ezdays-2005 challenge

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ezdays

Out AZ way
OK, I'm kinda screwed on my approach options. The tower kit (N scale) is the first kit I ever built and thought that more glue is better.:rolleyes: I cannot get anything apart without major damage to the structure.:eek: So, I'm going to have to use the already built tower as the center point, and build up around it. I've got several structures I bought at a train show. They are sacrificial so I'm going to to see what happens when I use parts of them. I'm going to try to use some parts from at least four other structures, not including the tower.

Here's my starting source of parts.
 

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ezdays

Out AZ way
First step was to raise up the tower and build a stone wall around it. I cut down the maintanence shop to fit as an add-on to the back side of the tower.
 

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ezdays

Out AZ way
A bit more progress. The building is finished, having had several renovations over the years.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Still have a bit of weathering and some scenicing to do. But, as I said, I am limited in what I can do since I could not get the assembled tower apart so I had to work around a completed structure.:D So far I've used parts from five different structures including the tower.:cool::cool:
 

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ezdays

Out AZ way
Prototype????? I would think if there was one it would be in Kansas, and a result of a good tornado whiping through a train yard...:eek::eek:

Uh, but the scale one is in Arizona, just a few miles east of you...:wave::wave:
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
Drew1125 said:
Looks great Don!
Excellent job!
:thumb: :cool: :cool: :thumb:
Thanks Drew, that means a lot coming from you. I've got a ways to go with it, but I have a feeling I'm going to have it done in time. :D:D
 

jim currie

Active Member
ezdays said:
Prototype????? I would think if there was one it would be in Kansas, and a result of a good tornado whiping through a train yard...:eek::eek:

Uh, but the scale one is in Arizona, just a few miles east of you...:wave::wave:


don't know Don looks a lot like some of the older buildings in Gila bend :D :D
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
jim currie said:
don't know Don looks a lot like some of the older buildings in Gila bend :D :D
Yeah Jim, but if you look close, there's more green around that structure than there is in all of Gila Bend combined...:rolleyes: :D :eek: ;)

For those of you that aren't familiar with Arizona, Gila Bend is between Phoenix and Yuma (about halfway between Jim and myself) and is in the middle of nowhere. It's only claim to fame is the infamous gila Bend Gunnery Range used by the military to practice firing air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles and bombs.:eek::eek::eek::eek:
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
Don, your doing way too much work. If you wanted to model Gila Bend, you could have left the undecorated particle board base and just built the model on it. If you need something green, paint a building green.
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
Yeah Russ, you're right, modeling the desert there isn't such a difficult thing, just drop a sprinkling of ground foam here and there right over the particle board and you have Gila Bend.

Oh yeah, an occasional large pot hole where someone strayed off the target would add realism to the layout.:eek::eek:
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
This is the timeline for the structure you see in these pictures:



Aug 14, 1928- The Flatland East Tower was open to service the Flatland Switching Yard.

Jan 31, 1950-The building boom of the era resulted in residents of a nearby sub-division to complain about the noise, forcing the switchyard to relocate, leaving just a single siding behind. The tower was closed.

June, 1952- The railroad was in need of a machine shop so they added a large structure to the back of the tower, using the upper floor of the tower as an office.

April, 1960-The machine shop added a blast furnace and chimney to allow them to pour castings in the shop. A caboose was parked on the siding to be used for additional storage.

May 14, 1982, a group of protesters from a nearby coffee shop decided to picket the railroad and forced them to abandon the machine shop, claiming the furnace was causing bad vibes and was interfering with their communications with aliens from other planets.

Sometime in 1986, the Acme machine Tool Co. bought the property and began making custom parts to restore old steam engines. The furnace met all current pollution standards, and was allowed to operate after an extensive government study determined that the site was no longer used by alien spaceships.

Four years later, the site was visited by the EPA, OSHA, the IRS, FBI as well as contingents from the CIA, NASA and the SPCA. There was no doubt that the Acme Machine Tool Co. was in deep do-do since the government had changed pollution standards but didn’t tell the company and now they were no longer compliant. The site was shut down and the building boarded up.

In 2003, a group of railroad buffs got the government to protect the old Flatland East Tower and nearby caboose national treasures by placing them on the Historic Registry of Important Structures.

Currently- The site has been vacant for fifteen years. The caboose wheels are rusted to the rails and the building is in disrepair. The government is considering buying the property and spending $50 million dollars to restore the tower and caboose and to add a switching yard on the adjacent property to make it look authentic once again. But, a consortium wants to turn it into a theme park if the government gives them $100 million in subsidies and tax breaks. Until they can resolve this, the property remains as you see it here.
 

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ezdays

Out AZ way
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.....:D:D

But anyway, I have used parts from five different structures, including the tower, and a few accessories from other kits and parts from my scrap bins.
 

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ezdays

Out AZ way
A few more shots.
 

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Excellent scene and a very good change of a new structure kit! I like such fine jobs. Congratulations!!!
And history of this small plant - many extra points for rating!!!
Bernhard
 

rksstl

Member
Don, I can't decide which is better your structure or the history of it. :rolleyes: :D Great job. ( I guess you could say we had the same train of thought :eek: )
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
rksstl said:
Don, I can't decide which is better your structure or the history of it. :rolleyes: :D Great job. ( I guess you could say we had the same train of thought :eek: )
Yeah Rich, but we took a different rout with our train, showing that things can be entirely different, even with the same ideas..:wave::wave:

(I would have done something different, but I was way too far commited when I saw what you were doing) :D :rolleyes:
 
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