Eagle Bluff AFS
N-guage radar site

We have been looking for radar set models, and this little gem was sent to us by Chris McWilliams.

Chris writes:
This is not strictly speaking a model, it's more of a diorama. This is a "generic" radar site which is the central part of an N gauge model railroad (scale 1:160) I'm building. The platform is 6' x 12' and hangs from pulleys in my garage. Liberties must be taken in N gauge to make things "look" right, so it is not really to scale. The search radar tower is 58' high, 47' wide, and the antenna is 85' wide. This whole section sits atop a "mountain" in the middle of the layout. Inside the mountain is a spiral of track to elevate the trains up to a second and third level of elevation on the layout. This top section contains 2 HF radars, the search (FPS-24 resemblance?) a power plant, and an ops building. The next lower section will contain HQ, GATR, barracks, motor pool, mess hall, etc. I'm also taking the liberty of putting in a Bomarc site as part of "Eagle Bluff AFS." The housing area (small) will also be on this level. I can't put in too many details, or they will overpower the railroad itself. I expect to spend many more months working on this project.


I took this shot outdoors with the air Defense Radar Museum patch in front. There are fewer shadows on this one. The tower has a gearmotor inside which turns the antenna at about 5 RPM. The four dowel legs it's standing on are used to fasten this level to the top of the mountain. The power plant is a model kit, the rest of it is "scratch built".