Since a lot of model railroaders like to have every kind of detail imaginable on their ayouts, one small detail I’ve never seen discussed, nor modeled, is an air raid or tornado siren. The only one that I know of is on the roof of the HO Life-Like fire station kit “Hampden Engine House # 46”. Without having to buy the whole kit just for the siren, does anyone have any suggestions on building one? Or does anyone have a siren on their layout that they’ve built?
I’m kind of surprised that with all the little stuff you can buy nowdays for a layout that sirens have been overlooked. Since I live in the midwest and my freelance layout takes place in the midwest, which is prone to tornadoes, I thought I’d add a siren.
I have one next to the rural fire station on my layout. It was scratchbuilt from a number of parts that would make it too expensive to bother copying - unless you happen to have the same parts on hand. The body of the siren is a telephone pole transformer from a Walthers kit. It’s topped by two, small, nested, cone-shaped vent caps from a set of Walthers detail parts. They are slightly larger in diameter than the transformer. This unit sits atop a 40’ high, delicate looking, steel lattice tower originally for a station platform light by a European manufacturers. The end result is identical in appearance to a real pole-mounted fire station siren located not a mile from my house.
As I recall, at least a couple of diecast air raid/fire sirens have been offered over the years but to my knowledge none is currently in production.
The last air raid siren here was removed when I was just a young lad, so I don’t really remember what they looked like, but would a diesel horn from the next largest scale work? And, how about sound? Are you planning to have it come to life once in a while to scare your guests?
for sound, you could use an old blender underneath your layout. My grandmother always complained that her blender sounded like an air raid siren. Plus, you could celebrate every air raid drill with a margarita! [:D]
NS82,
If it’s horn shaped and symmetrical, you can always try the old technique of lathe turning using an electrical hand drill that has a speed control and a variety of swiss files to shape a brass rod of appropriate diameter that you put in the chuck/collet. Then use Evergreen styrene or Northeastern wood for the tower. If if was good enough for Mel Thornburgh, it should be good enough for you. You said any idea would be appreciated.[:)]
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
Actually, there are some pretty decent sites on the internet about air raid/tornado sirens, complete with pictures and sound bites. A recording off the 'net, run it through a speaker; that would do it! [:D]