01-28-2009, 01:26 AM
MountainMan Wrote:Starting on page 52 of the Feb '09 Model Railroader is a presentation of a layout titled Steaming Through The Winter Wonderland. It is a nice layout, but it wasn't built by the owner; it was commissioned from Raildreams, Inc., a commercial firm.
My feelings are that this isn't a proper display of a layout made by an owner or club, but essentially amounts to advertising for the company that did all the work. From a modeler's viewpoint, I'm uncomfortable with the way this was presented, but maybe I'm too much of a purist.
I'm interested in the opinions of other members.
There was a long and very heated debate about this very subject in the trains.com forums of Model Railroader a while back, after MR presented another layout that had been custom built (an engine terminal layout). For reasons entirely understandable, some model railroading enthusiasts resents in effect being labeled "not real modelers" by other model railroading enthusiasts.
It is a big hobby. Some people do everything themselves, from track planning, via prepping the room, backdrop painting, benchwork, track laying, wiring, landscaping, scratchbuilt engines and rolling stock, signalling, scratchbuilt structures, painting and weathering, setting up some kind of operating scheme (if applicable) and so on and so forth, while others get help with one or more aspects of the planning, construction or running of their model railroad.
My opinions on custom designed or custom built layouts in Model Railroader Magazine ?
1) I can learn something about how to do things on my own layout from seeing how others do things on other layouts.
2) I don't really care who that did the thing I admire and want to emulate.
3) It is none of my business whether someone else did their own e.g backdrops, benchwork, wiring, engine painting or whatever on their layout.
Your mileage may vary
Smile,
Stein