Hi all; I'm a bit late to this discussion, but will use it as a lead-in.
Last Saturday I attended the New England Railroad Prototype Modeler's meet in Canton, Connecticut. Jeff English was also there, so I was not the token S scaler. It was a lot of fun, but busy (too many presentations to attend, too little time!). This is the positive side of "rivet counting", as these folks produce a lot of models to a very high standard, and happily share methods and information. I neglected to photograph the displays Jeff and I put on, but fortunately some other attendees made up for my oversight. Here is a shot the overall 'S' display. http://www.pbase.com/tom_murray/image/135371357 Two other photos follow on the same page, one of my SHS USRA boxcar under re-construction, and one of Jeff's PRS boxcar in nicely weathered NKP paint. Notice that I had the RMC feature on S scale displayed, along with data related to the specific models. Another page also shows my SHS SW-1 and (once more) the SHS USRA boxcar, about half way down. Be sure to check out the other photos on the pages, as they are a good sampling of the work people in other scales are doing. http://www.pbase.com/jtunnel/new_englandnortheast_rpm_2011&page=all Hope you enjoy! Pieter E. Roos --- On Mon, 6/6/11, Christopher Borgmeyer <[email protected]> wrote: > Bill, I completely agree and struggle > with the same issues. My > current thinking is twofold: every project has its relative > level of > "perfection" and the "correctness" of the overall scene can > make up > for deficiencies in individual models. > > For example, in the past I've built PRS kits and > really > superzdetailed, painted and weathered them to a high > level. Why? I > think those kits can support that level of work and the > results are > outstanding. Currently, I'm working on an old wood > reefer kit a > friend pulled out of his junk box because he thought it > might be a fun > challenge for me to save it. I re-kitted all the > parts (it looked > like 4 year old had built it the first time), cleaned it up > and > started my rebuild. I'm limiting myself to the parts > that would have > been available when the kit was originally released 40 > years ago. > With some care, a wood car goes together as square and > clean as > plastic, after careful trimming and sanding those white > metal parts > look great and even those old stamped ladders (if you file > the rungs > down to about nothing) are almost indistinguishable from > modern parts > made from .012 wire. some people would say that's > more work then > those kits deserve. To me, that's about the right > balance between > their level of accuracy and making an outstanding > car. Relative > perfection. > > Josef Brandl is a European modeler I really admire. > There is a coffee > table type book out of his work called "Almost Real" and > indeed his > scenes do look almost real. When you really start to > look at the > details you realize he doesn't do a lot of super-detailing > or > weathering. His locos and rolling stock are pretty > much off the > shelf. What he does do is make complete scenes that > feel correct. > He's found that right balance. Yes, it's very high > level modeling but > it's not the last word in structures or scenery. I'd > take it any > day. Again, relative perfection. > > Chris Borgmeyer > > rivet counting & reality > Posted by: "Bill Lane" [email protected] wdlane > Sun Jun 5, 2011 2:22 pm (PDT) > > In reference to some of Chris Borgmeyer's thoughts, it is a > constant > struggle for me as to how much time to throw at any 1 > thing. Many things > start out as _ and become a major rebuild with a lot more > time > consumed. Now > that I have started my layout a few things have happened. I > have > reexamined > things on the shelf and sold some of it. > > I have also had some attitude adjustments. 10 years ago I > probably > would not > have spent the time I did on my H27 hopper given it's > American Flyer > origins. I was head deep in brass modeling only. I had some > fun with > the H27 > since it was a "good enough" project with some "winging it" > involved. > > But the struggle still exists on how "much" I will spend on > any given > project. Rolling stock absolutely rules my interests. I > don't see that > changing much. But I have to back off a bit if I want to > complete my > rolling stock projects and still make forward progress on > my layout. > > Thank You, > Bill Lane ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
