Vital Statistics

Gallery

Here's an overview of Indiantown Gap, nestled into an NTRAK layout. Photograph by Bill Rutherford

This is an aerial view of activities at the Gap.  Photograph by Bill Rutherford

This picture, taken from the second Blackhawk of the element (hence the slight focus error), shows off the subject's powered rotors... Photograph by Bill Rutherford

This view shows the warehouse area, along with several flat cars of AFVs

This recent picture shows how Cotton's module has "stayed alive" through continual, low-key modification. Photograph by Bill Rutherford

by Cotton Bowen

In 1999 I retired from 30 years service in the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Reserve.  One of the locations I visited frequently for training and operations was Ft. Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania.  The "Gap" is located approximately 25 miles east of Harrisburg, PA on I-81 and rests at the base of the mountain range known as Second Mountain, part of the Pocono chain.  Part of the cantonment area is just visible from the nearby interstate.  Most of the training areas are hidden behind the first mountain range and may be accessed only through the most prominent terrain feature, the gap in the mountains. The location derives its name from the site being the location of an indian village in pre-colonial times.  It is a rather picturesque place, once one gets past the dirt.  This module was designed to represent the general appearance of the location and some of the activities that go on there. Indiantown Gap is the host to National Guard and Reserve units, including armor, aviation and other units.  The activities presented on the module portray an armor unit containing M-1 Abrams and supporting vehicles moving into the Gap past a warehouse house complex situated along the railroad serving the Lehigh Valley.  Meanwhile several aviation units provide overhead security and a Chinook Helicopter are transporting a sling loaded 155mm howitzer and sling loaded material.  Near the warehouse is an armor unit's cruciform tactical operations center (TOC).  The TOC enables the primary staff of a battalion, the S-1 Adjutant, S-2 Intelligence Officer, the S-3 Operations Officer and S-4 Logistics Officer to coordinate activities without having to walk between locations.  On the other side of the warehouses two loading ramps are emplaced for loading armored vehicles on to flat cars. Near them is a Blackhawk helicopter making a nap of the earth (NOE) approach to the gap.  At the crossroads and entrance to the ramps are several MP Humvees observing traffic flow.

Construction:  Indiantown Gap is a standard POFF with a small siding.  Bench work is constructed of pine and plywood with a 1 inch pink foam surface.  I roughed the surface to retain a thin layer of hydrocal spread with an old paint brush. Once it dried, the hydrocal was stained earth color with Woodland Scenics ground cover stain.  The back was built of a thin plywood sheet and more pink foam glued and cut to create undulating mountains.  I used an electric carving knife to work on the pink foam.  A creek was created by using the knife to carve a creek bed and then hot Woodlands Scenics plastic water was poured in to create water.  It is important to tape off the ends of the water course to prevent dripping where the creek runs out of the layout.  Trees were created by gluing black painted fiber fill to square tooth picks, then spraying with glue and then rolling in ground foam.  A final pass with a can of green spray paint was made to provide extra fixative action to the ground foam.  I don't recommend this type of foliage on a transportable layout as it tends to shed foliage each time it is moved.  I may have to replace the current foliage with something more durable.  The warehouses were constructed from Model Power kits and glued in place. One out-building was scratch built based on photographs taken of typical buildings at the "Gap" while on a trip.  As with all terrain I tried to maximize the use of texture with lots of ground foam, gravel and differing colors.  Vehicles are a collection of Micromachines repainted to commonly used U.S. Army colors and resin cast M-1 Abrams tanks and Humvees.  A water tower was repainted from silver gray to white and the flashing bulb was replaced with a Radio Shack red flashing diode.  The Blackhawk Helicopter was rigged to provide a motor driven main rotor.  To do this I used an inexpensive 2 volt DC hobby motor mounted in a plywood frame.  The motor was connected to the two part rotor shaft of concentric brass tubes, one supports the helo's frame and the other turns the rotor, with a short piece of flexible silicon fuel hose. The inside brass tube was lubricated with LUBRIPLATE to reduce friction.  This arrangement seems to work well, except that it takes a while to warm up when not frequently used. Alignment of the motor with the rotor shafts can be difficult. Power for the Blackhawk and water tower are provided by variable voltage transformers that are available in the electrical section of most hardware stores.  

Pictures of Indiantown Gap may be viewed in the Gallery for the February 2000 GATS at Gaithersburg, MD and the Greenberg Show at Upper Marlboro, MD also in February 2000.