JeffH
Well-Known Member
I'm beginning to plan for this Winter's buildout of my river scene. I'm going to scratch build a wharf that is about the length of a football field, and 60 feet wide. This will be N scale, so actual dimensions will be 4.5" x 21." There will be 2 structures on the wharf, in addition to some cranes and other "dock" stuff.
I have a sheet of styrene cut to the right shape, and I've tried my hand at painting the planks, and no matter what technique I try, it looks like a kindergartner did it.
I want the wharf to be made from wood planks, so I was thinking about using scribed wood sheathing with the "planks" being 1/16" or even 1/32"
At scale, 1/32" would look like a 5 inch wide plank, while 1/16" would look like a 10" plank. Both are OK sizes for N scale.
However... all the scribed sheathing I can find is only 3.5" wide, yet I need about 4.5" width. And.. the sheathing is a little too uniform, and perfect... I think I want old looking, where planks have been replaced over time, and also have some planks 1/16" and others 1/32"... something that looks like it was hand built using timbers on hand, or sawed locally...
So then my mind started wandering to me making like 300 or so of my own planks, and glue them all down to the styrene. I came across a video by MArklinOfSweden where he makes his own planks by stripping off 1/16" off the edge of a sheet of balsa wood to mass produce planks. Then, we dyed "batches" of planks various tones of wood / creosote color to add variation. He was making lumber loads for HO scale, but the concept would work for a wharf too.
Do any of you have any other ideas? I have quite a while before I start the build, so I have time to come up with a good plan.
I have a sheet of styrene cut to the right shape, and I've tried my hand at painting the planks, and no matter what technique I try, it looks like a kindergartner did it.
I want the wharf to be made from wood planks, so I was thinking about using scribed wood sheathing with the "planks" being 1/16" or even 1/32"
At scale, 1/32" would look like a 5 inch wide plank, while 1/16" would look like a 10" plank. Both are OK sizes for N scale.
However... all the scribed sheathing I can find is only 3.5" wide, yet I need about 4.5" width. And.. the sheathing is a little too uniform, and perfect... I think I want old looking, where planks have been replaced over time, and also have some planks 1/16" and others 1/32"... something that looks like it was hand built using timbers on hand, or sawed locally...
So then my mind started wandering to me making like 300 or so of my own planks, and glue them all down to the styrene. I came across a video by MArklinOfSweden where he makes his own planks by stripping off 1/16" off the edge of a sheet of balsa wood to mass produce planks. Then, we dyed "batches" of planks various tones of wood / creosote color to add variation. He was making lumber loads for HO scale, but the concept would work for a wharf too.
Do any of you have any other ideas? I have quite a while before I start the build, so I have time to come up with a good plan.