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Water Tower Here some photos I found to be interesting:
Below is the "write-up" when this water tower was judged. Water tower In Colleyville, Texas along the Tarantula Line Construction The Colleyville water tower is a scratch built Z Scale structure made of balsa wood, styrene, brass and stainless steel. The structure was constructed from photographs of the prototype and scaled sketches. The total individual component count is 144.The tank is made of 18 pieces of 1/8" balsa laminated together to make the approximate shape of the tower. A wood dowel was used down the center so that the tank could be "lathed" with sandpaper using a hand drill. The nine tank supports had 36 .012" stainless steel cross supports. The difficulty came from the interlinking of the cross supports. The base serves to mount and stabilize the water tower and hold the batteries for the flashing beacon. Detail The most interesting detail on the Z Scale water tower is the 36 diagonal cross supports. The lower 18 were fairly easy to set in place but the upper 18 were very tedious to set since there was no "pockets" to set the .012" stainless steel wires into. The access door at the bottom of the tower pipe is made of .010" styrene and a brass N-scale Venetian blind was used to make the door grill. Three communications antennas are made from an assortment of styrene. The tank guardrail is made from 1/16" brass grid using a sprue cutter to cut to size. The fiber optics assembly is not visible but the tip is filed to a point to give a very low intensity, flashing beacon.Conformity The prototype water tower, located in Colleyville, Texas along the Tarantula line, was visited three times and approximately 40 digital photographs were taken to capture the size, shape and details.Prototype Model
Finishing and Lettering The water tower has the city name of "Colleyville" on the tank. This is made using homemade decals and the font is thought to be "Times New Roman".Scratch building Digital photographs and personally made diagrams and sketches were used to construct this Z Scale structure. All components except the battery, clip and connector are scratch built from balsa, styrene, brass and stainless steel. The tank was constructed from laminated balsa that was "lathed" to correct shape with sandpaper and a drill for the lathe.
List of material Tank.125" Balsa sheet cut into circles, 18 each .250" wood dowel, 1 each
Tank Vent .040" Styrene rod cut at .500", 1 each 3/32" Styrene tube cut at .100", 1 each Tank guardrail 1/16" Sq. Fine brass grid cut at 1 grid by 1.125" formed into a circle, 1 each Tower pipe .500" Styrene tube cut at 3.875", 1 each Tower pipe base .010" x .020" Styrene strip cut at 1.57", 1 each Door Hatch .030" x .156" Styrene strip cut at .375", 1 each N Scale Venetian Blinds used to make door grill, 1 each Tower stands 5/32" Styrene tube cut at 5.250", 9 each .100" Styrene rod cut at .750", 9 each Tower-stand cross supports .012" Stainless steel wire cut at ~2.875", 36 each Support stand base .030" x .250" Styrene strip cut at .250", 9 each
Model stand .080" x 4" x 4" Styrene sheet, 3 each .040" x 4" x 2" Styrene sheet, 4 each .250" x .250" Styrene strip cut at 3.375", 2 each .250" x .250" Styrene strip cut at 3.875", 2 each .060" x .156" Styrene strip cut at 3.500", 4 each Communication antennas .030" x .060" Styrene strip cut at 9/16", 3 each .020" x 060" Styrene strip cut at 7/16", 9 each .060" Half-Round Styrene cut at 7/16", 9 each #30 gauge stranded ultra flexible wire, black cut at 10", 3 each Tower beacon Eight-cell Battery clip (AA battery), 1 each AA batteries, 8 each Battery clip connector, 1 each .040" Fiber optic cut at 12 inches, 1 each .250" dowel cut at .500", 1 each .100" Styrene tube cut at .75", 1 each .250" Styrene tube cut at 5/8", 1 each 5/32" Styrene tube cut at .500", 1 each Red L.E.D. 5mm blinker/flasher with 470-ohm resister, 1 each Paint 50% - 50% Mix of "SCL Hopper Car Beige" and "Reefer White" Poly Scale "Engine Black" Poly Scale, inside mounting stand to block light from LED |
