Here's one for you all to chew on....
Bald RIX, Atlas and Bachmann telephone poles and insulators. Everyone's tired of them. Some have tried stringing them and given up, most have probably never tried. Let's hear what YOU tried and where it went wrong, and let's hear from those who have had success....
First, let's start with painting the insulators. Never thought of that? These days I bet we have some among us who don't remember seeing telegraph poles along the ROW at all. There's six types that come to my mind, depending on your road. White ceramic. Want that look? Paint it white! There was green tinted glass, blue tinted glass, green in ceramic, dark brown ceramic and clear glass insulators adorned most cross-arms along the rails, no matter which side of the pond you're on. Pick a type and get going with a brush.
Even if you don't go any farther, the painted insulators look better than the brown stubs on the poles from the factory.
Now the hard part. In another lifetime, I used thread during a winter vacation. I ran about thirty feet of black thread tightly around each insulator. WOW! Did that ever look impressive! I didn't have any kind of natural droop like the prototype, but it didn't matter as the look was short lived.
Summer came and the humidity took it's toll, causing the thread to droop almost all the way to the benchwork! Heartbroken, I cut the thread off, and restrung the entire run with a pale olive colour thread to simulate the familiar look of exposed copper which was common at that time. In sunlight, it looked just like the real thing, and I left a bit of a droop in anticipation of dry winter conditions. NOT. The thread pulled too tightly, puling the end poles at sharp angles as if there had been an ice storm or a gale! I cut it again and shelved the idea.
Years passed. School, getting life started. Next pike I didn't even consider simulating wire on poles as I had acquired a cat!
Two cats later, this one's now 14. I'm going to try it again. One relative suggested using acrylic thread. Anyone know anything about it? I'm bending toward the suggestion from a 1972 Model Railroader article where a man used 44 gauge wire on Atlas telephone poles with slick results. Needless to say, there wasn't a droop in the lines between the poles, but it looked as if he'd licked humidity and temperature. I also found that thread catches a lot of dust, and wire might be easier to clean with a vacuum.
Let's all hear your experience with this subject, and see what you can come up with.
George.
Bald RIX, Atlas and Bachmann telephone poles and insulators. Everyone's tired of them. Some have tried stringing them and given up, most have probably never tried. Let's hear what YOU tried and where it went wrong, and let's hear from those who have had success....
First, let's start with painting the insulators. Never thought of that? These days I bet we have some among us who don't remember seeing telegraph poles along the ROW at all. There's six types that come to my mind, depending on your road. White ceramic. Want that look? Paint it white! There was green tinted glass, blue tinted glass, green in ceramic, dark brown ceramic and clear glass insulators adorned most cross-arms along the rails, no matter which side of the pond you're on. Pick a type and get going with a brush.
Even if you don't go any farther, the painted insulators look better than the brown stubs on the poles from the factory.
Now the hard part. In another lifetime, I used thread during a winter vacation. I ran about thirty feet of black thread tightly around each insulator. WOW! Did that ever look impressive! I didn't have any kind of natural droop like the prototype, but it didn't matter as the look was short lived.
Summer came and the humidity took it's toll, causing the thread to droop almost all the way to the benchwork! Heartbroken, I cut the thread off, and restrung the entire run with a pale olive colour thread to simulate the familiar look of exposed copper which was common at that time. In sunlight, it looked just like the real thing, and I left a bit of a droop in anticipation of dry winter conditions. NOT. The thread pulled too tightly, puling the end poles at sharp angles as if there had been an ice storm or a gale! I cut it again and shelved the idea.
Years passed. School, getting life started. Next pike I didn't even consider simulating wire on poles as I had acquired a cat!
Two cats later, this one's now 14. I'm going to try it again. One relative suggested using acrylic thread. Anyone know anything about it? I'm bending toward the suggestion from a 1972 Model Railroader article where a man used 44 gauge wire on Atlas telephone poles with slick results. Needless to say, there wasn't a droop in the lines between the poles, but it looked as if he'd licked humidity and temperature. I also found that thread catches a lot of dust, and wire might be easier to clean with a vacuum.
Let's all hear your experience with this subject, and see what you can come up with.
George.
