Monday, March 12, 2018

B. A. Bodil by Peter Dillen

I was recently introduced to the work of Peter Dillen in the Feb '18 issue of Model Rail. The magazine featured a full, double page photo by Chris Nevard of Mr. Dillen's IJsselstein. I immediately went to the web, and along with Peter Dillen's website, I found this amazing video of his B.A. Bodil dioramaWow.

7 comments:

  1. Mr Dillen must have a heckuva big basement to fit all those Alps!

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    1. After two cups of coffee I realized how he did it: Tardis technology.....

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  2. It's bigger on the inside.

    But seriously, this layout is just one fine example of the "smaller-layout/higher-quality" ethos that seems to pervade much of the rest of the world (Miniatur Wunderland et al excluded, as the focus there is on high quality and immensity). I have yet to see this at work in the USA. Our modular efforts and massive club layouts all seem to have a lowest-common-denomenator ethos, where the camaraderie and participation by everyone is more important than a high-quality of model making. Yes, there are exceptions, but generally speaking of layouts for public consumption, this is too often the case.

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    1. I read on someone's blog recently - I need to track down exactly where - that they thought an interesting way forward here in NA might be for UK-style layouts, but modelling NA-style prototypes. I think that could be a route worth exploring.

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    2. I agree. I don't mean to be down on folks who enjoy the status quo - it is that way for a reason and continues to be that way. I do, however, think our North American modeling has gotten into a rut lately and maybe a real small-layout, exhibition style show in a different venue (other than a giant hall at a fairgrounds) could be stimulating for the hobby if it got good press coverage and was easy to replicate.

      The Ontraxs show in Utrecht is on my bucket list, along with similar shows that focus on high quality modeling. I'm glad there are folks who regularly attend them and make nice videos to share.

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    3. I haven't heard of the Ontraxs show - I need to look that up.

      These days I'm quite enjoying browsing through model railroading mags from the UK. Mainstream or specialist, they seem to have an excitement about them even though the prototypes and such are outside my area. They seem to have a lot of small scale shows, combined with the smaller layouts that make it easier to build a lot of layouts in one's lifetime, and their ease to carry around to show-off, it seems to make for a more dynamic hobby.

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