Project - Ingredients for Making Fn3 (1:20.3 scale) Bamboo for Your Layout or Diorama

Photo 1 Copyright Nicholas Kalis

I used barbecue skewers, Tamiya X-20A Thinner and Tamiya XF-70 to make some of my bamboo. Not pictures is a black marker utilized.

Photo 2  Copyright Nicholas Kalis

End results

Modeling Bamboo Stems in Fn3 or Most Any of the Larger Scales 

Once my Fn3 Oahu Sugar Company had taken shape, I realized diodump bamboo stems DD016 - intended for use with from 1:48 to 1:35 scale models - I had been using were too short for my use except as a reduced scale (forced perspective) “tool”.  As I needed full size (1:20.3 scale) bamboo models for foreground scenes (and incidentally as view blocks[i]), I turned elsewhere.

Luckily, I found in my office recycling bin a large bundle of clean wooden kabob skewers. These skewers,  intended for kabobs that would never get made, were tossed out in a post-Christmas clean-out of our office kitchen. Such skewers should be easily found at the local grocery store. Candidly, what type of wood these skewers are made of is a mystery - the packaging in which they were sold was missing - that does not trouble me. I thus took these twelve-inch long pointed skewers home and experimented.

First, I used Tamiya X-20A Thinner (250ml) I had on hand to dilute some Tamiya XF-70 Dark Green 2 (IJN) acrylic paint. Readers should be able to make due with other brands of green paint and thinner they have on hand. The thorniest part of this project is to assure your paint is well thinned – almost a wash so the skewers’ grain shows through nicely (Yes, I know real bamboo lacks a wood grain or bark but some irregular surface texture in these models is useful). I then started to paint each with an old paint brush, purposely not covering my skewers thoroughly as I wanted a mottled green/tan appearance to replicate my prototype. 

In my elation, even before my skewers had dried completed, I proceeded to mark with a black chisel tip Sharpie Permanent Marker the multiple rings found on real bamboo. Keep your rings as thin as possible. Then all that was required was to let my model stems dry for about one hour (readers might even get away with a shorter wait time). 

Installation went quickly as my skewers’ pointed tips meant I could skip drilling holes or using an awl to punch holes in my baseboard foam prior to installation. To install on my layout, I simply pressed my model stems into my layout’s 2-inch thick foam baseboard and voile a patch of bamboo.

As this technique can easily be tailored to other scales. I suggest readers experiment to find a technique that works for their scale. 

Warning – handle kabob skewers with care - they are sharp. This was a fun and easy project; as proof, my seven-year old stepson Alexander helped draw the rings on many of my skewers.

Materials List

·         Kabob skewers (12-inch long), any brand would do

·         Tamiya XF-70 Dark Green 2 (IJN) paint, 10 ml, Item No. 81770

·         Tamiya X-20A Thinner (for acrylic paint), 250ml, Item 81040

·         Sharpie Permanent Marker, Chisel Tip, black

·         Paper towels

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[i] View blocks on my layout take two tried and true forms. First, having a stand of bamboo that a train passes behind makes a layout look larger. When a train passes behind the bamboo stand the viewer’s vision is interrupted and so the train will seem to be travelling a greater distance, hence the “larger” layout. Second, when a train is exiting a scene (leaving through an opening in the backdrop, the need arises to hide this very unrealistic event. By situating a stand of bamboo where the eye misses the opening in the backdrop, the problem is solved.