For the Gerital Crowd, which I am one of ( remember Lawrence Welk on Saturday Nights on ABC Television Network?), Mr. E.L. Moore, since deceased, that wrote numerous articles for MR on simple affordable scratch building of structurers series?
He had a humerous way of telling the story on each structure, which he built....
Sure, a very inspirational modeler for a lot of folks in the 1960s and 1970s. This guy has devoted a lot of his blog to E.L. Moore's life and modeling:
https://30squaresofontario.blogspot.ca
http://mprailway.blogspot.com
"The first transition era - wood to steel!"
What E.L. Moore could do with brick paper, cardstock, balsa wood and a woodburning tool was remarkable. I seem to recall reading that many of his structures were built on a TV table (a phrase which might also resonate only with the Geritol set -- a TV table was a table that held TV dinners!).
Dave Nelson
funny this should come up. as i was just starting on one of his buildings from the may of 66 RMC the "stock auction day" the thing i liked about his builds were there small size they have always fit in with my era and settings.
I seem to remember that his railroad was 4' x 6' in size, but packed with details and interesting scenes.
EL Moore was a classic modeler and writer. A true genius of the time. Many of his creations became kits we've all seen and enjoyed over the years.
Actually the majority of modelers during those years like EL, Bud Sima, Irv Schultz and others were extremely talented and creative folks. They HAD TO BE! This was the days of balsa wood, cardboard and paper. Catalogs of beautiful cast plastic and metal windows, doors, trim and all the things we take as normal just weren't around. No Evergreen. No plastruct. Tichy? NAH!
I think a lot of them smoked cigars just to get the fine cedar wrappers to make roof shingles! lol
These fellows were really pioneers in so many ways. We owe them a lot. I can remember reading their articles in RMC and MR and being encouraged, inspired and sometimes intimidated.
Thanks for everything, Fellows!
Roger Huber
Deer Creek Locomotive Works
And there was no Internet to ask how to learn scratch building.
I sometimes wonder how many times they might have trashed a project and started over again.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
richg1998 I sometimes wonder how many times they might have trashed a project and started over again. Rich
I do recall that E.L. Moore scratchbuilt a really nice explosives factory, and then wanted his article to conclude with a photo of it blowing up. But the photo didn't turn out all that well, so he built another one, so he could blow that one up. What I do not recall is if the article was in RMC or MR. He kept both magazines well supplied with articles back in those days. In fact he was so prolific, and his jokes could be so repetitive, that one letter to the editor (and again I can't recall if it was MR or RMC) proposed the creation of a "Help Stamp Out E.L. Moore Society" -- and a few months later sheepishly wrote another letter that only one person had offered to join the Society. It was E.L. Moore himself!
What always came through to me was how much fun he was having.
dknelsonI do recall that E.L. Moore scratchbuilt a really nice explosives factory, and then wanted his article to conclude with a photo of it blowing up. But the photo didn't turn out all that well, so he built another one, so he could blow that one up.
This was so typical of his humorous approach to the hobby.
Sadly, I don't think he would be appreciated today - we've gotten too serious.
Paul
With software that allows importing actual photographs of building siding and printing it out to scale, Moore's simple construction techniques could be used to make some easy, good looking buildings nowadays. Foam core clad in photographic siding would be inexpensive and look very good.
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
Hello MidlandPacific and all, I’m that guy :-) I saw an uptick in blog stats over the last few days and came across a link to this forum. Thank you for mentioning my blog and taking a few minutes to visit. I started to write about ELM in the fall of 2013 thinking I’d write about some things that interested me and build a few ELM projects. But, it turned out there were a lot of things that got triggered from that – there seemed to be more interest in ELM than I thought – and eventually I was able to see a ‘lost’ collection of ELM’s original models, get in contact with a gentleman who had a number of unpublished ELM articles, and be contacted by another gentleman who had a sizable collection of ELM letters, manuscripts and photos. Their generosity in sharing, both with me and allowing for various postings to be made, has gone a long way to publicizing how influential a model railroader ELM was. One thing in particular I’ll note. ELM’s HO scale Elizabeth Valley RR has been a frequent topic of discussion and speculation at the blog, because even though many photos of scenes from the layout appeared in the model RR press back in the day, its track plan, and other details, were never published. I was very lucky to be contacted by a reader back in March (you can read the story here: https://30squaresofontario.blogspot.ca/2017/03/found-elizabeth-valley-railroad.html ) who wrote to ELM back in the ‘60s and asked for a trackplan. ELM responded by sending him a postcard with the trackplan printed on one side. They say the age of miracles is passed, but it seemed like one to have that mystery solved completely out-of-the-blue one cold winter day :-) I’m currently working on an N-scale version of the layout. Cheers,JDLowe.
http://www.30squaresofontario.blogspot.ca/
I always enjoyed E.L. Moores articles. Decades ago I built several of his structures. I thought of digging out a few or the articles and building his designs using some of Tichys window castings in place of his painted windows.