Anyone ever try this? I have a Plastruct H0 scale water tank on my layout. It is a scale 117 feet tall (35.7 meters). Too tall? I am also looking at a Korber Models H0 scale "Ellipsoidal Water Tank." It is a scale 132 feet (33.5 meters). These tanks are for a local water supply and not for the railroad.
Not too tall in my book. About right for a municipal water tower. About the size of one I climbed in my younger newsreel cameraman days to film a painter spraying the hemispherical underside. With nothing to ho,d onto or even against, he was positioning himself by triangulating cables coming down from three sides of the tank. I have never seen a water tower with thise pointed a conical top. It would fit my own prejudices and experience more closely if the top were shallower (flatter). But that may be just my own experience. I have a photo of a scratch/parts/scrap-built water tower, closely following the dimensions of the one I climbed. But I don't have it on Railimages ready to put up.
I guess there are a few things to consider: Era and Location: If you are concerned about such things - does it belong based on era and in that location would they have been in use. I figure you have already considered these. I think the biggie is proportions. Does it fit visually? or does it stand out like a sore thumb? The pipe is the width of a window on the factory but it is a big factory and if the tower does not overwhelm the scene then you shoudl be all set.
The era is now...... The Town of Gilbert just paid 200,000+ dollars to have ours stripped of the silver (lead based) paint and repainted in Titanium White. It is the town landmark and is visible from a couple of miles out. Of note: it last had water in it about 20 years ago.
Something doesn't look quite right to me, but I don't think it is only the size. Maybe it is because when I have seen large municipal tanks, the tank was more of a oval or circular shape and didn't have a peaked top. Did you change the ladders and railings?
Flash, it is a matter of perception but the ones I am familiar with have a top less pointed, like this one: http://www.fayettevilletx.com/images/See&Do/Water-Tower.jpg Ben
My friend Doyle Bond was dismantling some modules and gave me this water tank. It was damaged and I am reassembling it. At first I thought it was a kit, but it is scratch built! At least the frame appears to be made from strip styrene. The ladder may be a Plastruct or Evergreen piece. I don't know where he got the tank. It is a two piece part and may be part of a kit. It is in primer paint right now. I am replacing the center water pipe, too. BTW, it is 4.25 inches (10.8 cm) tall, so a lot shorter than the towers we were discussing earlier in the thread. Anyway, pretty neat and believable model.
Here is the refurbished water tank. I haven't decided on an industry for the location. The tank is about 55 scale feet tall, so probably good to provide water to a two story building. The stand pipe may be too large, but it is smaller than the original, so...I don't know; undecided. The chain link fence at the bottom is a first for me. It is bridal veil CA'ed to a styrene framework and painted silver. The bridal veil that I have is definitely too large for N scale chain link, but just right for H0 scale, IMHO. I can add some bushes around the base to obscure some of the chain link. Pardon the "blue" grass on my unfinished portion of the layout. Now on to assembling my Korber Models H0 scale water tank using N scale ladders and rails.
Its not too tall, but I would suggests using etched metal N scale railings and ladders to replace the HO ones (one ladder looks like it may be plastic N scale) on the kit. I think this would improve the look of the water tower tremendously. Daryl
Yes. The ladder and hand rails are N scale. Maybe I can find a "less pointed" roof for the first tank in this post. There's something else for the to-do list! Thanks for the input.
Easy to make using cardstock (a file folder should be stiff enough, and large enough). Cut a circle the desired diameter, cut a straight line on a radius from edge to center, overlap one radius edge over the other and glue, then paint. There is a slight rise on the line of the overlap that I turned away from the normal view. Or if cut precisely, the two edges can be joined flush. Or a ladder section can be glued along the raised line to hide the seam. I had forgotten what material I used for ladders - cut from fiberglas window screen. Remember when cardstock was the material of preference for structure construction? Ben
I was just going through Plastruct and they do have a part (eleven US$), but this is much better. I do remember this method and I may have seen it done at some time. Al Boos (NMRA Achievement Chairman) at a convention? Anyway, I will try it and report back. :thumbs_up: Thanks for the idea! Wonder if you could do it with .010 or .015 inch styrene?
That should work better. Don't forget the flashing light on top. This would be a good use for the flashing light that someone was creating in a recent thread as an end-of-train device. This one by Tudor: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=95037&highlight=flashing+light Ben
That got me wondering if the trademark Warner Bros. water tower had water in it. I just asked my brother-in-law who works there... empty. I'm going to guess that the one with Mickey Mouse across the freeway is also empty, but the studios sure do keep them painted nicely. You want an industry for the location? Surround it with sound stages.
Hello Flash, I just looked at this thread and the opening photo: I think that the height of the tower is perfect. It dwarfs the trains as it should do. The ladders look fine. I can not judge on the pitch of the roof, but lowering the cone slightly might improve the look. To me the picture is like an old Garfield (the cat) saying: "I am not overweight, I am undertall". The factory building in the background looks too small compared with the tower. This Kibri kit in my view is one of the best for an ornat brick factory building. It goes together very well, one of the easiest kits I have ever done. But I can not leave a kit alone, so I have used the rear wall and stacked it on top of the front wall section, creating a building with 4 floors. The ground floor walls are still "intact", but the rear wall above the ground floor is just painted cardboard. It might be difficult for you to do something comparable, as it appears your factory can be seen from all sides, but if you have not glued the walls together (it holds fine with just the friction tabs) this might give you some ideas: I have put the building in this spot just for this picture: it has currently no home on my layout and does not fit with the archtecture in Tacoma. Cheers Dirk
