Modeling a prison on my layout

[FJ and G]

I still think the Folsom Prison/Johnny Ca***heme would be about right and would attract quite an audience; a captive audience if I can say so.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Make sure you put a prison grave yard just outside the walls.

[TrainFreak409]

Cool, a prison, That's probably rarely modeled. Good luck with the project, this will be something when it is finished.

~[8]~ TrainFreak409 ~[8]~

[jonadel]

Corona........ some of the worst Mexican beer made, kind of like Milwaukee's Best (the Beast). I would quit drinking beer if Corona were the only beer left of the planet.

Jon

[garyseven]

Corona?!? If you enjoy Mexican beer, try a Negra Modello.

[underworld]

Dude.....I think it was 1, 2, and definately 3!!!! I would say do it. It is a subject rarely modelled and would be a very interesting project. I'd recommend the old Mansfield State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio.[}:)] It's now closed but it is open for tours and around Halloween they do a Haunted Prison Tour. I wouldn't recommend the Haunted tour though....it used to be good but someone else is operating it now and they cut it from a 1 hour+ long tour to about 10 mins.....and raised the price![xx(] Another really cool looking prison is Eastern State in Pennsylvania....I think Philadelphia. It's also closed but they have tours.

underworld

[}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)]

[DCmontana]

My layout is set in "Big Sky" country. A prison would be too confining! Good luck any way with the project.

***

[laz 57]

PLASTICLIZARD,
If you put in a chain gang don't forget to have a guy in the bushes taking a dump and have the walking boss saying shake those bushes boy ala COOL HAND LUKE. You could even have it animated with the guy shaking the bush.
laz57

[Jumijo]

TPL,

You could kitbash several hospital or apartment building kits together into one building. I saw an article in an old issue of CTT that featured a very convincing factory made out of 2 Plasticville hospital kits. The Union Station kit could be used as the entrance or "front" of the prison. It looks suitably institutional.

You might also consider scratchbuilding the prison. You're going to have to scratchbuild the walls any way. Prison architecture is so spartan that it wouldn't take much more than some flat styrene sheets. My hobby store carries large sheets > 2 feet by 1 foot in many thicknesses. Your prison and walls could also be made from wood (1x4s for instance). The wood would give dimension to the walls and could be painted to look like cement and scribed to look like stone. You could screw and glue a prison together out of wood or MDF much faster than with plastic.

The Plasticville airport control tower would make a great guard tower. Use several of those for a large prison.

Window screen can be used to replicate chain link fence. Spooled wire can be used to simulate razor wire.

Use your imagination and don't be held back by what kits are available. Also, don't make the project more complicated than it has to be. Most prison type facilities are pretty devoid of detail. Just huge monolithic buildings surrounded by walls.

Jim

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any ideas for an existing building (plasticville, bachman, Lionel, MTH, etc.) that would serve as a main building for the prison?

I was thinking of the plasticville hobo shacks would make good bunk houses


or maybe the plasticville town hall..with maybe 3 of them put together and taking off the clock towers.

[Anonymous]

Don't you know that the white collar criminals get away with everything?

[Anonymous]

How about a white collar crime section with a pool and sundeck? You could also have a wrist slapping machine.

[locomutt]

Now that sounds LIKE A GOOD PLAN to me.
Hope that one works out!!

[Anonymous]

The ideas are coming faster than I can process them. Every year I go to the beach at 4th of July with my inlaws and every year it rains at least 2 days. So this year I'm bringing a project with me. I'm going to be doing A TON of hydrocal castings. Walls for the prison, retaining walls, and rocks of various sizes for the layout.

Here is my plan:

1. Mix hydrocal
2. pour in molds
3. put Corona's in cooler
4. go to beach
5 after Corona's are empty go to step 1.

And then if it rains one day, I'll paint them.

[FJ and G]

well, the ideas continue flowing. Why not do an entire crime scene of

1. a crime in progress (burglers breaking into a window).

2. A police paddy waggon picking up the miscreants

3. a courthouse with suspect being led handcuffed inside

4. the jail scene and chain gangs

5. perhaps a prison break and escaping in a boxcar

after the prison break, you see them being picked up again and you've just come full circle!

[TexasEd]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Dr. John

Interesting idea! You might consider modeling a portion of a prison at a corner of your layout to give the impression of a larger facility. Maybe have someone escaping ala Tim Robbins "The Shawshank Redemption" or Clint Eastwood in "Alcatraz".

How about the two guys from "Raising Arizona"?

[Anonymous]

good idea guys thanks...

I'm going crazy on ebay trying to find cheap or used parts...I'll be repainting them anyway.

[csxt30]

Just happened to notice a water tower today & Thought , ooh, Plastic Lizard should have a water tower for his prison!! I know some where I thought I saw a prison with there own water tower. MTH & lionel Ibelieve have made them. Thanks, John

[cnw1995]

Michigan's max security state prison in Newberry just has Stalag 17-type dorms behind several layers of chain link and razor wire fencing - using silver mesh could be interesting. These days, everything seems to be behind chain link and razor wire...I'm thinking of enclosing a tank farm...

[Dr. John]

I would think that the walls would be 30 feet, with chain link fences at 10 to 15 feet tall.

[Anonymous]

Now I've found a source for walls, and I've found a good way to make chain link and razor wire. I've started tracking down a guard tower, and I think I've got my buildings situated.

But anyone know how tall the walls of the prison should be? Would prison walls be 20 feet high, 30?

[Anonymous]

You could look into modeling Ossining Prison AKA Sing-Sing just north of NY city. It straddels the old New York Central Hudson river Mainline with fortiffyed bridges crossing the tracks. Now Metro North commeter trains use the tracks and many of the people on the "reverse commuting" trains in the morning are visiting husbands and fathers and get off at that stop.

[FJ and G]

great chain gang idea, TPL

Dr John's idea is tops.

How about modeling Camp Cupcake, with Martha Stewart in matching striped outfit?

[Dr. John]

Interesting idea! You might consider modeling a portion of a prison at a corner of your layout to give the impression of a larger facility. Maybe have someone escaping ala Tim Robbins "The Shawshank Redemption" or Clint Eastwood in "Alcatraz".

[Anonymous]

already thought of the chain gang....I've seen a Lionel track set that would look good with the guys wearing orange jumpsuits...


Regarding the towers, with a little paint and if I cover Lionel with Dept. of Corrections I think this Lionel switch tower would make a nice guard tower. I could give the moving people little rifles to carry.

[FJ and G]

interesting idea.

a chain gang also might be nice.

[Jumijo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by plasticlizard

. . .BTW, what is an inexpensive way to make stone walls?

I've been pondering the same question. I'm going to try scribing some smooth styrofoam with an awl, then painting it. Cheap and quick! Also, Plasticville's Airport Terminal (45985) has a great control tower that looks very much like a guard tower. See Bachmann's web site for images.

Jim

[locomutt]

The one in Virginia.

Just an FYI,and you may know about it,but Micro-Mark has
some real nice sheets of stone,brick,concrete block,etc.
The surfaces are slightly raised above the mortar lines to
give a more realistic look to them.
I've gotten several different ones,but haven't used them for
a project yet;but they do look,and feel a lot better than the
old flat sheets of same.

[Anonymous]

which of the compounds are you asking about?

1. Levenworth is in Kansas, accross the river from Kansas City, MO.
2. Folsom Prison is in California, north of sacramento
3. the VIP and the smaller prison is at the intersection of I66 and I81 in Virginia.