Fire Tower Prototype Update 10-12-13

Several are still around in the Appalachians in PA.

That's a fine model. It conveys the "feel" of those towers.

Can be used on a current day layout!!!! Whitaker station on the Cass RR....

Very nice. I would be on board to buy one for sure if you produce them. 

Rich,  This looks great. Although these would be ideal for steam or transition era layouts, there are still plenty of these around today as Reading Fan and AMCDave have mentioned. For safety's sake please include a lightning rod.  How soon will you put these on the market?  Thanks, Pat B.

Rich,

It Looks real authentic. And fine scale too.  Sign me up for one.

It looks great to me, Rich.  Thanks.  As if I don't have enough to do with the layout, now I have to find a way to get a forest on it.

What's the materials? How is it constructed?

Looks great Rich. There is also at least one close to this design in the Gettysburg National Park. Terry

Thanks for the comments guys.

The structure is a combination of injected molded plastic, and laser cut material.

The base and tower legs and the ladders are injection molded.  The cabin is laser cut.

There will be window frame added as well.

Open for suggestions and thoughts.

best regards

In my opinion it seems like the cabin is a little large for the legs.  It may be just the angle of the photo.

I agree Mark,

I have made some changes to the height of the cabin that should help.  I will post revised photos when the test cut arrives.

Thinking outside the box I bet 2 of these would make an interesting zip line ride for my park.........hmmmmmmmm.

I also think the height may be somewhat out of scale, however it looks very wwell designed overall.

as to the height of 40 ft., that mystified me as ours here in Mississippi were about 55-60

ft. 

Since fire towers are most often seen on distant hills, using a less than scale height will provide forced perspective to make the overall scene appear larger. I think Rich has a winner.

Jim

Jim...

Do I see a 'ranger' in there peering through a set of binoculars???!!  If so, I'd be interested in where you found him/her...or how he/she was created.

I made the following fire tower from a derelict beacon tower.  I've been searching for 'Gord, the ranger' (Red Green Show) for some time.  Even asked Dennis (Arttista) if he had any thoughts/help.  Been watching military figures go by, too.  No luck so far.

Thanks for any clues....

KD

BTW...agree with your comment re height/perspective.  Also, I think Rich's fire tower is an EXCELLENT way to make use of those far corners of a layout...those distant, unreachable triangular pieces of real estate.

KD,

A little green paint for a uniform and he could be Gord, one of my favorites!

Here he is on vacation looking for wildlife, but in the wrong direction, just as Gord would probably do! He's actually one of the Homies series of characters.

Jim

Nice work guys!

Jim I really like the Homie.

Here is the final revision of the kit we will be launching at York next week.

Thanks for the input, we revised some dimensions.

Sigh;

Another gotta have for the mountain part of the layout.

Lookin good Rich.

Looks good.  If I put one of these up from your booth when Alex is there does he get a commission?