 'out and about' in Cayce, SC Saturday (across the river from Columbia, SC) and stopped to take photos of Brick Kilns here. Look very much the same as the ones posted here.
Guignard Brick Kilns (http://public.fotki.com/eTraxx/columbia-brick-kilns/)
Last time I saw Mark he was wiggling his index finger up and down between his lips,
making a noise that sounded like: "...blurba-blurba-blurba-blurba...."
(I'd like to get an updatae on this project, too.......)
Me too and for the reason Gin Sot gave. I too am wanting to do a turp still diorama in 1/87. The brick has me a little scared but it's the hundreds of barrels that have me really spooked.
Mark
I presume your roommate at St. Elizabeth's is Mark Hinkley? :)
Quote from: eTraxx on September 28, 2010, 09:54:56 AM
Have no idea where this project went but this seems a good place to post the following link. I was 'out and about' in Cayce, SC Saturday (across the river from Columbia, SC) and stopped to take photos of Brick Kilns here. Look very much the same as the ones posted here.
Guignard Brick Kilns (http://public.fotki.com/eTraxx/columbia-brick-kilns/)
Thanks for the link to your photos. I've been working on a pair of HO scale (pre-cast) brick kilns, so these are a big help getting the colors right.
dave
Anyone know the state of play with this project ? The possibility exists that I might have a go at building one of these in 1/35th scale and I would like to see how it is done ,
Nick
Nick wrote:
There is a chap on one of the German forums , Buntbahn I think , who has been building a large brick structure in 1/24th scale who uses some sort of drill press to cut his bricks . If you are a member of the Yahoo FS32NG Forum there was a link to the relevant webpage a couple of days ago .
Long time ago I tried to break the stones of Mr. Schmid (http://english.miniaturziegel.de/overview.xhtml) in this way: Buntbahn (http://www.buntbahn.de/modellbau/viewtopic.php?t=6691&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=50) ... and here google translated (http://www.buntbahn.de/modellbau/viewtopic.php?t=6691&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=50).