Large Scale Central

Fire House

After the Blue Moon Saloon burned down a few years ago, the town council got together and decided the town needed to do something. First order of business was to get a fire truck.

Next, they debated about building a firehouse so they would have somewhere to park the new truck. (It was a long and very political fight, as almost half of the town council was in favor of rebuilding the Saloon.)

I searched the Internet for some inspiration and came up with this old firehouse in Defiance, Ohio. It’s the East Side Fire Station at the corner of Hopkins and Douglas streets. No longer an active fire house, but still owned by the city.

It looks like it’s been there for some time as evidenced in this colorized picture. Must have been something over the garage door.

But, looking at all those fancy windows I delayed for awhile. I really didn’t want to have to make them!

Last year at the ECLSTS, I talked with Mark Dashnaw about getting them 3D printed and he agreed he was up to the task. It was a very easy process!

I sent Mark a few pictures with the measurements on them…

And I found this view from Google maps - the building still exists! So I got a top down view and the following picture from street view. How cool is that?

Oh, and I also sent Mark a check.

So, that was easy enough; he sent me back the pieces I requested. I tried to get everything that I didn’t want to make myself.

Not too crazy about the color, but what a painless process! And they are really nice sturdy pieces! The garage door is even done in multiple pieces in case I want to make it operate.

I washed them and then primed them, so the color is a bit more respectable.

Next up will be to lay it out on some PVC and see how huge it is going to be…

Thanks to Mark for making that a really painless process.

I’ve seen a few like that in Philly . There’s one just off I-95 near Washington Ave, that, I believe, had been turned into a tavern. The tower rises above 95.

Sure don’t want anymore saloons burning down, the place will turn into a Ghost town…(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Very cool. Mark did a great job. And I even like the color. . .lol.

Thats a cool building. Not overstated but elegant. How you going to do the bricks? I used some pink foam board and carved them. time consuming but easy and I like the looks. I’ll share just for thought or inspiration.

Neat prototype!

Are you going to model the brick quoins and brick corbels on the tower or just omit them?

There he goes, with the fancy architectural terms again. He’s a pretty smart bird, that rooster.

Devon Sinsley said:

Very cool. Mark did a great job. And I even like the color. . .lol.

Thats a cool building. Not overstated but elegant. How you going to do the bricks? I used some pink foam board and carved them. time consuming but easy and I like the looks. I’ll share just for thought or inspiration.

Devon, that looks very nice but I’m skipping all that work. Probably just use my Precision Products sheets. Though I MIGHT think about that for the chimney…

¿ ɹəʇsooɹ said:

Neat prototype!

Are you going to model the brick quoins and brick corbels on the tower or just omit them?

Coins and foibles? What? Uh, if I knew what they were I might include them. Or skip them. Or something. I do plan to make it look close to the prototype, but I didn’t know there was going to be a test!(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-yell.gif)

Bruce, Rooster is just showing off. Keep doin what your doin.

David Maynard said:

Bruce, Rooster is just showing off. Keep doin what your doin.

No Maynard actually these guys here made me the way I am! When I was in my model building heyday a few years back I would post progress pictures and these guys would say. “Hey Rooster” are you going to add this as the prototype shows it or how are you going to make that because it’s part of the 1:1. So now it’s my turn for a little payback! Besides if my memory serves me correctly it was Bruce himself that started “Is it done yet” !

(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Bruce the quoins are the brick projections on the top corners of the tower and corbels are the brackets (like you had Mark print). The brick corbels are across the front of the tower.

Rooster, oh sure, blame others for the way you are. If I was to do that I would be a grumpy arse, just looking for the next knife in my back. I think its great that you know the terms, me, I model what I see, even if I don’t care to know its proper name.

¿ ɹəʇsooɹ said:

David Maynard said:

Bruce, Rooster is just showing off. Keep doin what your doin.

No Maynard actually these guys here made me the way I am! When I was in my model building heyday a few years back I would post progress pictures and these guys would say. “Hey Rooster” are you going to add this as the prototype shows it or how are you going to make that because it’s part of the 1:1. So now it’s my turn for a little payback! Besides if my memory serves me correctly it was Bruce himself that started “Is it done yet” !

(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Bruce the quoins are the brick projections on the top corners of the tower and corbels are the brackets (like you had Mark print). The brick corbels are across the front of the tower.

Are you done yet? Me??? (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-embarassed.gif)Ack, I don’t think so…

Anyway, it sure sounds like I’m doing the corbels, since they seem to be done already. I’ll project some bricks as well…

brick projectiles…everyone grab your hard hats and run for cover.

First off, that prototype building is awesome! Great choice to model it.

Looks like your friend Mark did a terrific job 3D modeling and printing the parts. Is he available to do this kind of stuff for anyone else?

Yes, he did some very nice work. He’s on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Marks3dprinting/ and looks to be rather active.

"Is he available to do this kind of stuff for anyone else?.."

Ray;

Read all about it,

http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/21677/my-services !

You must include that tower. That’s where the firemen hang their hoses to dry, after the fire.

Steve! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)Oh, the canvass water hoses. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-embarassed.gif)Ah, never mind.(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)

Neat looking fire house. Looking forward to seeing this one come to life.

David. Go to your room. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Started roughing out the walls, trying to get everything to look about right, so I moved the windows around then taped them in position.

I am not looking forward to cutting out the openings…

Also worked on the roof. And again. First I cut supports that didn’t overhang the walls. Oops, they need to be longer. Then I noticed that the roof would cut across one of the vents in the tower, so I needed to lower the height a bit.

Finally, I THINK I have it right, but I’m awaiting a shipment of some 3mm PVC that I’ll use for the base of the roof - to include the overhang. Then we’ll see.