I was wondering if anyone here has die cast model airline planes on their layouts?
I do. In fact as a kid my interest in transportation WAS all airplanes. Instead of railfanning (which in Puerto Rico you could not do) I was "plane spotting' lol.
Now I want to fit my hundreds of die cast planes into my town that I am making lol...and these planes do deserve to be in it, I mean Ive had some that have served my imagination honorably for almost 30 years! Specially Schabak and Matchbox ones, but also Dyna Flites.
Love to see your comments!
Antonio
what I am looking for is a DC3 in HO scale preferably plastic as I will hang it over my layout with 10 lb test Monofilament fishing line. N scale would probably do as a forced perspective view.
Make yourself a large airport with hangers. You also could make a very clear plastic support at an angle under a plane on the runway suggesting take off. or reverse the angle for landing. Sure wish I had room for a airport but I do not.
Have fun.
Wadda ya mean I'm old ? Just because I remember gasoline at 9 cents a gallon and those big coal burning steamers.
Odds are, your collection consists of model aircraft in a number of different scales. If you model in HO, the ones scaled smaller than 1:87 are useable. If you're into N scale, the rather smaller that scale out 1:160 or less are your default position.
Either way, you should sort them by scale. Use the larger scale models close to your trains (e.g., 1:96 for HO) and the smaller scale models farther away and raised closer to eye level. This is known as forced perspective.
As a former aircraft maintainer I can understand why you want to incorporate aircraft into your model railroad efforts - but, in truth, the two are a poor fit. In addition to the scale issue I raised, there's the detail that most facilities that serve aircraft don't have rail service, or don't have rail.service in close proximity to the tin birds. The exceptions are major city hubs served by rapid transit (NOT freight or Amtrak) lines. Also, a credible model of even a small commercial airport is BIG! That's a lot of space to devote to non-rail activity.
Of course, if you're building in a supermarket, or a 1:1 scale hangar, you would have the space...
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - sans airports)
Sounds interesting, but how will you go about installing DCC and Sound in them? Who makes a sound chip for an airplane? And just think of all of the decoders you will need to purchase!!!!
Sounds as though you have your work cut out for yourself...............;-]
Mark
WGAS
Not only DCC and sound, but what about track? Its going to HAVE to be handlaid, but thats not NEAR as hard as making it invisible. The best way to achieve that I have found is forced perspective.
A DC-3 is 64 feet long and has a wingspan of 95 feet. A Boeing 737-400 is almost 120 feet long with a wingspan of 95 feet.
That's going to be an awfully big model if it's HO scale. Die cast in metal, it would be quite heavy as well. Even in N-scale, a few commercial aircraft are going to dominate your scenery if they are close to scale.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Prowler7 Not only DCC and sound, but what about track? Its going to HAVE to be handlaid, but thats not NEAR as hard as making it invisible. The best way to achieve that I have found is forced perspective.
Oh you big silly, airplanes don't use "track", these use "highways in the sky"!!!!!
Mark ;-]
Forty Niner Sounds interesting, but how will you go about installing DCC and Sound in them? Who makes a sound chip for an airplane? And just think of all of the decoders you will need to purchase!!!! Sounds as though you have your work cut out for yourself...............;-] Mark WGAS
Remember when we were kids? We could make every kind of sound imaginable. Instead of "woooooooo woooo", he'll be making that "raaaaooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwww (for prop planes), and "kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww" (for jets). Or he COULD go by the airport and record some sounds.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Didn't Walthers produce a C-47 (same dimensions as a DC-3) in HO? I may be way off about this, but I seem to recall that for some reason.
csmith9474 Didn't Walthers produce a C-47 (same dimensions as a DC-3) in HO? I may be way off about this, but I seem to recall that for some reason.
Yes Walthers did a C-47/DC-3 a few years back. I sure a search would find one somewhere.
If fact, there are two on Ebay right now:
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=walthers+DC-3&_sacat=See-All-Categories
Sheldon
In addition to the military C-47, Walthers made an HO DC-3 in a few commercial paint schemes (decals). These kits came with an extra body side so you could convert it to a C-47 if you wanted to.
Unfortunately these DC-3s can be hard to come by. The C-47 is not as difficult to find as the commercial DC-3 models, but they are not readily available either. eBay is your best bet.
I got a DC-3 when they came out several years ago. Pacific Southwest.
It hung over our layout until an earthquake shook it too much and broke a string. It crashed onto the layout suffering some damage.
I've been looking to find another Pacific Southwest version for a while now. Have seen others (Delta, American, etc...) but Pacific Southwest is hard to find.
Here's what it looks like (you can see some of the damage she suffered):
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
tomikawaTT As a former aircraft maintainer I can understand why you want to incorporate aircraft into your model railroad efforts - but, in truth, the two are a poor fit. In addition to the scale issue I raised, there's the detail that most facilities that serve aircraft don't have rail service, or don't have rail.service in close proximity to the tin birds. The exceptions are major city hubs served by rapid transit (NOT freight or Amtrak) lines. Also, a credible model of even a small commercial airport is BIG! That's a lot of space to devote to non-rail activity.
I have to echo what Chuck says here.
The UP (former C&NW) New LIne skirts O'Hare Airport, and what can be seen from the tracks includes an entry gate, and maybe a few light towers, but the hangers and loading areas are way, way, off in the distance. Most of what you see is flat, dull green prairie.
An airport costs too much in space for the amount of scenic or operational interest it generates. And I can't even see how you can make the not-to-scale aircraft hanging from the ceiling look realistic, particularly in the limited spaces we have available for backdrops and airspace above the layout.
Dan
As a airliner enthusist also, I would like to point out that Revel re-released an old Monogarm kit of the DC-3 just a few years ago in PSA colors. It's listed as 1/90th but scales very close to the Walters kit. It also is consided to be one of best proportioned models of 3 ever produced.
Gary B
Fox River Valley Railroad
Welcome to the forums.
If you have a group of older aircraft of similar scale, you could have an air museum. As long as it was near an edge of the layout, only the parking area for the planes need be modeled. Choose a distance from the front to properly place the size.
Some folks use rr museums to display out of date locos. Antique auto shows are a good place to show off shiney classic vehicles.
Good luck,
Richard
One module at a nearby club has a runway and hangers behind the double track mainline with a few airplanes and a hanger. IIRC it is a 2 module corner section. The kids at the train shows don't mind at all that the runway is not to length.
I can think of 4 towns along the Wasatch Front that have industrial zones adjoining the hangers of an airport with some rail service in each. I've landed over the top of trains many a time. Selective compression can be your friend in this case. And what about the recent thread of the Beech Bonanza on a flat car?
Remember that it is your layout and airplanes are your passion. Go for it and enjoy your hobby.
Dave
From Mt Pleasant, Utah, the home of the Hill Valley and Thistle Railroad where the Buffalo still roam and a Droid runs the trains
Just for info - Miniatur Wunderland will be opening their newest addition to the layout - an airport - in early May this year.
Here you can find a video about the finishing touches being done right now. It is in German, but you will get a good estimate of the sheer size of the planes!
One member of our HO module club has an Aviation Museum on his layout with mostly WWII planes on display. The scales seem somewhat smaller than HO, but they look fine. I have a DC-3 that is very close to HO scale, it was an inexpensive "shake the box" type of kit I found at a hobby shop. It is on loan to the aviation museum, I'll get some pictures later.
As for prototype, there is a rail line that runs past the Norfolk (Virginia) International airport. This is an ex-PRR line that ran from the carfloat at Little Creek to junctions with the VGN and N&W. It runs just across the street from the control tower and the private hangers. One of these hangers holds Norfolk Southern's executive jets, and the NS logo is on it!
John
If everybody is thinking alike, then nobody is really thinking.
http://photobucket.com/tandarailroad/
Of course all of this talk of aircraft has dredged up the "real" holy grail of Trains/AC. Lakehurst NAS, New Jersey. Anyone feel like scaling out a Naval Airship?
Trynn_Allen2Of course all of this talk of aircraft has dredged up the "real" holy grail of Trains/AC. Lakehurst NAS, New Jersey. Anyone feel like scaling out a Naval Airship?
Let's see.... The dirigible hangar would be 11 feet long, 4 feet wide, and just over 2 feet high in HO scale.
"I am lapidary but not eristic when I use big words." - William F. Buckley
I haven't been sleeping. I'm afraid I'll dream I'm in a coma and then wake up unconscious. -Stephen Wright
Here are the pictures of the Aviation Museum Module.
mononguy63 Trynn_Allen2: Of course all of this talk of aircraft has dredged up the "real" holy grail of Trains/AC. Lakehurst NAS, New Jersey. Anyone feel like scaling out a Naval Airship? Let's see.... The dirigible hangar would be 11 feet long, 4 feet wide, and just over 2 feet high in HO scale.
Trynn_Allen2: Of course all of this talk of aircraft has dredged up the "real" holy grail of Trains/AC. Lakehurst NAS, New Jersey. Anyone feel like scaling out a Naval Airship?
Yeah, but only 52.2 inches x 18.96 inches x 9.48 inches in Z scale.
As long as most of your planes are in the same scale, as long as you don't have any people or vehicles near them it should be fine. Actually, since they are a little bigger, most folks wouldn't realize they were out os scale, as older planes were much smaller than modern ones.
For the one flying overhead, should work. Just put it on a string and raise and lower it, near the backdrop and see where it looks best. A huge plane high in the sky can be a pretty small object to find.
Have fun,
This one's not a commercial plane, but one which I found by chance that seemed well-suited to my layout.
I occasionally post short "story" threads on another railroad forum and decided that photos taken at other-than-eye-level would be contributions from a local barnstormer (and former WW I pilot) known as Barney Secord. A character of some local repute, he's a skilled pilot (Secord Air Services - Crop Dusting and Aerial Photography), local businessman (Secord Distributing) and well-known to law enforcement officers in several counties (see Secord Distributing).
References to him were only written words and, of course, the pictures which he provided. One day I was at a K-Mart in nearby Niagara Falls, NY, and wandered into the toy department with the hope of finding vehicles suited to my '30s-era layout. Instead, I found an almost-HO scale model of a Stearman biplane, painted in John Deere colours.
After a new paint job for his plane, Barney was ready for his photo debut, caught here by a railfan, as he piloted his craft under the Maitland River bridge.
Another shot of the same stunt snapped by a fisherman in a small boat on the river (must've been some camera to stop that prop in mid-rotation)
While the plane is seldom photographed ( have no airfield) it's at least a semi-plausible way to justify aerial shots like this:
For anyone interested, here's a LINK to a few of his photos.
Wayne
My my!! You have the "Muddy" Missouri River on your layout!!! Looks just like it right after "flood season".................brown!!! All you needto complete that scene is some poor guy trying to pull a 100 pound plus "Mud Cat" into his little 16' Jon boat, let the fight begin!!!!
Nice pics by the way, as always, superb!!!
Thanks, Mark. Although it's the "Muddy" Maitland on my layout, the inspiration was the Grand River (southern Ontario) in flood season.
doctorwayne This one's not a commercial plane, but one which I found by chance that seemed well-suited to my layout. I occasionally post short "story" threads on another railroad forum and decided that photos taken at other-than-eye-level would be contributions from a local barnstormer (and former WW I pilot) known as Barney Secord. A character of some local repute, he's a skilled pilot (Secord Air Services - Crop Dusting and Aerial Photography), local businessman (Secord Distributing) and well-known to law enforcement officers in several counties (see Secord Distributing). References to him were only written words and, of course, the pictures which he provided. One day I was at a K-Mart in nearby Niagara Falls, NY, and wandered into the toy department with the hope of finding vehicles suited to my '30s-era layout. Instead, I found an almost-HO scale model of a Stearman biplane, painted in John Deere colours. After a new paint job for his plane, Barney was ready for his photo debut, caught here by a railfan, as he piloted his craft under the Maitland River bridge. Another shot of the same stunt snapped by a fisherman in a small boat on the river (must've been some camera to stop that prop in mid-rotation) While the plane is seldom photographed ( have no airfield) it's at least a semi-plausible way to justify aerial shots like this: For anyone interested, here's a LINK to a few of his photos. Wayne
Brilliant, and you'reright. You suggest palne, and I do think ariel photos.
That's also whgy I keep encourageing people to look at the Matchbox planes. Like thewir cars, they are "scaled" to the cardsotck backing they use. But a few single seaters, and more than a few Helicopters have both a deep enough body to be believeable HO models. And there's a few that would be, if Matchbox had put some more depth into their fuselages. The front windows and width are spot on
-Morgan
How about one of them "crashed" into the side of a mountain? And no, I don't mean a passenger liner either. You could have 3 little parachutes caught in the trees though, just hanging there, or not.
I too grew up liking planes more than trains. I collected Die cast, mostly Corgi, WWII and some Korean War planes. They are 1:72 scale. I would hang them in different formations in a curio. When I built my train layout, I wanted somehow to incorporate them with the lay out. My trains are in HO. Though they are different scales, I think the difference is negligible. I posted pictures back in Dec 2010. The pictures were titled Protecting the skies on the homefront.
I used a 1/16th scale model aeroplane (Revel Sopwith Camel) as a photographic platform to take some aerial photos of Sweethome Chicago.
...and the pilot
Jon
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