Anyone going to enter?

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I'm thinking I'll enter in one of my on the go projects... my U1f kitbash or my Royal hudson kitbash... Should be fun!

"The degree to which a locomotive is modified is up to you."
Think my Stiesel would be eligible? I think probably not.


Good luck to you. I've got an entry in for the track planning contest and have heard nothing back as of yet.

Luke,
Go for it! I hope you can win. I'm not going to get into this, I have some personal issues with the "good ol' boys", at Kalmbach.

TrainNut Wrote:"The degree to which a locomotive is modified is up to you."
Think my Stiesel would be eligible? I think probably not.


Good luck to you. I've got an entry in for the track planning contest and have heard nothing back as of yet.

Kinky!

I like it.

Is the deadline the April issue?

Sweet work, TN...

Hope you do well in the contest.

MR lost its appeal a long time ago, I wish them well.

Tom Wrote:

TrainNut Wrote:"The degree to which a locomotive is modified is up to you."
Think my Stiesel would be eligible? I think probably not.


Good luck to you. I've got an entry in for the track planning contest and have heard nothing back as of yet.

Kinky!

I like it.

quite!

I'd think that could win the grand prize, it's damn cool!

shaygetz Wrote:Sweet work, TN...

Hope you do well in the contest.

MR lost its appeal a long time ago, I wish them well.

I've heard a few comments on the anti-MR topic for a while. Whats the other mags people read? I personally am getting a lot from MR right now, but the more resources one has the better... especially in the bathroom.

Quote:Whats the other mags people read?

I still get Railroad Model Craftsman, and I'll check out Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette, more often than not, buying it. Timber Times, and the "annuals" (narrow gauge, On30, etc.).

I am currently fortunate enough to be able to check out RMC from our local public library. However, I will be starting a job 1-1/2 hours north of here with intention to relocate asap on Feb 1. Hopefully the library up there has a similar collection.

My latest anti-MR soapbox has been regarding their 'subscriber-only' content online. That's just wrong. They are the ONLY hobby magazine to do such a thing. Anyway, I enjoy RMC better simply because I like the emphasis on craftsmanship vs. R-T-R and "_______ Central" project layouts. RMC includes articles with a higher ratio of text to pictures than MR.

Also, I recently 'subscribed' to the free Model-Railroad-Hobbyist magazine Joe Fugate has put together. Wow. It took a while to download even with DSL, but it was very much worth it. 122 pages (.pdf format) plus video, animated advertising, instant feedback, and so much more. The feature on Tom Miller's Fn3 layout is just phenomenal, with a panoramic picture feature, a layout diagram with clickable photo links, etc. Awesome. It's a nice step forward into the online publishing arena and it's FREE. You can't beat FREE!

I will have to read the rules for this here contest...perhaps it will be the motivation to finish off the Shifter? Ehh, we'll see.

Galen

Wiredup Wrote:I've heard a few comments on the anti-MR topic for a while. Whats the other mags people read? I personally am getting a lot from MR right now, but the more resources one has the better... especially in the bathroom.

It's not so much anti-MR as it is not the rag I grew up in the hobby with. When I started reading them as an 8 year old in 1968, it was more a hobby of innovation and creativity than it is portrayed now. Today's MR more resembles a trade magazine with its product specific references and how-tos. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not worth my $6 to go over things I learned to do long ago with rawer materials and more primitive technology. I just prefer to stay stuck in 1976 8-)

I guess the MR mag appeal to me is that I'm still pretty young in the hobby (just started seriously into it this past year). The tutorials they have in their mag have given me great ideas and tips...

I'll check out this MRC mag right away though! I'm very intrigued.

Sumpter250 Wrote:Luke,
Go for it! I hope you can win. I'm not going to get into this, I have some personal issues with the "good ol' boys", at Kalmbach.

I don't plan on grand prize, but I could hope for second or third.

I shouldn't make it sound like I'm bashing MR...I did cut my modeling teeth on the magazine like so many others. But this was back in the mid 80's, kindof a controversial transition period in the publication. Authors like Malcom Furlow were being praised for their creativity while getting accused of being John Allen knock-offs. The magazine still had a sense of fun but it was quickly losing that during the early 90's.

Art Curren's kitbashing articles were becoming fewer and farther between. There may have once been a balance between freelance and prototype, but the scales were inevitably tipping toward prototype modeling. Just look at Tony Koester's Trains of Thought columns as well as the progressive change of his own freelanced Allegheny Midland into a Nickel Plate layout.

I read through the first couple points of the current loco kitbashing contest. I pretty much stopped after

Quote:Show us a locomotive that you have modified to match a particular prototype -

That's fine. I even have parts to make a pair of Athearn Trainmasters into more accurate models of VGN diesels, as well as parts to upgrade my Bachmann N&W Class J 4-8-4.

I had been excited originally thinking I could enter my Shifter project. It, however, matches no specific prototype so it's automatically exlcuded. That's too bad, since I've done a load of research into steam locomotive workings in order to make this freelanced engine more plausible as a locomotive that could have been. It has characteristics of several other switchers, details that I've borrowed from actual locomotives. I have gone out in the field and done hands on research, taking photos and making notes of how things are affixed and how large pipes are, etc. I have even purchased resources as well as checked them out from my public library. I have learned so much about steam engines during the past few years and it has been a great learning journey.

Oh well. Just because it doesn't meet their criteria (looking for the next John Pryke or Jim Six) won't spoil my fun. I know alot of guys who just love prototype modeling and I understand that trend is catching on through all these regional prototype modeling gatherings. I just wish they hadn't been so exclusive in their description of kitbashing. I don't know that I'd even call it kitbashing, since the days of chopping up a pair of diesels to make a particular engine seem to have passed and been replaced by folks upgrading already nice engines with a few prototype specific parts from Cannon & Co., Details West, etc. Call it a Prototype Locomotive Modeling contest, but please refrain from calling it kitbashing.

Okay...down off the soapbox...for now!

Oh, and I love that dies..er...steam...er just what the heck is that thing?

Galen

The contest sounds interesting. The difficulties in free-lancing versus prototype modeling vary. Modeling the Pennsy isn't near as difficult as modeling the 6' gauge Erie of the 19th century...but much of the modern free-lance is about the easiest thing possible...as is some modern modeling.

If you are very creative, your freelance road can be more challenging than the most difficult prototypes, but it seems far to common for people to use free-lance or especially proto-freelance as a cover for a lack of creativity/modeling skills. I admire some of Dr. Wayne's creations, Sumptors, and various other people's work in the same way I admired John Allen's...most of the locomotives are not remotely stock, but they are free-lance. I really love that sort of thing. I love looking at a locomotive and instead of saying: That's a UP engine or that's a Pennsy engine, but rather that's a Delta Lines engine or that's a Port Kelsey engine.

I admire someone's model for the effort and skill it took to build...and chasing after a specific prototype or a highly imaginative concept seem to place the bar so much higher than for me to dry transfer DSP&P onto IHC 4-4-0s and call it South Park proto-freelance. I prefer for the layout to break strongly from specific prototypes or to hold very strongly to the specific prototype. Perhaps one is more of a task of creativity and the other is a task of researching/recreating very specific items.

How many people would just drop stock Grandt Line windows into a passenger car project or use other standard dimension parts to make their modeling tasks easier than my exactly 23 5/8" wide windows for my new South Park coaches. You might consider this detail odd, but it gives them a heck of a lot of character in my eyes when sitting next to other cars with different windows. Clearly, I think of model railroading as being more about the building of the roster and layout than operation or collecting.

I frequently don't read any modeling magazines. So much of the info is worthless to me (since I'm not building an n-scale layout, I don't care about detailing a MP GP-38-2, or the same old soldering article they re-write every 5 years). Besides, it is usually more fun to interact with the creators of fine models over the internet. I study older MRs, older NG&SLG, older RMCs, and a few others. I received a subscription to the NG&SLG for Christmas. If I never saw another new modeling magazine ever again, it wouldn't really bother me.

Michael