Playground Fun - HO Scale

A playground where something is always going on

A children's playground is rewarding on a model precisely because none of the figures is doing the same thing. One is starting to run, one is sitting, one is hanging head down. Static scenery thus gains the movement that otherwise only a moving train can bring. Two children here play with a ball tied to a line, another two share a swing and a fifth has hung herself head toward the ground.

Five figures in five different positions

A ball on a line fixed to a pole is as usual in American schoolyards as a climbing frame is elsewhere; the scene therefore suits a module with city buildings where a school or a small park stands. The set holds the figures of the children themselves, not the play equipment, so a swing and a pole have to be standing on the layout beforehand or have to be made from wire and plastic section.

Placing them and small finishing touches

What helps the scene most is for the figures not to be lined up in one row. The child hanging head down belongs at a bar or at a branch, the children at the swing are turned to face each other and the pair with the ball stays to one side, so that free space arises between the groups. The line to the ball can be suggested with a thin filament, painted only once it has been glued on. A small mark of wear under the swing also works well, that is a worn strip with no grass, which gives away that there is often play here. A jacket left thrown over a railing or a bag propped against a pole has a similar effect, because they show that the children came from somewhere and will go back somewhere.