It’s different to saying something nice, versus trashing someone for not looking ‘real’ enough or something of that nature.
What I mean is, say someone does something crazy like 4" drop over 10" of distance on the track with an 11" radius turn at the bottom, and hasn’t run trains on it. It would be fair to point out that no matter what the scale most trains run at nothing will go up it and going down will be a slide more than a run and won’t look all that exciting (well, unless you like crashing and burning)
Also it would be fair to point out that they only have two loops and that’ll get pretty boring to work with. There are constructive ideas to offer about that as well. A lot of us new to making your own layout types are thinking ‘how will I turn the engine around, oh yeah, a loop’ and put those on the end so that it’s always going ‘frontwards’. Again, there are ways to point this out without calling them an idiot or something but are still fair critiques that the person may be asking for.
In the layout section over the last few days there has been some very nice building of a layout going on with all sorts of input. All nice and constructive. So if you don’t like the way it looks and someone asks for feedback, you might take the time to say what bothers you, how you might have done it different, and some suggestions. If the person gets offended when you answer like that, they never should have asked for opinions in the first place
If someone asks for constructive criticism, it is fine to give it, and it can still be nice. There is other criticism that I think we’ve all seen, that isn’t called for in any situation. That isn’t nice.
No, it’s obvious to anyone with any reasonable experience in the hobby and, I’d say, it is becoming increasingly more apparent with time.
Back in the 1950’s, when all manner of model railroading supplies could be considered primative, at best, the appearance of different layouts by various hobbyists were really quite similar, except for just a few guys like John Allen, who were way ahead of their time. As the decades have passed, all the hobby products have improved immensely, as well as totally new materials and advanced techniques appearing on the scene. It has reached the point today that a talented and accomplished hobbyist can produce layout scenes difficult or nearly impossible to judge, based on just photographs, whether they are real or modeled.
However…the spectrum of layout quality/realism has dramatically expanded over this same period. Today you still have entry-level folks and those more or less unwilling to expend the time, or just plain lacking it, necessary to learn and apply the often complex new techniques needed for doing realistic modeling at the hobby’s current high standards. And this leaves most of them still muddling around with layouts that have an unrealistic, toy-like, or perhaps bare-bones, 1950’s look a
WELL, Lots of sage advice, and I’m not alone, and lots to think about, great responses(no crazies) Some say to never make any comment unless it is complimentary, regardless if the comment would help the person and he would be glad for the advice. In art classes we critiqued each others art, (good and bad) and all seemed grateful for any advice,(it’s part of the learning curve) I would be glad if someone approached my layout and said “you cant’ do that” or “that shouldn’t be like that because…” and he then explained what the reason was, I would thank him for his expertise and feel I got a “free lesson” — forget how my little feelings were hurt. Help a child that has a problem and watch how attentive they are and how happy they are when they rectify the problem on their own (ask them first if they would like some help or advice). All in all the replies were very good and a good forum as usual. I hope that no one thinks I go around and tell people how goofy looking their layout is (I don’t) And they really aren’t goofy looking are they??
