Firehouse Display

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First I found the best resource for this project was the jewelry section of your local crafts store and your hardware store. It would nice to have a Dermal Tool to complete this project.

The background is sheet plastic brick I got from the train store. I think it is 1/48 scale. It  aged it using white chalk. If you look you will see in the center a supporting column. I used some wood to form the column. NOTE: The plastic sheet is NOT glued to the case. I used a high quality double stick tape. I got the tape from a trophy store. They use this tape to adhere metal plates onto wood plaques. Keep in mind, once this tape makes contact it is hard to pull it off!

  1. Fire Pole - Top part is a piece of PVC pipe painted white.  Brass pole is a cut piece of brass rod I got from the hardware store.  To connect the brass rod to the case I used a small plastic connector (painted brass) I found in the screw department of the hardware store.  These were located in the same area as the plastic screw  covers.  Using epoxy glue I glued the connector to the top of the plastic case. NOTE:  It is very important to glue the plastic connector first.  I glued the cut PVC pipe to the case centering the plastic connector.   Let dry.  Now cut the brass rod and glue another brass painted plastic connector to the bottom of the rod.  Now, glue the rod to the  top plastic connector (PVC side).  You have installed the fire pole.  NOTE:  Nothing is connect to the base of the display case.
  2. Fire Alarm Bell -  The brass bell itself is something I picked up in the fake jewelry department of my local craft store.  It is gold in color and half round piece of plastic.  Using a small black marker, I placed a dot in the center to simulate a nut holding on the bell.  The bells background is  the back half of a screw cover from painted flat black and a small piece of plastic glued to the center to raise the fire bell a bit.
  3. Overhead Light - Well this really turned out pretty nice.  This is a plastic screw cover  from Ace Hardware painted green with a small brass bent rod  stuck through the center.  NOTE:  do not drill a hole all the way through the center.  Drill just enough to glue the brass rod to the screw cover.

  4. Helmets and Bunker Gear - Of all the emails received about this project the majority of them asked where I picked up the helmets. A store called Big Lots has a package of about 30 plastic firefighters for $1.00  (like the Army men I use to play with). I cut the helmets off the plastic firefighters, painted them, and placed a gold shield on the helmet and that part was done.  The bunker gear are just photos printed on a color printer, folded to look real, and dipped in a solution of water and Elmer's Glue to hold the form. The best source for photos is Ebay! Here are the one's I used.  Just cut and paste.

  5. Hose -  Again, I used items found in the jewelry section. The hose connections are screw-on necklace connectors with the ends pulled out. The hose itself is cord used to make necklaces (simulated leather). I used some white and black chalk to "age" the hose. 

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Alarm Bell - Screw cover and gold bead.  Gold bead inserted in screw cover.  Note the right half of the screw cover is cut off and the other half is paint flat black.

 

Overhead Light - A different screw cover from Ace Hardware, one with a hole in the center to insert brass rod.  On the right is something I found  that could serve as a bulb.  However, I did not install in my station.

Firefighters from Big Lots.  I used the helmets off these figures.

Hose and Connections

The Competed Project

Copyright 2003 Larry Lorance