Even if you are a prototype modeler, you will have to do a lot of painting if the big manufactuers don’t produce products for your prototype in your era in your scale.
I need a better air brush.
Lee Nicholas’ Utah Colorado Western
Thats the one. I really loved reading about it when he had D&RGW power. His was one of the best Rio Grande HO layouts I had ever read about up until that time. He still has a nice layout.
It really depends. My prototype, scale and era has been lucky I guess. I’ve managed to collect nearly every major class of diesel the Rio Grande owned. Just about everything has been made. Rio Grande was an all EMD shop after the mid-1960’s so that is a big help. By way of example for HO:
Switchers:
-SW1000 Athearn RTR
-SW1200 Proto 2000 (will need to paint)
-NW1200 KATO RTR
-S2 Atlas RTR
-RS3 Atlas and Athearn
F units:
-FT Stewart original paint
-F3 Stewart original paint
-F3 Athearn Genesis 4 stripe and single stripe
-F3 Proto 2000 single stripe
-F7 Stewart original, 4-stripe
-F7 Athearn Genesis single stripe phase II
-F7 Proto 2000 single stripe
-F9 Stewart single stripe
-F9 Athearn Genesis
Geeps:
-GP7 Atlas and Proto 2000
-GP9 Proto 2000, Front Range, Athearn Genesis (TBA)
-GP30 both phase I and II, small and large herald
-GP35 Athearn and KATO
-GP40 Bachman, Atlas (3 versions)
-GP40-2 Athearn & Atlas
-GP60 Athear
My experience is that taken to an extreme each can be bad.
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Had one person who had a very large space and modeled every tie of a prototype situation (narrow gauge town with a mine). There was so little stuff in the space available that it was the most boring model railroad I’ve ever operated. It wasn’t even that good to look at because most of it was open fields and forest.
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I have known many people that went with the 100% freelance. Unfortunately they carried to the extreme that “it is my railroad and I’ll do as I want”. The railroads ended up being really toyish looking layouts and not interesting to operate at all. Forget having a photo session because they look like a bunch of toy train junk thrown together on a board.
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I think protolancing is a recently made up term by people who have choosen a prototype railroad to follow the practices of but want to make it clear they are not trying to be rivet counters and just capture the essence of the prototype. Where does one draw the line? Can the protolance have a class of locomotive that the prototype never had. For example an Alco PA in NP Lowey Green (like American Flyer liked to do). Has that crossed the line?
Another category not mentioned is the timeless railroad. Where a specific railroad is choosen but the time eras for the equipment are all mixed together. A 4-6-4 can be running right next to a dash-9.
My experience with Freelance and Prototype modeling through the years has given me some insights to both my own and others capabilities. That is not all people are capable of all types of modeling. Many people do not have the academic stamina to do the research necessary to model the prototype.
On the other hand the southeast has been significantly absent over the years from the manufacturers. While we’ve seen a recent surge in Southern Tuxedo high hoods, you can also go for years without a single Southern locomotive being offered. Some others have only been offered once or not at all, especially if you want era specific paint. Such as SR green (unless you need F units), ACL, SAL, L&N, Clinchfield. While these are offered occassionaly, you certainly can’t build a roster without painting. The good thing is, once you learn to paint, a whole world of both prototype and freelance schemes open up. Now I just wish they’d offer more in what was once the largest railroad out there – the Undec RR.[;)]
In addresssing your mention of freelance modeling: Am about to FINALLY start small, ficticious, HO shelf switching rr (will reputedly be on shoestring budget) thru northern ME, NH, VT. Already have some diesel MP units from several roads (bought where they could be found, at right price, per road’s ’ history ’ and capital). Am NOT interested in super accurate modeling of any 1:1 as am in this Hobby to HAVE FUN, hopefully generate interest in model railroading in my 10 yr.-old grandson (who plays way too many video games) and maybe have OP sessions w/ a few old friends. Will have reverse loop at one end of point-to-point r-o-w and runaround track at other end, where portable staging cart will attach to layout (saving tons of space while still allowing good rolling stock variety). There’ll be about 6 local rail-served industries in late-transition era, w/ plenty of scenic detailing. That’s as far as I have pre-planned to-date. Will let other possibilities present themselves as I progress (maybe w/ some good suggestions from my mrr’ing friends, as I proceed). My two cents. TTFN…Old Tom aka papasmurf in NH