I recently built the HO Blair Line rural church. It has a space in the steeple for a bell and I would like to include one (the picture on the box actually shows a bell in that space). I haven’t been able to find one in the Walthers catalog. Does anyone know of a vendor that would sell a church bell that would work for this? Thanks.
Brad
Well, if you can find an old Bachmann Plasticville ‘Cathedral’ or Lifelike Church kit (I saw prices under 10.00, but they can be out of stock), then use the bell which comes with it (both bells were reasonably decent looking, but you’ll need to remove/carve out the out-of-scale clappers) and paint the bell a dark bronze color.
This is the first one I came across, looking not for “church bells,” but rather for “ship’s bells.” There are a lot of model shipbuilders out there, far more than model churchbuilders:
http://www.castyouranchorhobby.com/cat--Bells--bells
There are lots of other places to buy model ship detail parts. I’ve even seen some vendors with these things at train shows, since layouts occasionally include maritime scenes.
Good question. I remember there was a good-sized church bell included with the cheap Life-Like chapel. I think if you could find a large scale (O scale) steam locomotive bell, you could trim it in a realistic way. Maybe a cheap plastic christmas engine would do the job too. By the way, many poor chapels and rural school had bells taken from locomotives in the past.
Matt
Could use the bell from a steam locomotive? I think one of the detail-part people might be able to help you out better. I’m sure that once it’s installed, nobody will be able to tell the difference 
Maybe try to find a bell from an S scale loco http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/300-4011
or an O scale one (this would be about 20" in HO at the bottom) http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/300-105
Campbell Scale Models makes one. Walthers # 200-920. Page 932 in the 2009 Reference Book.
The Campbell Scale version looks like a good one. Thanks for the tip.
Brad
My first thought was to look at O and S scale locomotive bells.
The other thing you might try is looking in your local craft store (Michael’s or Hobby Lobby) and see if they have a bead or some other doodad that might serve.
Finally, there is the option of turning a wood dowel, or a plastic or metal rod or tube to an appropriate shape. Or else, cast one in resin.
I’ve seen disused church bells on display, one in front of the church I attend, and the other in front of a local firehouse, and those bells are easily 20"-24" at their bases. And these bells came from small churches (seating less than 500). When built, both churches were in rural areas.
Church bells are often bigger than we can think. In Quebec, were most of the churches are roman catholic, steeples are impresive landmarks and many rural parishes can have 3 bells in it. A big, a medium and a small one. The big one can easily reach 48" in diameter, while the medium is about 36" and the small 24". No wonder they need a lot of horses to place them so high! (that could make a funny village scene on a layout boom town!) When you think about it, a 48" bell is just 1/2" in HO scale which isn’t tal big for a church like the Atlas model (which would need a more flamboyant steeple in my own opinion).
Matt