telephone poles in North Africa

Thats a tough one. Two poles doesn't solve the problem.

Try glass beads, the little ones.

Check out this dio, he has a telephone pole with wires hanging in mid air.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/19/t/176102.aspx

Black beading or artist wire should do the trick.

Suggest you refer to the writings of Alexander Graham Bellski.  He was the first telephone pole.

something like this in mind?

That in fact is one of 2 or 3 pictures I am working from.

That is what I have been thinking. Good to know it works.

I don't do writings. It's like Playboy - I only get it for the pictures 

ugamodels

....

Also, how can I make insulators for the poles? I am thinking round plastic rod and putty? But I doubt my ability to sand a tiny round shape.

Thanks! 

 

Meng makes water and beer bottles in 1/35. These can be modified for insulators.

http://www.meng-model.com/index2_new.php?id=218

http://www.meng-model.com/index2_new.php?id=217

Or Miniart and Italeri make telegraph/telephone poles in 1/35..,

RB also does some very nice wooden ones with metal insulators. There are several different arrangments.

Wooden dowel rods, stiff wire and seed beads. You can get all of it at Hobby Lobby.

Actually, you best bet might just be a single pole, not at all plumb, with the wire slack on the ground sweeping up to the insulator.  Conveys the message without introducing dangling wire into the equation.

Given that you are intending North Africa in the 40s, you probably only need a poel with insulators mounted to the side, rather than on a cross bar.  (Probably little electrification, so a phone line and a telegraph cable perhaps.)

Probably only needs to be about 10' tall to scale (right at 3.75" out of the ground) too.

CapnMac82

Actually, you best bet might just be a single pole, not at all plumb, with the wire slack on the ground sweeping up to the insulator.  Conveys the message without introducing dangling wire into the equation.

Given that you are intending North Africa in the 40s, you probably only need a poel with insulators mounted to the side, rather than on a cross bar.  (Probably little electrification, so a phone line and a telegraph cable perhaps.)

Probably only needs to be about 10' tall to scale (right at 3.75" out of the ground) too.

 

I have a couple of pictures and this is pretty much what I see too. The arms look like metal 'L's with insulators on the end. Although I think the height looks more than 10 feet. I'm thinking of having short pieces of wire "flying " in from the right and then slack down to the spool on the jeep. 

The beer bottles do look like a good possibility! I want to check out the bead option first, since I can do that in person and hopefully only buy what I need. But if that doesn't work out, I think I will do the beer bottles. 

stikpusher

Or Miniart and Italeri make telegraph/telephone poles in 1/35..,

 

Yeah I have the Italeri poles. I didn't think they had insulators but maybe I am mistaken.

RB seems to be HO scale. I imagine 1/87 is not going to work too well in 1/35. But I could be wrong. 

ugamodels

RB seems to be HO scale. I imagine 1/87 is not going to work too well in 1/35. But I could be wrong. 

 

They have 35th ones as well, for some reason under the Misc section.

http://www.rbmodel.com/index.php?action=products&cat=c_bm&sub=35A

Unfortunatly they are out of stock of all of them at the minute, but you might be able to finbd them else where.

stikpusher

something like this in mind?

 

These two linemen are Signal Corps linemen, not Army engineers.  They wouldn't be wearing helmets around electrical lines, plus there are no hotsticks around the scene.  There are also too many conductors for electrical lines.  The insulators are French pattern since this is North Africa.  Using forensic comparatology, the pole scales out to be approximately 21-22 feet in height (using the average American height at 6 feet).

Traveled around Africa a lot but never North Africa. In a lot of places such as Gabon, Nigeria, Somalia, Rwanda  ect. The old poles were cement vs wood because wood would not last long. Never bothered to take photos but as I recall they were square, tapered towards the top. Most dated from "Colonial daze" 

Thanks! That photo and another in the same series from the same photographer are one source of detail for me. Combined with some jeep photos I think I about have figured out what I am going to do.

Yeah, and unless they are Signal Coprs people (who would have either a 3/4 ton truck or a 1.5 ton telco truck)

they'd be laying out commo wires along the ground, and not up on poles.  ground laid wire is easier to repair if combat or vehicle damaged.  Not climbing poles is way faster, too.

Artillery units might have a cable real mounted o nthe rear of the jeep since arty regularly pays out miles of wire for commo.  Grunt infantry might be a bit more impromptu and just hold the cable reall over the side of the jeep as they went along in 1st gear.

For hasty communications, wire is laid on the ground. As improvements are made to the rear areas when the battle moves forward and away, the wire dogs will string it up high where it's less likely to be run over or suffer other accidents...

another photo of wire dogs from that same photo essay in Tunisia... on the ground...

The jeep picture I am working from indicates 1sr infantry division near El Guettar in March 1943. As to whether there are poles involved, probably not , but I want something else in the diorama. So I am open to suggestions. 

Oh, the pole will add "verticallity" to an otherwise flat dio.
But, it can be a bit like a dead tree, too.  The slack wires can help with visual interest, too, as they suggest something out of sight, further away.

And, you can approch that in several ways.  laying wire; checking wire, even using an EE-8 connected in.

Goof around and drop pins on N African roads on Google maps and see if they have street views. This is probably a more modern Pole but I found it in Tunisia on some random road. Just a thought. The insulators look modern but the pole is pretty old

Griffin25

Goof around and drop pins on N African roads on Google maps and see if they have street views. This is probably a more modern Pole but I found it in Tunisia on some random road. Just a thought. The insulators look modern but the pole is pretty old

 

 

 

interesting idea. What kind of trees do you think those are? I could put one or two in to add a little depth.

Olive? 

Olive is my first guess also, but I am no horticultural genus. Probably any short canopy tree will look decent. 

My educated guess is that those are olive trees.