Okay, okay... I know other people have already discussed this, but I have to toss in my hat!
Pelle Soeborg continues to be one of my biggest MR heroes.
Consider for a moment that: 1. I don't heap slobbering praise very often and 2. my modeling interests couldn't be farther from Pelle's. I model Pennsylvania in the steam/diesel transition era in N scale. He models the western US in the modern era in HO. So why I am I starting a thread about him?
Pelle embodies everything I respect both in a modeler and as a plausible layout. His article this month was dead-on. It's not the "amount" of details that makes or breaks the layout, but the right details in the right places. I'm an East Coast guy, but I've traveled all over the beautiful American West, and no modeler in my opinion has absolutely nailed the Western scene like Pelle. Add to that praise that Pelle lives in Denmark and not souteastern California, and it's all the more impressive.
He's a scenery craftsman extraordinaire. Moreover, those modern restaurants and motels on his layout are scracthbuilt. Not everybody realizes this, but he runs his own model structure company making these same modern structure kits to fill an obvious gap in the model market.
Everything on his layout works together to create an incredibly realistic, plausible theme. There are no distracting odd-ball models with a detailed backstory stretching plausibility. Everything is so normal, everyday, mundane that the effect is jaw-droppingly spectacular.
I'll tell you what, every time I see his work I get the urge to abandon my beloved 1950s Pennsy and switch to modeling the modern big-diesel era. My wife would kill me if I did, though!
In summary, even this dyed-in-the-wool steam-era Pennsy N scaler is in love with Pelle's modern UP/BNSF HO desert layout. He sets an amazing standard I couldn't hope to meet. Good job!!!
Modeling the Rio Grande Southern First District circa 1938-1946 in HOn3.
Dave Vollmer wrote:Okay, okay... I know other people have already discussed this, but I have to toss in my hat!Pelle Soeborg continues to be one of my biggest MR heroes.Consider for a moment that: 1. I don't heap slobbering praise very often and 2. my modeling interests couldn't be farther from Pelle's. I model Pennsylvania in the steam/diesel transition era in N scale. He models the western US in the modern era in HO. So why I am I starting a thread about him?Pelle embodies everything I respect both in a modeler and as a plausible layout. His article this month was dead-on. It's not the "amount" of details that makes or breaks the layout, but the right details in the right places. I'm an East Coast guy, but I've traveled all over the beautiful American West, and no modeler in my opinion has absolutely nailed the Western scene like Pelle. Add to that praise that Pelle lives in Denmark and not souteastern California, and it's all the more impressive.He's a scenery craftsman extraordinaire. Moreover, those modern restaurants and motels on his layout are scracthbuilt. Not everybody realizes this, but he runs his own model structure company making these same modern structure kits to fill an obvious gap in the model market.Everything on his layout works together to create an incredibly realistic, plausible theme. There are no distracting odd-ball models with a detailed backstory stretching plausibility. Everything is so normal, everyday, mundane that the effect is jaw-droppingly spectacular.I'll tell you what, every time I see his work I get the urge to abandon my beloved 1950s Pennsy and switch to modeling the modern big-diesel era. My wife would kill me if I did, though!In summary, even this dyed-in-the-wool steam-era Pennsy N scaler is in love with Pelle's modern UP/BNSF HO desert layout. He sets an amazing standard I couldn't hope to meet. Good job!!!
Well said! I agree completly! Maybe that's one of the reasons I model the modern era, although it's on the East coast. If I modeled the west it would be easier though.....I'm already sick of planting trees....
I haven't gotten the mag yet, can't wait for another excellent piece!
Dave:
I'm afraid I don't know who he is, and now after your glowing praise, I feel left out of the loop.
Do you have a link to a site where I may rectify my ignorance?
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
http://www.soeeborg.dk/gallery.html
Here. Great site!
He's been featured regularly in MR since about 2005 or so. He has an article in this month's (April) MR. He also has a book about building his layout produced by Kalmbach.
I totally agree with you. Mr. Soeborg's work is inspiring. He's in my top five list of favorite modelers.
I particularly appreciate his approach to scenery vs. track--give the scenery some room and keep the track to a minimum. It's kind of a Zen-like approach to model design. With Soeborg's work, you feel like you're actually standing trackside watching trains.
Amen to the above. I model the southwest and can't even come close to his level of realism. I bought his book of course, I hold it up in front of my layout and realize how bad I'm doing. I don't let it depress me , I let it spur me on to do better. His work also leaves me in awe , Dave. And as you said , he lives in Denmark , god , I lived out in the west my entire younger life. His ideas in this article really hit it dead on, for all of us. Less is more.
Jerry SP FOREVER http://photobucket.com/albums/f317/GAPPLEG/
One more ditto for Mr. Soeborg.
I've been through the town of Mojave, Calif., many times. When I first saw his layout featured in MR, I thought that I'd NEVER seen a modeler nail the look and feel of a prototype community any better.
There was a neat follow-up to his feature story in the magazine, which must have gotten a fair amount of attention in that town. Pelle's depiction of the local motel had some non-prototype palm trees added along the side of the building. The motel management saw the article and liked the look so well that they ADDED real-world palm trees to their property! It's maybe the best example ever seen of life imitating art.
Well said, Dave. No matter what era or scale you model or prefer, there's ALWAYS something to learn from someone else. I have admired Pelle's work since his first article in MR.
Will I ever achieve the level of detail that Pelle has on his layout? I highly doubt it. However, I can still allow it to spur me on to greater efforts in achieving realism on my own layout.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
I too, admire Pelle's layout very much, and I appreciate the effort, time and talent that went into building it. That said, I would not be happy with it in my basement simply because operations is my main interest. That doesn't mean I ignore the scenery, but it means I do need a railroad that I can operate. His industrial base is very small, and other than running from staging to layout to staging, there isn't a lot of operation in the sense I enjoy there.
Probably, there is no one railroad that will meet all of the criteria of each one of us with our varied interests in the hobby, but all those different interests are what make model railroading, whatever that really means, alive, interesting and creative.
Bob
John R.
All of the above!
George
"And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers ride their father's magic carpet made of steel..."
Same here. As a matter of fact, I actually lived there as a kid for a couple of years in the early 50's (Mojave was much different then). The thing about Pelle's "Daneville" is that it captures the look and feel of the town without trying to model every building and every road junction. The point is not that the Motel 6 at the junction of Rte 58 and 14 is not modeled, it's that anyone who's every been through Mojave in recent years will get the feeling that they've seen "Daneville" in real life.
Andre
Pelle's work is incredible. I don't have the new MR yet, but I'm anxiously awaiting it.
He and Lance Mindheim have taken "realism" to a new level over the past few years.
Add my vote to the landslide in favor of Pelle Soeborg's modeling. I especially like the way he inserts people where they could reasonably be expected, not all over. A crowd would completely destroy the realism of a somewhat somnolent small town, but two men discussing the quality of a stack of lumber...
I do take minor issue with a couple of the, "Dikte Soeborg," not because I think he's wrong, but because one size does not fit all.
Again, that (and other things I didn't include) does not invalidate his thesis. It just proves that the Mojave Desert in the very recent past, the Broad Way half-hidden by coal smoke and Central Japan in 1964 were different places, and sometimes different rules apply.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - in a Mojave Desert garage)
Sawyer Berry
Clemson University c/o 2018
Building a protolanced industrial park layout
Mine just arrived this afternoon.
Even the spousal unit is impressed with the cover image.
Hear! Hear! It was the previous article series that motivated me to tear down the table-top layout and begin the now, well, soon, around the walls, local (southern CA) layout that is in the works. The new article's theme of more scenic effect with less detail is further inspiration.
Bill
To me the "backdrop" looks Photoshopped on some of the shots (pg 48 and bottom shots on pgs 50-51). For example the top picture on pg 50 is obviously the backdrop (you can see the shadow of the silos). I would like to see it with the "real" backdrop or know how he blends it to have a seamless backdrop.
It is interesting to compare the layout on pg 44. Compare shot #3 on pg 45 with the pix at the bottom of pg 51 or on pg 48. Interesting comparison. When I saw pix #3 on pg 45, I thought it might be O scale, maybe tinplate. I was actually suprised to find out it was HO. Notice Pelle's treatment of the switches compared to #3.
Dave H.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
This past summer......seems like years ago with this long harsh midwest winter this year I was down at the Rochelle,IL RailPark railfanning. I'm sitting there chatting with a few people and my wife comes over to me and says," See that guy over there.......he's from Denmark and said he just wrote a book on model railroading." I didn't think anything of it at first. Then I thought I should go over and see what brings him here and maybe share some light on his book. Well, make a long story short I kept chatting and never made it over there. He just kind of mingled among some people and had a nice camera around his neck, once in a while taking a picture. Then a few days later I'm paging through a magazine and low and behold here's this guys picture and aticles in this magazine. Sure enough, it was Pelle. I have always been impressed with his work but never really put the face with the work. I sure regret not chatting with him.
Pelle and I traveled late last year across the United States, including Rochelle, to photograph various locations for his new book to be published by Kalmbach early next year. In this new book Pelle will satisfy you folks in the mid-west with railroads going through townships, incredible scenery in the Rockies, an amazing siding with a silo in Iowa, and of course more amazing ideas of the western desert.
Concerning the post about Pelle retouching his photos, aka, backdrops ... this does not happen. All photos are exactly as taken.
Pelle and I have traveled for 16 years throughout the USA for his research and I can not express how kind a person you could ever meet. His dedication to the art of modeling ( and yes I know there is not a lot of operations on his layout - it's only 11x22 ) is an inspiration to all of us.
Pelle is and always has been available through his web site to answer any question you might have that you believe his books do not cover.
I can't wait to read his new scenery book coming out soon. His desert scenery captures the look perfectly.
Bob Berger, C.O.O. N-ovation & Northwestern R.R. My patio layout....SEE IT HERE
There's no place like ~/ ;)
If the backdrops aren't retouched then it is very impressive indeed.
tomikawaTT wrote: I do take minor issue with a couple of the, "Dikte Soeborg," not because I think he's wrong, but because one size does not fit all.He wrote, "Avoid the temptation to install unusual trackwork..." As it happens, I model a prototype that, at one station on a single track railroad, had a distorted diamond crossing, one corner of which was a double slip switch. There was one other turnout in town, to a seldom-used (in 1964) freight shed.He wrote, "A roster full of ... gigantic tank cars detracts from your efforts to build creditable layout settings." On a recent drive through the local industrial area (to the plastic recycling center therein,) the ONLY rolling stock I saw were several strings of weiners on wheels, parked at propane distributors' unloading racks. Again, it depends on the prototype you're modeling.Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - in a Mojave Desert garage)
Chuck - You've apparently missed the point Pelle is trying to make, which is to avoid modeling the unusual whether is trackwork, rolling stock, locomotives, scenery etc.
This is a point that is often missed by most modelers. Pelle's layout and photos look so good because he's modeling what is seen everyday. He's not modeling the one of a kind. All too often you see people model the unusual. As he points out, avoid double slip switches on the mainline and other unusual trackage, unless there is a prototypical example of it. In all my railfanning the only place I've seen a double slip is in a congested passenger station, not out in some small town switching area.
Modeling the mundane is what makes a scene believeable. Why is it that every one has to put some kind of "out of the ordinary" water feature like a tall waterfall or a long wooden trestle bridge, or towering mountains? These are unusal scenic features. Most of the rail lines in this country pass through farmlands, desert areas and other rather nondescript scenery. How many prototype pictures have you seen of a train passing in front of or over a waterfall?
Modeling the mundane also applies to rolling stock. How often has someone heard or said, the ______ railroad only had 1 of these locomotives or type of cars, but I had to get one and model it? Pretty soon what you end up with is a collection of one of a kinds or two of a kinds, which when put togther doesn't look realistic. Sure there are always exceptions, like if you're modeling a specific area and that area was home to a unique piece of equipment. Doing such helps locate the area being modeled for visitors
Pelle's work looks so good because he's modeling the everyday. The things that we see everyday and don't even notice or pay attention to until they show up in a photograph in a magazine like MR. Then your brain kicks in and says, "Boy, doesn't that look realistic" because its what your brain sees everyday. I'll disagree with Chuck's last thought also, there may be different places, but the same rules apply, not different rules.
bigiron wrote: Sure enough, it was Pelle. I have always been impressed with his work but never really put the face with the work. I sure regret not chatting with him.
Sure enough, it was Pelle. I have always been impressed with his work but never really put the face with the work. I sure regret not chatting with him.
I have met people from all over the world at the RR Park at Rochelle -- England, Germany, and New Zealand, not to mention all over the USA.
Your story reminds me of the time during an NMRA national convention that I noticed an older gent during the layout tours but did not talk to him. He stared intently at everything. Only later I learned it was John Armstrong!
Seems to me one of the great secrets Pelle has learned is the secret of less. No clutter. Not too many vehicles or figures or eye catching scenic features. There is a feeling of spaciousness. Nothing looks toylike or even "model railroady" to coin a phrase. Some of the superdetailed layouts overdo it.
Dave Nelson
I have to agree with all of the above!! Pelle is a Masters Master when it comes to model railroading. If a collage or university were to award degrees in model railroading, Pelle would hold a Doctorates!! (sp) I have one question though, how do you pronounce his last name? Is the first "O" silent or the "E" ? Thanks.
Dick
Texas Chief