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Chip, John Allen fan?? You bet I am. Influence on my modeling ??? Absolutely!!! Homage to John Allen on my last layout??? Yep!!! Look at the canyon scene in my pictures at rail images (click on the link in my signature) He is one of the reasons I got interested in model trains. Layout as an art form?? Yes, absolutely. I feel that the best layouts have a theatrical aspect to them. I’ve been to Jack Burgess’ layout and even the strictest prototype modeler’s layouts have a sense of drama. His layout is beautiful and is very artistic…..John Allen was very artistic and very inspiring. He did a great job of firing the imagination of future modelers such as myself. Is John Allen over the top in terms of his vision??? Depends on what you like. I can see people not liking the vision he is striving for, however this is a subjective area and there are no right or wrong answers here. Only opinions. Some posters have confused their opinions about aesthetics with the truth in an area where there can only be opinions. Being in the hobby for a long time doesn’t change the fact that you are offering an opinion. Gew Gaw!!!! (gee gaw) That is a term for over the top weathering and lots of over done details. I think certain posters are irritated by gew gaw and that is a common mistake that newbies make in weathering their stuff. However, I know some great modelers that do gew gaw, not because they cant do a more realistic style (or don’t know any better), but because they like the gew gaw approach. As for Allen’s talent???? He was quite an excellent modeler and a huge influence in the hobby pushing it towards the proto-realism standards of today. He scratch built nearly everything, hand laid his own track, operated regularly and was very well published with excellent photos. His use of mirrors, selective compression, forced perspective, lighting effects etc. was well ahead of his time. He started his layout in the late fifties/early Sixties and was using very crude products by today’s standards to reach a high level of realism.…Those of you who were in the hobby then know that he and others pointed the way to a more realistic approach to the hobby. Go back and look at your old MRR magazines from that time. There are not many layouts from that era that stand the test of time as well as the Gorre and Daphetid (spelling). Check out the Wescott book on John Allen if you haven’t already done so. As for the poster who insinuated that only less experienced modelers like John Allen’s work, I would say rubbish!!!!! I know many excellent modelers who were around during Allen’s era. They have a healthy respect for his accomplishments and tell me that Allen was well respected by most people in the hobby at the time. Finally I have to say that Allen strikes me as a rather tragic figure as well. Living alone and building his empire. Dying right before it was finished (1973) and then having it burn up in a fire, just days after his death. Hollywood couldn’t have done it much better. The Wescott book gives a real good sense of this…. I think that all the attention that people give to John Allen has caused a bit of backlash. There were lots of other great modelers around in his day and certainly the hobby has passed Allen by in terms of realism and other areas. However, none of this dims my respect for his accomplishments in the hobby. Just my two cents,
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