Product Review - 1:18 Scale Sand bags by Marauder Gun-Runners

Product Review

Marauder Gun-Runners

Sand Bags

The sand bags I initially used on my Fn3 plantation layout are 1:18 scale detail parts from Marauder Gun-Runners www.marauderinc.com. 

I uses them to model sandbags the Oahu Sugar Company plantation used to keep their locomotives on the track by adding weight on the front. Sandbags are quite apparent on many photographs of the prototype.

Regretably, I found them unsatisfactory and made my own out of Miliput upon which I pressed some fine screen to impart a reproduction of the rough burlap surface of such bags. I then painted the bags to replicate what I supposed to be their color. I still use these bags for one of my locos until I build Miliput substitutes for this second loco.

So why do I mention this product? Because we must be willing at times to utilize a product as a stand-in until a better solution is found. I also want to stress one can find products for one's layout that are out of the beaten path - look for them.

That is the essence of model railroading - the willingness to experiment and to not beat yourself up when what one tries does not work out. In this case I went so far as to make a purchase from a firm that really has nothing to do with model railroading and in a scale that was a bit off from that in which I model.

All efforts that fall short of our goals merely serve as stand-ins until we get it right.