ARMY BARRACKS

Jim I'm going to scratch build 2 wooden barracks like those I bunked in at Ft Jackson during my basic training in 1964.

I wish someone made the WW2-style one, though they were very large and a scale model of one would take up a lot of your layout (not to mention they never put just one in one place). There's a field of them, re-modeled for 'Nam, over at North Fort Lewis, WA. I trained in them as a ROTC cadet, as did my nephew 15 years later. They're still there, I saw them yesterday, but they removed the mid-level 'roof' shown in Wild Mary's photo above sometime in the 60s.

Also stayed in them at a National Guard base in Virginia, and near the Sniper school in Benning, both in the 90s.

At Ft Benning today, they pulled a few of the last ones on post as they were being scrapped, along with examples of other stateside WW2 buildings, and built a "WW2 company street" behind the Infantry museum:

Jim,

   I have the original Tin Plate Army Barracks/ HQ Training Bldg, for my Tin plate Trains.  Way cools stuff!   If you are into Tin Plate, this Bldg is tough to acquire in pristine condition.

PCRR/Dave

P51. That is the type of barrack I stayed in at Ft. Bragg, 1971.

WOW memories of Lackland AFB 1965 we marched from one set of barracks to new ones and it was these.

Oh they were marked condemed  the drill Sgt tore the sign off and said move in.

We did

GG1GUYY

GG1GUYY posted:

WOW memories of Lackland AFB 1965 we marched from one set of barracks to new ones and it was these. 

My Dad was a USAF electrical mechanic on F-86Ds and he went through basic there I think in 1958. My brother, now retired as a USAF LtCol, was stationed there running a training unit at one point. He took dad out to where Dad recalled his barracks area set up, but the entire area had been razed to the ground years before.

As for building a model of one of these, a full interior would take a lot of work, with all those bunks in the open bay barracks and footlockers to make… During WW2 they didn’t have metal wall lockers like they did in later years in these, and instead much of a GI’s stuff was on wood shelves recessed into the walls behind each bunk. The only stuff you locked up was in your footlocker.

When I was in basic training at Fort Gordon in 1966 that's how the barracks were. Ours still had a coal furnace for heating, it did get rather cold in GA in December.

A couple shots of Ft. Benning.

wild mary posted:

Jim I'm going to scratch build 2 wooden barracks like those I bunked in at Ft Jackson during my basic training in 1964.

Same barracks all over, Ft. Ord, Camp McCoy, Fort Hood all had the same type.  I only want to use one because I am putting an a company of M113's on my layout.  Just need a military looking building.  Cement building would be ok too.  Are there plans somewhere for them?  Thanks for all of the responses.

Jim why not just use a Plasticville hospital.  With just a little modification it could be a cement barracks.  !st floor would be the day room, orderly room, CO's office & mess.  2nd floor would be the latrine & sleeping quarters.  Works for me.

Marx didn't just make that army playset HQ building pictured above; they also made a tinplate two story barracks playset building that can be found.  However, as usual for playsets, they are more G scale than O 

p51 posted:

I wish someone made the WW2-style one, though they were very large and a scale model of one would take up a lot of your layout (not to mention they never put just one in one place). There's a field of them, re-modeled for 'Nam, over at North Fort Lewis, WA. I trained in them as a ROTC cadet, as did my nephew 15 years later. They're still there, I saw them yesterday, but they removed the mid-level 'roof' shown in Wild Mary's photo above sometime in the 60s.

Also stayed in them at a National Guard base in Virginia, and near the Sniper school in Benning, both in the 90s.

At Ft Benning today, they pulled a few of the last ones on post as they were being scrapped, along with examples of other stateside WW2 buildings, and built a "WW2 company street" behind the Infantry museum:

Stayed in the same type of barracks at  Rectal ( Reception)  Battalion at Ft Knox Ky back in 87 when I went through OSUT as a 19D Cavalry scout. Interesting history as they were built as temp barracks during WW2. You can see them in the movie Stripes.

I was in Army ROTC at For Lewis in 1963, at the old North Fort.  The barracks didn't have the roof over the first floor nor above the fire escape at that time.

Marx apparently made some plastic barracks kits, but I'm getting mixed info on the size ranging from 1/43 to 1/72.  Any accurate info would be greatly appreciated.

Forty Rod posted:

I was in Army ROTC at For Lewis in 1963, at the old North Fort.  The barracks didn't have the roof over the first floor nor above the fire escape at that time.

Yeah, I think most got yanked off sometime during/after the Korean war. I went through the very same barracks you did, in the summer of 1997. They're still there for now.

Here's a 1/32 scale barracks kit.

http://www.michtoy.com/item-MX...litary_Barracks.html

Yes, Marx sized buildings can tend to be a bit large for O gauge.  But, they are still nice to collect when you find them, same as with Plasticville.

Jesse    TCA   12-68275

Fort McCoy building information from my replies to these earlier threads:

Show us your Fire Houses  6/3/16

Anyone Make a Scale Army Barracks 4/11/15

Using Model Train Software's Model Builder, I have done N scale versions of the McCoy Barracks, Supply/Orderly room, Maintenance Building, Mess Hall, Battalion Headquarters, and Fire Station.  In O scale I have only done the Fire Station and Maintenance Building (both with selective compression).

Larry

MONON_JIM posted:

wild mary posted:

Jim I'm going to scratch build 2 wooden barracks like those I bunked in at Ft Jackson during my basic training in 1964.

Same barracks all over, Ft. Ord, Camp McCoy, Fort Hood all had the same type.  I only want to use one because I am putting an a company of M113's on my layout.  Just need a military looking building.  Cement building would be ok too.  Are there plans somewhere for them?  Thanks for all of the responses.

 

I was in the 542nd Transportation Company, we had M113's, I even drove the M59's. Basic and AIT at Fort Ord, 5 summer camps at Camp McCoy and 1 at Fort Hood. We heated with coal.

The M113's were real  work horses.

wild mary posted:

The M113's were real  work horses.

They were fun to float. Unless of course the bilge pumps quit, then they sunk like a rock. Used for many things, rockets, ambulances and troop carriers.

I have a tin Marx building on my layout, very close to the old wooden ones. WE had the updated wood barracks at Harmony Church, Ft. Benning  where we trained as infantry in 1957. Later while doing WW II re-enacting we stayed in them at different bases. At that time, in the 1980s, at Ft. Indiantown Gap we stayed in some old original  WW II barracks, still open but the latrines weren't as good. I marveled at the design of those buildings. The military got their money's worth out of them. In Germany  we were issued the M59s, the vet NCOs we had  weren't impressed. Called them "death traps' but more comfortable.

jim pastorius posted:

I have a tin Marx building on my layout, very close to the old wooden ones. WE had the updated wood barracks at Harmony Church, Ft. Benning  where we trained as infantry in 1957. Later while doing WW II re-enacting we stayed in them at different bases. At that time, in the 1980s, at Ft. Indiantown Gap we stayed in some old original  WW II barracks, still open but the latrines weren't as good. I marveled at the design of those buildings. The military got their money's worth out of them. In Germany  we were issued the M59s, the vet NCOs we had  weren't impressed. Called them "death traps' but more comfortable.

Yes, they had an engine for each track. Very hot when you are in a place like Fort Hood TX in the summer. I was a platoon sergeant.

Mom was a graduate student at UVA and we lived for a few years in old army barracks  where John Paul Jones Arena now stands.  Barracks Road Shopping Center was expanding nearby which was an odd dichotomy.  I remember riding my bicycle down to Bob's Big Boy to pick up the latest comic they would put out.  And over to High's Dairy Store for a single dip cone (didn't have much money back then so couldn't afford the shakes).  The University eventually tore down the barracks and built the arena.  It was tough times for our family but it was good times in retrospect. 

 The barracks were single story buildings like the one on the right in this photo.

MONON_JIM posted:

MONON_JIM posted:

wild mary posted:

Jim I'm going to scratch build 2 wooden barracks like those I bunked in at Ft Jackson during my basic training in 1964.

Same barracks all over, Ft. Ord, Camp McCoy, Fort Hood all had the same type.  I only want to use one because I am putting an a company of M113's on my layout.  Just need a military looking building.  Cement building would be ok too.  Are there plans somewhere for them?  Thanks for all of the responses.

 

I was in the 542nd Transportation Company, we had M113's, I even drove the M59's. Basic and AIT at Fort Ord, 5 summer camps at Camp McCoy and 1 at Fort Hood. We heated with coal.

 

I have ten Marx barracks like those, but they are closer to 1/72 than any other scale.

I'm planning on putting them in the background, one for each of the places I was stationed in the Army and Marine Corps.

Here is a couple of pictures of my military barracks in my modeled military base.

Ft. Custer in Battle Creek, MI has the same style. All units have been extensively modernized except one, Which is a museum. I won't be on base until March. I might be able find where to locate blue prints. The base turned 100 in 2017.

Ken

I made this model from a kit, which I will use to make a 1/48 model. Not sure who made the plastic kit. Its approx. 8x5x4 1/2.

Also include a video at Ft Knox late 1964 when I took Basic and hope the style helps a little in your modeling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqPqcq_scGg

josef posted:

Also include a video at Ft Knox late 1964 when I took Basic and hope the style helps a little in your modeling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqPqcq_scGg

 

That video brings back memories. I was stationed at Ft. Knox as a brand new 2nd Lt. in 1965, serving a short stint as a training officer before moving on to Ft. Benning.

kmacleod posted:

Ft. Custer in Battle Creek, MI has the same style. All units have been extensively modernized except one, Which is a museum. I won't be Aon base until March. I might be able find where to locate blue prints. The base turned 100 in 2017.

Ken

 

If anyone is looking for blue prints, here is information that I found that I posted in a thread on 4/11/15.

"A few references for scratch building or kit bashing.

 PDF  “World War 2 Military Buildings – A Brief History of the Architecture and Planning of Cantonments and Training Locations in The United States”

 The Library of Congress has many old photos and images of the original building plans for Fort McCoy, Wisconsin.  Many of the old "temporary buildings" still stand and have been remodeled and updated a number of times.

 A Google Advanced Search using:

(All These Words) McCoy Wisconsin Buildings

(The Exact Word or Phrase) "Library of Congress"

 Two of the results returned by the above search:

First result

Second result "

I almost made one a few years ago out of legos.  The only problem is that it was very hard to find enough roof tiles in green.  Usually they sold in groups of 4 or 5 pieces and they were quite expensive for what you get.  I think they would have made a very nice project similar to the building above.

Rick

When I was stationed at Naval Air Technical Training Center, Memphis (actually in Millington), TN, I stayed in that style barracks for several months. They were not limited to just the Army; the Navy had them, too. Even then, I thought about trying to build a model of one (they actually were built in several lengths according to manpower requirements) but other things came to the fore at the time. Some years later, when as a civilian, I worked at a local Army post for the Post Engineer in the drafting section, I had access to the post blueprint files, located the plans for that style barracks, ran off a set of Ozalid (phew, the ammonia fumes!) reproducibles, but never followed up and have since lost the drawings.

I remember living in those during the summer of 81 Ft Benning Ga B-9-2 Harmony church and being a driver of a M-113a1/a2 at Ft Polk and Gelhausen Germany. I slid over a boulder at Hohensfeld and later we were going to do a swim test found out that I had actually cracked the weld on the right rear near the battery box, thank God for the pre-test

jim pastorius posted:

Later while doing WW II re-enacting we stayed in them at different bases. At that time, in the 1980s, at Ft. Indiantown Gap we stayed in some old original  WW II barracks, still open but the latrines weren't as good. I marveled at the design of those buildings.

Sadly, most (if not all) of them got plowed over at "FIG" a few years back. They also closed the Battle of the Bulge re-enactment there for good, last year was the very last one.

I went to several of those events in the 90s, including the massive one in 1995. I'll never forget walking past a line of halftracks and tanks that took a long time to get past!

I also endured the horrors at Funck's Family Restaurant, right outside the FIG gates. Nothing other than that for miles, so the food was overpriced, never very good and the service was always iffy. It's the only place I ever ate at where I went to the manager, told him I wasn't going to pay as it was so bad, and that I wanted him to know I wasn't doing a 'dine and dash' as I didn't want him to think that would've bene worth my time. I actually told him he was lucky I didn't bill him instead. As I walked out, one of the few people who wasn't stunned to hear that actually said out loud, "Wow, I didn't know that was an option!" Within a couple of hours, people at the swap meet buildings on post were coming up to me, asking if I was the guy who'd just done that at that awful greasy spoon...

Allan Miller posted:

That video brings back memories. I was stationed at Ft. Knox as a brand new 2nd Lt. in 1965, serving a short stint as a training officer before moving on to Ft. Benning.

Allan,  I entered active duty in August, 1963 - basic at Ft. Knox in E-16-4 in the concrete two story buildings designed to withstand an atomic blast.  Then to Ft. Sill OCS in the two story wood barracks.  One remains as the OCS Museum but will be razed in less than 24 months. John in Lansing, ILL

The old, original ones had a tin trough urinal with a running water pipe plus old commode sitting on the floor-no partitions or doors. Know they neighbor. I don't think they had NCO rooms either.