“Black Ice” Virtuoso model and photo by Bob Springs Virtuosity: Masterly skill or technique in the arts. Many years ago I attended a talk at a sales convention given by motivational speaker Peter Vidmar, the highest scoring American gymnast in Olympic history. The subject of the talk centered on what it took to be […]
Category: Opinion
The Structure Quandary
Over the past decade I’ve had a hard time ignoring the similarity between model railroader’s penchant for impulse buying/indiscriminate accumulation as compared to the same issue in any other retail setting. I’m not sure there is a difference between purchasing more shoes than there are days in the week as opposed to buying dozens of […]
Layout Lifespan
It’s pretty easy to sub-consciously buy into conventional wisdom without thinking through whether such an approach actually applies to our situation. It may or may not. The expected lifespan of a layout is one such example. For many of us, when we set out to build a layout, it’s with the thought that it will […]
You’ve Come This Far
I’ve gotten a number of emails in the past week illustrating progress on switching layout construction. To a person each project looks fantastic, well designed, simple but efficient, and neatly constructed. You’ve come this far, don’t shoot yourself in the foot now. Next up for many of you will be the steps of painting the […]
Enough Rope To Hang Myself
I was sixteen when the model railroad bug bit in earnest. In the early years of the hobby EVERYTHING is interesting and we really want it all. At that time my parents were on a two year overseas sabbatical and we lived in a small apartment. Our Cape Cod house in the states, complete with […]