Page 3 - March April 1999
P. 3

CUPOLA
...FROM THE EDITOR
   A couple of recent products advertised in the magazines introduced a rickety train of thought into the cluttered rail yard of my mind. One was Proto 2000’s ready-weathered building kit “Moore & Company”, and the other was the Ertl range of similarly “finished” structure kits. Both products, though still in the form of kits, had the weathered finish, printed-on details and so forth, already in place. When you consider that no “plain” plastic building tends to look anything other than plain plastic till painted and/or weathered, this departure is useful.
However, it also linked up with the editorial by Randy Lee in “Model Railroading”, which asked if too much is now readily available in a finished state? So many new items are appearing (he said) in very detailed form, that we may be becoming more a hobby of collectors and operators, than modellers. The ready- weathered buildings, for example, are a godsend to those pressed for time and/or not capable of producing such effects themselves, but is the idea a bit self- defeating?
It puts me in mind of comments made by some members when the new National NMRA A.P. criteria were discussed, and the emphasis had swung somewhat from scratchbuilding efforts to prototype conformance. Some modellers felt that this suggested that the skills of scratchbuilding had been downgraded.
I suppose modellers scratchbuild for two reasons...
a) they can’t economically get what they want any other way, and/or...
b) they just like scratchbuilding.
Consequently, whatever is available, some folk will still take their bits of wire, plastic, card, wood, and set about scratchbuilding - even if a D.A. equivalent is sitting on the model store shelf.
Randy Lee jokingly went on to wonder if the computer programs now available for layout design planning would, in some “futureworld”, take over from modelling in some cases. Using the virtual reality of ‘CAD’ you can build any size layout to any scale, sit in the loco cab and run it. Eventually you wouldn’t use graphics of models and bits of layout, but images from the real world, so the final indulgence would be having your own “full size”, if virtual, railroad - you could change the time of day, the weather, the geography and so on. Many years ago, in an editorial, I suggested a similar idea, but
 using the then-new concept of holograms. Maybe it wasn’t such a joke after all!
At that point, the hobby of “model railroading” would have converged, if not merged, with the pastime of computer “operating” selected divisions of real railroad via a computer CD - many of these are already available, for those who have lost their craft knife!
As a final note on this subject, it is interesting to see, in the very same magazines, that the same company (Lifelike) had gone the other way in producing a LESS detailed F unit, using the established Proto 2000 mechanism but a simpler bodyshell.
This considerably reduced the price for those modellers who don’t care if their hand grabs etc. are moulded on or see- through.
Is this a good idea or merely a retrograde step? Well, in this case the bottom line is price, naturally. A modeller who might baulk at $80-$90 for a diesel would be a lot happier at $50. He might intend to re- detail the simple shell but whether this is nowadays an economic route to a classy model is open to question. (Though there is little doubt, economics aside, that skilled DIY detailing would usually produce the better model.)
But, at the very least, the choice is being offered. And that in itself can be no bad thing.
Come up and see us
sometime...
As you read this, hopefully in early April, though I write in late January (that ol’ time warp again!) the Aldridge layout crew are about to cart the woodwork up to the Crawley club show, which is actually held just outside Horsham. (If it is now later than April 10/11, forget it!)
If you are passing, do look in and say ‘hello’ - or even ‘goodbye’. Our replies are generally friendly, so long as the Kadee’s are working, the power supply hasn’t gone down, nothing’s fallen off the track lately!
..got Georgia on my mind!
Please note I will be away from about June 3rd to 18th. If you have anything important for the August issue, please try to get it to me by June 1st. However I should be able to deal with last minute items, if not too numerous, sent around deadline time - June 21st. After last year’s misfire regarding holidays, we intend to make up for it with some Georgia sunshine and lots of...oh..., those long, wheeled things that make all the racket...
I’ll see yah’all later.
Martin Boyask
    ROUNDHOUSE APRIL 1999
CONSIST...
CUPOLA 3
PRESIDENT’S CAR 4
MEMBER AID OFFICERS 4
Geoff Meek
HO IN THE GARDEN 5
Ian Wheeler
SOME GEMS FROM THE PAST 6
John Firth
BEANERY 7 UNCOUPLED CARS 8 TIMETABLE 9 WHAT’S ON & WHERE 10 HEY THERE! Info from John Hey 12
MEET REPORTS 12
Convention Post Mortem - Russ Cook Ipswich Show - Mike Smye
Southend Show - Dave Carson
NMRA MEMORABILIA 14
Eric White
P87 - FEDERAL STREET YARD 15
John Wright
REGISTRAR NEWS 16 BUNKHOUSE REVISITED
W. A. Corkhill 16
RAILROAD REVIEW 17
CONSTRUCTORS' CORNER 18
Modules for the Future; The Ultimate Empire Part III - Revisions; Reliable Ballast Slopes; Layout Paint; Weathering Boxcars
Material for ROUNDHOUSE should be sent to: The Editor, Martin Boyask, 135 New Church Road, HOVE, East Sussex BN3 4BE. Telephone: 01273 422048 (before 9 pm) E-mail: ed_nmra@mboyask.freeserve.co.uk
TRADE ADVERTISING COPY to:
John Sammans, 32 Oker Avenue, Darley Dale, Matlock, Derbyshire DE4 2GN.
Telephone: 01629 734931
COPY DATES FOR FUTURE ISSUES...
Deadline for June 1999 is April 23rd., and for August 1999 is June 25th.
ROUNDHOUSE is designed by Ian Wilson, Mackenzie Wilson, 2 High Street, Corby Glen, Lincolnshire NG33 4LX Tel.01476 550502 and printed by Avon Printing Services,
Bath Road, Melksham, Wiltshire.
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