Telephone Poles (1 New Pic)

Downright awesome. 

Great job!

 

Can you post some details on how you built the telephone poles?

It seems your derrick operator isn't wearing OHSA approved attire...

No OSHA back in those days

 

Ken

 

Dave your layout is coming together fast.  I too have been working on utility poles.  I am using keil line which seem similar.  Unfortunately I might be wrong, but I      believe the stock of this product is on its last leg.  Just hard to find.  Mr. Schorr has pointed me in the direction of weaver products as a substitute.
      I plan on stringing mine with Berkshire junction E Z line.  It can take a "Hit" unlike thread and come back to shape with out looking like Godzilla came threw.
     Hoping to come out and pick up some more odds and ends from ya again in December.  See you then. Late.

Chris

E-Z Line is terrific! It is also a terrific rigging for modern ships. I used it on my Missouri hi-detail build for all the flag and radio rigging. It glues instantly with CA and works great when joining lines at right angles without unsightly knots. 

 

 

This was their finest gauge product and really looks terrific. You can bump it (which I have) and not have to re-rig this monster. I deliberately wanted the lines to be pulled from the downrunners. With string or sprue, holding the tension would have been very difficult. With E-Z Line, it's automatic. And the tension is so slight that it doesn't deform what it's attached to. In this case all the yards are now brass.

David Minarik: nice poles.  Good weathering, too, which is a key to making them believeable.  

 

Trainman2001? - What scale is that? - very nice model.  I've got some kits but most recently scratch-built a model of the West Virginia, BB-48, after its post-Pearl Harbor rebuild was done, in 1:350 scale and am now doing HMS Agincourt (Jutland). Never used this stuff on 1:350 but based on your pictures, I will now.

Thanks Lee! It's 1:350 Tamiya WWII Missouri. I built one 28 years ago and decided to build it again now that all the cool aftermarket parts are available. I was offered a place in the Captain's Cabin of the real ship in Pearl Harbor with one caveat... I had to get it there. I could come up no way to do it without having it destroyed in the process. Besides, the grandsons didn't want the model to be out of my house since it's their inspiration.

  

 

 

 

Some specs:

Brass 16" guns, steel prop shafts and brass props, photoetched products from 3 manufacturers, scratch-built brass masts and yards, laser-cut decks, lots of other scratch-built other parts that are too small to see in this picture (AMS = Advanced Modeler's Syndrome) such as stanchions holding up all over-hanging gun tubs, antenna bushings, aft flag bag, and boat davit winches. 

 

Ship is modeled as it appeared in late September 1945, after the Treaty Signing and before any WWII armament was removed except for the triple 20mm gun tub flanking #2 turret. The laser-cut decks were custom made for me to reflect this missing part. 

 

I chose that moment in time since the Measure 22 blue painted decks were stripped back to their native teak on the way back to Pearl, but none of the other things were changed (except for aforementioned gun tub). I wanted to show off those wood decks. Once the ship got to Pearl, further changes were made. When it appeared at Navy Day in NYC in October '45 the entire hull was painted Navy Blue eliminating the Haze Gray part above the sheer line in the bow and stern, an "MISSOURI" was written in large letters along the hull flanks.

 

As I'm doing with the Railroad Project, I documented the entire 13 month build here:

http://www.worldaffairsboard.c...super-detailing.html

 

It describes the process is gory details including areas of immense frustration working with some very temperamental photoetched.

David, I'm looking to scratchbuild a yard tower. I like the looks of that one shown here. Got any details?

Or better yet, a how-to for the magazine!   

great job on th epoles.  What diameter dowels did you use?

Steve

 

Thanks for the nice comments everybody!

 

Trainman, 

I've heard great things about EZ Line.  I will order some soon.  Nice ship model!

 

Tim,

I think that switch tower is a Walthers Cornerstone.  I did put an interior in it and some other details but otherwise it came like that out of the box.  I have another post 'Engine Facility' with a photo of an Altoona Model Works switch tower.  This is an excellent kit!

 

Allan,

You were up at 5:30?  I will talk to you soon my friend.

 

 

The poles are pretty easy to make.  Dave Barran, a forum member used to make some very nice ones.  I just used 1/4 dowel rods, some basswood pieces and green beads from the jewelry section of the local craft store.

 

Thanks,

 

Dave

 

Dave,

 

Could you post a close up of a telephone pole or email me one to the address in my profile?

 

Thanks!

 

Dave

Dave,

The telephone poles look very nice. A super addition to the  scenery.

That scene is coming together quite nicely Dave!

I've been inspired by all this telephone pole talk. Since I'm building all the streets for the town, including researching road signs and markings, I decided to extend the study into building a substation and making some nice telephone poles. I found a great document that really illustrates what needs to be done with good dimensioning. It's a very well-illustrated manual with great details.

 

http://doyonutilities.com/wp-content/uploads/DU-Electrical-Distribution-System-Design-Manual.pdf

 

I imported some of the images into CorelDraw and drew up some O'scale drawings of a one and two-bar pole. I've ordered Kappler O'scale 4 X 5 lumber for the crossarms and will use 10" X 1/4" dowels for the poles. I haven't decided how to make insulators yet.

 

Please feel free to download the PDF and use it for you own scratchbuilt poles.

 

 

 

 

I started installing some line tonight.

 

Dave

 

 

Trainman2001, For telephone pole insulators, San Juan Car Co has some nice ones, # 5001

Dave, beautiful scene! What type of line are you using?

 

Cesar

Trainman2001 - thanks so much for putting together the pdf.  I will use it to make some poles for my layout!

 

--Greg

Glad you can use it.

 

I looked into the San Juan Insulators. They don't have a picture on line. Can anyone send a picture of them. The amount I need came to $9.90 for two packs, but their cheapest shipping is $15.95. That's too high for a product that would fit into a first class mail envelope. It puts the total over $25 for some insulators. I'm going to try a different route. 

Trainman,

 

      I went to Michael's or JoAnns and went to the bead area. They both carry small beads with holes in them. I chose the yellow/green color since that is what I remember them being the closest to. Here are the poles I made and what the beads as insulators look like. Very cheap too. I made the transformers out of dowels painted gray and screwed in some very small screws and then cut the heads off. Both give a reasonable appearance I wanted at the price I wanted. Sorry about the duplicate pictures.

 

Rick

 

 

Dave.

 Your a skillful modelmaker.

          Bob

San Juan insulator update: He's going to ship the product USPS for $2.00. I wrote and asked if they could find a less expensive shipping method for a couple of little plastic bags. He wrote back and offered USPS and I accepted. It never, ever hurts to ask!

 

He said the website is inflexible regarding shipping options. I would suggest to him that he find a way around that since if I was deciding not to buy from him because of this, perhaps others were making similar decisions.

The San Juan insulators came today and they look terrific. They nice and small. Since there were no pictures I was concerned that they'd be over scale. The Kappler scale 4X5 lumber is not large. They're clear plastic and look just like glass. It would be easy to color them with Tamiya clear green if so desired. I like the clear glass look. I now have all the pieces for the pole project and will build some in the next week. I need a break from plastering... The size seems well suited to low voltage and telephone/telegraph wiring, but not the 10 kV lines that run on the top crossbar. I'll use a different approach for them. 

 

I'm glad the insulators were too your liking. San Juan doesn't have a lot, but what they do have is all top notch. Happy modeling.