utility poles

[ttrigg]

CCG:

Like John said, I would also recommend taking photos of the real thing to guide in your scratch building. I have used sprue (those round bars that hold all the parts to a plastic kit), small copper tubing, heavy gage aluminum wire, and dowels to build utility poles. To ease in placement, consider putting a short piece of thin welding rod into the bottom of the pole, drill a hole in the "ground" that will tightly hold the wire footing. Also check over on the MR site as I’m sure the smaller scale guys have a bunch more tricks and tips on the subject.

[desertdog]

I would start by taking your grandson out for a ride to see what the real thing looks like and take some pictures for reference. You will find a wide variety.

Depending on how detailed you want to get, most craft stores have small diameter dowels you can use for the poles. The same stores should have strip wood for the crossbars. If not, a decent hobby shop will.

The flexible black cord used in beading works to simulate wire.  For the insulators, you can find appropriate beads, as well.  Again, based on how detailed / complex you want to get, you can paint the poles with craft paint or stain and weather them. 

Since you indicate you are modeling in HO scale, I suggest you re-post your query under the Layouts and Layout Building forum.  You are likely to draw more responses.

 

Have fun!

John Timm

[ccg]

I am new at model railroading, and my grandson and i are building our first layout. One of the things we are working on is scratch building ho scale utility poles. has anyone any input into the process.