Weekend Update 5/10/20

[delamaize]

WOW, I am absolutely blown away!
(Pun might be intended?)

[dougnelson]

New video: PRR Moves the Freight

[Kentuckian]

Dave,

I have no idea how Rico is laid out or it’s orientation to anything else. But I do know that it looks fantastic. All model railroading is some comprise. How well we handle those compromises is what sets some work above others. I think you have certainly made the most of your space, and have combined all aspects of this great multi-faceted hobby superbly. Scenery, structures, track work, mechanical, electrical, operation, all of it. Superbly.

Thanks for sharing.

[davefoxx]

I ballasted a turnout, a deck bridge, and about 24" of track over several hours spread over three days.    On the bright side, the turnout still works!



DFF

[GimpLizard]

Believe it or not it takes no small amount of courage to share my stuff when I feel like it's so inferior.

Dave, there has never been anything inferior about your modeling. While it's true you skills have improved over the years, even your old Juniata Division layout was spectacular. I have been very impressed by everything you've shared. Hold your head high, sir. You have reason to feel proud.

[davefoxx]

Dave, there has never been anything inferior about your modeling. While it's true you skills have improved over the years, even your old Juniata Division layout was spectacular. I have been very impressed by everything you've shared. Hold your head high, sir. You have reason to feel proud.

Yeah, I agree, but @Dave V won't listen to me.  He is an artist, a very talented artist, who has created a number of layouts with incredible quality that many of us could never do.  What he has done with the RGS is nothing short of a model railroad that belongs in such annals as Great Model Railroads.  Oh, and he has already been published in GMR with the Juniata Division, and he deserved it.

Just sayin',
DFF

[Dave V]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone.  I appreciate it!  I know I'm always a bit surprised when people respond to my work.  I'm definitely happier with what I've achieved on the RGS than I am with any previous layout.  It looks very much like what I had envisioned, and that may well be a first for me.

[Mark W]

Actually, he wrote two dissertations on Facebook in the comment thread defending his position.  My problem is that I really do suffer from "impostor syndrome."  While I share my stuff enthusiastically, it's not out of hubris but out of hope that I'll finally genuinely feel like I deserve to be counted among you all.  So a guy like that...my higher brain functions tell me to blow him off, but deeper down I will always wonder if he's right.  Believe it or not it takes no small amount of courage to share my stuff when I feel like it's so inferior.

I know exactly how you feel.  When you've just completed some of your finest work and eagerly share for friends to see, even though you get a chorus of admiration, it's that one piece of turd that sticks.  It can be gut wrenching at times.  My advice is to turn it around, turn it into motivation.  It takes an incredibly amount of jealousy for someone to berate something that is obviously fine work.  Deep down you may always wonder if they're right, but deep down they know they'll never match up to your work!

[Mark W]

Continuing my Hiawatha kick, I received my next project in the mail yesterday!


https://i.imgur.com/ZIP5a0Q.jpg

Unfortunately, the first thing I have to deal with is a crack in the shell.   Anyone have any suggestions?  I'm usually the guy who would rather just fix something myself than send off for a warranty repair/replacement, but this will be the first polyurethane shell I've worked with, so I don't know if this is something that can be successfully fixed or not. 


https://i.imgur.com/cSuQi7k.jpg

[Maletrain]

Actually, he wrote two dissertations on Facebook in the comment thread defending his position.  My problem is that I really do suffer from "impostor syndrome."  While I share my stuff enthusiastically, it's not out of hubris but out of hope that I'll finally genuinely feel like I deserve to be counted among you all.  So a guy like that...my higher brain functions tell me to blow him off, but deeper down I will always wonder if he's right.  Believe it or not it takes no small amount of courage to share my stuff when I feel like it's so inferior.

Dave, I think it is safe to say that you are already counted among the best on TRW.  I am nowhere near your level, and look forward to your posts as inspiration.  And it seems like that is the universal reaction to your posts on TRW.  I hope that someday you feel as good about your work as we do.

Regarding the guy who writes critical dissertations on Facebook, where does he post pictures of his work?  The real impostors are the guys who criticize others because they know they can't do that well, themselves.

[MVW]

New video: PRR Moves the Freight

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The boys in the marketing department outdid themselves on this one! It's always a treat to see your work, Doug.

Jim

[Philip H]

I did some modeling:



https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=49612.0

And I started laying track:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=40665.msg663988#new

[Dave V]

Dave, I think it is safe to say that you are already counted among the best on TRW.  I am nowhere near your level, and look forward to your posts as inspiration.  And it seems like that is the universal reaction to your posts on TRW.  I hope that someday you feel as good about your work as we do.

Regarding the guy who writes critical dissertations on Facebook, where does he post pictures of his work?  The real impostors are the guys who criticize others because they know they can't do that well, themselves.

Well thank you.  The gentleman in question wasn't so much arguing against my modeling skills--he was very careful to point that out--but rather my execution of the scene.  It made me wonder if my occasional transgressions against prototype were destroying the illusion I've been trying to create.  And no, he admitted to not really modeling the RGS for fear that his compromises would destroy his own attempt.  Once he pointed that out late last night, it reminded me of my paralysis both in terms of improving the Juniata Division and the start of the RGS.  Once I can break through that initial paralysis, things begin to happen and I rarely look back.

What had gotten to me was that in his original comment he declared that I would lose a number of like-minded RGS fans who would not be able to tolerate the addition of 3 buildings to my layout.  As I rely on that crew of RGS masters for information, advice, and inspiration, I grew very worried.  It tuns out that was a hollow threat.  Those among them who have built layouts based on the RGS have--not surprisingly--all made compromises, some more egregious than mine.

In the end I think in his own way he was trying to be helpful.  We see similar things unfold here all the time, and while words on a page can appear to convey one particular intent, there's often a lot more to it in reality.

As for the Railwire...  I guess I still feel as if it's 2007 and I've just been invited to sit at the grown-up table.  You've seen my modeling evolve but in my mind I'm still hacking away like a noob.  I've been at this since I was 8 but you'd never know if you saw some of the crap I'm still capable of producing that never sees the camera lens.

Then again, sometimes we forget...   

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[CRL]

There’s a big difference in how a railroad modeler designs a scene and how a museum modeler would design a diorama. If you’re building a museum diorama of Rico, Colorado on a specific date, then you would exactly recreate the town as it existed, and you might end up with a short piece of railroad track crossing a corner of the diorama. In reality, the amount of real estate occupied by railroad tracks is a very small part of even a very small town, so a railroad modeler would logically put the emphasis on the trackage and trackside buildings, then work in other buildings to “suggest” the adjacent town.

You’ve done a very good job as a railroad modeler. Here’s a photo from the East Texas Oil Museum in Kilgore, Tx that floored me when I first saw it over 30 years ago. Pretty good 1:1 scale modeling.

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https://easttexasoilmuseum.kilgore.edu/gallery

[Dave V]

There’s a big difference in how a railroad modeler designs a scene and how a museum modeler would design a diorama.

Heh, that's exactly what I ended up saying.  If I were building this for a museum it'd look a lot different.  I'm building this for me!

It's cool, I was actually over it by last evening.  I went down to JFRTM and all was right again.  I really stared at that scene to see if I no longer felt like my work represented the Rio Grande Southern and concluded that the scene looks better now than it did before, and that's all that matters!

Every railroad has its superfans who will not abide compromise.  Remember...I used to model Pennsy!  SPFs are notorious for that.  But for such a short-lived, remote 162 mile line, the RGS is exceptionally well documented to the point where any compromise can be easily be identified with dozens of photos to refute it.

We as modelers pick the scenes we want and the compromises we'll accept, and it's just really interesting to see what a deeply individual and personal thing those choices are.  For instance I refused to have my towns out of order, whereas some guys are fine with that.  Meanwhile I painted a C-19 as a C-17 and some other guy might not be able to overcome the difference in driver spacing.  It's a personal choice we each make...and in the end I'm actually really fine with what I did to Rico.  The doubt is gone.