Model Railroad Hobbyist - Why don't I read it?

There's a free and fantastic model railroading magazine available. Yes...free. It's SUPER easy to access as well.

MODEL RAILROAD HOBBYIST  

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/

You can read it online. You can download a fantastic "player" that works on numerous machines and formats. It's packed with information, great articles and more. Yet, why don't I read it? Ever? I've downloaded many of the magazines. I've even scratched out notes to go and read the thing like, "Hey, don't forget to read that awesome FREE model railroad mag!" :)  Yet, I never seem to make it back to read 'em. I just have them downloaded in a folder...waiting. The equivalent of buying a magazine, then placing it directly on the shelf and never reading it. You know...without money being involved.

So, why don't I read it? 

I think there are a few factors.

If it were a Japanese railroading free mag, I'd be looking through it all the time - even if it were in Japanese and I couldn't read any of it. I'd scan for photos and make copious amounts of notes on things I want to do. It's not, however, and some of the content - while cool - just doesn't reel me in like my Japanese stuff does.

Super easy to access and "page through"

Also, I have a Kindle, but not an iPad. I think an iPad or iPad-like device would make the experience a bit more mobile. Let's be honest, a lot of magazines are read while in the restroom and lugging a laptop in seems a bit clunky. (Though, a warm laptop on a cold day does make the experience a bit more pleasant. :::grin:::) The Kindle isn't great for the format due to the size of the screen, so it's just not drawing me in either.




I just found it interesting that I like the magazine and think it's really well put together and engaging when I do manage to look through it, but that I just don't make the effort. I read through my old magazines on my shelves from time to time, dragging them off the shelf and into the aforementioned restroom or living room to make notes and I've already looked through them numerous times.

How about you? Am I the only one that's experienced this? Just curious.

Lighting Test

I'm playing around with the idea of a large, box light for the layout. I had a few from work and hung one up just to see what it looked like with it's softbox light and I think I like it. It has potential. Th light is even and - once I get them mounted properly, they will cast a light down directly and blast away some of the wall shadows.

 There's an interesting bent to this setup. There are multiple lights inside. So, I can switch on more or less light as needed for the desired effect. I can also add one or two colored lights - orange or blue - to get an evening light look if I wanted - switching over from one to another with a few simple clicks. 

 

I still need to play with the amount of light and bulb types, but it's far better than what I have currently and...well...it's free and already in my possession! :)

 

Here is a shot with the old light setup - a single point to the far right of the shot.....

And then a similar shot, but with the new light softbox setup above.....

I think it's working better with the softbox.

You can also see the difference with the shadows being cast on the wall. In the back right, there is no light with strong wall shadows.

The idea of including colored bulbs for dusk and night shots seems like a lot of fun. Now I just need to sort out hoe to hang them properly while still being able to access the switches. Once I get that locked, I can get the colored bulbs, mark their switches (white paint by the switches for plain bulbs and colored paint for the colored bulbs) and be good to go with another item on the list! VOOTY! :)

There is a major difference when there are different amounts of lights on as well. I believe the light shown in these images are three bulbs. I'll be able to take that number down and still get a good amount of light on the layout. 

The softbox light is grand. I'm not leaving them on for long periods of time and not having them on when I'm not in the room for safety reasons, but the bulbs are not burning that hot, so it shouldn't be an issue. 

Thoughts?

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Weathering and more

More hobby time!

A new TOMYTEC Freight Liner purchase. A nice little two pack with some nice details.

I snagged a TOMYTEC Warehouse B as well. It was perfect for my harbor area. I "built it" (all of nice parts to glue in place) and popped it on the layout for placement. The spot I had picked was a bit small, so I moved some items around and found it a home.

I was trying out some new weathering techniques. Little things I picked up from my idol - Akihiro Morohoshi.  http://www.omorodesign.com/omoro_Site/Diorama/peji/nostalgic_box_%28N%29.html

Post a little grime addition. 

I want to hit some spots with sea bird droppings next. Well...paint to LOOK LIKE sea bird droppings!


Many of my buildings were super clean, KATO "Out-Of-The-Box" buildings.
Two steps: 1. Open box 2. Place building on layout   :)

I wanted to weather them up a bit so they looked like they had actually been around a bit. It managed to help a lot, actually. I'm going through and detailing additional buildings out as time goes on.  I want to roll back in and do more painting on these as well - hitting gutters and trim and the like, but it's a good first step.

I've also started adding more people into scenes. Another huge difference!

I had a great little discussion with the Facebook MODEL RAIL RADIO group about lighting. I had stopped by the local ACE HARDWARE and they had a lighting display set up. I made mention to the group that I really like the "daylight"style bulbs with the blue range light over the orange. The iPhone image I had taken made the differences SUPER dramatic. I think I'm currently leaning toward some sort of light system in the 4200 k  or 5000 k range.

Electricity and I don't see eye-to-eye, so I'll most likely go with some sort of plugin, overhead fixture of some sort. I once saw a fantastic setup for lighting that just used four or five desk lamps, so I'm running a wide range of options through the bat-computer at the moment to see what bubbles to the surface. No rush. Comments and opinions more than welcome!

Matt Goodman provided some great info on the list.
He pointed me to the LET THERE BE LIGHT episode of Model Rail Radio
http://www.archive.org/download/ModelRailRadio/mrr_103010.mp3

And he shot me over a link to his blog with another fab example of lighting temperatures and the difference between the two sets of lights he has up currently:
http://goodman312.zenfolio.com/p834311615/h239C406F#h239c406f
(( Matt - hope it's ok to spread your awesome blog around! ))


Cheers!

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New Soyokaze Harbor loading area

I managed to get some hobby time in recently!

First up was my harbor loading area. Something simple to mix things up a bit. I wanted something that fit into the current layout of the scene and that I could scratch build myself. I thought I'd try another pass at using foam core for this. Seeing where it was, I thought it might work out.

I cut some foam core to fit the curve I had in place.

I had it sprayed, but I remembered that I didn't like the look of the exposed core, so I thought a ramp would cover it nicely. :)

I kept things super simple and clean, adding a few scraps of styrene as rails and bumpers to prevent trucks from rolling off the edge of the loading area.

I was rather pleased with hos it turned out. It's not perfect by far, but it's adding a lot to the scene.

I started adding some details to the inner area. I'm giving thought o having a roadway crossover section between the inner and outer sections. It might be another fun detail.

Oops! I forgot to set up the two guys and crate on the left by the silver van! MEDIC! :)

So, the Soyokaze Harbor area continues to be a bit further along than the rest of the layout. It's always been a bit further ahead, actually. I'm drawn to the area. I think it's due to the tasks there - all of them seem like things I can actually complete somewhat painlessly. :)

Next up, my fishing boat fire repair project and more Sankei buildings.

Shizuka and Soyokaze April 2015

Views around Soyokaze and Shizuka.




Soyokaze

Soyokaze Farm

 

New town layout

Shizuka

 

More N scale subway ideas

Some rather interesting subway ideas in this video. Yes, I'll be stealing them. :)  This guy is thinking about these items in interesting ways. Reminds me of some of Rios Tam's work. He, too, is working within a small space, but has managed to pack a lot of great action and scene work into the layout by thinking about things and working through cool ways to execute.

My idea about using the duct aluminum tube material is proving to be harder than I had expected. It tends to crimp and rip with ease, so getting clean cuts is rough. I was also looking the area over a few days ago and realized that if I went with my original plan of action, I'd be cutting off a view of 60% of the track which would be somewhat sad. It's the only area where I can run my longer KATO train.

This, in turn, makes a case for that longer run option - building out the subway section to run into my back storage room area and back.

This is another cool subway video.


Hmmmm....guess I need to do some more freelance work! :)