Model Railroader and the Modern N Scaler...

[noblerot]

Too long, and if you made a gauge up in styrene, it would take seconds.

I'm wondering if the SD45 article was pulled from the backlog to fill space and was frome before the TCS decoders were about. When did the deocder he used come out?

He used the more recent Z2 decoder

[JoeD]

Not sure what MR's Editorial Policy is but N scale has never really had a significant presence there.  I realize I will have my head handed to me, but if we are not satisfied with the content, how about writing articles and submitting them?  I feel the same way and have decided to set aside some of my quality TV watching time and write some stuff and submitt it.  Again, not knowing their policy, if they are not interested in supporting N in any significant way, we do have two N Scale Specific Mags we could flood with articles as well.  I've seen a ton of stuff on line that never sees the light of day beyond a lucky search result. 

Joe

[sizemore]

There are typically more hoops to jump through with Model Railroader than N-Scale or NSR.

Overall with NS and NSR we're a little deeper in the weeds than MR (Readers/Writers) may be themselves. So while it may be quizzical or puzzling to us, it's standard for them (then tack on the article standards etc).

The S.

[mcjaco]

An email response to Editorial about the different options for the DCC install will probably get printed.

Not sure what MR's Editorial Policy is but N scale has never really had a significant presence there.  I realize I will have my head handed to me, but if we are not satisfied with the content, how about writing articles and submitting them?  I feel the same way and have decided to set aside some of my quality TV watching time and write some stuff and submitt it.  Again, not knowing their policy, if they are not interested in supporting N in any significant way, we do have two N Scale Specific Mags we could flood with articles as well.  I've seen a ton of stuff on line that never sees the light of day beyond a lucky search result. 

Joe

Been down that road here, Joe.  It's easier to nitpick.   

[wm3798]

Tim may be on to something, in that we are indeed "deeper in the weeds" than the average model railroader.  But two of the items discussed here are "department" type columns where the presenters are supposed to be well versed in their topics.  This isn't an issue of whether or not we're submitting enough articles.  (The layout article does a pretty good job, and was obviously a reader submission, so they ARE getting stuff, and it's making it through the eye of the needle.)

The issue is that we have two "experts" who are making N scale sound like it's some kind of disease that needs treatment... Not picking nits, per se, but do they know what they're talking about or no?

Lee

[sirenwerks]

I still feel that the Kelly piece had a malicious tone to it. MR is always so positive but that piece was pernicious. I almost feel like N Scale should counter with a branding campaign to highlight its positive attributes, like Mini-Mod-U-Trak's "Better modeling through peer pressure." Perhaps something like "N scale, maybe there's less room for error but there's a lot more room for trains." Or even a negative brand effort, like "HO, so easy a monkey could do it."

[DKS]

My take is that the problem boils down to their editorial staff. I think they lack sufficient experience in N scale to be able to make good article selections and steer authors in more sensible directions. This may (or may not) improve over time.

Joe touched upon the other side of this coin: they need to be receiving more quality submissions, which may not be forthcoming given two scale-specific mags--and the Internet--siphoning them away.

[noblerot]

The issue is that we have two "experts" who are making N scale sound like it's some kind of disease that needs treatment... Not picking nits, per se, but do they know what they're talking about or no?

Lee

I agree, I thought the Kelly article would have been fine in the early 90's

[wm3798]

One can't help but wonder if they dug up Kelly to do the N scale column because Gordon Odegard just wouldn't return their calls...

[S Class]

Jeeze if you guys are getting all uppity about some articles in a general model railroad rag (baring in mind they also need to cater to HO, O, S, Sn3, HOn3, HOn2-1/2, ON30, 55n3, Gauge 1, TT, HOe, Z and every other letter of the alphabet in between) I strongly suggest you never try to model Australian prototypes in N. As of sunday I discovered that there were 3 manufacturers (not 2 as I thought) covering the victorian market with resin kits and laser cut wood, very little R-T-R here and what is is over $30 a pop ($300 if you want a loco).

Compare that with the recent explosion of fine quality HO r-t-r from the likes of Ausicion and Austrains and the future of downunder N looks very bleak. We were very lucky recently to have a two issue run over one of the first N scale australian layouts built in this country but for the most part the local rag sings from the HO song book, why? because that's what's available for us.

At the end of the day this is a hobby the aim is to have fun and make friends by sharing our work and while we sit here and sook about how one magazine doesn't publish enough of material for our scale, spare a thought for the TT modelers or the O scale modelers and how much of their work and how many articles for their scale get published. does it really matter? do you not learn anything from an article just because it's in HO? do you not enjoy the fine modeling of a layout because it's in On30? live and let live guys if MR want to run their mag their way then start your own N scale rag oh wait you have two of them already!

[nscalemike]

Generally speaking, I am fairly happy with MR.  I feel that the magazine has a good 'read' to it, good quality photos, nice layout and a wide variety of topics, but I do certainly agree that it lacks quality n scale articles.  I find that I read the magazines HO articles, and enjoy them as well, with the exception of certain 'how to' articles which are just too scale specific.  For example, I'm not interested in and never read, how to install a decoder in a HO engine, but I will read layout planning tips or scratchbuilding ideas in HO because I can easily change it to N.  But I agree with S Class.  I look at it as a hobby, and while the next issue may not have cover to cover interest in what I model (scale, era, prototype, location, etc) I am always excited to see what others are doing.  I find a nicely planned and detailed HO layout can give me just as much motivation as a N scale layout.  Not to mention, we should always be trying to expand the general interest in the hobby as a whole and MR is probably the biggest printed public face the hobby has.   

That being said, I've been very disappointed in the new N scale column. First, I feel that N scale is large enough now that it could support a monthly column.  Second, I gave the first one a pass since it seemed more of an introduction type piece, but the last one did have a very negative or anti-n scale feel to it.  I think we should be pushing the finely detailed atlas code 55 track as a very big step in this scale, but we also must acknowledge that until now, wheels would run on every major type of track made.  Why would a manufacturer (Micro-trains) make wheels with smaller flanges when what they have worked just fine for 95% of the people who bought it.  Same with the gauge, as most track wasn't so finely gauged, the wheels didn't need to be either.  I chalk this up to the positive direction the scale is heading, and manufacturers today know that if they want to be competitive they must make things to more exact standards, while modelers know (or should) that if they wish to mix older items with newer items there is a certain level of tuning which is required.  I also agree with what others have said on here that it does not take 30 minutes to gauge a locos wheels.  Make mention that you have to check the gauge, and an article explaining how to do it and how to change your wheelsets and why it is worth doing would have been better then the one we got complaining that it has to be done. 

Just my two cents,
Mike

[Brakie]

The thing about MR is they are strick and only look for quality articles that pushes the current MR trend or  leans toward a infomercial pushing their advertisers wares.


Having reread Kelly's article I also see the malice toward  N Scale and he be being a MR "N Scale "expert" the unlearned will fully believe every word he wrote and will actually use this article as a "N Scale is junk" in any on line topic where a modeler may be considering modeling in N scale..


As we know there are tons of falsities concerning N already and this last misleading information can't help the growth and may even hender new products.

[S Class]

Ok you know what and this may be worth asking in it's own thread but should I be worried about all the C55 I brought for my new layout? All my stuff is atlas from within the last 6 years and some older lifelike stuff I've got to run under my VR locos, but all I hear here and at the atlas forums is that the C55 has problems don't tell me I was wrong to switch out from C80!

[wm3798]

I've been using it for about 7 years now, (or however long it's been available) and there is nothing wrong with it that can't be overcome with a moment or two of tinkering.  The big issue is if you have a lot of old MT cars or wheelsets, and in that case, it's the wheelsets, not the track, that is the problem.

Older LL engines also are a bit "flangey".  The easy fix there is to buy Atlas geared axles and replace them.

Lee

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It's funny, my takeaway from that MR was that they screwed up the review of the Digitrax Zephyr Xtra. They said loconet uses "standard computer cat 5 cables". That's wrong.