Copyright 2006 T. Sheil & A. Sheil All Rights Reserved
Maybe you remember the pipe cleaner crafts from the 1960s. Whether it was Cub Scouts or art class, these fuzzy, pliable sticks had a lot of applications. You could make little spiders, stick men and a host of other things. Best of all, pipe cleaners were easy to find. They were as close as the local drugstore, or any shop that sold supplies for tobacco pipes.
All that makes a pipe cleaner is a braided strand of wire infused with fuzzy material. The pipe cleaners are about six inches long.
Pipe cleaners are harder to find, especially the multi-colored ones. However, they are sold in craft stores under another name: chenille. There are a few differences. Chenille is thicker and longer. A piece of Chenille is about twice the length of a pipe cleaner. Some have fluffy stuff that is as thick as a pipe cleaner, and some is even bushier. You can see the wire inside if you look carefully.
When the Captain of the guard needed a plume, it was Chenille to the
rescue. Adding a plume is easy.
You need:
For a Knight like our Captain, a small drill bit and a rotary tool do the trick. Drill a thin hole into the top of the head. After all is ready, cut the Chenille to length, taking into account the depth of the hole. Dip the end in a little glue, and emplace it into the hole. Now, using a thin applicator, dab a tiny bit of the paint on the exposed end of wire on top of the Chenille plume.
Some knights will need the plume placed offset to the front or rear of the head. Drill accordingly.
For a better knight, take a metallic toy bead Place it over the drilled hole on the head, so the holes of both line up. Now add the chenille dipped in glue. You need to get extra glue on the chenille so that it touches both head and bead. The result is a plume socket. For extra fancy work, find shaped beads. A star or ball makes quite a difference. The Captain has a shaped bead, as seen above.
You can also use this for soldiers in busbies and shakos.
If the plume is attacked to the lower front of the hat, here is an easy trick. Drill a hole straight into the hat where the plume would have been attached. Bend the end of the plume so that the nub is as deep as the hole. Dip that nub in glue. Affix the plume to the soldier.
Chenille is a great way to make plumes. Keep a bundle of different sizes and colors.
Many a battle has crossed tracks with railroads. Along with being a troop transport, the railroad is also the scene of conflict. Modern history is replete with tales of railyard raids and battle at key junctions. Railroad track features heavily in such scenarios.
Let us compare model railroad track with its closes military miniature scale
G Scale / #1 gauge: 1 Ύ or 45mm : 1/32 54mm or, for narrow gauge, 1/24 - 75mm
O Gauge: 1 Ό or 31.0mm 1/48 to 40mm figures
S gauge 7/8 or about 22mm 27 28mm figures
OO (American) = Ύ or 19mm 1/76 or 24mm figures
HO and British OO = 5/8 or 16.5mm 1/87 or 20mm figures
TT 15/32 or 12mm 1/120 or 15mm figures
N 3/8 or 9mm 1/160 or 12mm figures
The selection of track matters when it comes to doing scale work and wargaming. You do not need precise replication for wargaming, but making a diorama is another matter. It also matters if the track is used for static display or for actually running trains.
Gauge: the gauge of track is the distance between outer rails. In the real world, most European and American track has a gauge of 4 8 ½ Russia uses a gauge of 5. A few places have it as wide as 6, and so did a few 19th Century American railroads.
Narrow Gauge is common in rural and undeveloped areas. Trains are smaller than the standard size. The gauge itself is less than the standard American/ European gauge. Common types are 2 and 3 Narrow gauge and 1 meter gauge. Along with rural rails, narrow gauge is often used for industrial and logging railways.
Code: you might see some rail types listed by code. The Code is the height of the rail. In the real world, there are different types of rail. The type used for regular full-service railroads is thicker and higher than that used for branch lines and narrow gauge lines. Code matters most in the smaller scales.
A problem for model railroads is having wheels stay on the track. The flanges are what keep them there. Too small a flange means derailments. Model flanges tend to be wider than a true scale wheel flange might be. Some narrow-gauge sticklers want narrower flanges. These can be run on smaller code track. Most trains have flanges too wide for small code. If you use track with a small code, you might not be able to run trains. However, you can use trains for static display if you maker adjustments for the wheels.
Scale: this is the same as with military miniatures. Scale is the proportionate relationship of the miniature to its real world counterpart. Military miniatures uses either the actual height of a miniature (i.e. 54mm, 20mm, etc.) or its fractional proportion (e.g. 1/32, 1/87, etc.) Model railroading uses a set of letters that can mean a gauge (definition above) or scale, or both. Generally, model railroaders use the same letter for scale and gauge, though there are exceptions. Here is how the letters equate with miniatures:
G Scale German is 1/22.5, American is 1/24 or 75mm.
#1 is 1/32 or 54mm
O is 1/48 or 38mm (40mm)
S is 1/64 or 27.5mm (28mm)
OO is 1/76 or 24mm (25mm)
HO is 1/87 or 20mm
TT is 1/120 or 15mm
N is 1/160 or 12mm
Another name for #1 is 3/8 scale, since that is the length of a 1/32 scale foot
Another name for American G is ½ scale, as it equals a 1/24 scale foot.
American O scale is also known as Ό scale, as a 1/48 scale foot is Ό long
S is called 3/16 because a 1/64 scale foot is 3/16 long.
Coincidentally, American O is ½ the size of 1/24. S scale is exactly ½ the size of 1/32 scale.
For a 1/32 diorama, use G / #1 track with ties in a Standard rather the Narrow Gauge pattern. Standard pattern scales ties as if it were a 1/32 scale railroad. Narrow Gauge ties are wider and spaced further apart to represent scales between 1/24 and 1/20.
For a 1/48 or 1/45 diorama, use O track.
For 28mm, use S track. I would suggest using S with metal 25mm figures, which are stockier than the plastic figures.. Plastic 25mm - 1/72 figures work better with a smaller scale.
American OO track is rare. You would have to use HO to accommodate 25mm, 1/72, 1/76 and 1/87 20mm. This is common in Britain, where OO trains use HO track.
TT is uncommon. Two types exist. One is for European TT. Its ties are spaced together for a standard sized railway. They work well for 15mm. The other type is a narrow gauge style which uses TT to simulate an HO scale narrow gauge railway. It has thicker ties which are spaced further apart.
N scale works for 12mm and 10mm figures. It is passable, but not precisely scale, for 1/144.
The modern track for HO, N, and TT use nickel silver rail. Most G / #1 track uses brass rail. O and S can use nickel silver or the older steel tubular rail. Note that O comes in two types. Tinplate for Lionel style trains has a third rail in the center. Scale track has only two rails, and can be found in nickel silver or tubular.
For scale dioramas, nickel silver is a good choice. To make it realistic, paint the sides of rails a dark rust. If the rail represents a well-used line, the tops of tte rails will be shiny bright. If it is a closed line, the tops would be a lighter rust color than the sides.
Miniature wargamers do not have to be as definite with scale. In games where distances are scaled down, you can do the same with track. Instead of using G / #1 for a 54mm game, try using the smaller O or O27. Use the three-rail tinplate O and O27 for any scale from 1/48 to 1/32. Use S or HO track for 30mm down to 20mm. You can also use HO for 15mm if you do not have TT. (TT is uncommon in the US, even though it was invented here.) TT can be used for 20mm or 15mm. N works for 15mm, 12mm and 10mm. Again, this is only for matters of games where scale accuracy is not necessary.
A note on trains: American and Canadian trains are distinctly different from their British and European counterparts. Australian trains are more like US than British trains. Likewise, trains vary from one era to another. This is essential for dioramas. German and French trains look very different from those in North America. Take time to get the right train for the era you are replicating.