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Winston-Salem Southbound Series: Modeling and detailing utility poles
Don’t ya’ just hate days that start out like that?
Actual line on the poles. So cool in HO scale…so impossible in N…
sigh
Life is nothing but a series of compromises…
Gerry does a good job explaining things. I wouldn’t mind seeing him in future videos
Great segment Gerry, those poles and lines really add a lot of realism to the layout and as you have shown, they are best located towards the back of the layout where fingers and lines do not interact while operating the layout. Thanks.
Interesting video. One ? If you wanted to model the clear glass insulators instead of the green glass ones, how would you model that?
Beautiful Gerry!
Just the “how to” segment I have been waiting for! Talk about a quick response to my utility pole question in the last Comments section . . .
Jack – I KNEW you’d be surprised! 
Thomas – Good question (about clear insulators), and I don’t know that I’d be able to without a ton of work. Several years ago Rix sold both clear crossarms (with clear insulators – you just painted the crossarms brown) and clear GREEN crossarms (so after painting the crossarms, the insulators were truly clear and green), but they discontinued them because I heard they were unhappy with the quality of the materials in the castings. Too bad, because they were just excellent looking on the layout. I sure wish they’d bring them back!
Great Job Gerry! So when will MRM put the “Dream/Plan/Build” series online.
This is a first-rate “how to” video that combines techniques with real world info. Have Gerry back again in the future, please!
An extra bit of realism can be obtained if you use the poles molded in clear or transparent aqua and paint the poles and crossarms, leaving transparent insulators.
Gerry is remarkably good, very personable and telegenic. As good as anything I see on equivalent cable shows. One minor point is that railroad telephone poles aren’t power poles. The telephone poles have more insulators. Power poles have fewer insulators. This isn’t a major thing, as the poles are back next to the backdrop, and you don’t see them that closely. But the Walthers power poles are the correct type and have very informative instructions.
At 11:15, “EZ Glue”???
Tom Mitchell – for clear insulators (unless Rix brings back its own product) go to a craft store and check out the very small beads, both in clear and blue/green. With effort you can cement them to the cross arms using the same spacing as the cast originals. They aren’t exactly the right shape but the effect is good.
Thank you, useful techniques