Ho Scale fire station

[chadmichaels]

As im getting close to start putting buildings on my layout, Im thinking of scratch building a fire station. What im wondering is how would i make the garage doors open? i'd like to make them open by hand, nothing fancy. Any ideas?

Chad

 

[jbaakko]

Hummm, interesting. I think a simple slide on the sides made from styrene, and some pins on the sides of the doors to mount in the slide...

 

[UP2CSX]

Is this a modern or transition era station? Older stations almost always had wood doors that opened outward. You can make these from styrene with a pin, top and bottom, to fit in a hole drilled in the door frame.

For a modern era fire station, almost all door are rollup. Although I guess it's possible to scratchbuild a working model of these, the effort is not worth the return. I'd use scribed plastic to represent the rollup doors and have one or two bays with just the bottom of the door showing and maybe another bay with door down.

 

[chadmichaels]

Jim,

yeah it would be a modern fire station with roll up doors.

 

[kenw]

the only practical (and marginally at that) way i see to do a rollup door is to actually make it slide up (without rolling) into the 2nd floor.

 

[UP2CSX]

That would work, Ken, but very few modern fire stations have a second floor since the advent of steel buildings. Personally, since you can buy the Pikestuff modern fire station kit for $12 at http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/product_p/541-0019.htm, scratchbuild really seems like it's not worth the effort.

 

[dmeephd]

Modern Fire Station

Take a look at this modern fire station: http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/770-3759

 

[mike8693]

That would work, Ken, but very few modern fire stations have a second floor since the advent of steel buildings.

Around here 2 story is replacing the one story. Our new firestation was built about 1.5 years ago and is two story. Now that i think of it out of the 4 stations within 15 mile 3 are two story. Anywho maybe you could do something like this. http://whiteriverandnorthern.net/clinic_14.htm

 

[UP2CSX]

DM, at $106 plus shipping, I think I'd have to pass on that one.

Mike, I think new two story stations are more common in areas where either flat land isn't available or it's expensive. With the exception of the fire headquarters building in Montgomery, I can't think of any in this area that are two story. It's not unusual to see older fire stations that are still in use and have been updated so the example at your link would work, assuming you wanted to go through all the effort to make a set of doors go up and down.

 

[chadmichaels]

Guys,

What im thinking of is as follows...it will be a story and a half with the dispatch center/office in the middle of the building with 3 bays on each side. As your looking at it on the left side it will be the fire trucks the other side will be bays for the ambulances. So i might attempt the doors that raise up into the half story.

 

[MGWSY]

There are also these from Boley.

http://www.dept187.com/images/large/2602.jpg

http://www.dept187.com/images/large/2603.jpg

 

[kenw]

Actually, my brother is the architect for the City of Houston fire dept. It is mostly the older stations that are 2 story, and there really aren't too many of those around anymore. Many of the newer stations are tall enough to almost be 2 story (altho they aren't) so some creative engineering could make it work. Since the doors' height is almost that tall as well, making it disappear will be tricky.

fwiw, the new station #8 downtown takes almost an entire city block so it might not be a good candidate for a layout....
http://www.houstontx.gov/fire/photos/images/station8.jpg

 

[UP2CSX]

Ken, that thing looks like a Home Depot! I'll bet the firefighter love it though. Enough parking and you don't have to back the engines into the bay.

Chad, the way it was done in the link Mike posted might work for what you want. I just had a crazy thought. What would happen if you laid out individual styrene strips on something like duct tape so the whole thing would flex just like a real rollup door? You could use brass channel stock, heated and bent to the right curve for a track on both sides, with a motor mounted in the back. Probably not worth the effort but it would look neat if you wanted to give it a try.

 

[chadmichaels]

Intresting idea Jim. Might have to play around with that idea.

 

[ken_23434]

Do you want the door to operate in a realistic way, or do you just want the flexibility of having the ability to have the doors either open or shut?

If it is the 2nd option then it seems a lot easier.
a) Just have it so you can just take the door off. Maybe some small magnets strategically positioned in the building that attract a small piece of metal on the backside of the door. Then, the old 0-5-0 reaches from the sky and just pulls the door off.
b) If the station will be one story so having it slide straight up into the 2nd story isn't an option, how about the same idea but having the door disappear into the "basement". A slot cut in the foam or plywood base where the door can just slip down into. The top of the door would have something glued to it to loop like part of the driveway exiting the building.