My friend is building a train layout for "his son" (more like himself and doesn't want to admit it!)

So I decided to help with his layout and build him a Water Tower.

I used wooden coffee stirrers to make the tower, sleeves from take out coffee cups as the corigated steel sheeting round the water tank and card for the roof.

Step 1: Water Tank

I used a small pot to use as a guide for the size of the tank.

I folded a sheet of a4 to the approximate height that will be the final height and wrapped around the pot.

Using PVA glue and elastic bands to hold the paper together until the glue drys.

There will be quite a bit of excess paper wrapping round. I left this as I wanted it to add to the structural thickness of the tank before adding the "corrigated steel" skin outside.

Step 2: Top of the Tower, Base of the Tank

When the glue has set on the tank has set, slide off the pot and line up your coffee stirrers.

Cut the stirrers to the required length. As you can see from the picture, I used 2 layers crossed for ease of glueing

I use wire cutters to trim the coffee stirrers to size. Easier and quicker than using a hacksaw

Step 3: Water Tank

While the glue was drying, I cut the corrigated card sleeves into different heights and lengths then glued (smooth side down) to the inner skin of the water tank. I didn't want all the pieces uniform. If the pieces are more random in size, it makes it look a bit older like it has been around for a while.

Step 4: Tower Frame

This was the tricky part. You need to decide what height the tower is going to be and cut your uprights slightly longer than needed.

The reason for this is if you make a mistake with the cross beam, then there is plenty of upright available for the cross beam to be attached to.

I cut eight stirrers to the lengths I required and glued them together in an L shape. Repeat this with the remaining peices to give you 4 uprights.

I've not found a good way to clamp these in place while the glue drys, so I held them together for a few minutes to allow the glue to start acting.

When this was done, I added the top cross beams. The lenght of these are obviously dependant on the top of the tower that was made earlier. I wanted the top to overhang the uprights slightly so I made the cross beams slightly shorter than the lenght of the top of the tower.

When these were glued I started to make the diagonal cross beams.

Glueing one to each side of the uprights and then packing the uprights with so there was no bend in the cross beam when adding the second. When this was done (and repeated on all sides) I cut extra pieces to fit and glued into place so the front sides were all flush.

I then cut the excess lenght off the uprights to give me the required size.

If it is a bit wobbly, then place a sheet of sandpaper on a flat surface and sand until the tower is less wobbly!