I was wasting some time at Shorpy and came across this interesting pic of typical model railroad scenery – at war in 1943! It’s a shot of a layout built to study and improve camouflage techniques, which a lovely female student is updating. Lots of lichen visible, not sure about what scale, other than it’s way smaller than Z scale. Anyway, thought it an interesting shot in color of what a typical layout might use for scenery technology in 1943 – unless that lichen is classified.
That’s really a very interesting find. It appears to be a mockup of what the area would look like to an enemy bomber crew, so it’s really very difficult to gauge the scale.
It is 1:1,000,000 scale.[:P]
Judging by the size of the structures, I’d WAG 1000:1 < 1500:1.
Brother Kelly, if it was 1Meg:1 the houses would be the size of pinheads.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Speaking of mad modeling skillz during WWII, check out this Boeing B-17 plant near Seattle:
Are those bamboo-skewer & scrub-pad trees on top?
And that’s just the side view.
ON TOP of the enormous industrial park was created an entire suburban neighborhood:
Can you spot the buildings?
Hint: the hanger fronts in the first photo are at the bottom of the second photo, just above the wing of the plane taking the pict.
Would be a fun scene to model, if you’re doing 1943-45 Seattle.
Your point?[:D]
I notice that she is holding the photo upside down!
If you can’t get the point, you aren’t as smart as I’d like to hope you are.
Note the size of the `residential structures’ and the width of the young lady’s fingers. Then look at a couple of maps that show structures and compare, using your own built-in digits. On a 1:200,000 topo map I happen to have in a folder on my desk, comparable structures are about 1mm square.
If you don’t know the answer, you don’t make points by winging it.
Chuck [MSgt(ret) USAF, modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - including mapreading and photointerpretation]
not trying to be offensive, just having fun.
MC,
Amazing pics! That factory just blends in.
Shame, Shame, It’s NEVER wasting time on Shorpy, it’s one of the better things on the internet.
Especially the railway photos.