My emphasis in this reverse running (which remember is taking a :"contrary" view on a topic) is that scratchbuilding is dead as a requirement in the hobby. You can build a very nice layout these days and never scratchbuild a thing. And to that I say "hooray".
But if you notice, toward the end of the piece I say that all the ready-to-run stuff that's available now means you can have a larger layout and spend time kitbashing or scratchbuilding just a few signature pieces - you don't have to scratchbuild most stuff like you did in the early days.
I was reading the January 1961 issue of Model Railroader recently and one author who scratchbuilt locomotives was bemoaning how the ready-to-run trend was killing scratchbuilding. In 1961 of all things!
The lack of a need to scratchbuild locos certainly hasn't hurt the hobby at all - you can find most any diesel these days - and you can kitbash almost anything else that you can't find when it comes to diesels.
Steam is tougher, but there's enough ready-to-run steam these days you can often find a decent stand-in. Many more are available in the used brass market - and if you're willing to do some remotoring, you can get a nice steam roster, too.
Of course, all this applies the most to HO, and to a lesser degree to N or O. In S, Z, or G, there's far fewer models available and you'll probably need to scratchbuild or kitbash it if you're interested in something off the beaten path a bit.
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
It's a bit pricey, but then manufacturers are basically boutiques.
HOn42 isn't really a bad choice for the OP. Commercial chassis can be used (i.e. a Bowser Pennsy M1 wheelbase is very close to an S scale Ja 4-8-2 and could also be used for a Ka/Kb 4-8-4). The USRA 4-6-2 chassis is close to an Ab 4-6-2.
Andre
and, to crown their disgraceful proceedings and add insult to injury, they threw me over the Niagara Falls, and I got wet.
I just wanted to comment that scratchbuilding is still required if you can't use an off-the-shelf item. I am building a layout based on the San Diego Transit and Amtrack in San Diego (BNSF too). I have to scratchbuild each and every transit car I use on the layout. It's a good thing I work for MTS - the mother company for SD Transit. I was able to get spec sheets, scale drawings, and even allowed to go on the lot and photograph as many cars as I could in a two-hour period. I just wanted to cheer on any guy or gal who attempts scratchbuilding...it's great to have something you can point to and say, "I made that!"
With regard to your earlier posting, there is indeed a lot of activity in 1/64 scale equipment here in NZ using standard 16.5 mm HO track gauge. There are several suppliers of equipment, but for me it boiled down to available space. I can get a lot more 1/87 into a small room than 1/64. And prices for (comparatively) small-run Sn3.5 kits are not exactly cheap. I figured the limited budget I have was better spent on making my own locos & buying / adapting rolling stock, vehicles & buildings. At least that way, I'm not worried about dismantling a loco to fix a problem if I built the darn thing in the first place.
This is my first comment on this forum because this is a subject near and dear to my heart. Many of these thoughts have already been said, but perhaps there are a couple more ideas to squeeze out of this topic.
First off, I am in a profession that doesn't always guarantee a good paycheck but when it does it's nice. I decided a while back to drop my subscription to MR due to a drastic family budget cut. I figured I'd rather spend that money on models than a magazine, as back then I was really beginning to discover the many internet resources available. This online magazine is, IMO, the best culmination of the trend from personal hobby websites to forums to blogs to an interactive experience of high quality and integrity. Thank you, Joe! (plus I don't have to pay a plug nickel for any 'subscriber only extras').
At the time I dropped the subscription, I was also blessed by a contribution of several early 50's & 60's MR's. Wow, was I delighted to discover the articles on scratchbuilding technique. Dollar models, articles from the likes of Jack Work etc. were refreshing to say the least! Necessity really is the mother of invention and these articles were teaching me the skills I needed in order to invent.
During the hobby cash 'dry spell' I was forced to become a bit pickier with my purchasing, as a result focusing even further the direction I wanted to go in the hobby. I learned how to hand-lay track. I began saving for detail parts to customize my engines, upgrade my rolling stock and accent my structures. I also began, as the spare cash was available, to stockpile structure and rolling stock kits.
Most recently I have built a structure from a drawing in an MR article, almost entirely out of card stock, much of which was from our pantry, and scrounged from the office. Getting back to the roots of the hobby has been and continues to be a fantastic journey of discovery and learning and fun.
Another point - Any and all modelers should be encouraged to scratchbuild something, to kitbash something, to detail something, etc. There are many good reasons for this (they may decide they don't like it at all and will stick to buying RTR, keeping the hobby shops open for the rest of us!) but the one that comes to mind is this; there are still craftsmen out there waiting to be discovered if only they were given the nudge and some encouragement, along with some guidance and teaching. This online magazine is an excellent place for them to find that, don't you think?
There is artistic talent literally 'lurking' out there waiting to shine and inspire the modeling community. If they are never shown a different way then they may simply resign themselves to putting away the RTR stuff only to pull it out in a few years and sell it in a yard sale. We who know the joys of turning a pile of raw materials into a finished structure, engine, etc. must help to make the connection from "Gee, I could never get that good." to "You know, that's not so hard, maybe I could do this (and even come to like it!)"
Currently I have a steady income that pays well enough to support my family and put aside a few dollars a month for the hobby, as well as the occasional night out. But I am now firmly hooked on scratching and 'bashing and, no matter how accurate or well-detailed an RTR model may come, probably will never be content to leave it that way.
If scratchuilding floats your boat and saves you money - then that's super. But what I was rejoicing in is that scratchbuilding is no longer a requirement to do the hobby of model railroading "in the large". You can have as large of an HO layout as you wish and never scratchbuild a thing. To that I say hooray.
It's the old money versus time situation. You have more time and less money - so hey, you elect to build instead of buy. However, it used to be to do the hobby that was your only choice in many parts of the hobby.
Today, you have the choice, and we're blessed. As I mentioned in my column, what's really happened is we've changed focus from building individual models to building layouts. And I think that's another good trend. It used to be in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Model Railroader was filled with photos of individual models, often not even in a realistic setting. Today's model railroad publications are filled with photos of layouts and models in fully detailed scenes. The stand-alone model photo is rare, except in ads.
The era of the individual needing to scratchbuild almost everything is finally over, and we're now in the era of layout builders buying fantastic quality models and selectively scratchbuilding or kitbashing when they elect to do so.
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
Joe - I do agree that we need to support all aspects of MR but I do enjoy the building the most and have even moved over to FSM as a result. But the modeling has become so much more specific that I do buy, especially locos!
It's the old money versus time situation. You have more time and less money - so hey, you elect to build instead of buy. However, it used to be to do the hobby that was your only choice in many parts of the hobby.
Today, you have the choice, and we're blessed. As I mentioned in my column, what's really happened is we've changed focus from building individual models to building layouts. And I think that's another good trend. It used to be in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Model Railroader was filled with photos of individual models, often not even in a realistic setting. Today's model railroad publications are filled with photos of layouts and models in fully detailed scenes. The stand-alone model photo is rare, except in ads.
Amen, brother! You make a very good point about photos of individual models vs. layouts. Having spend more time over the past couple years with my head stuck in those early MR's than anything recent, I can see exactly what you mean.
As someone who loves scenery, well, heck, even my timesaver had to be scenicked! JA's was some track on a plank because he had the G&D large as life in his basement. My situation was reversed so I used what space I could to make first an interesting scene that happens to be a fun switching puzzle. The onlhy kits built 'straight' on that layout are an Alexander Little Hook crane and a Coal Trestle from Blackstone (no longer available). The rest are kitbashed or scratchbuilt.
I think there's a parallel in gardening and farming that may echo what you said about 'get to' vs. 'have to'. My thumb is more green than brown but I'm still very glad I don't depend on my suburban 'land' to produce all the food for my family. It's a hobby with a nutritional benefit.
Likewise I'm glad we have styrene and injected plastic. Modeling with cardstock, paper & wood is fun, but I'd hate to have to build everything out of those materials alone. Even on that Little Hook I substituted styrene strip for the little card strips the instructions call for. (Included in the kit is a small sheet of file-folder thickness card. The instructions say to cut strips about 1/16" wide with the 'grain' of the paper, then use these strips to make delicate x bracing for the crane.)
Thanks again for MRH and a thought-provoking article.
For many items you mention, in this hobby the requirement for scratch building is no longer valid. Why build my own turnouts when at least 3 manufacturers make an acceptable one. That only takes time away to finish my layout while I still can.
Yet there are areas of the hobby where you need to build your own. I am an N-scaler, and the scale lacks some specific items. Not only as products per se, but because of the strange wrinkles in my layout planning. I need to fit a power plant into an existing part of my layout.
No way I can get the building I envisage from any of the major dealers. So, part of it will be modulars from DPM and parts will be plain old styrene from Evergreen or any other manufacturer that happens to sell the right sheets of styrene. This is a "measure and go" operation to make the building fit and look its part. I love doing that.
N-scaler can get a host of engines nowadays. But.....where do I find a Beyer-Garratt type? Go try and be disappointed. So back to the drawing board, and workdesk to build your own, in my case based on two old Fleischmann 0-6-0's with a lot of work, but I will get what I want, because I aim to put in the time and effort required. Or try find a transfer caboose in N, DIY is the answer.
In short, there will always be special needs of the individual hobbyist requiring him/her to build it from scratch. The point of all this is that it pays to retain or gain the skills to do just that.
First just the name alone MAINLINE MODELER should have given you a clue as to the type of magazine/market that the editor was targeting, THE MODELER. Excuse me but, I was always reminded that scratch building is the most challenging form of modeling. Those that can start with nothing and bring out a finished modeling is to be revered, masters of this art we aspire. So to say that Mainline Modeler and it's context was a total disconnect tells me that there is a disconnect; however, not from we that not only wrote for the magazine but followed the magazine faithfully. As I sit here and take a break to reply to your Editorial, guess what? I am sitting in front of a set of George Trager passenger car drawings in May of 1995 Mainline Modeler upgrading a RTR AHM Brook Series ... 12-5 (12 rmts-5 Brd) Duplex sleeper trying to take make "chicken soup from chicken poop". But that is what MODELING is, opening a box, be it a kit or a built-up RTR offering and making something accruate, and realistic on my own, base on something historic I am truly interested in as a hobby and a hobbyist.
Mainline, in my most humble opinion, took the wrong road when the decision was made that presentation was more important than context... Something that all Editors need to realize. If an editor of any magazine believes we are in a layout building market and operation is where the hobby is headed in order to survive we're in trouble, as RTR is slowly costing this hobby it's market. Explain to me how the human spirit can survive without challenge and self accomplishment. Creating is what humans do. Joe sitting at the kitchen table with my Grandsons TEACHING them how to model trains is to me what I will do. Remember, "idle hands is the Devil's workshop..." Get involve with your Grandkids and you children, take away the computer toys and share your skills.
I am not against layouts, nor do I have a problem with some RTR kits, but I only own one KADEE PS-1 boxcar (undecorated) and one PRR KADEE PS-2 Covered Hopper (anyone want to buy it?) and even my Walthers RTR passenger cars get tweaked, remember you still have to install your own wire details and replace the couplers, that is if it is important to you... Articles in magazines of someone layout tour every month and often more than once in a magazine just turns me off. Let me sink my teeth in modeling not operating, be it scenery, freight or passenger car MODLEING, or locomotive detailing. Just remember Joe, no one is going to write an article on how I took my RTR out of the box and put it on the track, I bought it 'cause it was so pretty... Modeling still sells.
Reverse running is intended to stir people up and get them to think about the topic. Agreeing with a reverse running is expected to be infrequent. Controversial is the point - and if it makes you think, all the better.
The point of this issue's column isn't that people aren't modeling any more, it's that they can now pick and chose what they build themselves, and scratchbuilding is highly optional as part of the process to doing model railroading "in the large" these days.
My bone with Mainline Modeler isn't the modeler part of the name, it's the mainline part of the name. Total disconnect between the name and the magazine content's focus. "Mainline" suggests model railroading in-the-large. If you have a larger layout like I do, you quickly realize scratchbuilding everything isn't realistic if you ever want the layout to get to a reasonable level of finish.
Yet Mainline Modeler focused on scratchbuilding almost exclusively. "Small Layout" Modeler would have been a more accurate name for the magazine. No beef with the modeling part of the name - just the Mainline, class 1, big-time layout modeling part of the name. Total disconnect, IMO.
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
I think that without scratchbuilders we wouldnt have great models to display and without great layout creators all of us scratchbuilders would have no beautiful layouts to operate on.
"But if you notice, toward the end of the piece I say that all the ready-to-run stuff that's available now means you can have a larger layout and spend time kitbashing or scratchbuilding just a few signature pieces - you don't have to scratchbuild most stuff like you did in the early days."
And this is the fatal flaw.
You can build a nice layout with the stuff the manufacturers make, not necessarily what you want. Scratchbuilders build stuff BECAUSE the manufacturers don't make it. Most people aren't going to scratchbuild a 1937 AAR 40 ft steel boxcar. There are a gazillion models made. People scratchbuild the stuff that isn't made.
I scratchbuild and yes, I rarely buy anything at a hobby shop other than parts and supplies. Why? It's because mainstream model railroad manufacturers think trains were invented around 1925. I model 1900-1905. There has not been ONE new model of a pre-1910, wooden underframe, truss rod car interoduced in over 30 years. Nada. The only new pre-1910 engine produced in the last 30 years was Roundhouse's 4-4-0. Roundhouse has updated its 30-40 year old 36 ft car line with more accurate paint schemes, but for 90% of the cars they are foobies. Every other car and engine made for the pre-1910 the is virtually the same as it was when I graduated high school, back in 1974. There are models for pre-1910 cars that are accurate, but they are wood and resin kits, requiring basically the same skillset as scratchbuilding. I could kitbash some cars, oops, the cars that are offered are RTR and I would have to destroy the car to disassemble it.
So if you want to model the 3 or 4 era's that the manufacturers have graciously provided models for, you are in tall cotton. If you want to model anything you are SOL.
So I don't scratchbuild because I want to be elite. I scratchbuild because the major manufacturers have abandoned me. I don't withold my money from the hobby shops for spite, its that they don't carry products for my era.
I also think you are missing a technology shift in scratchbuilding. With the availability to do casting in resin, I can scratchbuild a master, cast a dozen cars, detail them, assemble them, paint and letter them in a matter of weeks. So your thinking that the scratchbuilder is taking years to laboriously assemble every model is itself outmoded. I have a half dozen cast gondolas about halfway through paint right now.
I would love to buy RTR coal cars for my era, but, even though the number one commodity hauled by railroads was coal there is not ONE, NADA, ZIP, ZILCH accurate model of a typical wooden coal car out there (and one has NEVER been made in mass produced plastic). Imagine how good you would think RTR was if the only three cars you had to buy were Athearn blue box 40 ft boxcar, a 40 ft reefer and a shorty tank car. You'd be scratchbuilidng in a minute.
Dave H.
Dave Husman
Modeling the Wilmington & Northern Branch in 1900-1905
All good points - and the one about casting saving time these days because it's now technically feasible is a good one - we will be running a how-to piece on doing your own casting in an upcoming MRH issue.
However, I would maintain that your "casual modeler" won't be casting anything very soon. While doing your own casting is much more available now (and if we have anything to say about it, MRH will be promoting this as a technique more need to be doing) - doing your own casting is still more of a "craftsman" skill than something done by "the masses".
The point of this reverse running was a focus on "the masses" or "casual modelers" in the hobby. There will always be scratchbuilders - but the bar has been lowered for the casual modeler. No longer is scratchbuilding a requirement to do "scale model railroading in the large" in HO or for certain types of modeling in G,O,S,N, or Z. In that sense, scratchbuilding is dead - you can build a large layout and buy everything off the shelf.
True, you can always pick a prototype and era combination where you can't get off square one without scratchbuilding, but that wasn't the focus of this editorial.
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
I started out in the hobby as a kid who got a trainset for Christmas and had a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood with green carpet on it. I used sectional track and atlas snap switches for trackwork. My rolling stock was the finest Tyco stuff that money could buy. No cork, no ballast. Over the years I've improved upon my starting point in the hobby. I've learned construction skills, modelling skills and I've gained experience.
I like the fact that there is so much ready to run available in my chosen scale but as my modeling skills develop I hope to scratchbuild many things.
I am now at the point where I am eager to try building my own turnouts, scratchbuilding trestles and building bridges. After that the shy is the limit!
I feel like I started out ready to run and have been moving more and more towards scratchbuilt over the years. Scratchbuilding isn't dead from my perspective.
"No longer is scratchbuilding a requirement to do "scale model railroading in the large" in HO or for certain types of modeling in G,O,S,N, or Z. In that sense, scratchbuilding is dead - you can build a large layout and buy everything off the shelf."
.....and end up with a layout that is instantly identifiable as a "collection" of parts.
Scratchbuilding isn't dead, it just not a requirement to enter. Scratchbuilding is a skillset of techniques on how to do research, how to use tools and how to create things. The moment somebody wants to to do ANYTHING other than plop a RTR item down on a 4x8 sheet of plywood, from building benchwork to painting a backdrop to soldering feeders they are starting to develop those skillsets.
Celebrating the demise of people learning and improving their skills seems an awful shortsighted and narrow minded position. You ought to be able to express the thought that the base has broadened and opportunities have been expanded without dancing on the graves of others.
Dave Husman
Modeling the Wilmington & Northern Branch in 1900-1905
Celebrating the demise of people learning and improving their skills seems an awful shortsighted and narrow minded position. You ought to be able to express the thought that the base has broadened and opportunities have been expanded without dancing on the graves of others.
Reverse running is intended to be over-the-top and controversial - to take the "contrary view". As long as you don't take it personal, it can make you think and better refine your own views - and that's one of the goals.
If Reverse Running strikes a nerve now and then, then it's doing its job. When I am the author of Reverse Running, I'm taking a devil's advocate position when I write it, with the goal being to stimulate interesting debate. I often see both sides.
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
Naw, you're missing the point. I'm not celebrating what was lost - I'm celebrating the new "big tent" inclusiveness of model railroading in-the-large without the need for any scratchbuilding. When change happens, some people focus on what was lost - I'm saying there's a silver lining to every loss, this one included.
I've seen way too many posts on this topic bellyaching about how the craftsmanship in the hobby is being lost. So I took the other side and asked, "Okay, things have changed. What has been made better because of this change?" How about writing about that instead - take the contrary view (which is, after all, the point of Reverse Running).
And then give it a title intended to generate some controversy.
I like what the Israelis' say - there's always three sides to any story: your side, my side, and the truth. (wink and grin)
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
There was an interesting management study done in the 1960s around the devil's advocate that I think we can learn something from.
Six teams were chosen to be given various business problems and to come up with solutions. A panel of judges were to judge the solutions and pick the superior solution to each problem.
Secretly, one person from 3 of the teams was pulled aside and told to be the devil's advocate - to disagree and challenge the team approach at every opportunity.
In round 1, a series of 3 business problems were presented to the six teams. The teams turned in their solutions and the judges selected the winning solution for each of the 3 problems.
In each case, one of the teams with a secret devil's advocate was chosen as having developed the superior solution.
For round 2 three more problems were to be given - but first each team was allowed to eject one member. In every case for the teams with the secret devil's advocate, they kicked out the devil's advocate. Without realizing it, they got rid of their competitive advantage!
So what's the learning from this study?
1. Nobody likes conflict (duh).
2. A devil's advocate in your team actually gives your team a tremendous competitive advantage. Superior solutions are often the result of this kind of team dynamic.
3. The devil's advocate failed to communicate loyalty to the team's goals. They simply made themselves a nuisance.
Our learning from this is that we all could stand to be more tolerant of those who disagree and we should welcome the opportunity to refine or alter our own position on a topic. For those who take a devil's advocate position, it's important to communicate that you're still loyal to the group's goals and not just trying to be a "pain".
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
As I need to Scratch build and kit bash to achieve the goal of building my Narrow Gauge RGS railroad I am grateful to Blackstone for building the HOn3 equipment (engines and assorted Rolling stock) because even though I have close to 80 models of rolling stock they are still just that un-assembled Models. Having a small collection of the RTR rolling stock that Blackstone has provided makes me able to get trains running right away while I build all these models and with the high quality of Blackstones equipment it will cause me to take more care in the assembly and painting of the rolling stock I still need to assemble and at the same time when my friends come over they can see the Blackstone stuff run for now anyway.
There is a difference in the store bought everything RTR model railroader and the old school modeler. To me that difference is I don't really care about spending all my time running trains. I would rather create a little at a time so that most everything on my pike is mine and not some manufacturers rendition of the railroad I want to create. The RTR model railroader wants to have track nailed down right away and little towns and industries set up all over their layout and then spend their time playing with the trains. the main difference Between me and alot of new age model railroaders is when I was a kid I watched my father build HO Engines and rolling stock. He had to hand lay all his track as there were no manufactures of RTR track other that a couple of train sets in O scale that came with 9 inch track sections that allowed you to make a figure 8 or an oval so if he wanted a HO layout he needed to do all of it himself I remember watching him make wheels for the engines and cars on his lathe as well as the quartering jig to align the wheels of his steam engines. As far as structures he built them from full size 4x4 balsa and cut his own HO scale 2X4 and 2X6 and what ever sizes of scale lumber he needed. As for Ties he made all of those also from sugar pine on a 6 in Table saw that he built. My Dad was an electrical mechanical engineer and actually worked in the Space industries before it was called NASA at place called Rocket Dyne in southern California so from about age 6 he started teaching me how to build what I needed to build a Railroad. At age six I wasn't very good at model railroading but my Dad planted the seed in me and told me that you can build anything you can see in your mind if you just take your time and think out all the problems. Then draw out plans with exact measurements and then build it one step at a time.
A lot of today s modelers buy everything for their railroad pre-built or in plastic kits and there isn't anything wrong with that. There are a few new model railroaders or recent Model railroaders that have discovered Hand laying track for the first time and have found that building track is a new adventure because for once they are feeling what it is to build a railroad literally from the ground up and you can see that right here at MRH as they are enjoying a new aspect in modeling and finding out that do it yourself is alot easier than it sounds.
Now Joes point is 100% correct and also 100% in error it totally depends or which side of the fence your standing on. In the past year I have come to respect what Joe has to say and his Ideas are those of the Scratch builder that likes to use the RTR equipment when it's available and most of all I believe Joe really likes to make other Model railroaders use their heads and think about what they want to do and accept what others think about and what they do while your doing your thing.
No mater what WE Dream of or do in model railroading be it RTR or Scratch Build or a mix of both It's our hobby to do with what we want no mater where in the world we live. We are all building a little piece of it in our spare rooms and basements in the building out back or in the club houses around the world. Here at MRH is where we are all coming together to explore and exploit the hobby to our hearts desire and were all doing our part to keep the hobby alive and keep it growing and thanks to Joes dream we have a place to come and discuss and conger and argue and give our 2 cents to the Hobby so everyone keep putting in your 2 cents so the rest of us can continue to learn and grow with it. Thanks Joe this is one great article you have started.
Since there are two editorials with a similar bent I will share my thoughts with both of them. One editorial tries to figure out what "skill level" a modeler is while the other celebrates that you need minimal skills to build a layout and that the need to scratchbuild things is gone. To a certain extent, the second editorial answers the question of the first. The question "What skill level am I?" is answered by "It doesn't matter anymore because you can build a layout without skills."
I will propose an alternate answer to the first question and discuss why the second editorial, excited that "scratchbuilding" is no longer needed, may be heading down the wrong path. I see scratchbuilding as just an outcome of the acquisition of a broad array of skills. You scratchbuild either because you can (a personal challenge) or you have to because what you want isn't offered commercially. The skills to scratchbuild are really the same skills necessary to do any modeling work, from superdetailing to kitbashing to scratchbuilding. Scratchbuilding really is just model building. It involves being able to notice differences, to be able to do research, to understand how a model can be made, ability to read plans, ability to draw plans, the knowledge of what materials are good for what purposes, knowledge of what tools produce which results, the ability to use those tools, the ability to paint, decal and finish the model. The skills of scratchbuilding are really the skills of model building. So what RTR really allows you to do is build a layout without having to have the skills to build a model.
The first editorial mentioned the "arcane" elements of the NMRA Master Modeler program. They are in there because they address the many facets of the skillsets to be a modeler. If you can demonstrate all those skills, your skill level is certified as a "master" in that category. As was pointed out in a comment to one of the editorials mentioned, someone may not be good at all things, so the NMRA program is broken down in multiple facets for specific skillsets. Demonstrate enough skills and you are declared a master modeler (which with a dollar will get you a cup of coffee).
Part of Mr. Fugate's editorial that is particularly germane to all this is the question of time. Mr. Fugate is unsatisfied with scratchbuilding because it takes time, it is too slow. His premise is you can't fill a basement with a scratchbuilt railroad (I wonder if John Allen would agree with Mr. Fugate) so the "demise" of scratchbuilding and the rise of RTR means now people can build and finish a large layout. From my perspective, since RTR isn't available for what I choose to model, the only way I can complete a "large" layout is to scratchbuild.
An interesting modern author is Malcom Gladwell. He has written several books, "Blink", "Tipping Points" and his most recent "Outliers". Each deals with a facet of how people and outcomes affect each other. In "Outliers", he looks at people who are the best at what they do. One of points in the book is that studies have shown that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become "good', to become an "expert", to become a "master" at something. Unless an aptitude is completely missing, the difference between masters and wannabees is practice. Doctors go through internships, craftsmen go through apprenticeships. A prototype railroad doesn't consider a dispatcher as really seasoned one until they have about 5 years experience. Coincidently, 5 years at 40 hours per week time 50 weeks a year is 10,000 hours.
With the internet, the ability to get information, all those facets with the words notice, research and knowledge in them, is dramatically expedited. Information that it took me years to gather, I can share with thousands in an instant. Have question? An internet forum can provide you with a dozen answers in a matter of hours (some of which may actually be correct <G>). So the information access portion has been expedited. The rub is that the actual doing portion, all those facets requiring an ability, still take practice. There is still no substitute for doing. At some point you have to cut something, solder something, glue something or paint something. Lets say that to be a "master"modeler, one who can create or modify any model to meet his or her needs, only takes only a quarter the practice it takes to become a master in another field, lets say 2500 hours. If you spend 4 hours a week model building, actually making something, that would be 208 hours a year. You would have your 2500 hours of practice in about 12 years.
So I can't say what skill level Mr. Andersen is now or what the intermediate steps are, but if he can devote about a half a day a week to doing modeling, sanding, cutting, drilling, gluing, painting, in short building models, about 10 years from now he ought to be a pretty darn good modeler. What title he wants to attach to his skill level, I will let others argue. The point is he will have a comprehensive skill set, he will be able to use those skills and he will be able to mold his layout to his vision. Achieving (and sharing) the vision is goal of a model railroad layout.
The risk I see is that in announcing that "scratchbuilding is dead", it sends a message that acquiring skills to build models isn't something to value, it isn't worth spending time to develop. You don't need to learn to cut and sand and paint because you can buy stuff off the shelf and run it right NOW. So the modeler now can build a bigger layout, faster, quicker and earlier. The modeler won't have the knowledge yet to know what we wants, what he likes, what is possible and what to do with it once its built, but he can have it NOW. He is free to make basement sized mistakes instead of 4x8 mistakes. At some point several years in, the person who has focused on the RTR empire will start to learn things and notice that nothing is weathered, that the cars have slightly different grab irons, the engine has different fans and grills and that the building would look better if it had a slightly different footprint. But because "scratchbuilding is dead", the person has focused on RTR. He hasn't practiced the skill sets necessary to modify his models, to super detail, to kitbash, to scratchbuild. He's only 200 model building preactice hours into his 2500 hour journey. How frustrating is that? To know something isn't right, to have the knowledge to fix it, but not the ability (yet).
On the other hand the person for whom modeling skills are still alive, who recognizes that scratchbuilding is still alive, who has practiced model building skills, is well into his modeling sojourn. He has practiced enough that he can superdetail, he can assemble complicated kits, he can kitbash things, he can scratchbuild small things successfully. When he sees a disconnect between his vision and the model, he can take steps to modify the model to conform to his expectations. He used RTR buy himself time to find out what he wanted and used the time to build the skills to allow him to act on his vision when it gelled.
So celebrate the availability of RTR. Acknowledge that it saves time and builds the filler for the common. But don't dismiss or throw out the modeling skills necessary to scratchbuild. Just because you don't have to scratchbuild every model doesn't mean you have to give up being a modeler. The same technology that pushes RTR forward, pushes scratchbuilding forward. Don't bury scratchbuilding, recognize that it too is marching forward. Plastic shapes in the 1980's, resin in the 1990's, 3D printing and other technology in the 2000's. Mr. Fugate mentioned the demise of Mainline Modeler and thought it was related to scratchbuilding. In MM in the 1980's, whenever they built a steel car, the rivets were laboriously embossed into the plastic or brass with custom designed presses or each rivet was shaved off a old car and glued on one by one. Welcome to 2009. With Archer Fine Transfers rivet decals you can put all the rivets on a "steel" boxcar in a fraction of the time with tools no more complicated that pair of scissors and dish of water. Its not your grandpa's scratchbuilding anymore. Its not dead yet and its not resting, in peace or otherwise.
Dave Husman
Modeling the Wilmington & Northern Branch in 1900-1905
The risk I see is that in announcing that "scratchbuilding is dead", it sends a message that acquiring skills to build models isn't something to value, it isn't worth spending time to develop. You don't need to learn to cut and sand and paint because you can buy stuff off the shelf and run it right NOW. So the modeler now can build a bigger layout, faster, quicker and earlier. The modeler won't have the knowledge yet to know what we wants, what he likes, what is possible and what to do with it once its built, but he can have it NOW. He is free to make basement sized mistakes instead of 4x8 mistakes. At some point several years in, the person who has focused on the RTR empire will start to learn things and notice that nothing is weathered, that the cars have slightly different grab irons, the engine has different fans and grills and that the building would look better if it had a slightly different footprint. But because "scratchbuilding is dead", the person has focused on RTR. He hasn't practiced the skill sets necessary to modify his models, to super detail, to kitbash, to scratchbuild. He's only 200 model building preactice hours into his 2500 hour journey. How frustrating is that? To know something isn't right, to have the knowledge to fix it, but not the ability (yet).
But you're presuming in this case that that person cares about what is and what isn't of value to others. I don't do things in the hobby as a way to be rewarded by other's "atta boys", but for my own satisfaction. My hobby can't die unless I stop practicing it, and my enjoyment is how I define it, regardless of public opinon.
The only person I have to satisfy at the end of the day is me.
I look at the Master Model Railroaders, and while I have nothing but respect for their acheivements, I can't ever see myself going down that road - I just don't give a rat's behind if I have those credentials, even if I develop the skills to warrent it. I can't see how those credentials would aid me, other than focusing my hobby time into developing specific skill sets, and the one thing I respect the most of those folks, is their willingness to share their experiences. But for that too, a MMR isn't required.
Call the hobby dead, call scratchbuilding dead, whatever. Heck, call scratchbuilding chartruse, or Fred if you like, but that's not going to change the fact that it's out there, it's documented, and people will "discover" it and those skill sets as it's needed whether that's next week or in 20 years.
I am surprised how this has seemed to stir up emotions but that in it self is great.
Steve is right that the hobby needs to lend itself to all types of modellers to keep itself strong. Nobody wants to see the hobby become one dimensional one way or the other but to expand the skills and enjoyment of all. Most who are new need a place to start and if it is their wish they will move up to different levels of detail within the hobby - for those who enjoy scratch building keep doing so as it is what the rest aspire too but don't look down upon others for if they are enjoying themselves in this great hobby - well isn't that the most important thing anyway?
Bryan Schilling
Toronto, Canada
HO Modeller
Member of Credit Valley Freemo
I look at the Master Model Railroaders, and while I have nothing but respect for their acheivements, I can't ever see myself going down that road - I just don't ... [care] if I have those credentials, even if I develop the skills to warrent it. I can't see how those credentials would aid me,
Me neither. However, some were raised to acquire "Boy Scout" merits and continue the pursuit through adulthood. My hat's to them if they want the acknowledgement or the challenge, but that isn't my road. My happiness doesn't depend on people who don't know me.
Scratchbuilding isn't necessarily a big deal. I've scratch built a combination passenger/freight depot, a covered overhead crane, and a transfer warehouse. They were no more difficult than assembling a kit except to make a plan and accumulate the materials. Dealing with wood and such was easy. Now if casting and machining was required, that would be something else since I don't have the skills and equipment. Thus, I love RTR locomotives and structure kits.
(Model inspired by the Georgetown, Co depot. Structure is placed on a disparate module under construction)
I look at the Master Model Railroaders, and while I have nothing but respect for their acheivements, I can't ever see myself going down that road - I just don't give a rat's behind if I have those credentials, even if I develop the skills to warrent it. I
I am in complete agreement. My profesional life has my work constantly being evaluated for discrepancies. The last thing I want out of my hobby is to have my work evaluated in that way. I also have to work to a particular spec. In my hobby, I don't want my efforts structured more then is needful to make progress.
I think for some people its very satisfying to have an achievement program that allows them compete, to be evaluated and compared, and to structure their hobby effort. I am glad the MMRR and NMRA contests are available for them. But, in the words of a drunken folk singer, "it ain't me babe.."
Comments
Scratchbuilding is dead as a hobby requirement
My emphasis in this reverse running (which remember is taking a :"contrary" view on a topic) is that scratchbuilding is dead as a requirement in the hobby. You can build a very nice layout these days and never scratchbuild a thing. And to that I say "hooray".
But if you notice, toward the end of the piece I say that all the ready-to-run stuff that's available now means you can have a larger layout and spend time kitbashing or scratchbuilding just a few signature pieces - you don't have to scratchbuild most stuff like you did in the early days.
I was reading the January 1961 issue of Model Railroader recently and one author who scratchbuilt locomotives was bemoaning how the ready-to-run trend was killing scratchbuilding. In 1961 of all things!
The lack of a need to scratchbuild locos certainly hasn't hurt the hobby at all - you can find most any diesel these days - and you can kitbash almost anything else that you can't find when it comes to diesels.
Steam is tougher, but there's enough ready-to-run steam these days you can often find a decent stand-in. Many more are available in the used brass market - and if you're willing to do some remotoring, you can get a nice steam roster, too.
Of course, all this applies the most to HO, and to a lesser degree to N or O. In S, Z, or G, there's far fewer models available and you'll probably need to scratchbuild or kitbash it if you're interested in something off the beaten path a bit.
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
Read my blog
Sn42 Actually has commercial support in Kiwiland
Given that New Zealand only has a population of about 4.5 million, there actually is quite a bit of commercial support for Sn42.
Ironhorse Hobbies in Christchurch, listings for NZR steam: http://www.ironhorsehobbies.co.nz/index.php?currency=USD&cPath=31_32
It's a bit pricey, but then manufacturers are basically boutiques.
HOn42 isn't really a bad choice for the OP. Commercial chassis can be used (i.e. a Bowser Pennsy M1 wheelbase is very close to an S scale Ja 4-8-2 and could also be used for a Ka/Kb 4-8-4). The USRA 4-6-2 chassis is close to an Ab 4-6-2.
Andre
and, to crown their disgraceful proceedings and add insult to injury, they threw me over the Niagara Falls, and I got wet.
From Mark Twain's short story "Niagara"
Reverse running
I just wanted to comment that scratchbuilding is still required if you can't use an off-the-shelf item. I am building a layout based on the San Diego Transit and Amtrack in San Diego (BNSF too). I have to scratchbuild each and every transit car I use on the layout. It's a good thing I work for MTS - the mother company for SD Transit. I was able to get spec sheets, scale drawings, and even allowed to go on the lot and photograph as many cars as I could in a two-hour period. I just wanted to cheer on any guy or gal who attempts scratchbuilding...it's great to have something you can point to and say, "I made that!"
SN3.5 in NZ
Hi Steve,
With regard to your earlier posting, there is indeed a lot of activity in 1/64 scale equipment here in NZ using standard 16.5 mm HO track gauge. There are several suppliers of equipment, but for me it boiled down to available space. I can get a lot more 1/87 into a small room than 1/64. And prices for (comparatively) small-run Sn3.5 kits are not exactly cheap. I figured the limited budget I have was better spent on making my own locos & buying / adapting rolling stock, vehicles & buildings. At least that way, I'm not worried about dismantling a loco to fix a problem if I built the darn thing in the first place.
Greg
HOn3.5_NZR
Reverse Running Scratchbuilding
This is my first comment on this forum because this is a subject near and dear to my heart. Many of these thoughts have already been said, but perhaps there are a couple more ideas to squeeze out of this topic.
First off, I am in a profession that doesn't always guarantee a good paycheck but when it does it's nice. I decided a while back to drop my subscription to MR due to a drastic family budget cut. I figured I'd rather spend that money on models than a magazine, as back then I was really beginning to discover the many internet resources available. This online magazine is, IMO, the best culmination of the trend from personal hobby websites to forums to blogs to an interactive experience of high quality and integrity. Thank you, Joe! (plus I don't have to pay a plug nickel for any 'subscriber only extras').
At the time I dropped the subscription, I was also blessed by a contribution of several early 50's & 60's MR's. Wow, was I delighted to discover the articles on scratchbuilding technique. Dollar models, articles from the likes of Jack Work etc. were refreshing to say the least! Necessity really is the mother of invention and these articles were teaching me the skills I needed in order to invent.
During the hobby cash 'dry spell' I was forced to become a bit pickier with my purchasing, as a result focusing even further the direction I wanted to go in the hobby. I learned how to hand-lay track. I began saving for detail parts to customize my engines, upgrade my rolling stock and accent my structures. I also began, as the spare cash was available, to stockpile structure and rolling stock kits.
Most recently I have built a structure from a drawing in an MR article, almost entirely out of card stock, much of which was from our pantry, and scrounged from the office. Getting back to the roots of the hobby has been and continues to be a fantastic journey of discovery and learning and fun.
Another point - Any and all modelers should be encouraged to scratchbuild something, to kitbash something, to detail something, etc. There are many good reasons for this (they may decide they don't like it at all and will stick to buying RTR, keeping the hobby shops open for the rest of us!) but the one that comes to mind is this; there are still craftsmen out there waiting to be discovered if only they were given the nudge and some encouragement, along with some guidance and teaching. This online magazine is an excellent place for them to find that, don't you think?
There is artistic talent literally 'lurking' out there waiting to shine and inspire the modeling community. If they are never shown a different way then they may simply resign themselves to putting away the RTR stuff only to pull it out in a few years and sell it in a yard sale. We who know the joys of turning a pile of raw materials into a finished structure, engine, etc. must help to make the connection from "Gee, I could never get that good." to "You know, that's not so hard, maybe I could do this (and even come to like it!)"
Currently I have a steady income that pays well enough to support my family and put aside a few dollars a month for the hobby, as well as the occasional night out. But I am now firmly hooked on scratching and 'bashing and, no matter how accurate or well-detailed an RTR model may come, probably will never be content to leave it that way.
Galen
Visit my blog, Gallimore Railroading, at ocalicreek.blogspot.com
If scratchbuilding floats your boat
Galen:
If scratchuilding floats your boat and saves you money - then that's super. But what I was rejoicing in is that scratchbuilding is no longer a requirement to do the hobby of model railroading "in the large". You can have as large of an HO layout as you wish and never scratchbuild a thing. To that I say hooray.
It's the old money versus time situation. You have more time and less money - so hey, you elect to build instead of buy. However, it used to be to do the hobby that was your only choice in many parts of the hobby.
Today, you have the choice, and we're blessed. As I mentioned in my column, what's really happened is we've changed focus from building individual models to building layouts. And I think that's another good trend. It used to be in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Model Railroader was filled with photos of individual models, often not even in a realistic setting. Today's model railroad publications are filled with photos of layouts and models in fully detailed scenes. The stand-alone model photo is rare, except in ads.
The era of the individual needing to scratchbuild almost everything is finally over, and we're now in the era of layout builders buying fantastic quality models and selectively scratchbuilding or kitbashing when they elect to do so.
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
Read my blog
Scratch building for me
Joe - I do agree that we need to support all aspects of MR but I do enjoy the building the most and have even moved over to FSM as a result. But the modeling has become so much more specific that I do buy, especially locos!
Keep up the good work with the News!
Cheers, Jake
Cheers, Jake
It's the old money versus
Amen, brother! You make a very good point about photos of individual models vs. layouts. Having spend more time over the past couple years with my head stuck in those early MR's than anything recent, I can see exactly what you mean.
As someone who loves scenery, well, heck, even my timesaver had to be scenicked! JA's was some track on a plank because he had the G&D large as life in his basement. My situation was reversed so I used what space I could to make first an interesting scene that happens to be a fun switching puzzle. The onlhy kits built 'straight' on that layout are an Alexander Little Hook crane and a Coal Trestle from Blackstone (no longer available). The rest are kitbashed or scratchbuilt.
I think there's a parallel in gardening and farming that may echo what you said about 'get to' vs. 'have to'. My thumb is more green than brown but I'm still very glad I don't depend on my suburban 'land' to produce all the food for my family. It's a hobby with a nutritional benefit.
Likewise I'm glad we have styrene and injected plastic. Modeling with cardstock, paper & wood is fun, but I'd hate to have to build everything out of those materials alone. Even on that Little Hook I substituted styrene strip for the little card strips the instructions call for. (Included in the kit is a small sheet of file-folder thickness card. The instructions say to cut strips about 1/16" wide with the 'grain' of the paper, then use these strips to make delicate x bracing for the crane.)
Thanks again for MRH and a thought-provoking article.
Galen
Visit my blog, Gallimore Railroading, at ocalicreek.blogspot.com
Scratch building is dead as a hobby requirement
OK, I agree and disagree.
For many items you mention, in this hobby the requirement for scratch building is no longer valid. Why build my own turnouts when at least 3 manufacturers make an acceptable one. That only takes time away to finish my layout while I still can.
Yet there are areas of the hobby where you need to build your own. I am an N-scaler, and the scale lacks some specific items. Not only as products per se, but because of the strange wrinkles in my layout planning. I need to fit a power plant into an existing part of my layout.
No way I can get the building I envisage from any of the major dealers. So, part of it will be modulars from DPM and parts will be plain old styrene from Evergreen or any other manufacturer that happens to sell the right sheets of styrene. This is a "measure and go" operation to make the building fit and look its part. I love doing that.
N-scaler can get a host of engines nowadays. But.....where do I find a Beyer-Garratt type? Go try and be disappointed. So back to the drawing board, and workdesk to build your own, in my case based on two old Fleischmann 0-6-0's with a lot of work, but I will get what I want, because I aim to put in the time and effort required. Or try find a transfer caboose in N, DIY is the answer.
In short, there will always be special needs of the individual hobbyist requiring him/her to build it from scratch. The point of all this is that it pays to retain or gain the skills to do just that.
Maarten Vis
Boy do I disagree
Joe,
First just the name alone MAINLINE MODELER should have given you a clue as to the type of magazine/market that the editor was targeting, THE MODELER. Excuse me but, I was always reminded that scratch building is the most challenging form of modeling. Those that can start with nothing and bring out a finished modeling is to be revered, masters of this art we aspire. So to say that Mainline Modeler and it's context was a total disconnect tells me that there is a disconnect; however, not from we that not only wrote for the magazine but followed the magazine faithfully. As I sit here and take a break to reply to your Editorial, guess what? I am sitting in front of a set of George Trager passenger car drawings in May of 1995 Mainline Modeler upgrading a RTR AHM Brook Series ... 12-5 (12 rmts-5 Brd) Duplex sleeper trying to take make "chicken soup from chicken poop". But that is what MODELING is, opening a box, be it a kit or a built-up RTR offering and making something accruate, and realistic on my own, base on something historic I am truly interested in as a hobby and a hobbyist.
Mainline, in my most humble opinion, took the wrong road when the decision was made that presentation was more important than context... Something that all Editors need to realize. If an editor of any magazine believes we are in a layout building market and operation is where the hobby is headed in order to survive we're in trouble, as RTR is slowly costing this hobby it's market. Explain to me how the human spirit can survive without challenge and self accomplishment. Creating is what humans do. Joe sitting at the kitchen table with my Grandsons TEACHING them how to model trains is to me what I will do. Remember, "idle hands is the Devil's workshop..." Get involve with your Grandkids and you children, take away the computer toys and share your skills.
I am not against layouts, nor do I have a problem with some RTR kits, but I only own one KADEE PS-1 boxcar (undecorated) and one PRR KADEE PS-2 Covered Hopper (anyone want to buy it?) and even my Walthers RTR passenger cars get tweaked, remember you still have to install your own wire details and replace the couplers, that is if it is important to you... Articles in magazines of someone layout tour every month and often more than once in a magazine just turns me off. Let me sink my teeth in modeling not operating, be it scenery, freight or passenger car MODLEING, or locomotive detailing. Just remember Joe, no one is going to write an article on how I took my RTR out of the box and put it on the track, I bought it 'cause it was so pretty... Modeling still sells.
Greg Martin
Salem, OR
Good stuff, Greg
Reverse running is intended to stir people up and get them to think about the topic. Agreeing with a reverse running is expected to be infrequent. Controversial is the point - and if it makes you think, all the better.
The point of this issue's column isn't that people aren't modeling any more, it's that they can now pick and chose what they build themselves, and scratchbuilding is highly optional as part of the process to doing model railroading "in the large" these days.
My bone with Mainline Modeler isn't the modeler part of the name, it's the mainline part of the name. Total disconnect between the name and the magazine content's focus. "Mainline" suggests model railroading in-the-large. If you have a larger layout like I do, you quickly realize scratchbuilding everything isn't realistic if you ever want the layout to get to a reasonable level of finish.
Yet Mainline Modeler focused on scratchbuilding almost exclusively. "Small Layout" Modeler would have been a more accurate name for the magazine. No beef with the modeling part of the name - just the Mainline, class 1, big-time layout modeling part of the name. Total disconnect, IMO.
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
Read my blog
Full Circle
I think that without scratchbuilders we wouldnt have great models to display and without great layout creators all of us scratchbuilders would have no beautiful layouts to operate on.
Long live Model Railroading as a whole.
Mike Martin
Death of Scratchbuilding
"But if you notice, toward the end of the piece I say that all the ready-to-run stuff that's available now means you can have a larger layout and spend time kitbashing or scratchbuilding just a few signature pieces - you don't have to scratchbuild most stuff like you did in the early days."
And this is the fatal flaw.
You can build a nice layout with the stuff the manufacturers make, not necessarily what you want. Scratchbuilders build stuff BECAUSE the manufacturers don't make it. Most people aren't going to scratchbuild a 1937 AAR 40 ft steel boxcar. There are a gazillion models made. People scratchbuild the stuff that isn't made.
I scratchbuild and yes, I rarely buy anything at a hobby shop other than parts and supplies. Why? It's because mainstream model railroad manufacturers think trains were invented around 1925. I model 1900-1905. There has not been ONE new model of a pre-1910, wooden underframe, truss rod car interoduced in over 30 years. Nada. The only new pre-1910 engine produced in the last 30 years was Roundhouse's 4-4-0. Roundhouse has updated its 30-40 year old 36 ft car line with more accurate paint schemes, but for 90% of the cars they are foobies. Every other car and engine made for the pre-1910 the is virtually the same as it was when I graduated high school, back in 1974. There are models for pre-1910 cars that are accurate, but they are wood and resin kits, requiring basically the same skillset as scratchbuilding. I could kitbash some cars, oops, the cars that are offered are RTR and I would have to destroy the car to disassemble it.
So if you want to model the 3 or 4 era's that the manufacturers have graciously provided models for, you are in tall cotton. If you want to model anything you are SOL.
So I don't scratchbuild because I want to be elite. I scratchbuild because the major manufacturers have abandoned me. I don't withold my money from the hobby shops for spite, its that they don't carry products for my era.
I also think you are missing a technology shift in scratchbuilding. With the availability to do casting in resin, I can scratchbuild a master, cast a dozen cars, detail them, assemble them, paint and letter them in a matter of weeks. So your thinking that the scratchbuilder is taking years to laboriously assemble every model is itself outmoded. I have a half dozen cast gondolas about halfway through paint right now.
I would love to buy RTR coal cars for my era, but, even though the number one commodity hauled by railroads was coal there is not ONE, NADA, ZIP, ZILCH accurate model of a typical wooden coal car out there (and one has NEVER been made in mass produced plastic). Imagine how good you would think RTR was if the only three cars you had to buy were Athearn blue box 40 ft boxcar, a 40 ft reefer and a shorty tank car. You'd be scratchbuilidng in a minute.
Dave H.
Dave Husman
Modeling the Wilmington & Northern Branch in 1900-1905
Iron men and wooden cars.
Visit my website : https://wnbranch.com/
Blog index: Dave Husman Blog Index
Good points, Dave
Dave:
All good points - and the one about casting saving time these days because it's now technically feasible is a good one - we will be running a how-to piece on doing your own casting in an upcoming MRH issue.
However, I would maintain that your "casual modeler" won't be casting anything very soon. While doing your own casting is much more available now (and if we have anything to say about it, MRH will be promoting this as a technique more need to be doing) - doing your own casting is still more of a "craftsman" skill than something done by "the masses".
The point of this reverse running was a focus on "the masses" or "casual modelers" in the hobby. There will always be scratchbuilders - but the bar has been lowered for the casual modeler. No longer is scratchbuilding a requirement to do "scale model railroading in the large" in HO or for certain types of modeling in G,O,S,N, or Z. In that sense, scratchbuilding is dead - you can build a large layout and buy everything off the shelf.
True, you can always pick a prototype and era combination where you can't get off square one without scratchbuilding, but that wasn't the focus of this editorial.
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
Read my blog
I for one...
I started out in the hobby as a kid who got a trainset for Christmas and had a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood with green carpet on it. I used sectional track and atlas snap switches for trackwork. My rolling stock was the finest Tyco stuff that money could buy. No cork, no ballast. Over the years I've improved upon my starting point in the hobby. I've learned construction skills, modelling skills and I've gained experience.
I like the fact that there is so much ready to run available in my chosen scale but as my modeling skills develop I hope to scratchbuild many things.
I am now at the point where I am eager to try building my own turnouts, scratchbuilding trestles and building bridges. After that the shy is the limit!
I feel like I started out ready to run and have been moving more and more towards scratchbuilt over the years. Scratchbuilding isn't dead from my perspective.
"No longer is scratchbuilding
"No longer is scratchbuilding a requirement to do "scale model railroading in the large" in HO or for certain types of modeling in G,O,S,N, or Z. In that sense, scratchbuilding is dead - you can build a large layout and buy everything off the shelf."
.....and end up with a layout that is instantly identifiable as a "collection" of parts.
Scratchbuilding isn't dead, it just not a requirement to enter. Scratchbuilding is a skillset of techniques on how to do research, how to use tools and how to create things. The moment somebody wants to to do ANYTHING other than plop a RTR item down on a 4x8 sheet of plywood, from building benchwork to painting a backdrop to soldering feeders they are starting to develop those skillsets.
Celebrating the demise of people learning and improving their skills seems an awful shortsighted and narrow minded position. You ought to be able to express the thought that the base has broadened and opportunities have been expanded without dancing on the graves of others.
Dave Husman
Modeling the Wilmington & Northern Branch in 1900-1905
Iron men and wooden cars.
Visit my website : https://wnbranch.com/
Blog index: Dave Husman Blog Index
Reverse running is intended to be over the top
Reverse running is intended to be over-the-top and controversial - to take the "contrary view". As long as you don't take it personal, it can make you think and better refine your own views - and that's one of the goals.
If Reverse Running strikes a nerve now and then, then it's doing its job. When I am the author of Reverse Running, I'm taking a devil's advocate position when I write it, with the goal being to stimulate interesting debate. I often see both sides.
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
Read my blog
Demise of people learning and improving their skills?
Naw, you're missing the point. I'm not celebrating what was lost - I'm celebrating the new "big tent" inclusiveness of model railroading in-the-large without the need for any scratchbuilding. When change happens, some people focus on what was lost - I'm saying there's a silver lining to every loss, this one included.
I've seen way too many posts on this topic bellyaching about how the craftsmanship in the hobby is being lost. So I took the other side and asked, "Okay, things have changed. What has been made better because of this change?" How about writing about that instead - take the contrary view (which is, after all, the point of Reverse Running).
And then give it a title intended to generate some controversy.
I like what the Israelis' say - there's always three sides to any story: your side, my side, and the truth. (wink and grin)
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
Read my blog
Why I like taking the devil's advocate position
There was an interesting management study done in the 1960s around the devil's advocate that I think we can learn something from.
Six teams were chosen to be given various business problems and to come up with solutions. A panel of judges were to judge the solutions and pick the superior solution to each problem.
Secretly, one person from 3 of the teams was pulled aside and told to be the devil's advocate - to disagree and challenge the team approach at every opportunity.
In round 1, a series of 3 business problems were presented to the six teams. The teams turned in their solutions and the judges selected the winning solution for each of the 3 problems.
In each case, one of the teams with a secret devil's advocate was chosen as having developed the superior solution.
For round 2 three more problems were to be given - but first each team was allowed to eject one member. In every case for the teams with the secret devil's advocate, they kicked out the devil's advocate. Without realizing it, they got rid of their competitive advantage!
So what's the learning from this study?
1. Nobody likes conflict (duh).
2. A devil's advocate in your team actually gives your team a tremendous competitive advantage. Superior solutions are often the result of this kind of team dynamic.
3. The devil's advocate failed to communicate loyalty to the team's goals. They simply made themselves a nuisance.
Our learning from this is that we all could stand to be more tolerant of those who disagree and we should welcome the opportunity to refine or alter our own position on a topic. For those who take a devil's advocate position, it's important to communicate that you're still loyal to the group's goals and not just trying to be a "pain".
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
Read my blog
As I need to Scratch build
As I need to Scratch build and kit bash to achieve the goal of building my Narrow Gauge RGS railroad I am grateful to Blackstone for building the HOn3 equipment (engines and assorted Rolling stock) because even though I have close to 80 models of rolling stock they are still just that un-assembled Models. Having a small collection of the RTR rolling stock that Blackstone has provided makes me able to get trains running right away while I build all these models and with the high quality of Blackstones equipment it will cause me to take more care in the assembly and painting of the rolling stock I still need to assemble and at the same time when my friends come over they can see the Blackstone stuff run for now anyway.
There is a difference in the store bought everything RTR model railroader and the old school modeler. To me that difference is I don't really care about spending all my time running trains. I would rather create a little at a time so that most everything on my pike is mine and not some manufacturers rendition of the railroad I want to create. The RTR model railroader wants to have track nailed down right away and little towns and industries set up all over their layout and then spend their time playing with the trains. the main difference Between me and alot of new age model railroaders is when I was a kid I watched my father build HO Engines and rolling stock. He had to hand lay all his track as there were no manufactures of RTR track other that a couple of train sets in O scale that came with 9 inch track sections that allowed you to make a figure 8 or an oval so if he wanted a HO layout he needed to do all of it himself I remember watching him make wheels for the engines and cars on his lathe as well as the quartering jig to align the wheels of his steam engines. As far as structures he built them from full size 4x4 balsa and cut his own HO scale 2X4 and 2X6 and what ever sizes of scale lumber he needed. As for Ties he made all of those also from sugar pine on a 6 in Table saw that he built. My Dad was an electrical mechanical engineer and actually worked in the Space industries before it was called NASA at place called Rocket Dyne in southern California so from about age 6 he started teaching me how to build what I needed to build a Railroad. At age six I wasn't very good at model railroading but my Dad planted the seed in me and told me that you can build anything you can see in your mind if you just take your time and think out all the problems. Then draw out plans with exact measurements and then build it one step at a time.
A lot of today s modelers buy everything for their railroad pre-built or in plastic kits and there isn't anything wrong with that. There are a few new model railroaders or recent Model railroaders that have discovered Hand laying track for the first time and have found that building track is a new adventure because for once they are feeling what it is to build a railroad literally from the ground up and you can see that right here at MRH as they are enjoying a new aspect in modeling and finding out that do it yourself is alot easier than it sounds.
Now Joes point is 100% correct and also 100% in error it totally depends or which side of the fence your standing on. In the past year I have come to respect what Joe has to say and his Ideas are those of the Scratch builder that likes to use the RTR equipment when it's available and most of all I believe Joe really likes to make other Model railroaders use their heads and think about what they want to do and accept what others think about and what they do while your doing your thing.
No mater what WE Dream of or do in model railroading be it RTR or Scratch Build or a mix of both It's our hobby to do with what we want no mater where in the world we live. We are all building a little piece of it in our spare rooms and basements in the building out back or in the club houses around the world. Here at MRH is where we are all coming together to explore and exploit the hobby to our hearts desire and were all doing our part to keep the hobby alive and keep it growing and thanks to Joes dream we have a place to come and discuss and conger and argue and give our 2 cents to the Hobby so everyone keep putting in your 2 cents so the rest of us can continue to learn and grow with it. Thanks Joe this is one great article you have started.
Rio Grande Dan
Rio Grande Dan
In the words of Monty Python, "I'm not dead yet..."
Since there are two editorials with a similar bent I will share my thoughts with both of them. One editorial tries to figure out what "skill level" a modeler is while the other celebrates that you need minimal skills to build a layout and that the need to scratchbuild things is gone. To a certain extent, the second editorial answers the question of the first. The question "What skill level am I?" is answered by "It doesn't matter anymore because you can build a layout without skills."
I will propose an alternate answer to the first question and discuss why the second editorial, excited that "scratchbuilding" is no longer needed, may be heading down the wrong path. I see scratchbuilding as just an outcome of the acquisition of a broad array of skills. You scratchbuild either because you can (a personal challenge) or you have to because what you want isn't offered commercially. The skills to scratchbuild are really the same skills necessary to do any modeling work, from superdetailing to kitbashing to scratchbuilding. Scratchbuilding really is just model building. It involves being able to notice differences, to be able to do research, to understand how a model can be made, ability to read plans, ability to draw plans, the knowledge of what materials are good for what purposes, knowledge of what tools produce which results, the ability to use those tools, the ability to paint, decal and finish the model. The skills of scratchbuilding are really the skills of model building. So what RTR really allows you to do is build a layout without having to have the skills to build a model.
The first editorial mentioned the "arcane" elements of the NMRA Master Modeler program. They are in there because they address the many facets of the skillsets to be a modeler. If you can demonstrate all those skills, your skill level is certified as a "master" in that category. As was pointed out in a comment to one of the editorials mentioned, someone may not be good at all things, so the NMRA program is broken down in multiple facets for specific skillsets. Demonstrate enough skills and you are declared a master modeler (which with a dollar will get you a cup of coffee).
Part of Mr. Fugate's editorial that is particularly germane to all this is the question of time. Mr. Fugate is unsatisfied with scratchbuilding because it takes time, it is too slow. His premise is you can't fill a basement with a scratchbuilt railroad (I wonder if John Allen would agree with Mr. Fugate) so the "demise" of scratchbuilding and the rise of RTR means now people can build and finish a large layout. From my perspective, since RTR isn't available for what I choose to model, the only way I can complete a "large" layout is to scratchbuild.
An interesting modern author is Malcom Gladwell. He has written several books, "Blink", "Tipping Points" and his most recent "Outliers". Each deals with a facet of how people and outcomes affect each other. In "Outliers", he looks at people who are the best at what they do. One of points in the book is that studies have shown that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become "good', to become an "expert", to become a "master" at something. Unless an aptitude is completely missing, the difference between masters and wannabees is practice. Doctors go through internships, craftsmen go through apprenticeships. A prototype railroad doesn't consider a dispatcher as really seasoned one until they have about 5 years experience. Coincidently, 5 years at 40 hours per week time 50 weeks a year is 10,000 hours.
With the internet, the ability to get information, all those facets with the words notice, research and knowledge in them, is dramatically expedited. Information that it took me years to gather, I can share with thousands in an instant. Have question? An internet forum can provide you with a dozen answers in a matter of hours (some of which may actually be correct <G>). So the information access portion has been expedited. The rub is that the actual doing portion, all those facets requiring an ability, still take practice. There is still no substitute for doing. At some point you have to cut something, solder something, glue something or paint something. Lets say that to be a "master"modeler, one who can create or modify any model to meet his or her needs, only takes only a quarter the practice it takes to become a master in another field, lets say 2500 hours. If you spend 4 hours a week model building, actually making something, that would be 208 hours a year. You would have your 2500 hours of practice in about 12 years.
So I can't say what skill level Mr. Andersen is now or what the intermediate steps are, but if he can devote about a half a day a week to doing modeling, sanding, cutting, drilling, gluing, painting, in short building models, about 10 years from now he ought to be a pretty darn good modeler. What title he wants to attach to his skill level, I will let others argue. The point is he will have a comprehensive skill set, he will be able to use those skills and he will be able to mold his layout to his vision. Achieving (and sharing) the vision is goal of a model railroad layout.
The risk I see is that in announcing that "scratchbuilding is dead", it sends a message that acquiring skills to build models isn't something to value, it isn't worth spending time to develop. You don't need to learn to cut and sand and paint because you can buy stuff off the shelf and run it right NOW. So the modeler now can build a bigger layout, faster, quicker and earlier. The modeler won't have the knowledge yet to know what we wants, what he likes, what is possible and what to do with it once its built, but he can have it NOW. He is free to make basement sized mistakes instead of 4x8 mistakes. At some point several years in, the person who has focused on the RTR empire will start to learn things and notice that nothing is weathered, that the cars have slightly different grab irons, the engine has different fans and grills and that the building would look better if it had a slightly different footprint. But because "scratchbuilding is dead", the person has focused on RTR. He hasn't practiced the skill sets necessary to modify his models, to super detail, to kitbash, to scratchbuild. He's only 200 model building preactice hours into his 2500 hour journey. How frustrating is that? To know something isn't right, to have the knowledge to fix it, but not the ability (yet).
On the other hand the person for whom modeling skills are still alive, who recognizes that scratchbuilding is still alive, who has practiced model building skills, is well into his modeling sojourn. He has practiced enough that he can superdetail, he can assemble complicated kits, he can kitbash things, he can scratchbuild small things successfully. When he sees a disconnect between his vision and the model, he can take steps to modify the model to conform to his expectations. He used RTR buy himself time to find out what he wanted and used the time to build the skills to allow him to act on his vision when it gelled.
So celebrate the availability of RTR. Acknowledge that it saves time and builds the filler for the common. But don't dismiss or throw out the modeling skills necessary to scratchbuild. Just because you don't have to scratchbuild every model doesn't mean you have to give up being a modeler. The same technology that pushes RTR forward, pushes scratchbuilding forward. Don't bury scratchbuilding, recognize that it too is marching forward. Plastic shapes in the 1980's, resin in the 1990's, 3D printing and other technology in the 2000's. Mr. Fugate mentioned the demise of Mainline Modeler and thought it was related to scratchbuilding. In MM in the 1980's, whenever they built a steel car, the rivets were laboriously embossed into the plastic or brass with custom designed presses or each rivet was shaved off a old car and glued on one by one. Welcome to 2009. With Archer Fine Transfers rivet decals you can put all the rivets on a "steel" boxcar in a fraction of the time with tools no more complicated that pair of scissors and dish of water. Its not your grandpa's scratchbuilding anymore. Its not dead yet and its not resting, in peace or otherwise.
Dave Husman
Modeling the Wilmington & Northern Branch in 1900-1905
Iron men and wooden cars.
Visit my website : https://wnbranch.com/
Blog index: Dave Husman Blog Index
Great comeback, Dave
Great comeback, Dave.
I love how raising a controversy generates some tremendous discussion around a topic.
One point to always keep in mind - if Reverse Running was the mainstream view, it wouldn't be "the contrary view".
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
Read my blog
But...
But you're presuming in this case that that person cares about what is and what isn't of value to others. I don't do things in the hobby as a way to be rewarded by other's "atta boys", but for my own satisfaction. My hobby can't die unless I stop practicing it, and my enjoyment is how I define it, regardless of public opinon.
The only person I have to satisfy at the end of the day is me.
I look at the Master Model Railroaders, and while I have nothing but respect for their acheivements, I can't ever see myself going down that road - I just don't give a rat's behind if I have those credentials, even if I develop the skills to warrent it. I can't see how those credentials would aid me, other than focusing my hobby time into developing specific skill sets, and the one thing I respect the most of those folks, is their willingness to share their experiences. But for that too, a MMR isn't required.
Call the hobby dead, call scratchbuilding dead, whatever. Heck, call scratchbuilding chartruse, or Fred if you like, but that's not going to change the fact that it's out there, it's documented, and people will "discover" it and those skill sets as it's needed whether that's next week or in 20 years.
Agree - Well Said Steve
I am surprised how this has seemed to stir up emotions but that in it self is great.
Steve is right that the hobby needs to lend itself to all types of modellers to keep itself strong. Nobody wants to see the hobby become one dimensional one way or the other but to expand the skills and enjoyment of all. Most who are new need a place to start and if it is their wish they will move up to different levels of detail within the hobby - for those who enjoy scratch building keep doing so as it is what the rest aspire too but don't look down upon others for if they are enjoying themselves in this great hobby - well isn't that the most important thing anyway?
Bryan Schilling
Toronto, Canada HO Modeller Member of Credit Valley FreemoDon't need it
Me neither. However, some were raised to acquire "Boy Scout" merits and continue the pursuit through adulthood. My hat's to them if they want the acknowledgement or the challenge, but that isn't my road. My happiness doesn't depend on people who don't know me.
Not necessarily a big deal
Scratchbuilding isn't necessarily a big deal. I've scratch built a combination passenger/freight depot, a covered overhead crane, and a transfer warehouse. They were no more difficult than assembling a kit except to make a plan and accumulate the materials. Dealing with wood and such was easy. Now if casting and machining was required, that would be something else since I don't have the skills and equipment. Thus, I love RTR locomotives and structure kits.
(Model inspired by the Georgetown, Co depot. Structure is placed on a disparate module under construction)
Different strokes for different folks
I am in complete agreement. My profesional life has my work constantly being evaluated for discrepancies. The last thing I want out of my hobby is to have my work evaluated in that way. I also have to work to a particular spec. In my hobby, I don't want my efforts structured more then is needful to make progress.
I think for some people its very satisfying to have an achievement program that allows them compete, to be evaluated and compared, and to structure their hobby effort. I am glad the MMRR and NMRA contests are available for them. But, in the words of a drunken folk singer, "it ain't me babe.."
Chris
“If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older.” My modest progress Blog