I covered the construction of this item in my Mopac Layout thread starting on page 27 post #267, however, I know some of you that model other scales don't always look at the HO forum so I will cover it here. I have a scrapyard in Alma called Davis Salvage. Part of the scrap that is shipped out is in bales. The question of how it was baled had bothered me somewhat so I did a little research concerning scrap metal balers. I found a site for Nexgen balers that revealed a model (Galaxy) that didn't seem difficult to build. I used other photos where people were shown using the baler to determine some of the measurements. I drew up a rough sketch making a few changes in design (allowing for the space I had in the scrapyard). The prototype has two horizontal rams with one located on the backside. Since that would take up too much space, I redesigned that ram to be vertical allowing for a narrower model. Also I did not want to build a current (21st century) model since I model 1977 on my layout. First of all I did not want to spend a lot of money (if any) for this project so I rummaged through my scrap box and building materials to see what I might have on hand to start construction. I found some .020 and .080 styrene; a few 4" (scale) square basswood strips; various sizes of square styrene and some dowel stock in various sizes. That seemed to be enough material start the job so I started building. Below is the main horizontal ram and hopper. The ram is 4'X4'X40' using .080 styrene. The hopper is 4'X8' at the bottom and 5'X8' at the top. I used .020 styrene for the hopper with some square styrene stock to reinforce the corners. The height is 11'. The front of the hopper body is set back 6' from the front of the ram to allow for the shorter 4'X4' vertical ram. I'll cover the conveyor chute and reinforcing ribs in the next post.
Thanks to Mopman for this scratchbuild article. It is really a great example of seeing a prototype structure and then recreating it from parts in your scrap bin. Additional search terms: scenery structure
