wholeheartedly agree with your enthu- siasm about prototype modelers’ meets. They definitely are the forefront of the hobby and are a great way to showcase your own work and share ideas and information with others. I sure wish there were more of them closer to where I live. Unfortunately, as much as I would
like to, I am not sure how I would par- ticipate in such events, as all the mod- els I build are in the “operating layout” category like Scott Lupia’s article in January (the “Good Enough School of Detailing”). Although not officially- judged “contests,” per se, these meets are de facto contests in that the models are unofficially being compared and judged by other participants and on- lookers. Do they have a section/catego- ry for “layout/operating” models? When a model is taken from its home
on a layout, where it forms part of a to- tal scene, and is placed by itself on a table, it has to withstand a lot closer scrutiny and what was good enough on the layout just does not measure up to the purpose-built, superdetailed mod- els at an RPM meet. Despite the asser- tion (January, 2012. EDITOR’S NOTE- BOOK) that, “…the models in the exhibit room are meant for use on lay- outs, and most of the presenters do have a layout...”, there is still a major philosophical and practical difference between building a model primarily for a layout and building one for display at an RPM meet and planting it on the (intended) layout. It can be argued, and I agree, that
this provides an opportunity to im- prove one’s modeling skills, but we only have a limited time to spend on this earth, so we must budget it. Bal- ance in life is good. As proved long ago by John Allen, it’s not necessary to su- perdetail everything to have an out- standing layout. To it sum up, a proto- type modeler does not necessarily equate to being a superdetailer. It seems to me that a useful addition
www.cabooseind.com
to these meets would be a section for photos taken on a prototype-modeler’s layout with comparison prototype
shots, if applicable. Where practicable, there could even be a visit to a nearby prototype-specific layout.
DICK WALKER London, Ontario, Canada These are good points for discussion,
and I suppose there are as many rea- sons for taking a project to a particular level as there are modelers and models. Some models get under your skin, and the accuracy and detail level become more important on them. Sometimes raising up the level on one model makes you do that to others, the idea being to have a reasonably-even appearance across the layout. I would argue that “up” is better; refinements improve the texture and overall effect of a layout. You don’t want to reach low. It is also true that both models and modelers can be sorted into categories. For an RPM, I figure “bring what you built” is the right approach. Conse- quently, this may mean superdetailing, but maybe not. While an out of the box model would seem to be out of place at such a meet, showing prototype-specific weathering on a ready-to-run car or lo- comotive certainly would not be. I’ve operated on layouts with almost
all the cars being scratchbuilt or having cars with individually-applied details, or mostly recently-tooled kits with mold- ed-on grabs and ladders done oh-so-well and a bit of brake rigging. In most cases you can see the detail level and appreci- ate these cars and locomotives. There are exceptions, of course, and there is no single answer, which is why the hobby is what it is. These are personal decisions. Even so, I still think the RPM meets “work” for most of us and are worth at- tending.–BILL S.
Correction The photo of the GTW car ferry at
the bottom of page 75 identifies the destination of the ferry as “Ludington, Michigan.” It should have been “Muskegon, Michigan.” Sorry for any confusion.
KEITH KOHLMANN via e-mail.
THE X FACTOR.... X = YOU
+ x =
PO BOX 278 ELBURN, IL 60119
6 V
without YOUit’s just some really nice parts in a box.
Additional Variables: Weather It to match conditions on YOURRoad; Letter it for YOUR Road; Build a Whole Bunch Quickly, Easily, and Economically to fill out YOURconsist; Feel Good about something YOUcreated while actually having fun! It’s simple: Just do the math!
Check out all the possibilities on our website:
www.accurail.com A
AILABLE AT FINE HOBBY DEALERS EVERYWHERE APRIL 2012
Solution to Solve for X:
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100