I was wondering if anyone knows how to make an HO scale water tower and a coal bunker for my steam engines. Any help would be appreaciated.
Get yourself a 1000+ page catalog from Walthers at a hobby shop ($10.00), or check their website http://www.walthers.com/ Do a search for water tank/tower and coal bunker. If anyone makes them, you will find them there.
There are several coal bunker kits available.
I am building one called a “Cheyenne Coal Bunker”.
Walthers has severa kits also of water towers, and there are sveral other barnds available.
Just depends on what you like personally.
CV464,
First off: [#welcome] to the forum! Good to have you aboard! [:)]
Are you really wanting to build your own from scratch? There are a number of good kits on the market for either the water tower or coaling tower/bunker. Walthers just released a nice looking wooden coaling tower in plastic that is pretty handsome. Cost is $50 MSRP. Model Power also makes a nice one for about $20. There are also cement versions, too. I have a small Fairbanks-Morse coaling tower on my layout that’s serves my steamers:
(Click to enlarge)
Cost: $15-20 but it’s a craftsman kit and challenging/time consuming to put together.
I like my Walthers water tower:
(Click to enlarge)
The chain pull didn’t come with the kit. I put that on myself. Atlas makes a fairly inexpensive version that’s nice, too.
Hope that helps…
Tom
Thanks for your help but the only reason I wanted to build one is because I have like one hobby shop near my house and it’s hard to find and it’s a half hour away.
Cv464, What scale are you in? I am in N scale and JV Models makes some great kits. If you are also in “N” check out www.nscalesupply.com They are a great store and I am lucky enough to have them and cabbose hobbies in my back yard! also look at http://www.caboosehobbies.info/catalog/index.php They are a great hobby store for all scales.
Curt
I run HO scale and I’m in the position where I can’t order off the internet and there are like no hobby stores near me, so thats why I want to build one.
CV464,
I hear ya’. All four (4) of my LHSs are a 1/2 hour away…but I still visit and patronize them as often as possible.
Tom
Maybe the thread below will give you some ideas.
You really need to get a Walthers catalog, so you can see the variety and types of coaling towers available. They come in large, medium and small sizes; wood, concrete or steel construction, and kits come in simple plastic kits or large craftsman kit in a variety of materials. I did a search on the Walthers site for ‘coal tower’ in HO scale and gor 12 hits; but I know there are more than that. Check this link:
The same applies to water towers. You can get an older style wood water tower or a newer welded steel one. You can get them pre-assembled, as plastic kits in a variety of styles and quality or craftsman kits in wood or other materials. A search on ‘water tower’ on HO scale returns 38 hits:
Don’t let your distance from your nearest hobby shop limit you. Many of us are in the same boat; I am about 60 miles from the nearest good hobby shop, and they are in out-of-the-way location so I get there only a few times a year. You are not limited to on-line ordering, there are many places you can call in an order on the phone to a toll free number, or mail them a list. You will need a credit / debit card for ordering this way.
And by this you mean buy stuff, and not talk about them in a condescending manner, right?
Dan,
I was wondering if someone was going to raise that question. Yes, I frequent and financially support my LHSs as often as possible.
Tom
Knowing Tom, that is exactly what he intends…that you support your local hobby shop to the extent that you can. Several members have lamented recently that the local hobby shops are seeming to drop away, and are often on hard times. So, much of the membership here urges us to get out and buy a thing or two.
I hope I have not tread on Tom’s toes…
Ouch, Crandell!..[swg]
Geeze, if you look at our post times, I didn’t step on your toes…you elbowed me outta the way!!
[:D]
Crandell,
If we were on eBay, I think that would be called sniping…[(-D]
Tom
[V] I lose more choice items that way.
alright gents, get back on topic! LOL
sorry Tom, i had to… these forums were the only things keeping me awake through a really boring segment of class that boiled down to the fact that there are no SQL server instances on the local computers in the classroom we were in…
Not a problem, Dan. Crandell and I were just taking a brief tangent. Agreed! Back to talking about H2O and carbon holders…
Tom
Thanks for all your ideas they helped alot. I’m thinking about using a hobby store as a last resort just because I just don’t fell like going all the way there. I went there like once and it was really small, plus they speialize in O gauge so there HO is probally limited. But I might have to go there anyway for new tracks. I really don’t know anymore.