My most critical eye is my own, in many ways. My yardstick, through the 6 years or so that I've been back in the hobby, has been our own Weekend Photo Fun. What I used to think was "pretty good" has slipped to "barely acceptable," as I've gained a greater appreciation for really high-quality modeling.
How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but the light bulb has to want to change. And, so it is with becoming a better modeler. It takes study, effort and time, plus the understanding that you won't always get it right the first time, and occasionally you'll just never get it right.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
A very thought provoking subject, and in my mind very well put, you are not trying to be offensive, but I am sure there will be modellers that will see your comments as such.
In the club I'm in (in Australia), we have many levels of modelling competency, some great, some good, some so-so and some poor, the later two are where this leads.
Several layouts well known to me, are really nothing short of atrocious to some, yet the owners proudly display them at many venues, and the average Joe relates to them and thinks they are fantastic, the modeller with a bit more knowledge and talent - well, they think a bit different, and herein lies the problem - lie or criticise?
My Questions for Today:How does one construct a layout that isn't just a "collection of tricks" ?? This can be seen on many layouts, even the so called best of them, it's basically reinventing the wheel, but it is possible to go overboard and hence realism and believability suffer.How does one develop one's "critical eye" and abilty to "edit"? Many have that ability, the difficulty is in conveying the observations to the recipient without losing their confidence, friendship etc, hence for the most part, we lie!To whom does one turn for "the unvarnished truth"? It's an unfortunate situation, that human nature seldom likes to hear the truth if their is any negativity attached, the honest person will be judged in a different manner, and in the eye of the judged recipient, they will be seen as wrong!How does one learn to accept criticism without taking it personally? I'm not sure if anyone is really, honestly capable of accepting criticism without rebuttal, there will always be a reason, primarily, in this hobby, its my layout, I'll do it my way!What lessons are there to be learned in the layout scenario I've outlined above? A lot of the time, the expert modellers have never actually achieved anything, it's easier to criticise than be criticised!What tips and scene-composition / layout-composition techniques could you contribute to someone who is just beginning to learn about the concepts? I feel the person has to realise right from the start that there are an abundance of approaches to this hobby, everyone will visualise the world differently and model it as they believe it should be.How can someone "put it all together" and achieve scenic cohesion? I really believe that very few modellers can really achieve the total package, otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation would we?
You will only ever achieve out of this hobby what "you" want, and that will rely on your desire to improve your modelling and how much effort you are willng to put in to learn, listen to constructive advice (note I did not say criticism) and put it into practice, this is after all, a HOBBY, and some people are content to just hover at a set level and be comfortable, view deficiencies as you see them, as a learning avenue to better your own modelling.
Yours in model railroading
Ted (Teditor) Freeman
From the Land Down Under.
Teditor
"I Hate Your Layout"Preface:Just to be clear, I don't really "hate" anybody's layout.
But I recently stumbled across one that just made me cringe. And I knew instantly that I'd be writing about it today. Before I do though, I'd like to remind people that the whole point and purpose of my weekly "Philosophy Friday" postings is not to be critical, condescending, crass or unkind, but to merely provoke thought and discussion about various points or issues related to Model Railroading and/or Railroading in-general. But though I have an enormous interest and a constant desire to learn and know more, I am certainly not an expert in either of these subjects and thus my role in these discussions is primarily that of the interlocutor-- though perhaps occasionally the gadfly instead-- and secondarily that of the student, as I learn a great deal from reading your comments and ideas, interjecting a few of my own, whilst shepherding the conversation.I'm saying this upfront today so I can be clear that my goal isn't to "out" someone or belittle their efforts, but rather to bring up some points that I think are interesting, merit lots of discussion, and may possibly assist someone-- certainly myself if no other-- in developing their skills and their "critical eye", and generally improving their overall ability to construct and present pleasing and satisfying scenes and model-works. In the interest of full disclosure, my own skills are likely to be approximately on-par with those I'll be discussing. Perhaps not as much in some areas, or more in others. But I feel, as I am moving forward in my own layout, that I am as much "criticizing" what I believe to be about my own approximate abilities. And indeed, that was the impetus for this posting today-- when I saw the photos of this layout, I saw a ghost image of what my own layout might turn out to be. It was a bit like that scene in "Star Wars" where Yoda sends Luke into the cave to confront his fears. Inside he meets up with Darth Vader who, when defeated, turns out to be himself. Like enters the cave and says "I'm not afraid", and Yoda, in his inimitable way, says "You Will be.... You will be!"So with that, let's dig in.
I HATE YOUR LAYOUT...The other day I was surfing the net, as I often do, looking for pictures of other people's layouts to look at, admire, study, learn from, compare & contrast in my head with other's I've seen and so on. As I was surfing, I stumbled upon one layout that was the very epitome of everything I "hate" about train layouts. It was so egregious it, in my view, was a caricature of what a train layout should be.And to be fair-- really fair-- the owner has done nothing wrong probably, a matter of a difference of opinion at the most really. And besides, its *his* railroad, and if he likes it that way, who am I to be critical of it?** And you should bear that in mind throughout this whole post please. **
Who's layout is it?I'm not going to tell you-- because my intent is not to call anybody out or to try to make them feel bad, nor even really to "judge" this layout versus that one, but merely to point out some things that I feel undercuts the modeler's intent and extremely obvious effort into building what is otherwise a *very nice* layout.So I'm asking you-- even if you know or figure it out-- please do not disclose any names or absolute identifying information that would conclusively identity the layout or its owner. I have no desire to cause anyone any pain. This is a hobby after all, and the ultimate goal is to please ourselves. If we are to talk about these issues at all, it is only because we, ourselves, have an interest in learning about other methods, training our "critical eye" for our own purposes, and improving our own skills so that we can apply them in our own handiworks. And hopefully, put them out there-- just like this guy-- for everyone else to appreciate.So, about the layout...As I write this, I am being literally guided by the posted photos of the layout. The layout itself is constructed in, what appears to be, a generous, though mostly unfinished, basement space-- perhaps 25x35 feet or so if I had to estimate it. It is single-decked, comprised of four or five generously-proportioned "box"-type benches with 2x2" legs for support. It has no fascia-- though its front edges are painted-- or skirting.It is dimly lit by a few overhead fluorescent bulbs. And it is flat. Very flat. Did I mention that it is flat??? Nothing descends below the plywood line that delineates the top of the bench-work. Even the mountains, of which there are quite a few, are all perfectly situated on top of the never-ending expanse of flatness.The layout is well-apportioned however, there are, what appears to be, miles and miles of code 100 HO-scale track running in exact parallel with the edges of the bench-work, interrupted by an occasional curve or turn-back of precisely 90 and 180 degrees respectively.It is populated by a veritable cornucopia of structures-- old man Walthers would be grinning with pride... so would the folks at DPM... and AHM... and Revell... and Life-Like. The buildings are artfully arranged in nice, neat rectangles and carefully aligned to the edge of the layout. As the bench-work makes a 90-degree bend, so do the neighborhoods.There are many inhabitants of this little world, each of whom is dutifully standing on his or her own base, which has thoughtfully been provided to assist them in maintaining their balance. They all drive late-model Matchbox or Hot Wheels cars, though a few of them have some higher-performance models. Probably at least a couple of them are even in HO-scale. And there are some specialty and exotic vehicles to be seen, also some trucks here and there, and a number of military tanks-- presumably guarding against alien invasion...The layout is resplendent in its wide assortment of colors including green, brown and... er, green and umm-- brown. Though to be honest, the modeler did really try to include a range of shades and some occasional colors-- reds and yellows-- here and there, and the roads are black (flat black) and painted in nice, crisp, well-masked straight lines.Most things on the layout are weathered. Locomotives, rolling-stock, structures, cars-- though the effect is reminiscent of an explosion at the brown paint factory. Each of the locos and rolling-stock have been weathered with an airbrush, amongst likely other things, with two vertical brown stripes fore and aft. And then lightly over-sprayed with brown paint to complete the effect.The weathering is complimented by the occasional items-- structures, locos, rolling-stock and whatnot-- that are not weathered, but are instead shiny and new and punch and add newness and plastic shiny goodness to all those areas that would otherwise be droll and drab and.... weathered-looking.The whole thing is artfully showcased by the Walthers lithographed backdrops. The ones with the city landscapes conveniently arranged in a multitude of perspectives so that something on the backdrop is almost positively guaranteed to almost match-up with a view on the layout...Nor does the layout lack for "scenes" and "stories". As near as I can tell, every single cutesy scene ever published anywhere is represented someplace on this layout. As is every scene from every walther's flyer or in the AHM or LifeLike catalog. Everything from the gandy-dancers laying track to the police-car pulling over the speeder, to the burning building surrounded by fire trucks, to the little guy looking surprised in the outhouse with the open door-- you name it, if you've seen it anywhere before, its here. And that also includes every locomotive servicing facility, coal mine, steel mill, bakery, freight house, trackside structure, water tower, sand house, coal chute, enginehouse, train station and passenger walkway-- they're all here.
I could go on-- for quite a while, in fact-- but I've said enough to make my points. The real crime this layout commits, I eventually decided, is that its visually... boring. I feel like I've seen it all before someplace. And technically, it is a collection of techniques all of which, when viewed independently, are not that bad but when viewed collectively-- inspire me to... um, stifle a yawn. Its boring.There, I've said it. Its B-O-R-I-N-G. Okay, so if I don't like it I don't have to look, right?Of course that's right. But then we wouldn't have anything to talk about. Which we'll get to in a moment.So, aside from that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the Play?Before we go on with our discussion of what's wrong-- let me talk for a minute about what's right...What's right is this guy is engaged-- he's actively building a model railroad-- *his* model railroad, and is *very obviously* paying attention to the model press, discussions of techniques, scene construction, model-building, track-laying-- everything. Heck, for all I know, he may be reading along right now and about to comment unwittingly on his own layout-- the potential irony there is off the scale... I'll bet that despite all the aforementioned stuff, his layout is actually probably a lot of fun to operate and that he (the modeler) himself is probably an enjoyable guy too. His works looks like that of someone who cares and wants to try new stuff, and probably considers himself an "experienced model railroader"-- and in that, I would quickly agree. He's spent a lot of time, money and considerable effort in achieving his result-- the layout I'm discussing it. And that, if nothing else, should place him squarely in the league of "Hallowed Model Railroaders". His skills probably easily outpace my own. I've got a lot of learning and trial-and-error of my own to do before I could ever seriously "look down" on his efforts, even assuming I'd ever want to.Further, judging from where I found the images, its apparent that he's outwardly-engaged and connected with other Model Railroaders and is part of a Model Railroading club, and not only does he work on his own layout, he also works on the club layout (of which there were also pictures) and a number of the other members have also published their layout photos. So he's active, engaged, energetic, bright (intelligent), thoughtful, creative, and connected. All extremely positive adjectives. I would be proud if folks described me with only a small percentage of those adjectives! Whoever he is, I wish him lots of years of happy modeling and many great operating sessions with his buddies-- I wish I could be there with him some day too. I'd like to meet him, and maybe eventually I will. Our discussion here though will stay our little secret. Lessons and Take-AwaysTo say that I learned something from this guy's layout is a dramatic understatement. I learned *a lot* from him. To be sure, I learned stuff that he probably didn't intend, but hey-- sometimes our purpose in life is to be a lesson to others! And I have a philosophical question already, right now before we go any further:Does a true friend look at your work and say it looks great? Or that it stinks and here's why? Which is ultimately the bigger (or better) gift, the lie or the truth?
But I'd like to talk about the other stuff too-- what is "wrong" with his layout. [And remember, we're having this discussion in the spirit of learning and fun-- not to disparage or denigrate anyone or their efforts].
My Questions for Today:How does one construct a layout that isn't just a "collection of tricks" ??How does one develop one's "critical eye" and abilty to "edit"?To whom does one turn for "the unvarnished truth"?How does one learn to accept criticism without taking it personally?What lessons are there to be learned in the layout scenario I've outlined above?What tips and scene-composition / layout-composition techniques could you contribute to someone who is just beginning to learn about the concepts?How can someone "put it all together" and achieve scenic cohesion?
EDIT:
I *love* the comments I've been reading and the direction the discussion is taking so far. Please don't stop that direction. Let's keep on and see where that goes...
But one of the things I was hoping for, was more actual conversation about the "faulted items" (my words-- perhaps poorly chosen) that I used in my illustration.
Not only-- what else do people have "issues" with when they see / encounter it, but also the remedial aspect-- what can be done about it?
What are positive, constructive comments that can be made to assist people who may be reading along and going... "Hey, that's me and that's my layout-- but how do I *fix* it??"
As always, I look forward to your comments and opinions.
And pictures-- POST 'EM if you got 'em!!!
John