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Post by 30sqnatc on Jul 17, 2018 19:50:00 GMT 12
After years of procrastination I've finally decided to build a diorama/model railway layout based on the theme of a generic airstrip used by the RNZAF somewhere in WW2 South Pacific. So far a pair of plywood baseboards have been constructed and surfaced with cork tiles. Yesterday 12mm gauge track and several sets of points arrived from Australia. 12mm gauge in 1/48th scale equally 2 foot gauge tramway which is the gauge used by the Imperial Japanese Navy construction unit tramways which they used to assist construction of their airstrips.  The IJN had 729 small locomotives during WW2 like this one. I purchase a pair of tiny motor bogies in the UK so I can scratchbuilt a couple of Kato Works locomotives.  The track will run around the edge of the baseboards with the rear run hidden behind coconut palms and large trees. Various RNZAF aircraft and vehicles will be able to be rotated through display. The field will be a mix of crushed coral and marston matting.  A control tower will sit in the background. At one end there may be a small RNZAF sawmill.  I hope for colours something like this.  Fun times ahead |
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Post by johnnyfalcon on Jul 17, 2018 20:56:12 GMT 12
Procrastinate no longer! We wait impatiently...
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 17, 2018 20:58:39 GMT 12
I am looking forward to following this build  |
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Post by 30sqnatc on Jul 20, 2018 22:21:23 GMT 12
The control tower construction has begun then .... you guessed it I ran out of the right size of plastic strip.  20180720_220957 by tankienz, on Flickr |
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Post by 30sqnatc on Jul 21, 2018 12:40:03 GMT 12
I found a couple of nice RAF vehicle decal sets in UK suitable for 1/48 RNZAF vehicles - 2m and 3mm roundels.  20180721_122320 by tankienz, on Flickr |
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Post by 30sqnatc on Jul 22, 2018 16:24:51 GMT 12
A parcel from Aussie, a trip to local hobby shop and today a visit to Jaycar produced this pile. Hope I can get the spaghetti assembled correctly once I find the soldering iron.  20180722_161411_resized by tankienz, on Flickr |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 22, 2018 20:22:57 GMT 12
did they actually have light railways at the Pacific bases? I know the RNZAF had their own trains in New Zealand but I have never head of trains in the Pacific, so just curious.
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Post by 30sqnatc on Jul 22, 2018 22:40:41 GMT 12
The combination of an airstrip from which RNZAF operated and a former Japanese Navy construction tramway is all in my head, I think, as I don't believe we were based on any former Japanese strips but the air strip tramways definitely did exist. The Japanese Navy used the small tramways to transport construction materiel as they did not have much in the way of engineer plant. This aerial photos shows a tramway down the side of a construction area with a short train of hopper wagons. As stated at the start of this thread the Japanese Navy had over 700 two foot gauge locomotives, reportedly the largest order for this type of locomotive ever by one organisation.  Kato%20Engine by tankienz, on Flickr And one of the locos captured by US forces.  Japan1 by tankienz, on Flickr RNZAF operated from several locations in Bougainville, the Japanese Navy had numerous tramways on Bougainville some of which RNZAF bombed around Buka. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 22, 2018 23:23:42 GMT 12
Henderson Field on Guadalcanal was a former Japanese airstrip, but I don't think they had completed it by the time the US Marines captured it.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 22, 2018 23:24:11 GMT 12
Thanks by the way, it is interesting stuff.
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Post by davidd on Jul 23, 2018 10:14:07 GMT 12
Munda was also an operational Japanese field in the central Solomons before being captured by the US Army in August 1943. Don't think there was any Japanese railway at either of these locations. The main types of enemy vehicles captured at these locations (Henderson field and Munda) seemed to be smallish trucks, and sometimes road rollers, including Japanese Navy ones! The RNZAF at Henderson had a Japanese truck for a while, christened "Tojo" apparently! I think they also had a Japanese motor boat too. No other Japanese fields in the South Pacific were home to RNZAF units so far as I know, all built by American (Navy, Army, or civilian), New Zealand or Australian engineers.
David D
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Post by Calum on Jul 23, 2018 14:31:25 GMT 12
Interesting project. I look forward to seeing more
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Post by Mustang51 on Jul 24, 2018 7:49:46 GMT 12
This is going to look great. Obviously by the time I was at Henderson with either the B.25 or PV.1 there was nothing to see but....... they are constantly finding things there even after all this time. Just before we arrived in the PV.1 they discovered a revetment that had been totally overgrown and was littered with bombs.....
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Post by 30sqnatc on Jul 24, 2018 21:01:07 GMT 12
First of about seventy coconut tree trunks with initial trial at making the fronds. Sixteen per tree, seventy trees - I don't want to even do that calculation.  20180724_205102 by tankienz, on Flickr |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 24, 2018 21:52:19 GMT 12
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Post by 30sqnatc on Jul 25, 2018 19:53:07 GMT 12
I use masking tape mounted on thin florists wire as the spine for the leaves. The tape is suck face to face with spine trapped down the middle then the frond is cut to shape and leaves cut down each side.
The trunk is three sections of thick florists wire with rough string rapped around and sealed with coarse texture gel.
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Post by 30sqnatc on Aug 3, 2018 21:43:06 GMT 12
More coconut fronds finished and builders have been back working on the control tower   |
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Post by 30sqnatc on Aug 3, 2018 21:54:12 GMT 12
Just received this from the US. Not cheap but these small bomb trolleys feature in many photos of RNZAF in the Pacific.  |
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Post by planecrazy on Aug 4, 2018 11:15:56 GMT 12
This will be great, love your palm trees but don't like the idea of building 70 of them, phew excellent work.
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Post by 30sqnatc on Aug 6, 2018 21:51:33 GMT 12
Munda was also an operational Japanese field in the central Solomons before being captured by the US Army in August 1943. Don't think there was any Japanese railway at either of these locations. The main types of enemy vehicles captured at these locations (Henderson field and Munda) seemed to be smallish trucks, and sometimes road rollers, including Japanese Navy ones! The RNZAF at Henderson had a Japanese truck for a while, christened "Tojo" apparently! I think they also had a Japanese motor boat too. No other Japanese fields in the South Pacific were home to RNZAF units so far as I know, all built by American (Navy, Army, or civilian), New Zealand or Australian engineers. David D I'm currently reading Fortress Rabaul by Bruce Gambie. He explains how the Japanese decided to establish an airfield on Guadalcanal. In the list of kit they offloaded on 6 Jul belonging to the 11th and 13th Establishment Units '......... and a pair of narrow-gauge locomotives with a dozen hopper cars' so an airfield used by RNZAF that definitely had (at some point) a 2ft gauge railway  |
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