by mike | Sep 27, 2016 | Pieces of The Puzzle, Storytelling, The Art of The Craft, The Missing Conversation, The Modeling Conversation, The P48 Experience
If there is any agenda behind this blog, it’s to offer a counterpoint to the mainstream view. However, I don’t sit here week after week thinking of ways to be contrary, I simply write about how I see and approach the work. I’ve been active in this craft since...
by mike | Sep 20, 2016 | Modeling Techniques, Pieces of The Puzzle, The Missing Conversation, The Modeling Conversation, The P48 Experience |
Many of the layout design conventions we take for granted were developed in HO scale. As the most popular modeling scale, HO receives the bulk of press coverage and therefore, these design conventions are well entrenched in our thinking. For HO and N scales, the...
by mike | Jun 14, 2016 | Pieces of The Puzzle, The Art of The Craft, The Missing Conversation, The P48 Experience |
How many potentially fine layouts will never be built because the modeler is convinced he or she doesn’t have enough space to do something worthwhile? In the United States, we want to model every aspect of a railroad’s operations: end-to-end if possible or at least...
by mike | May 17, 2016 | Pieces of The Puzzle, Storytelling, The Missing Conversation, The P48 Experience |
Changing eras impacts the entire layout. It’s not enough to park a few old automobiles, swap out rolling stock or add vintage signs to a scene. One has to consider the entire story of a place and time. Many people are happy to fold, spindle and mutilate reality in...
by mike | May 10, 2016 | Pieces of The Puzzle, Storytelling, The Missing Conversation, The P48 Experience |
The journey of the layout back to the 1960s began with a sheet of Styrofoam. My work on the P48 display warehouse got me curious to see how it would look on the layout. So I placed a piece of foam that was similar in size behind the interchange track, stepped back for...
by mike | May 3, 2016 | Pieces of The Puzzle, The Art of The Craft, The Missing Conversation |
Small space living is a fact of life for many and a deliberate choice for others. Our traditions and conventions say that this is a disadvantage, even a hardship, which is nonsense in my view because we hamstring ourselves to outdated ideas and forms. I’m...
