John Miller's BOF Part 1

From time to time I build structures for good friends. While working in Cincinnati, I meet John Miller. I have gotten to know John pretty good and I wanted to help with the layout. He wanted a BOF and we got on the subject while I was there one day and I took measurements and we began to talk about what he wanted. The challenge to this structure was I got the measurements while in Cincinnati but it would be built while I was home in Kentucky right at 180 miles away. I had a certain area to work with.

BOF's are massive and some of the tallest structures in a steel mill. This was what John wanted to capture with this model. The area I had to work with 14 1/2 wide and 46" inches long. and 24 inches tall including the downcomers

I started out with foam board I picked up from Dollar Tree. Most structures I build that are large I start with foam board. It is easy to work with and it gives the basic idea how a structure will look.

I was able to take the mockup BOF to John's and test fit and I was surprised it fit great and an operating session was also held days after the building was set up for test fitting.

Since the mockup fit the area I took a couple more measurements for trackage and the building made a return trip back home with me once again.

After getting back home with the building I cut out the last few sections and added a roof and the raised section where the furnaces will be. This will be where the downcomers are located.  

 Next was siding.

Then the details