I now have about 30 hours of actual hands on work in this restoration, plus a bunch of extra time in research and planning. From talking to other old timers who worked at the plant I have discovered that this is a model of the steam re-boiler system. High pressure steam from Douglas Point Nuke station was used to generate medium pressure steam that was used in the heavy water extraction process. The entire plant consists of heat exchangers (HX’s) drains tanks and condensate return pumps. There are also pressure and level control devises and instrumentation and control piping. The whole thing is like building a partial done jigsaw puzzle without the picture or all the pieces. It is both interesting and enjoyable.

Here is the current batch of pictures|:

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After a lot of scrubbing, things are starting to improve. I used Nk’s advice about paint brushes and I also made an extension handle for a foam brush. It works well for scrubbing flat surfaces.

With the help of a woodworking buddy, we removed the Plexiglas from the particle board base, lost the stained paper and installed a couple ash stiffeners. The particle board had started to bow after all these years. The base was given a coat of gray paint, then a sheet of  frosted Mylar was placed on the board and the plexi screwed back down. To help with orientation of both the viewers and the restorer I made a compass rose to indicate construction north for the model.

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This is a shot of the restored Lummus name plate

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The Pete is a 1/32nd scale New Ray model the operator is also 1/32nd scale. This should give a bit of a sizing reference of the model.

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This is a shot of some of the instrument lines coming off the headers

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The West pumphouse waiting for me to make up some new pump and motor sets.

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The upper level is almost finished. There is one RV stack still to go one once a new elbow is created . At some time in the past a large object was dropped on the top of the model and forced a lot of pieces downward. Some broke, some bent, and some disappeared.

Thanks for looking

Carl

for some reason photobucket doesn't want to show the pics. I used the same format as the first post. Go figure?

Carl

Wow this is really neat and a big restoration project. 

You've mentioned the base material but what are most of the original component materials used? Brass? plastic? wood?

Sorry I missed that detail.

The original is made mostly of Plastruct  architectual plastic. The small pipes are plastic covered metal rods. the larger ones are hollow plastic. all the elbows and valves and tees are plug ins. Other than the complexity of the plumbing the model itself is not that detailed. The builders were more concerned about geographic/ spacial accuracy than visual accuracy.

Thanks

Carl

Wow, even if not that detailed just the size and complexity make this one heck of a project!

Seems to me it would be hard to even find references since I'm assuming the plant would have been classified material.

Wow you don't see that style of plastruct much anymore. Always intresting to see proof of concept and site mockups.Bet your having alittle fun...

So its basicly a scrathbuild! Nice

What about the larger diameter pipes and the large tanks? Are those Platistruct too? I could see today using PVC piping but not in the 60's.