Another water tower topper you might be interested in comes from the clinic. Next time you’re in, consider asking for the disposable ear speculum. They otherwise get tossed out.
The downside, is you’ll probably want a weathervane or a flag as well.
The one I made a long time ago , I topped with a toothpick and a bead.
Here’s a napkin drawing.
Puttering continues…
First, Bill ( @Hines ), thanks for that idea! Let the scrounging begin!
Second, after two weeks of avoiding this project, I made the decision to move forward. Largely, the issues were how to mount the tank to the tower and the banding.
The first issue I took head on with materials at hand. I used CA to fix bits of scrap brass wire into existing holes in the legs then filled the cavity with more CA. I followed this by tapping oversized holes into the bottom braces, placing them on the new pegs, and, using CA, fixed them in place.
Crude, perhaps, but it’ll hold. This overhead shot shows how far from square the original structure was.
I am, as always, awed by my father-in-law’s gift for transforming junk to treasure, but it has complicated this repair (which, I note, I began two years ago…). That shot, though, reminded me that this project lies at the nexus of toy, model, and folk art, and I really needed to continue to embrace that if I want to bring it over the line.
Armed with that re-realization, I proceeded on to banding, using 14" black zip ties. There were some really cool stainless ties, but, at 11" would have been just too short. To mount these, I carefully drilled holes into the gantry frame, slipped them through, checked their position, and made them fast. I ran some thin CA into the lock and along the edge to help against future slip.
One of the boards did snap, so I am wondering what sort of cylinder is actually at the core of this thing! The break is not visible, so I did not investigate further.
That brings us to here…
…where it will remain as I attend to some other obligations over the next week or so. Then I’ll attack the downspout, counterweights, and level gauge before proceeding to mounting the tank on the pumphouse.
Thanks for the tips along the way!
Eric
Update:
I decided that this project needed to come to an end. There are any number of details that I could add, but they would be both in excess of need and, more importantly, in excess of enjoyment. Also, we have discovered that buildings need to come off the railroad for long term survival, making fiddly, breakable parts counter-indicated. So, the 1:24 gang, the 1:1 Kid-zilla, and I turned-to return this water tower to service.
Kid-zilla grabbed some annealed beverage can and snips to take care of a needed detail part.
Meanwhile, the 1:24 gang mounted the tank and prepared to shear off the excess beam material.
Yours truly used sandpaper and a Dremel-mounted brush to texture the beams and some stain to color them. I also bent some piano wire to simulate the various lines that connect the fill pipe to the counter weights.
Some epoxy putty served to mount the counterweights. Were I to do this again, I would use brass wire rather than piano wire, as it is easier to bend. You can also solder it, which would have been a cleaner way to tie this off. Live and learn.
We were not quite ready, and the Triple O railway police had to stop an incoming freight short of Haluki’ilio as the crew fitted the tower for service.
Final fitting out include putting CINCHOUSE’s scrap jewelry chain into service as a pull chain.
With that, Kid-zilla fitted his work to the peak, the way was clear, this long-neglected project came to a close, and the water tower returned to service.
The topper is the tip of an automatic pencil. Hopefully, the shape of the weathervane is recognizable! Only AMTRAK signage would make that more clear!
In closing, this project was a challenge that taught a lot. I found it very hard to keep the creator’s intent in place while still improving both its visual impact and its durability. Along the way, this project convinced me that buildings must be designed to allow removal for storage and repairs, and it convinced me of the efficacy of foam as both a core material and as a source of “lava stone.” However overrepresented on the Triple O, foam “lava stone” seems to be the most durable way to make credible buildings that add a sense of time and place without sacrificing durability or the option to go detail happy. All of this will play a role in 2025 as we repair and improve our earliest structures while trying to retain the joy of 1:24-ish PLAYMOBIL scale. 2025 goals, are, however, another post, and, of course, before we tackle those projects there is the MIK. There is always the MIK.
Aloha,
Eric
I see Rooster visits the islands in his seemingly endless world travels to share with friends. Hope he gets some good aerial views of the Triple O while he’s on his perch 
They are a majestic bird in flight.
