Hi, Dennis:
I got up and read this thread with interest this morning.
I am building the Durango Tipple in 1/4" scale. At present, I have built the pit with hoist well, and have just completed the basic walls of the shed.
There were several differences between Durango and Chama. The most problematic for me so far was the shed itself, which has a roof pitch steeper than the one at Chama, and the door/window locations are different. Durango had a large offset double door on the North end, with two windows side by side on the South end. And the siding appears to be more of a horizontal V-Groove style than conventional clapboard as used at Chama.
There is a plan in Dorman's "Durango" book, which depicts the Durango version much more closely than Chama, based on the shed configuration.
I am using a San Juan Engineering kit, which contains plans that very much seem to resemble Chama, which it supposed to be. But the pit detail was very incomplete. The biggest tip for you I have on getting the grates to fit properly is to line the perimeter at the top of the pit with ties as were used at both Durango and Chama, not 9X9 timbers as supplied in the kit.
You can reach me at
mtrent@scottsboro.org if you wish to correspond. I have discovered several other differences between these two towers, but I know nothing of how the one at Gunnison was configured. It would be interesting to team up on some of the research as we complete these projects, and if anyone else has any information they might be willing to share, or if anyone would like to learn what I have already discovered on my own, I'll be glad to hear from you. Thanks to Grandt Line for the great castings, without which this would take another year to complete!
I plan to build the Durango Sand House whenever this is finished.
And for those who might poo-poo discussion of modeling projects on this page, the research that goes into a project of this type is pure hard work and thankless drudgery. The result is that not only are accurate models produced, but much is learned about the structures that can be shared in the general community.
Dennis, please feel free to contact me backchannel and we'll see what we've got together. Could be interesting!
