UPDATED as of Nov 5 2012. Go to last page for new pics
I’ve been slowly progressing with the military base on our HO layout. It is loosely based on the various military installations found in the Mojave desert in California. Maybe Barstow logistics base, maybe Twenty Nine Palms, maybe Edwards, etc…
Our Santa Fe themed train layout is set in 1957, so I tried to keep most of the military equipment close to that era. Most are Roco Minitanks which had to be painted and lettered, although the pickup you might see in the pictures (next to the Quonset hut) is Busch and the sedan is by Mini Metals (Classic Metal Works).
Those are all Athearn 50’ flats. They came with Santa Fe trailers which I used elsewhere on the layout or just left in the boxes. I added wood decks and Kadee couplers. I plan to add Kadee airhoses for them too.
I think the base and military train is looking pretty good so far and I still have several details to add. This includes more wheel blocks, tie downs, and various supplies/boxes/artillery in the back of the empty cargo trucks. I might even add some early jets flying overhead (maybe an F-100 Super Sabre, or an early test version of an F-104 Starfighter).
I plan to add loading ramps at the end of track (where the orange wheel stops are currently). Probably make them out of styrene and in the style of the many Santa Fe concrete loading ramps you can still see along much of the BNSF transcon.
I thought about adding a gravel road to the base with a gate and guard house. I think Walthers makes/made a guard house with a gate…maybe for their Ford plant set? I’ll have to look around and see what is out there.
That’s a nice area and a unique “industry”. But I do have a nit to pick - I don’t think the missile launchers would be shipped by rail with the missile loaded, even if they are training rounds. Those who may have had experience might chime in, but to me it’s like when we flew a squadron cross-country to a different training base - we loaded the missiles on the planes when we got there from that base’s supply. There’s no sense taking a chance something might, like, sort of fall off, you know?
A launcher off the flatcar with the missile loaded might be appropriate though. Otherwise I really like it. The military loads on flatcars always look good to me! Tanks for sharing (pun intended!)
Don’t worry about the nit pick George, as you are right on about the missiles. From the research I’ve done, they normally would be transported (if by train) in box cars or crates (unassembled). The thin aluminum is/was too fragile to carry on the truck while in transit on a train even if the warhead was on it or not.
But I really like the look of these early cold war missiles (Honest John and Lacrosse), especially the test painted versions like the ones I did. So much so that I couldn’t hide them in a box car [;)]
One word… AWESOME!!! That looks great. I remember some threads a few month back about planning this military scene. That backdrop is well done, did you create that your self?
Ah, that brings back memories of shipping armor by rail out of Fort Carson, Colorado in the 1980s. Great job! Love the Quonset.
Someone mentioned unloading ramps - I seem to recall some permanent, concrete ones (which at least looked like they had been around since the 50s) and metal-plate ones to just drive lighter vehicles off, circus-style.
You need tire tracks and tread tracks! I think that whole area should be covered in tracks from wheels and treads. We used to tear the heck out of the desert.
I don’t know about the missiles, but we could never, never, ever ship a tank with the .50 cal on top. On the M-60 they were actually in a small cupola, not fully exposed, and we still couldn’t do it. A little side scene with soldiers installing the machine guns on the freshly-unloaded tanks would be good. And what is the plan for unloading those large crates?
I live in southwestern NM and it looks a lot like some of the area around here. I dont model the desert but it does look fantastic. I especialy love the backdrop, do you have the address of the outfit that did them for you I think I would like to get mine done by the same outfit when I am ready and get to that point. Keep it on the tall skinny stuff. Neil
ps disregard the above request for address I just saw the link.
Thanks for the info Sean. I’ll take the gun off the M41 tank on the flat. As for the crates? Hmmm might need a crane to get them off. One of the M35 trucks is a crane version. Maybe that would work:
Matt, is this a unloading area only, or is going to be part of the main base? More building regardless. But, I am sure you are planning on that anyway.
You need a couple of fork lifts for unloading the crates, they could be yellow or army green, this being a stateside base, overseas they would be green…
It’s mostly just the unloading/loading part of a much larger desert base. I don’t have room for the main part of the base and I like to keep the scenery as open as I can to give it a look of wide open spaces. So I was going for just the rail interchange part of the base.
The rest of the layout, off to the left in the photos I posted here, is a basic town with route 66 going through it. More photos of the overall layout can be seen on the HO scale page of our model train website (link below):
Great idea for using forklifts. But I think I’ll have to make some concrete pads for the forklifts to operate on. Not sure if they could ride on desert sand.
Actually the military has some large-wheel forklift trucks that are designed to be used in the field, (no paving), they would also have graders and bulldozers, it’s not all just trucks and tanks. However since this is on a permanent base it would make sense to have have concrete pads along the tracks and a large concrete pad for unloading and temporary parking for vehicles and stacking of crates before they are reloaded into tucks. The road to the rest of the base would likely also be concrete rather than gravel. A stateside base would be more permanent than one in a war zone and an unloading/loading area would be part of a depot with several buildings including warehouses to store those missles and other armamant- not good idea to store all the ammunition in the hot desert sun…
That would look good. I have some reference material on how military equipment was loaded onto Santa Fe trains during WWII, including crosswise jeeps.
But the jeep models are on the expensive end. Around $10.00 per jeep. And that doesn’t include paint and decals. Yep they had to be painted and lettered.
Just for quick reference, here is an online store that has them for $12.40 a piece:
