Black Bears - HO Scale

A black bear family at the edge of the forest

The set brings six black bears, three grown animals and three young. Each piece is caught in a different posture, so a whole scene can be put together from them: a female guarding her offspring by a clearing, a curious cub at a fallen log, a grown animal sniffing the air. It is precisely the variety of positions that turns a little heap of animals into a living picture.

What the black bear is

The black bear inhabits the forested belt from Alaska to Mexico. Against the massive grizzly it is smaller, it keeps to dense growth and it is the only North American bear that climbs trees without trouble. In search of food it routinely comes close to human buildings, to the garbage at a campground and to the back of a mountain station, and these are exactly the situations that play best on a layout.

Where to place the animals

A ratio of 1:87 is the most widespread model railroad size, so a grown animal takes up just under two centimeters on a base. It stands out best where the line pushes through forest: on an embankment above the track, at a watercourse, among the stumps left after logging.

• six animals in one package, three of them young
• the differing postures allow a scene with action to be put together
• suitable for a forest, a campground, a mountain line and a free-standing diorama
• the size matches the usual HO cars and locomotives
• the small pieces are easily set down with tweezers

Before setting them down, make a small level spot in the growth so that the animal does not stand crooked, and fix them with a drop of PVA glue. The dark coat stands out most against light grass or a sandy path; in dark undergrowth it is helped by a fine drybrushing of brown over the back and the head.