# Need help IDing a building



## 06daytona (Oct 6, 2015)

Hi all, I'm hoping someone here can help me - I bought an assembled & painted building at a garage sale, but have no idea who the manufacturer is, or what the building represents. Internet searches didn't turn anything up, so hopefully someone knows something about this structure. The sign reads BLD 731, but there are no other marks anywhere.
Thanks!


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

*Building*

I'd say it's the above-ground part of a mine, probably somewhere in the American west in the steam era. If this were HO, I'd think it would go with a narrow-gauge ore car train.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Could be an older Model Power kit.

See the base, they used similar bases on some.









I would say it is just someones shop of some sort?


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Revell Sand and Pump house, though another maker could have picked up the molds when Revell went under...

http://hoseeker.org/revellinformation/revellt9030sandpumphouse1960pg1.jpg


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Shaygetz,
Your link is not working for me?

That is it, I thought he said it was N scale?
Nope, I checked he just posted in the N scale forum.
That is why I was searching for N.

I don't think it was made in N?

Looks like he is missing a piece too.

Worth?
$10 bucks one went for buy now on eBay.


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## 06daytona (Oct 6, 2015)

Thanks for all the replies.

Guess I should have made a point of mentioning it is N scale....

Anyway, I think the reply suggesting it might be the top part of a mine operation is good, the unfortunate part is that I'm trying to date my layout in the late '50s - mid-'60s, so I'll have to do some updating to it.

Thanks all. Much appreciated.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

06daytona said:


> Thanks for all the replies.
> 
> Guess I should have made a point of mentioning it is N scale....
> 
> ...



Are you sure what you have is N?

Like Shaygetz said, *it is a sand and pump house*.
It is not a part of a mine operation.
Also your missing a part.
This was offered in the 60's so it looks.


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## 06daytona (Oct 6, 2015)

To Shaygetz, your link didn't initially work but I did manage to find the page eventually. Thanks! 
That is exactly the structure I have. 

Although now I'm questioning if mine is N....couldn't be HO, too small.

Now, closely examining it, I can see how the crane is missing.

Thanks to all who replied, very much appreciated.


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

*Waving the white flag*

OK, I surrender. I mistook the square tank and tower for something like a derrick or winch house. And according to a description of it I found, what your missing isn't a crane but the boom to add sand to the locomotives, which diesels use for traction. 

Also (at least in HO), it came in a larger version that also included a large elevated fuel tank. What you've got looks rather "wild west" to me, but that fuel tank looks quite modern. Also, notice the "nose" of what looks a diesel switcher on the tracks on the lower right. The expanded kit was probably intended for your time frame.


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## 06daytona (Oct 6, 2015)

Thank you to all for the replies...I did mess up, it now appears to be HO, not sure how I missed that.

Anyway, it definitely is the sand & pump house, glad some people could ID it.

So, now I have to decide what to do with an HO structure on an N scale layout. Putting it at the (far, far) back might help. Or hoping to find a buyer for a $4 piece.....

Anyway, thank you all for the input. Much appreciated!!!:appl:


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

06daytona said:


> Thank you to all for the replies...I did mess up, it now appears to be HO, not sure how I missed that.
> 
> Anyway, it definitely is the sand & pump house, glad some people could ID it.
> 
> ...



Gn, I am wondering if the sand tower could have held all the weight of the sand without crashing through the roof?
Also what is the thing on the base to the far right, some kind of sand heater? Shaygetz?
Yes that is the sand boom that is missing.
It is a cool little kit though I think I would paint all the orange stuff a different color if it was mine.

GN, a storage tank is a storage tank, how would one date one? I think it is older kit? Just a different, larger kit.
A newer tank would have a safer way to access the dome up top, instead of the old wooden ladder and rickety catwalk up top. 
The thing on the front is a level site tube, newer tanks would not have that today. They were prone to breaking and the tank would empty down to the bottom of the level tube if no one was in attendance. 
I deliver to companies that still use the level tube but they have a ball valve and turn them off for the reason I said above. They just open them to check the level.

I think it is from the 60's, the one with the fuel tank is just a different kit you could have bought, a larger one. They were made to represent sand houses from the 50's? Late 40's?
They made different kits and were skill level rated. Skill-level 1 kits require no glue or paint. 
Level 5 had over 150 parts.

"Putting it at the (far, far) back might help."

No it would make your N layout look funny.
To change the "forced" perspective look you would want to get a Z scale for the far back of your N table.
That way it makes the Z piece look like it is off in the distance.
Putting an HO piece far back would do just the opposite by throwing off the whole perspective. It would look funny. (to some)
And you can't put it in front of your other N things on your layout because it would look funny there too. Unless you are just going to shoot some custom pictures, then it might look good in the picture shot.

Put it in our for sale section if you want, you must quote a asking price but you can add best offer. (it is in the rules)
I am sure that if the price is good enough, someone will snatch it up.
Or you can trade it for something in N if you want, in the trade section.


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

*One last comment . . .*

I guess I'm going to say one more thing, and then I'm gonna drop it. I'm now "pushing 60". I associate the brand "Revell" with plastic model kits - cars, both real and fantasy, battleships, airplanes, rockets etc. - the kind of kits put together with the toluene-based Testors Model Glue in a red and white tube. Making railroad scenery kits seems a reasonable side business, but also remember that this was the "day and age" where inexpensive HO starter sets with brands like Tyco and AHM could be had for a few dollars out of the Sears Christmas catalog and extra cars and track from department store toy departments. 

My point is this: Revell was a toy manufacturer in a time of "toy trains". I wouldn't expect this kit to be particularly accurate either in time or physics, or necessarily be to scale. There's no way to tell now, but I'd guess that what 06Daytona has was made for the late steam era (a wooden sand hopper? Really?) and the fuel tank was added when inexpensive starter sets went from steam locomotives to F-units and early Geeps which would have been easier to manufacture.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

GNfan said:


> I guess I'm going to say one more thing, and then I'm gonna drop it. I'm now "pushing 60". I associate the brand "Revell" with plastic model kits - cars, both real and fantasy, battleships, airplanes, rockets etc. - the kind of kits put together with the toluene-based Testors Model Glue in a red and white tube. Making railroad scenery kits seems a reasonable side business, but also remember that this was the "day and age" where inexpensive HO starter sets with brands like Tyco and AHM could be had for a few dollars out of the Sears Christmas catalog and extra cars and track from department store toy departments.
> 
> My point is this: Revell was a toy manufacturer in a time of "toy trains". I wouldn't expect this kit to be particularly accurate either in time or physics, or necessarily be to scale. There's no way to tell now, but I'd guess that what 06Daytona has was made for the late steam era (a wooden sand hopper? Really?) and the fuel tank was added when inexpensive starter sets went from steam locomotives to F-units and early Geeps which would have been easier to manufacture.



Agreed.
But why are you going to "drop it"?

This is a forum.....to discuss things?
We are not arguing? (at least I didn't mean to come across that way.)

We are discussing?:dunno:

Revell was selling things till in the 90's if I remember correct. The one with the storage tank could have been like you said, added a few years later?

06daytona, add a picture of an N scale house/ factory or something you have along side of the sanding plant. Maybe add an N scale person too if you have any. Lets see the size difference?


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

*All is good*

Actually Big Ed, I'm going to thank all of you. I had a most pleasant trip down memory lane last night google image searching "Revell" and remembering things I had. I found out the 3-ft tall Saturn V model I had is still manufactured by Revell of Germany and in stock at Amazon.com. Just thinking . . . Amazon says it's 1/144 scale, not that far from n-scale's 1/160. Imagine this on an n-scale layout:


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## time warp (Apr 28, 2016)

Nice find! The diesel switcher in the picture would still hold the era to late 40's early 50's, that's a Revell SW, isn't it?
Revell wasn't entry level, they made some nice stuff in their day. A lot of later HO kits were made using the Revell dies.
It's prototypical to use wooden bins for sand, which is blown up to the tower via compressed air. Then gravity fed to the locomotive sand box(es).


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## 06daytona (Oct 6, 2015)

@ Big Ed: _06daytona, add a picture of an N scale house/ factory or something you have along side of the sanding plant. Maybe add an N scale person too if you have any. Lets see the size difference? _

I did that after, and the size difference is definitely about twice, so it is HO. Don't have any photos, but it isn't N scale. Think when I bought the piece, it was mixed in with N & HO, but looked smaller than most of the HO pieces, so I mistook it for N. hwell:

Again, thanks to all for the help ID-ing it.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

GNfan said:


> Actually Big Ed, I'm going to thank all of you. I had a most pleasant trip down memory lane last night google image searching "Revell" and remembering things I had. I found out the 3-ft tall Saturn V model I had is still manufactured by Revell of Germany and in stock at Amazon.com. Just thinking . . . Amazon says it's 1/144 scale, not that far from n-scale's 1/160. Imagine this on an n-scale layout:


Oh man!! I just enlarged my military base, not by much, but as Mayor of Betzville, I sure would allocate more land for one of those......


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