Ronald's Civil War project in 1:87

[marc_reusser]

Ronald,

I think that you have a very fascinating subject and project under way, and I look forward to seeing what you do with it.

As what you are doing is a test diorama, I feel that IMO the bamboo doesn't look qite right for what you are doing, the grain is too coarse, and straight, and it seems to take the stain quite poorly, I would consider using basswood (Linden) dowels, or even rectangular pieces and doing some hand shaping on them, for your final project.

Just my two cents worth.


Marc

[Ronald]

Oke Marc. Would I do the latter is it a good idea to obtain the normal wooden ties from a manufacturer and shape them to form?

[artizen]

Just my two cents worth.

I obtain my timber from Woodsworks in NZ because Paul is obliging enough to cut them to the dimensions I require for a project. Nice when you are dealing with a modeller who knows what the end result should look like instead of making do with shop bought product designed for another scale. As this is a relatively small diorama, taking the time to obtain the correct dimension timber is very important as is the correct size spikes etc. Your track will be one of the highlights of the finished model. Judging you by your previous layouts, you have the skill to do very well with this. Looking forward to seeing this one evolve.

[davej]

You sould try the ME #30-108 Micro spikes.

[Ronald]

Oke guys, it was a long time ago that I posted here. The diorama started her was finished and was exposed in Belgium in 2011 at Euromodelbouw in Genk. I brough it with me with my Cornfield Yard layout and a small Indonesian layout build by my wife. The last one was on OntraXS 2010 in the Netherlands.

Here Genk 2011; all 3 layouts in a row:



The ACW dio; at home:



And showed:



But I wasn't satisfied. In the timeperiod after this till now I build another one but now in 1:55n3. Why? Because I liked it. Not totally prototipical but I think we (my wife and I) did a great job. It is called "Kennesaw GA 1863" and has all handlaid track. I used wooden basswood ties cut by a friend from a bigger piece and spiked the code 80 C&S rail on them with micro spikes from the German firm Wenz. The cars where build from scratch, I only used commercial trucks in 0N30 from Bachmann. I also modified a Bachmann 4-4-0 to fit the timeframe modelled.
The layout was especially made for a expo in the Dutch Railway Museum where it will be exposed forr a half year in a expo about wartime railroads. The expo is from coming saturday 30th March till 1 September 2013. After that it will returning to me and maybe I will do a few expo's with it.

Here the link to the building blog: http://metusajunction.blogspot.nl/ There you can find the several building stages of this layout.

And the layout finished. The Lacy hotel build by my wife from coffe stir sticks. It was a lot of work but I think she did a very fine job!:



And the layout (with courtesy from the photographer):



It is 2 meters and approx 40 cm deep. That is 3,5 by 1,5 feet. I used 28 mm war figures from several manufacturs as army and further detail.

Some more pics:







Well, short story, long term. I no planning a very small 0 gauge layout in P48. Some stuff has arrived, some is already ordered. I will start a new topic when all is in-house!

Good to be back!

Greetz, Ronald.

[David Emery]

If you are doing American Civil War in 1/48, you should be reading this:  http://usmrr.blogspot.com

dave

[Ronald]

Thanks Dave, he is already for a long time in my favourites, and sometimes we communicate through the blog or Facebook The only difference is that Bernie models 1/48 and I 1:55:

In the timeperiod after this till now I build another one but now in 1:55n3.

[Lawton Maner]

Sometime back in the dark ages of the model railroad hobby (I think the 1960's) either MR or RMC published an article on a logging railroad where the builder harvested twigs from his yard to use as the ties.  Azaleas, Crepe Myrtle, Dogwood, and others found in your yard would provide a wide range of bark textures and diameters for your ties.  I've successfully used Azalea and Crepe Myrtle to represent logs and both of them and other found objects to represent pulpwood in both HO and O Scales.