Walthers Cornerstone Series Kit HO Scale Black Gold Asphalt - Hot Mix Plant

By the late 1990s, some 93% - about 3-1/2 million miles - of American highways were built with asphalt. The paving work starts at hot mix plants, like Black Gold, where fine aggregates (sand or gravel) are mixed with a binder made from bituminous, an oil by-product. This mixture is heated to 250° to 375° Fahrenheit; too hot and structurally weakening carbon particles form, too cold and it won't compact correctly. (This is why road repairs/building are done in warmer weather, when temperatures remain stable for long periods.) Dump trucks deliver the hot mix to specialized pavers that apply the asphalt mixture at a uniform depth, width, slope and temperature, ready for surfacing and sealing by compactors. Requiring a steady supply of raw materials in bulk (A good paving crew can lay up to 3,000 tons of asphalt in a single shift!), your new hot mix plant will provide plenty of car-loadings on your modern HO Scale railroad. This highly detailed kit is complete with oil tanks, two conveyors, a three-bay mixing bin with conveyor, furnace with ductwork, rotary mixing kiln, piping, double loading silos and colorful decal signs. The kit has also been designed to accept a Seuthe smoke generator (#667-117, sold separately) that adds animation to your finished model.