Ryan:
I can not speak authoritatively about telephone poles
as to historically accuracy, etc. However, you asked
about a suggestion for painting this pole you made
from wood. I would suggest an oil wash. For me that
means a mix of mineral spirits and tube oil paints.
Generally, poles are very dark because of the coat
of protective thick goo (I can't spell the word correctly
but I can still smell it from being on those railroad
ties when I was young and had a summer job as
a gandy dancer) that they were "coated" with. Others
will have some suggestions I'm sure so you may not
want to try this if you don't already have artist oil paints.
But if you do have them, I mix black and raw umber or burnt umber (it's a deep dark brown together with the black) and add mineral spirits to make a thin "wash".
When this is applied to the bare wood, IMHO, it makes
a great base color to work from. For me the wash
really seeps down into the bare wood and gives it
a kind of "aged or weathered" look.
I made a picnic table in 1:35th from
bass wood (I don't like balsa
wood for anything that will be visible in a dio)
for my dio recently and used burnt
sienna (a warmer brown than raw or burnt umber
mixed with min. spirits on the table and on the
cutting board I made from bass wood. I suggest
you experiment on a spare wood dowel rod piece,
first however. Good luck. I like the pole.
I am doing a 1/72 scene and am wanting to place a pole along the road I am doing. I was thinking of using a manicure cuticle stick with the end cut off. Not sure what to use for the cross section and insulators though. Not real sure about height and scale height as well. Anyways I want it to look good and not like a couple sticks glues together. Any help is greatly appreciated.
