07-04-2011, 09:11 AM
steinjr Wrote:[
One good model builder has scratch built this engine (although it is not particularily "realistic" in my eyes, based on the engines I have seen):
And another good, perhaps great, model railroader has detailed and weathered this RTR locomotive, and built the realistic looking scene it is photographed in:
I don't see any obvious criteria which would make it meaningful to compare the level of competence of these two model railroaders - both are good at the way they do their hobby, but they work in very different ways and with fairly different goals.
And a "master model railroader" should pretty much ignore the modeler's goals. It should be about skills. From the standpoint of skills, the person who did the scratchbuilding may have more skills. That person has the ability to work with material and fabricate parts. They had to be able to design the parts, they had to have the mechanical aptitude to fabricate a drive train and wire it to run. Then they had to be able to paint and finish it. As far as it being prototypical or not, that's where the documentation comes in. I have seen pictures of logging engines that were similar to that.
The person who weathered the RTR has a more impressive scene and may be better at scenery and painting, but hasn't demonstrated any superior mechanical or electrical aptitude, hasn't fabricated any parts with precision. While the SCL scene may LOOk better, that doesn't mean that that modeler is a more versitile modeler. Being a master isn't about the flash, its about having a wide range of skills.
In my opinion, based only on the those two pictures (which in no way would be representative of either modeler's full range of abilities) while the scratchbuilt steamer may be less of eye-candy than the SCL diesel, the steamer demonstrates a wider range of skills.