Almost Finished

It's amazing how much of an effect a very small detail like this small incinerator make to an already interesting scene! Since my last blog post I've made some changes to the overall setup of the smake generator. 

I had to shorten the total length of the tube in which the smoke had to traverse, the smoke itself is quite heavy and dense, I found that the smoke as it passed through the tube was cooling down so much that it would start to sink back down the tube before reaching the top and it would end up billowing out the bottom with the occasional puff making it to the top.

In the end I had to shorten the tube down to a maximum of 10cm and  to combat heat issues I insulated the aluminum tube with silicone tape which to my amazement worked quite well. Prior to adding the silicone tape I could only hold the aluminum tube for a few seconds before it was too hot however with the silicone tape I can easily hold it for as long as I want and it's not too hot to hold.

The foam board I'm using has a maximum working temperature of +70º C, it's hard to judge just how hot the aluminum tube actually gets however I've run some test with the tube insulated and I've also tested it with the tube not insulated. With the tube not insulated there was no deforming of the foam in direct contact even at the hottest point on the tube, the fact that I can hold the bare tube for a few seconds before it becomes too hot seems to indicate it's probably hovering around that 70º C mark. Even though it doesn't melt the foam I still insulate the tube as a precaution.

Here is a basic cross-section of how it would look when installed on the layout. The hottest part of the tube when it is ON is closest to the base of the tube. To make the hole in the foam I used a large round file and tapered it out towards the base as can be seen in the photo and the tube is pressed into position by inserting it into the red washer.
I'll have much more info in the tutorial video that should be posted quite soon.

This is how it will look from the base, if you have a plywood base then all the insulating may be unnecessary however you may want to add the insulation as a precaution anyway. 

Stay tuned for the tutorial, I've finished filming and now all that needs to be done is the final editing and the script for the voice over. Once the filming has been completed the rest generally flows quite quickly even though the final editing is the most time consuming part... it's like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, as I get closer to finishing the tutorial I'm more motivated to get it done!