Decisions related to color strategy and composition make a far greater contribution to visual impact than manual dexterity, rivet counting, or “detail dumping”. The culture of our hobby would lead you to believe the opposite.
There are two components of skill, manual execution and decision making. Decision making entails knowing “what to do” and, as the name implies, manual execution means having the physical ability to pull something off. What’s interesting is that the mix of the two components is not the same for each endeavor.
Olympic level archery leans heavily on the actual physical execution, not so much on decision making. An NFL quarterback needs a 50/50 mix. Let’s say it’s third and long and two receivers break a little bit free. A hall of famer makes the decision as to which is the best choice. That’s not enough though, he needs the athletic skill to get the ball to the receiver on the money.
Model railroading is on the other end of the spectrum, and that works to our advantage. Getting an effective result is largely dependent upon knowing “what to do” and far less so on any degree of eye-hand coordination.
As much as we all strive for prototypical accuracy, the lion’s share of visual impact is delivered by composition, color strategy, and basic neatness. The eye isn’t going to pick up on whether that window has six panes and not twelve. However, it will quickly hone in on something where the color is off. That’s where decision making comes in. It’s just as easy to pick the correct color of spray paint as the wrong one. It’s just as easy to paint those oversize safety ladders a darker, muted hue, as it is to paint them electric yellow. (electric yellow may be prototypical, but it immediately draws attention to the fact that said rails are a scale six inches in diameter, not one inch).
Let’s look at the interlocking tower shown in the lead photo. The culture of model railroading being what it is, many would paint it a brilliant, opaque ochre with solid green trim as shown on the kit’s cover art. If you study the many excellent full color rail books out on the market, however, you’ll notice that the majority of structures are white, and a dull slightly slate colored white at that. Next in frequency of use would be grays, oxide reds, and beige. If you lean towards those percentages, the realism of your scenes will get a bump. Building the tower as shown above is within the skill level of even an entry-level hobbyist. Paint the model with gray primer and let it dry. Next, fog on a layer of Tamiya Flat White. After letting the white dry a few minutes lightly scrape away some of the paint with a dull blade or screw driver. The roof was painted with red primer and given an India Ink/alcohol wash. That was it.
Making an even more significant contribution to visual impact than color treatment is composition. (this refers to the elements we incorporate, their size, relative position, and the space between them). Given it’s importance, it’s surprising how rarely the topic comes up…i.e. never! As a result, since its inception, the hobby has been mired in the swamp of highly compressed scenes with very little space between elements or towns. In order to be deemed worthy of making it to the layout’s surface, elements typically need to be rail oriented or architectural eye-catchers. It’s an approach that creates scenes more reminiscent of an amusement park than a working railroad, typical town, or your average industrial zone. As with color, creating an effective composition is driven by effective decisions, not manual execution. It’s just as easy to place three appropriate elements on a layout surface, ones that look like they belong, as it is to place a circus tent, hot dog stand, and Victorian mansion. It’s just as easy, perhaps easier, to dedicate ample negative space for that field or gravel parking lot, than trying to squeeze two more kits into the same area.
All of this leads towards worrying less about being the next Michelangelo and thinking a lot more about what decisions need to be made and what the choices you make will be.