HO Population Diversity

[shayfan84325]

Well said, AirslideCyde! I know of many modelers of diverse colors, but to date, no green or grey ones! [alien]

Fascinating. But those of us who have lived long and prospered have indeed become “grey” model railroaders.

Good point! As a member of the “grey” set, I’ll also point out that the prepainted figure sets seem a little deficient when it comes to chronologically enhanced folks like me (and, I presume, Mister Beasley).

[tomikawaTT]

Well said, AirslideCyde! I know of many modelers of diverse colors, but to date, no green or grey ones! [alien]

Fascinating. But those of us who have lived long and prospered have indeed become “grey” model railroaders.

Good point! As a member of the “grey” set, I’ll also point out that the prepainted figure sets seem a little deficient when it comes to chronologically enhanced folks like me (and, I presume, Mister Beasley).

Hey! I resemble that!

For that matter, has anyone seen any appropriate figures for my planned sumo tournament? Not just fat, but SUMO fat (most of which is actually muscle!)

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[AirslideClyde]

Getting back on track, the hobby DOES need more diversity in its figure packs, but not in the way that they’re doing so. Woodland Scenics has perhaps the best variety, but they mix up the races as if all the sets were to be used by post-1970 modelers. Sad truth is that for most of what we modelers like to model (the “transitional” era of roughly 1945-1965) segregation in ALL things was the order of the day. That most of us don’t model that correctly (I’ve never seen a “Whites Only” water fountain on a steam-era Southern layout, for example) is partially racism, partially the inability to find enough of the correct figures needed, partialy ignorance of the past, and partially rose-colored glasses.

There was only one nationally-known modeler (he’s more known for his videos) that even attemped to model the era you cite above and he got creamed for it. I’m talking about Allen Keller. He’d had a couple of pictures of his layout in MR which had the old rebel flag (which is considered racist now) flying in front of a courthouse IIRC. The mail condemning that was plentiful. He said in his defense that he was just trying to accurately model the South as it was in his particular time period. So, as a warning, if you do a layout with ethnic other than white people on it, and you post pics of it, be prepared for the negative onslaught, unfortunately.

strangely enough, i have an old Georgia state flag (which is a rebel flag combined with the state symbol) hanging in my train room. It covers the french style door that seperates my room from the rest of the house, but secretly i keep it up just to see peoples reaction when they come in.

the gray club comment was pretty funny - i joined that club a few years ago and am becoming closer and closer to being a full member with every passing day…YIKES!!

[jackn2mpu]

Getting back on track, the hobby DOES need more diversity in its figure packs, but not in the way that they’re doing so. Woodland Scenics has perhaps the best variety, but they mix up the races as if all the sets were to be used by post-1970 modelers. Sad truth is that for most of what we modelers like to model (the “transitional” era of roughly 1945-1965) segregation in ALL things was the order of the day. That most of us don’t model that correctly (I’ve never seen a “Whites Only” water fountain on a steam-era Southern layout, for example) is partially racism, partially the inability to find enough of the correct figures needed, partialy ignorance of the past, and partially rose-colored glasses.

There was only one nationally-known modeler (he’s more known for his videos) that even attemped to model the era you cite above and he got creamed for it. I’m talking about Allen Keller. He’d had a couple of pictures of his layout in MR which had the old rebel flag (which is considered racist now) flying in front of a courthouse IIRC. The mail condemning that was plentiful. He said in his defense that he was just trying to accurately model the South as it was in his particular time period. So, as a warning, if you do a layout with ethnic other than white people on it, and you post pics of it, be prepared for the negative onslaught, unfortunately.

strangely enough, i have an old Georgia state flag (which is a rebel flag combined with the state symbol) hanging in my train room. It covers the french style door that seperates my room from the rest of the house, but secretly i keep it up just to see peoples reaction when they come in.

the gray club comment was pretty funny - i joined that club a few years ago and am becoming closer and closer to being a full member with every passing day…YIKES!!

Fi