STC WATER TOWER
Part 1- Construction begins

Okay, we're making a Water Tower!  First things first, materials.    You will need:

CITIES OF DEATH BUILDING PARTS
Yep, the new Games Workshop "Cities of Death" buildings are beautiful.  We're making use of that beauty for this project.  You'll need:
+++ Four building panels (I chose some from the Manufactorum sprue)
+++ Four bulkheads (the long thin pieces with rivets on them)
+++ Four railings (I chose the spiky kind),  and two extra spikes for the end of the railings
+++ One Ladder
+++ Four buttresses (I chose the Eagle style)
+++ One piece of floor (damaged corner variety is okay)

OTHER GAMES WORKSHOP PARTS
+++ Two small tank wheels from a Chimera / Lemann Russ / Basilisk kit
+++ One of the round Ammo cannisters from the Battlefield Accesories Sprue

FROM THE HARDWARE / DIY STORE
+++ Two Pop-up Sprinkler Risers.  These black 1" Diameter plastic tubes have a series of threads on them.  They're cheap- usually about 15 cents apiece.
+++ A length of 3" ribbed drain pipe.  Be sure it's the 3" diameter and not the more common 4".   You can get an 8 foot long piece for about five dollars.

HOUSEHOLD GOODS
+++ One VHS video tape.  Any length will do.
+++ Two empty CD cases.
+++ Four plastic clothes pins, 3" long
+++ Lego base plate (Or similar brand- I used one from Megablocks)
+++ Four Bendy straws.  OR, a nice alternative to the bendy straws are four pipe elbows and 3 short pipe sections from the Imex Chemical Plant kit.

TOOLS
+++ Small Phillips screwdriver
+++ Razor Saw
+++ Sanding Pad
+++ Superglue
+++ Scissors
+++ Hole Punch (Standard size)
+++ Silver Sharpie (or other brand metallic marker)
 
Let's start by disassembling that VHS tape.  Be sure to rewind it first. Use a small phillips head screwdriver to remove all the screws from the bottom of the tape.  If the tape has a label, slice it down the seam. 
 

You should be able to pry open the tape at this point.  Remove and save all the contents.  Go ahead and seperate the door, remove all the metal springs and rollers, and most importantly hang onto the tape reels.
 

Here's what you get when you open up one of these guys.  We won't be using all the little bits, but you can hang onto them for your bits box.  If nothing else, they make great scrap for your junkyard or Ork terrain!

Next, prepare the reels.  Hold the back firmly and bend the clear front upward until it snaps at the hub.  Do this for each of the spokes until the clear part is removed. 
 

If you remembered to rewind, all the tape should be on one reel.  Place your thumbs on the hub and use your fingertips to pry under the roll of tape.  If you can work the roll of tape off the hub, it's a lot easier than making a giant mess of unraveling the tape (though some folks are easily amused by this activity- whee!)
 

Cut the tape where it meets the hub (or just pull on it until it pops out- the little clip might pop out, but that's fine, you won't need it.)

 

Grab the tape case half with the windows on it.  You may want to sand down the ridges on the outside face of the case half.  It will make later assembly a lot easier if it's flat- the glue will stick better to a flat surface.

Now grab the tape door.  You'll be gluing them together, but first, test-fit the door back on.  You'll need to line up the pins on the door with a hole on one side of the tape case and notch on the other.

Once you have a good fit, run a bead of Superglue along the front edge of the case where the door meets it, and add the door back on.  Hold the door in place until the glue dries.

You now have a nice rectangular box that will hold the water tanks (once you build them that is!).

Grab a length of that 3" ribbed drain pipe.  You'll be making two water tanks out of it. 
 

Each tank is made from two sections of pipe.  The short section should be two ridges high.  The long section can be any length you like (Typically between 4 and 8 ridges high). 
 

To cut the pipe, use a Razor Saw and saw near the edge of a ridge.  Sand down the cut with a sanding pad- this gives you a nice flat edge to glue to.
 

For the short section, leave a bit of length of pipe sticking out from the upper ridge, and trim it down with a pair of scissors to give a clean edge.  This will form the top edge of the water tank.  To keep the scissors lined up while cutting around, keep the tip of the blade pressed up against the inside of the ridge.

Now for each water tank, grab a tape reel and sand around the edges.  Now  superglue it to one end of a tall pipe piece, with the hub pointing in.  Next, glue the short pipe piece on top of the reel.
 

Now grab a hole punch and punch out half circles along the top edge of the fuel tank.  Space the holes about a half inch apart.  If the hole punch won't reach far enough in, you might be able to remove the little catcher door off the bottom of the punch to get it out of the way.  Depending on the punch, you might find leaving it on or removing it gives the perfect length for nice consistent hole depth.

NEXT: Construction continues...

Copyright 2006 Sean Patten

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