vsmith wrote:PS Love "Rite of Spring" BTW for those not familiar with it, if you've seen Disneys "Fantasia" you've heard it, its the music used in the Primordial Dinosaur sequence, ironic that it fits so well considering it was originally a ballet based on Pagan rites about a young girl who must sacrifice herself by dancing... to death.
PS Love "Rite of Spring" BTW for those not familiar with it, if you've seen Disneys "Fantasia" you've heard it, its the music used in the Primordial Dinosaur sequence, ironic that it fits so well considering it was originally a ballet based on Pagan rites about a young girl who must sacrifice herself by dancing... to death.
Well said vsmith! It seems so very easy to find fault with other peoples work and dismiss what they do because they do it different.......
Having heard and seen Stravinsky speak about his works and conduct the "le sacre du printemps" in person has given me a deep love of the man's music and respect for his genius. The same respect would be extended to Malcomn Furlow's model railroading even though what he does is not "my style".
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
I usually don't post here much anymore but this thread caught my interest.
vsmith has made some really valid points. I was an avid reader of MR back in the 70's and early 80's and I think the one thing that all us modelers need to remember is this-if it weren't for people like Malcom Furlow,John Olson,John Allen,John Armstrong,Bob Harden,Allen McClellend and many others doing what they did we would not be doing what we do.And yes I agree with the statement vsmith made that we all borrow from whoever.Back in the 70's Bob Hayden and Dave Farary came up with a technique called water soluable scenery.It was featured in MRC back in 1975.( I still have the article) I have been using that technique ever since but with my own twists.
Good luck with all your efforts-Bob
Don Z wrote: Perhaps if you go to http://www.trains.com/trc/dynamic/contactus/default.asp?pub=mrr&subject=2&cf=1#back and ask your question, you might get a faster response.Don Z.
Perhaps if you go to http://www.trains.com/trc/dynamic/contactus/default.asp?pub=mrr&subject=2&cf=1#back and ask your question, you might get a faster response.
Don Z.
Tried this, it kept repromting me to enter the security code, after the 4th or 5th time it did that I just bailed.
Have fun with your trains
garya wrote: Look at http://index.mrmag.com/Here's a search for Furlow as a keyword: http://index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?opt=S&cmdtext=furlow&MAG=ANY&output=3&sort=2I'm not sure how often this is updated, so if he had an article in the very recent past, you may not find it here, but this is a handy index to refer to.
Look at http://index.mrmag.com/
Here's a search for Furlow as a keyword: http://index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?opt=S&cmdtext=furlow&MAG=ANY&output=3&sort=2
I'm not sure how often this is updated, so if he had an article in the very recent past, you may not find it here, but this is a handy index to refer to.
Thanks, Richg1998 also posted a link, I looked there already, last reference is the sept 03 issue I posted the pic of in the OP. Nothing refered in MR or the Gazette since the spurt of activity in '03.
Furlow for me is like Igor Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring", when it was premiered on May 29, 1913 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, half the audience was cheering, the other half was jeering, fist fights broke out and it ended in a near riot. Mind you this was in Paris and these holigans were wealthy sophisticated aristocrats, you either loved it to death or couldn't stand the sound of it.
That seams to be the same thing that happens here whenever he gets published or even menthioned, but I know for a fact that it John Allen who invented everything and like I qouted TS Eliot on another topic, "Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal" and if indeed as ndbrr suggests Furlow has stolen many ideas, he certainly has shaped those ideas to his personal style and in doing so made them his own, which is what TS Eliot was referring to in his quote.
All artist steal from each other Did you know that early on, Mexican artist Diego Rivera, went to Europe to study Picaso's cubism works, stole the ideas if you will, and became a better Cubist painter that Picaso? I've seen work by both side by side and its generally accepted in art circles that this was so. Its true, they even became good friends till they had a falling out and Rivera returned to Mexico and abandoned Cubism entirley. But his Cubist works are amazing, a perfect example of what TS Elliot ment.
So I dont get bent out of shape about who invented what, if we had to reinvent everything each time we did it we'd still be banging the rocks together to get fire, in fact I've been stealing from Furlow and Allen for a while now and in doing so have been enjoying my hobby far more sothan if I had only the more standardized stuff (stale to me) that seams to get the lions share of publication these days.
Furlow's work shows a daringness to let his layouts soar not seen since the likes of John Allens last incarnation of the G&D. Frankly I think Furlow's work simply scares the hell out some people, because like daring art or daring music it pushes the boundries of what can be achieved in modeling and challenges the accepted norms in the hobby. Lets face it, model railroading is by its nature a fairly (or is that very) conservative hobby, most participants fall into the catagory of trying to recreate aspects of a real prototype railroad in detail to a specific time and place, sometimes even to a specific day and time, recreating every aspect of that idea to the minutist detail. In a sense it can be a very limited and tightly restricted hobby, this only and no more, nothing allowed outside strictly set parameters.
Now here come Malcolm, and he builds something freelance, a floor to ceiling layout of NKP time, place, or railroad, but it soars over impossible trestles, clings to impossible cliffs, and challanges the imagination of what can be, and that challenge to the perceptions is what scares the hell out of some people.
Thats what I find so appealing to Furlows work, it takes a certain amount of allowing your imagination to overrule your critical reason and just accept it and roll with that impossible trestle and that impossible cliff face and those impossibly, incredibly detailed engines, cars and structures. See the quote in my signiture, thats from Sam Poseys interview in "Playing with Trains" and it does reflect his particular approach to the hobby. Maybe that will ruffle some feathers but what the heck, that just one way of many to approach this hobby, right?
Furlow has taught me that theres no wrong way to build a model railroad. Meaning that if your pleased with the results, the subject matter is irrelevent. If your pleased with the way your scenery turned out, the technic you used to achieve it is irrelelvent. If your happy with your roster, the actual individual peices are irrelevent. There are bad practices and bad technics, but thats part of the learning curb and can be overcome by study and practice, but in general, my pov is essentially true, theres no wrong approach, if you acheive the results you desired, only ideas and approaches that others will disagree with, mostly because its not what they particularly were doing.
Now thats a mouthfull, but if someone want to run nuclear engines on Mars and builds a nicely detailed layout to do so, who are we to criticize? I've learned not to pee on other peoples Cornflakes just because I like Cheerios.
I've never seen any of his work in person nor will I probably ever meet the guy.
But the magazine that last featured his layout I bought just because of the cover issue. To me, his modeling looks spectacular and I wish we could see more of it. Being an armchair freelancer, freelanced railroads like his I love to read about, see how other modelers put their creativity into this hobby in ways no one else does. I love freelancing because every little thing about the railroad comes down to your choice, as well as the choice to make it believable or not.
Would love to see more of his layout than was discussed in that issue. It's been awhile since I read it. I think it's in a bin somewhere in a storage locker along with my other amassed MR and model magazine collection...
Scott - Dispatcher, Norfolk Southern
Gary
ndbprr wrote:Furball is the reason I canceled my subscription. He never gave anyone credit for any ideas he used. According to him he inveneted everything. He was given the right to have an article followed by an ad to buy the stuff he was paid to do in the article. Personally his work is highly improbable to me and a waste of time. Those who have seen his modules in Bobby Halls hobby shop said he is a much better photographer than modeler because they don't look as good in person. I know I am in the minority but to me he is a flash in the pan.
20 some odd years as a contributor to MRR isn't exactly a "flash in the pan". Someone's opinion of a modeler is just that, an opinion, and everyone has one. Each modelers has his own style and world he wishes to model, (thank god), I would hate to see everyone modeling the same thing. I know "freelance" seems to be a dirty word anymore, but it doesn't take away the fact that the person has skills.
No bother, you lost all credibilty with the "Furball" reference.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
Found this from a Google search for Malcom Furlow. "Malcolm Furlow, who is actually a professional artist with model railroading as a hobby, is still around as far as i know. I haven't seen anything recent from him in terms of model railroading but he's still doing art."
I remember some years ago reading complaints from some people about all his MR works. I guess just jealous.
I knew back then he was and is, foremost an artist. I took his ideas as suggestions.
http://index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?opt=S&sort=D&output=3&cmdtext=%22FURLOW%2C+MALCOLM%22
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.
Oops, didnt even know that existed!
Oh well, It's already posted here, lets see if anything comes of it, besides some members here might have heard something as well...
Besides we might get some interesting conversation out of it
Research; it's not just for geeks.
To: MR Editorial staff and fellow forum members
On a recent post on a different forum someone mentioned that Malcolm Furlow was in a recent issue of MR, now after parousing the online indexes of back issues of MR and more notably the lack of any recent rancorous uproar right here on the forum, I know that this isn't the case and that the poster must have ment when Furlow was in this 2003 issue:
While the layout wasnt everyones cup of tea but to me it was incredibly detailed and amazing to look at and study. But it did get me to wondering, whatever became of the layout? it was only partially finished at the time the issue came out and only featured a small part of the overall layout, was it ever finished? We never got the promised follow up...
That also got me wondering about submission protocol, has MR ever done the following up? or do they prefer to wait till the author contacts them about progress.
Furlow at the time lived on a ranch in the middle of Waythehelloutthere N.M. when Sam Posie interviewed him for his book, and he noted that he wasn't the easiest person to get ahold of or to visit, I guess this could also be a big reason why we havent heard anything but its been going on 5 years, and this is a guy who reknown for blowing out major sized pikes in a short peoriod of time, so...any news?
Anyone there heard anything from him lately?
Anyone?
Bueller?