A good portion of the overall look and charm of any seaside or waterfront structure is in the pilings that raise that structure above the water or along the earthen banks of that body of water. The pilings are a huge visual that define that structure instantly as a waterfront building. You see them and you know. The idea in modelling is to bring 
realism to your layout, so you want to draw out the best detail possible yet be as accurate as possible in dimension.
We love the Bar-Mills Waterfront Willie’s / Trackside Jack’s craftsman kit! As we gushed about it in our earlier article. However, the pilings that they include, when attached sit in a bit more along the edges of the decking platform. As seen on the photo on the right. Beautiful idea right? Sure! it gives it the look that identifies as seaside….Until a boat approaches. To avoid the inevitable overall destruction of a hapless sea Captain, we decided to add some larger pilings along the edges of the decking to ward off any vessel’s collision or lessen impact. The thinner pilings included are excellent as they are underneath. They offer depth to the model when viewed from any angle and make he model look more complex to the viewer. They come with excessive amounts of cross bracing and we recommend using every bit of it during construction, making sure to attach them to the pilings in the center and not just around the outside. You can even attach them North to South, not just left to right. This is by all means a fairly large structure in scale to be perched upon a wharf/dock and would without question require a lot of support. Use it all up! And it looks cool!
(Note: We made the included pilings 2 inches in length. Which raises the structure almost too high for most waterfronts, but as we have yet to build the actual waterfront or put down the water surface and do not know the exact height of the surrounding banks, we opted to “Go Big” and leave them at max length. Two inches allows you to stretch out nearly exactly what is supplied, using most of it up. Remember it is easier to cut it down to the size needed later then to replace all pilings because they are too short.)
For the larger piling sets we placed on each corner and in between the corners on the center of each sides, we decided to make them thicker in diameter then the inside pilings. We made the sets of 3 pilings each. The first two that will actually butt up against the decking are 3/16 inch in diameter, the thinner one in front is about the same 1/8 inch diameter as the inside pilings (we needed to supply our own dowels for this extra project, you will not have
enough left over from the kit). Before weathering and aging this wood you will need to cut all you need for each piling to the length necessary for your height. We went with about 1/3 inch above the decking for one 3/16 piling, a 1/4 inch or less above the decking for the other 3/16 piling, the third and smaller 1/8 inch piling is slightly lower than the surface of the deck itself or lower if you choose as it never attaches to the initial structure. To cut we used our Xacto mitre box saw as it gives a nice even cut. For our project we had 8 pilings each of the three different lengths when all finished with the cutting.
Sure most wood is brown in color and many modelers use paints and stains in browns and earthtones. But we have found that most wood used in building and in objects made of wood are subject to the elements and show age by graying. Especially outdoors, but even such things as axe handles, boxes, crates, wood carts and wheels, or anything unpainted and in it’s natural state. Graying along the waterfront or seaside also shows its absorbing of salt and sun and you will get a slight whitish coloring mixed in. Included with this sort of weathering, wood will show it’s age quickly with cracks and crevices as the moisture of the wood evaporates in the elements. To achieve this look in all piling, the ones with the kit and the larger extra ones, we went with several different style washes which took longer but the end result was near perfect for us.
Before beginning any wash we briskly ran a file card brush up and down on all sides of each dowel. A stiff wire brush will work as well (which is pretty much what a file card is). This gave us long random scratch marks up and down the dowels giving it a natural wood look. You really can’t screw this up.
First we used the standard India ink/Alcohol wash. We use the 91% isopropyl alcohol and not the 70%. The reason for this is it drys much quicker and does not cause the wood to warp with the added water in the 70%. The advantage of that in this case is that it fills into the scratches you made from the file card and dries out the wood in the scratches and they expand by shrinking a bit which really gives detail to a naked eye. Be liberal with this first coating, it won’t hurt it and you will be using it again. (The inda ink/alcohol mix is 3 teaspoons of ink to one 16 oz bottle of alcohol. We use three strengths of this by diluting it further by half into 3 different containers, for this project use the stronger strength).
While that wash is drying on your dowels, about half an hour. We mixed one part acrylic paint with 3 parts water making a whitewash. It looked like skim milk when we were finished. Make enough of it to cover all 16 dowels liberally. I used about half a film canister size container (I know, no one uses film anymore in the digital age!). 
When the dowels are dry, it is time to paint on the whitewash. I used a #6 flat brush. Cover all surfaces even the ends (and the tips of your fingers) and make sure that it is leaving a white coating on it and in the scratches you made. You don’t want it to look like heavy thick paint however, and if it does, wipe it off with a paper towel, add more water and do over. You also don’t want it to look like just water either….it will actually look like dirty white water on it. You really can’t over-saturate these dowel rods because the wood in them is so hard and dense it will not warp. Also no two pilings will look identical, so feel free to make some lighter or darker, that is the beauty of it, it’s nature and nature doesn’t make everything identical!
Wait about an hour then wash over lightly with the india ink/alcohol mix you used before. LIGHTLY. We don’t want to discolor the white to the point that you can’t find hints of it on the wood. When dry these dowels should have the gray you would find on the wood of a pier, boardwalk, plankways, and yes, pilings! If it is not the desired look you want, then you can go with an extra wash of white or ink to your liking.
Once completely dry it is time to put them into piling sets. We did this by taking one of each of the three lengths, and running a long bead of wood glue (we like Gorilla brand but any should work) between two of the larger pilings lengthwise and bonding them together with the bottom side of each flush with the other. Set aside to dry. Do this will all your sets. Once dry, then add the 1/8 inch shorter dowel, with the bottom matching flush with the other two you glued eariler in the same manner but a bead of glue on each surface that touches with the other two larger dowels. Don’t over glue as the seeping glue can leave an unsightly stain on the wood when dry. Usually you can just lay it down on top of the other two to get a bond in about half an hour.
For added detail we took a white or off-white cotton twine string and separated the strands of it, making thinner strings and by wrapping them tightly around the desired height you want them. Be careful though with the corner pilings not to make them to high up on the pilings because if the roping is what is touching the decking it will be hard to get a solid bond that will support. We kept the roping just 
below the decking so it still looked authentic. Go too low and it looks goofy. After you get your roping/twine around the pilings in nice, tight coiling, put a dab of white glue on your fingertip, and touch it to the roping just enough lay an invisible coating on the end of the rope left at the end of the coil. Don’t worry, it won’t leave any visible sheen on the rope.
Attaching the piling to the rest of your seaside structure you will need a strong bond. You could use wood glue or a good CA glue (super glue or similar product). Figure out first where your pilings will ultimately touch the decking so you are placing your glue exactly where you need it so it doesn’t leave unneeded residue that would detract from quality. You may have to hold them in place until glue begins to set up, so a minute or two, otherwise because the pilings run vertically they will topple over.
Ok, so now the tops of you pilings are attached and they look pretty good. But should you move it at all the bottoms of them will slide outward from the bottom unless attached so some sort of support crossbeams. On this model, the weight of the structure is not resting on the pilings. They truly support nothing, entirely visual. The included smaller pilings directly under the decking handles all the weight bearing, but they are all inset about half an inch in from the decking away from the new larger pilings. What to do? What to do? Simple, cut some extra wood beams from left over 1/8 inch square basswood strips and weather them like you did with the pilings and glue them horizontally, connecting the inner pilings to the outside larger pilings with a little wood glue about midway up the larger piling which will give you the support you need. You can add as 
much supporting wood as necessary and take them from any direction you desire. Don’t worry about too much bracing and beams underneath. It will only add to the depth and complexity of the model to your viewer. We advise using clamps to hold your beam supports until firmly attached and the glue is entirely dried.
Last, you will want to some gritty barnacles to your pilings and make them look wet where they will enter the water and dark above the water line a few feet. We have not done so with Flounder’s because we have not yet placed the model on the layout and do not know just how high or low we will need to go. 
There is a chance we may have to shorten the pilings which we will do from the bottom, obviously. But if placed along the water’s edge where a slope is, the rear pilings toward the bank will need shortened drastically or removed. So we are holding off on barnacles and appearance of wet wood from the tide. 
When you are ready, use a darker gray or pavement color, and thin it out with 1 part water, 1 part paint, and apply as high as you wish your tide to reach….as you go up, lighten gradually, but don’t go any higher than 5 scale feet or so. At the bottoms where they touch the water, put a light coat of modge podge medium to give it a glossy wet appearance about 1/2 inch above water. One application should work. along the higher and lighter tide line you painted, add your barnacles. A sandy colored track ballast should give it the look you want. Add white glue to the area you desire, spread it evenly with the side of your finger, then sprinkle and clump the ballast into the glue and allow to dry. You can add more or less according to your tastes.
Now you should have some authentic looking pilings you willl often find at river and sea regions and water areas. Remember that these techniques work for other wood features you may wish to place near water. In all cases, make sure to research what you are modelling through photographs which are easy enough to find with a simple google image search!
Enjoy!
Ho Scale Customs
