Was looking through the Walthers catalog and noticed a good sized section on the military. Yet when I come here or do web search unless Im just not typing in the right words, I come up with very little on people modeling the military when it comes to train layouts and such.
Is this not a popular theme amongst model railroaders?
Steve
Although my layout is set in the mid-30s to mid-40s, I haven’t really planned on any military trains (too early in the construction stage to do anything but run in circles). That’s an interesting idea, though - I may incorporate a few munitions trains and troop trains occasionally when I get to where I can operate realistically.
Hi Steve.
There is one on this forum that built an Air Force Base, no memory recall as to his name. Perhaps the Mag, Fine Scale Modeler may help, great info and really trick modeling. I will model troop trains and ammo trains heading for Oakland in the late 60s 70s later on.
Like they say…Its your railroad…go for it, if the interest is there…John
There was a wildly popular thread that contained a video from our National Archives that contained images of actual wartime trains being loaded and rolling complete with some censorship. I an not sure where that thread is but it sparked a good reaction.
I will be using walthers heavyweight pullmans and some other equiptment to create a troop train. While it may not be prototype it will definately be seen as a military train and has rights over all other trains on the road.
On ebay was recently sold a number of very authentic looking modern miltary equitment loaded on flats. There were some serious bidding wars for these. Too bad I did not have the ca***o participate. Perhaps in the future the creators will feel like making up some more equiptment andI’ll be ready.
It comes up from time to time, mostly from younger modelers. I think a lot of HO scale military equipment is also used for miniatures wargaming, other than that I am hard-pressed to explain why you can get just about every military vehicle ever made in HO scale.
It does seem like a natural thing, though: if someone wanted to model a very high density of rail traffic, with every possible bit of equipment moved at mass capacity, and set in the transition era, WWII is a natural: one reason why a lot of old steam equipment was done away with after WWII is because there was so darn much rail traffic! Passenger service was also in high demand due to gasoline rationing and troop-train movements.
Part of the reason why military model railroading doesn’t pass beyond the idea stage very often is because military bases tend to be very, very big places, that don’t respond well to selective compression without looking fake. It would be pretty easy to make a “train area only” layout based on a military base. Operation would be based around an interchange with a civilian railroad (which could loop around the whole base in a hidden/backstage tunnel.) Cars left at interchange would be picked up by the base’s switcher and brought to various warehouses. The potential for lots of interesting loads (flats filled with assorted military vehicles) is there…
Even electric interurbans enjyoed a brief heyday. Some things to consider for a WWII era layout include headlight shields to prevent possible observation by enemy bombers–in California, even local trolleys carried these!
One thought that just occurred to me: a Z scaler modeling World War II would have incredible opportunities to do military modeling, because of the preponderance of 1:285 military miniatures, popular in large-scale miniatures wargames! While 1:285 is smaller than Z’s 1:220, metal miniatures tend to be a bit oversized and at that scale a little discrepancy isn’t too noticeable. Just a thought…
The guy once called himself “ParkerLegend”, now he’s known as “Biggie Smalls”; Here’s the link to his project:
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=-1&TOPIC_ID=29324&REPLY_ID=289986
I have modeled an air force base , fading into the backdrop…couldn’t fit a 16 foot run way into my layout. The main reason I started was I was experimenting with LED’s and thought they would make great runway markers and approach lights. When it lights up at night it looks very effective.
As someone stated earlier it may not be prototypic but it is my layout so I will be running 1 or 2 trains with military equipment, Abrams tanks and assorted support equipment. I use to do a lot of military gaming and when I saw these tanks I could not resist adding them to my layout. The loads look great on flat cars. I had intended to add a loading facility at a military base but the available space may be too small. Time will tell
For those of you whom are unaware of these sites:
http://www.ww2modelmaker.com
http://militaryrailfan.net
http://www.trainweb.org/marcrailfan/dodx.html
and, there’s also a Yahoo group devoted to the Civil War railroads:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Civil_War_RRs/
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
I have some military equipment and plan to get more. Unfortunately, if you want to model the flatcars that carry the M-1s, you will probably have to scratchbuild them. I know of no manufacturers of them in HO scale. I was surprised at how good the Boley M-1 looks ($2.99, if I remember correctly), though it will need a paint job.
If I am ever able to build a layout large enough, I would like to model some military bases.
By the way, I have seen a military base where the location where they load and unload the flatcars is at the edge of the base.
Well, if you’re modeling military in the 1960s, instead of the whole base with a two mile long runway, you could get by with a siding with either a parked B-52 simulator car for pilots or a mobile Radar Bomb Scoring site for “Oil Burner” low-level routes. The RBS train would have roof mounted radar antennas, UHF radio antennas and some dormitory cars. There should be a 1/87th scale B-52 “aluminum overcast” that you could have pass through periodically at ceiling height that would try to avoid the “flying farmers” in their light planes who didn’t bother to read NOTAMs. Unfortunately, I’ve never encountered plans for the RBS trains or the simulator cars, just a few photos in Combat Crew magazine. On the other hand, those who model the railroad - maritime interface have ample opportunites for any era from WWI on.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
I have a couple dozen B-52s (all G and H models) that I need to work in somehow. Most are 1/144th scale with a couple 1/200th scale and 3 1/72nd scale, so I guess most will have to be flying in the background (I model in HO). Most are in the ACC scheme, one is the SIOP paint scheme. Castle AFB is something I would like to model one day.
I have thought that it would be interesting to do a military train or two. I am in the National Guard, and my unit was deployed in '03. Originally we were to go to Iraq, but instead we went to Afghanistan. The military railheads a lot of their equipment to different ports so that they can be loaded onto boats to be sent over seas. We rail loaded all of our stuff, and it traveled to Corpus Christy (sp?) and then it came back when our orders changed. If you do it, don’t be affraid to put some damage to your cargo, because almost every one of our vehicles were damaged in one way or another. Broken mirrors, shattered windows, missing items of all sorts. I have been interested in it since, but I haven’t been able to find exactly what I am looking for readily accessable.
I do like the idea, and encourage everyone to try it. If you would like more info on it, I would be happy to help you.
Castle AFB ought to be easy to model. Just use some cotton batting to simulate ground fog and have the BUFF tails sticking up through the fog.
Hey I did do my Air force base as one stated. I enjoyed it too. It is pretty much all done now. I have to just glue the fence down, the building, and then add A military hummer and figures to that area. It looks pretty nice and Came out just as I envisioned. Here are new pictures of this.
Click onto the pictures to view them in full format
A military port like Bayonne NJ would be a possibility. It was crowded during WWII. Steam Engines and their trains with military equipment waited for ships to be available to make the trip to Europe. Flatcars and gondolas loaded with Sherman tanks, jeeps, other military vehicles. Stuff parked anyplace their was room. Simple unloading facilities.
Or Camp Kilmer in Edison NJ. This was the staging camp for troops on their way to Europe. Troops returning home also came through here. Many troop trains in and out all the time … PRR, LV, Reading …
(Named after Sergeant Joyce Kilmer, soldier/poet, killed in battle in France in WWI. [" I think that I shall never see, A poem lovely as a tree, …"] )
Jim
I never modeled my air force base after any real base out there. I just thought it up in my head and did it. It is a base ontop of the mountain. I will call it Mount Air force Base or somethng like that. LOL
Hey! Just the topic!
I was planning on incorporating a military base and airstrip on my N scale layout. True, a ‘real’ airstrip would have to be…welll LONG, so I am doing a section of it, as well as a munitions depot with RR sidings leading to it. As for equipment, I use 1;144 scale aircraft as it is closest to N. Roco makes true 1;160 tanks, albeit for the German army.
Most likely my base will have a mix of US and German equipment. I am also into military modelling, and have found that Dragon and another brand (will post the name when I get home); make 1;144 scale tanks. When an M1 in this scale is placed next to an Nscale tank or on an N scale flatcar, the difference is rather visible. So most of my stuff is Roco. They sell about $4.00 a piece. GHQ also makes tanks in N and HO, but they’re like $20 a piece.
I have 3 Leopard 2 MBT’s, 4 M113 transports, 2 howitzers, 2 trucks, and a scratchbuilt Gepard AAA in ‘true’ N scale. RR wise; I only have a 40’ boxcar that I painted for US Army. I plan on getting a Geep as well as some flat cars fro transport/AAA and maybe paint a stack car for Army just for the hell of it!
BTW, found the name of that MFG. Its called “Military Museum Collection” and they make a lot of 1;144 or “near N scale tanks”
Ft Irwin in the California Desert has a loading and unloading place at the east edge of the base… This is the largest base in the US and is the Desert Training center for all branches of the military…
My oldest Brother was stationed there… the train line that runs to the base is off of the BNSF mainline about 40 miles or so outside of Barstow California.