Abandoned House Project

[tetters]

....going to go film the inside of a flooded ICBM Missle Silo in West Texas for a FOX Cold War documentary.....

Wait...back up. Seriously? That is freaking COOL!!!

[MasonJar]

Glad you can use my suggestion!

And the diving assignment sounds incredible....!

Andrew

[Ralph]

I'd like to hear more about that!

[scubadude]

Very little progess, put the roof on this morning...pics later.

Been away to West Texas desert at an old abandoned ICBM Missle launch site to shoot some underwater video for an upcoming documentary by FOX about the Cold War. From above ground, this place would be unnoticed. There is nothing more than a small outhouse-looking building that you enter from and immediately start descending over 1/4 mile underground. After going thru multiple 3 ft thick doors, it eventually opens up to basically a miniature Air Force Base underground complete with control rooms, barracks, commissary, infirmary, etc. My Dad was part of one in the midwest in the late 50's and said they were stationed there for weeks at a time, much like submariners. Their sole duty was to launch a nuclear warhead in the event of attack. Apparently there are hundreds of these sites all over the country. Dad said there were a few above ground buildings, but not many as to not attract attention. This particular one is in the middle of the desert and rattlesnake country.

The launch doors are sealed and the actual 135' deep cylinder that housed the huge Atlas F missile is about 60' across. Pretty big firecracker! Over the last 30 years or so, the facility has slowly filled with groundwater seepage that is crystal clear and very cold - 55F! My job was to film the launch cylinder, and with special permission the launch control rooms and the other various submerged facilities. The producers are doing a story about the Cold War, and in particular will be taking some of the former military personel stationed there in the 50's and 60's back to their facility thru the film I shot and create some interesting stories of what they went thru.
I wish I could post some of the footage, but the producers won't give permission as it is now their property, thanks to a tidy check to me! I did post some pics I had from previous trips to give a little impression of what this facility is. If the show gets picked up, I'll be sure to let you guys know so you can watch....

[Steamtrains]

WoW...!! That's an unusual assignment, to say the least...

So, when the "Cold" war was over, they just pulled up stakes, picked-up their firecrackers, and went home..??

[scubadude]

Don't think it was quite as simple as that, but that was the end result. I heard of one guy who actually purchased one for $150,000 and is planning on turning it into an "extreme" house. The production co. I was working with is looking at doing a show about it on HGTV sometime in the future.

[Ralph]

That's a remarkable dive and film shoot! Tell us when you hear about a broadcast date. I heard a story on Public Radio a while ago about a silo in North Dakota that is open as a tourist site. You can go down to the control room and see the stations where the guys manning the missle sat. Pretty sobering, I'd think.
Ralph

Edit: Found the link... <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://history.nd.gov/historicsites/minutemanmissile/index.html">http://history.nd.gov/historicsites/min ... index.html</a><!-- m -->

[Steamtrains]

A good many of you never lived through it...But the Cuban missile crisis was a few short hours away from Armageddon. I can only imagine what those guys stuck down in those silos were thinking.....What would they come out to see after things went south..?? Now that is sobering....

[P5se Camelback]

For those too young to remember all of that and the air rail drills at school, rent a movie called "On the Beach," filmed in 1958 or '59 with stars like Gregory Peck, and Fred Astaire. I remember the families of several of my more well-to-do friends had bomb shelters built under their back yards and had them stocked with food and water and clothing.

It was a grim, scary time to be a young kid growing up, thinking it could all be over in about 12 minutes!

And then there was Sputnick sailing by overhead ... you could actually see it cross the sky on clear winter nights!

[scubadude]

For me, it really hit home when I was shooting film of the actual console that housed the "button". Not actually as easy as it sounds, they didn't simply push a button, there was a long procedure that involved several people to activate the launch sequence. There really wasn't much left inside the launch control room, the military obviously stripped it of anything of any importance. Sobering is the best word to describe that room........knowing what easily could have happened back in those paranoid days.....

[nachoman]

Southern arizona had many of those ICBM silos. One is now a museum.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.titanmissilemuseum.org/">http://www.titanmissilemuseum.org/</a><!-- m -->

And the 55 degree groundwater? Wow. I've pumped some around phoenix that come out at 95-100 degrees.

BTW, nice work so far on the house - I have seen and explored several just like it. Parts of northern Arizona are littered with similar abandoned houses - sometimes with the kids bikes still in the yard and food remains and dishes on the kitchen counter. But to model a NC abandoned house, all you need is a small block of wood, and cover it with kudzu

[RailCop]

scubadude,

This is a great model project. I built this one many years ago and still love looking at it. One of the methods I used to simulate wood rot was to thin out some brown paint and place a very thin amount in a small pan. Then, after aging the wood with a wire brush and a dental pic I placed the bottom of the wall in the thinned out paint and allowed some of it to soak up into the wood. This simulates heavier rot near the bottom and less further up. I also cut one door out of the frame and remounted it in a 'kicked in' position. Broken glass is also a nice touch.

Have fun with this project. It's looking great so far.

KT

[doctorwayne]

You've really got the "old wood" technique down pat, Richard.

For colouring the shingles, I used various colours of well-thinned paint applied with a flat brush. Start at the top and brush straight down, using a very light touch to avoid colouring the entire shingle. I used Floquil, including some FloStain, and colours included browns, greys, greens and reds, along with silver. Wood shingles usually darken after they're first applied, then turn grey and become lighter, eventually taking on highlights of silver. While all that's taking place, dirt from the atmosphere is collecting, along with stains from chimneys and flashing - these latter ones are usually visible as streaks emanating from the lower edges of the item causing the stain. Unless the climate is really dry, you'll also see moss and sometimes other fungus-like growths - these can be quite heavy where the roof is well-shaded. I just keep layering on the different shades until I get a look that I like.

Wayne

[scubadude]

It's been a couple of months, work has been hectic, I am dealing with contractors remodeling my scuba shop, trying to downsize space from 10,000 sq ft down to 5000 sq ft is a real headache.......anyway I finally got the abandoned house project completed..thought you might enjoy the finished pic...I like how it turned out. It will be placed on my friend Allan's High N' Anxiety layout for an open house next month. It will represent a moonshiner's abandoned house in the Smokey Mts. near the Clinchfield in the 40's.

I also finished the Wood Cutter's Shack from the last BB contest. Detailed the diorama by putting down Roof Brown paint heavily on the base and then covering with various textures of dirt and sand along with pebbles, ground up leaves and fall foliage colors under the dead tree from WS. Painted zillions of details and tools laying around. If you look carefully, you might be able to see workbenches filled with tools under the shed and in the shack. This scene is also going on Allan's layout up in the mountains near the abandoned house.

[faraway]

That looks different from all the slick and clean models