A New Water Tower, Part 1
One by one the first structures built for the layout are being eliminated. Last time it was number two, the factory; this time it was number one, the water tower. As nice as it had come out, it started looking a little crude compared to all of the other fine structures on the layout. And so I elected to replace it with the larger Micron Art water tower (#1001RA). The Micro-Trains water tower was meant to represent the brick-based one that John Allen built for the original Gorre & Daphetid. Size-wise, however, the little one I built for Daphetid is closer to that mark.
When John started building the engine facility on the front of the original G&D (the beginnings of Version II), he built a much larger water tower, and initially placed it on the siding in front of Gorre station, where I'd placed the Micro-Trains water tower with attached tool shed. I still wanted a shed; however, the new water tank is much larger, leaving barely enough room for a chopped-down Micron Art yard shed (#1049).
Getting into the Micron Art kit, I had the same sense about it as I'd had for the little one: the supporting structure just didn't seem adequate; the legs looked a little spindly, and there wasn't enough cross-bracing. Water is really heavy, and large water towers have massive supporting structures. So, once again, I did my own thing from the bottom of the tank down.
This time I dipped into my supply of N Scale etched brass details, and found a set of lattice parts that were fortuitously just the right size—and also exactly as much as I needed. Together with some beefier square brass stock, I built a whole new support structure. First, I made four assemblies with three lattice parts soldered to one leg in a T-arrangement; these were then soldered together to form the center of the structure. Then I made four more assemblies with a single lattice part between two legs, and these were soldered to the outsides of the assembly to finish it.
It's not perfect—the lattice is more industrial-looking than rustic-looking—but I think this will get toned down when it's painted; posed on the layout it creates just the look I'd wanted. The rest is all downhill from here.
Oh, while I was working on the new tank, I made another very minor change in the arrangement of things: when I spotted the wandering billboard in the image of John's large water tower (top of post), I decided I liked it there better than where I was going to put it—the right front corner of the layout, over the control panel—which was a bit too in-your-face. Now, tucked behind the looming water tower, the billboard isn't as overpowering.
Original Gorre & Daphetid image courtesy of Peter T. Prunka.