Spent tonight adding more rings to the stoves. I'm up to 73 scale feet on each, just another 27 to go, but I've run out of Rix Tank kits once again. Looks like I should only need two more 60' kits to do it. If anyone needs 20 or so tank tops let me know. I started thinking about the tuyeres for both furnaces. Using Plastruct components will set me back almost $100 for both furnaces. The Steel Mill CFO (my wife) has ordered across the board capital expenditure cuts due to four years of college tuition for my daughter starting in August.
Having more time than money I set out to mock up a prototype using Evergreen tubing. I'm pretty happy with the results so far - a little more cleanup and two lift rings and I should be good. It takes very little tubing so the total cost should be more like less than $20 for both furnaces. Now to make 12 for A furnace and I think at least 18 for B (B-Furnace will have a slightly different configuration. Maybe I'll pop in the 4hr Das Boot Director's Cut and get them done.
A word on tubing and for that matter plastic structural shapes in general - I've found that the Evergreen shapes are much finer and hence thiner that the same sized Plastruct. While looking more prototypical, some of the smaller H-columns made by Evergreen bend with very little weight on them. On the other hand, the tubing, which Evergreen makes to 1/2" telescopes on 1/16" increments, which is an advantage. It is also made of styrene so it glues better than the Plastruct. Due to this, you will see me probably shift more toward Plastruct for my structural shapes, using Evergreen for my sheets, solids, and tubing.
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