Model railroading is a lot more fun when we achieve some degree of success early in the process. Having a layout that never reaches critical mass or doesn’t run reliably just isn’t that enjoyable. I believe not having a satisfying first experience is the reason a lot of people leave the hobby in frustration. One […]
Author: Lmind1
Scratch Building
This scratch built structure cost less than five dollars to build and produced several weekends of modeling enjoyment. The simple box shape was not that difficult to build using sheet styrene. The end result was something unique, something that ‘fit’ with the layout, and wasn’t something I could ever find a kit for anyway. I […]
Avoiding the Layout Design Death Spiral
In MRP 2010, Jim Lincoln gives an excellent example of having your cake and eating it to. That is, having fascinating operations without needing much track to do so. During the design phase, model railroaders are often terrified that their layout will be boring, that it won’t have enough elements to keep their interest. […]
Deliberate Practice
A number of years ago Florida State professor Anders Ericsson published a study of individuals that excelled in their chosen fields of endeavor. An excellent summary of the article was done by Geoffrey Colvin in Fortune Magazine. Click HERE for the article. In summary, Ericsson’s conclusion was that acquiring a high skill level in an […]
Vehicle Colors
If you want to have an accurate mix of colors for the vehicles on your layout then almost 60% of them should be white, black, gray, or silver. The annual Dupont Automotive color popularity report broke down as follows: