I'm with you, Rich, but i think there is an easier way than
finding either a vertical boring machine or even a drill press to
reduce the thickenss of the wall to use this sort of material to
depict 1/87th scale pipe. With styrene products this is a very easy
fix, nearly the same with aluminum and only a little less so with
copper, depending on how it is alloyed. Deburring tools can be
purchased quite inexpensively and can be used to ream out the inside
of the ends of whichever material you might use for HO scale pipe.
The sharper the angle of the deburring tool, the better it will work
for this purpose. Once this is done and the "pipe" is painted in
realistic colors one will have to look hard to realize the walls of
the "pipe" are thicker than they appear to be at their ends.

I have a couple of these deburrers on my reloading bench to
be certain the inside of rifle cases are properly deburred and
chamfered before reloading them. Bullets seat a lot easier in cases
that have been trimmed to the proper length only after the inside of
their necks have been chamfered with such a tool. They are a hand
tool that is simple to use. Any machinist can help you locate one
or they can be found under the "reloading tools" part of
eBay's "Sporting" section, often for very little money.

Hope this helps,
Don Valentine



--- In STMFC@..., SUVCWORR@... wrote:

Dean:

For larger diameter pipe (24 - 36") I have used 1/4" or 3/8"

copper tubing.

Cut it to length then use a vertical boring machine or a drill

press to thin

the walls to a depth of 1/4 inch or so. This give a visually thin

wall but

maintains the overall integrity of the pipe. Paint to match the

color of the

company manufacturing the pipe -- US steel black, J&L steel

tuscan, Armco

steel dk blue, anything from American Bridge was orange although

that was

mostly structural steel for bridges. Not sure the correct color

for Bethlehem

steel pipe. Also adds some weight to the gon. Brass or aluminum

tubing would

work just as well.

Rich Orr

In a message dated 11/27/2008 11:02:50 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
1payne1@... writes:

I've got two pending resin orders, but I've noticed that I've got a
lot of empty gons. The W&LE served the South Lorain pipe works, so
I've decided to model a bunch of pipe loads. I can't afford to

buy

commercial loads for all these without having to reduce my resin
order, so...
Are there any especially good sources for "pipe"? I've got a

bunch of

coffee stirrers, of course, but I don't know if there is something
better. (Mine are a scale 35' 8" or so, 10" approx. OD) I seem to
remember seeing something about someone who found a source of
especially nice stirrers, but don't remember the source.
The pipe load from Life-Like (on sale at Walthers) looks too
thick-walled for my tastes (and a little too "plastic-ey").

Dean Payne


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