If it helps, theres a big difference between accuracy, and believability. On my layout, I decided that the scenic and industrial elements may not be accurate; it didn’t exist that way in the SPECIFIC locale where I set for my layout. But most or all of it COULD have. Most if not all of it did exist somewhere in the GENERAL area, and really not too far away.
So I said to myself, lighten up, get to it, build what you want to see, just keep it believable enough to satisfy your eye. Building some small portions that are accurate to a specific prototype you like can help here. Works for me, and got me past previously mentioned paralysis. Dan
For me it can and does. I use same old fashion spike method to lay track like I did when I built my first ISL back in '62 and like in '62 I go for believability not perfection…
I’m not above switching BB and Roundhouse cars with a BB SW7, GP7 or GP35. While I have better detailed cars and locomotives I still (Oh the humanity! For shame of it all! [swg]) enjoy the older models. Maybe its because it reminds me of the shinning times when life was good and simpler. OTOH I no longer wear a watch nor am I a slave to the time clock and may not even know the day or date without looking–maybe this is the shinning time? [swg]
My railroad is now a freelanced eastern railroad but I still hang on to all my old big UP steam from my last layout. Two Northerns, two Challengers, and a Big Boy, all from Rivar
Very few. For 99.99% of the photos we publish, the only Photoshop work we do is sharpening, adjusting color, and rarely rotating to straighten the horizon. In the 8 years I’ve been working here, I only remember four examples of actually altering an image, and in each case, it was an otherwise perfect photo with only one glaring flaw. One involved removing cobwebs from the front of a locomotive, one was straightening up a wobbly figure in the foreground, the third was putting a steamer’s lead truck back on the rails, and the fourth was straightening a diesel handrail that the photographer didn’t notice had popped loose. That’s the extent of Photoshopping that’s ever done to our photos. We get enough good photo submissions that if a photo has more problems than that, we don’t have to use it. So when you see a spectacular photo in our magazine, you know the layout is actually that spectacular.
Neil and Steve, Thanks for the reply.Good to know.
The sad part with photo shop every photo becomes suspect. I’ve seen photos I had to look at long and hard before I realized I was looking at a highly photo shopped model photo.
One photo that really stump me was a picture of a 1/24 Panzer model interlaid on a actual WWII photo. It was a stunning photo.
Rivet counters hate me. I don’t model the rivets! Most of my freight wagons are honest-to-Murgatroyd (almost) RTR tinplate - little galvanized steel boxes with a wheel at each corner and a coupler pocket at each end. The Baker couplers originally installed have long since joined the trash stream.
So, what level of precision is necessary, and what can be dispensed with? Let’s take a close look at one car, WaRa12345 (don’t laugh. I have a prototype photo!)
Where is precision and attention to detail important, and where isn’t it?
Starting at the bottom - the wheels are code 108, 10.5mm diameter nickel silver turnings running on needle-point steel axles (both wheels insulated) in ‘bearings’ point-punched in the stamped sheet steel pedestals. With a little minor adjusting of those pedestals it’s possible to get all wheels equally loaded on the railhead. Manufacturing accuracy of the wheel sets is a close approximation of zero deviation. Once tweaked, tracking is excellent.
Then, couplers. Unmodified Kadee #6 couplers can be assembled and leveled with no more difficulty than that found on changing couplers on most North American products. The shims have to be installed at the draft gear box - you can’t use washers at the non-existent truck bolsters. (Why #6? Because that’s the way the frame/coupler screw geometry works out.)
Do I strive for perfection? No…I only strive for believability.
Larry, you are my hero!
Rivet counters hate me. I don’t model the rivets! Most of my freight wagons are honest-to-Murgatroyd (almost) RTR tinplate - little galvanized steel boxes with a wheel at each corner and a coupler pocket at each end. The Baker couplers originally installed have long since joined the trash stream.
So, what level of precision is necessary, and what can be dispensed with? Let’s take a close look at one car, WaRa12345 (don’t laugh. I have a prototype photo!)
Where is precision and attention to detail important, and where isn’t it?
Starting at the bottom - the wheels are code 108, 10.5mm diameter nickel silver turnings running on needle-point steel axles (both wheels insulated) in ‘bearings’ point-punched in the stamped sheet steel pedestals. With a little minor adjusting of those pedestals it’s possible to get all wheels equally loaded on the railhead. Manufacturing accuracy of the wheel sets is a close approximation of zero deviation. Once tweaked, tracking is excellent.
Then, couplers. Unmodified Kadee #6 couplers can be assembled and leveled with no more difficulty than that found on changing couplers on most North American products. The shi