It's a small detail of course, but in my memory of the Pillsbury hoppers, if the truck side frames weren't blue as on the real ones I saw back in the '70s, then, well, it just wasn't right. After a little bit of colour matching, Vallejo Model Color Royal Blue 70.809 seemed to be the best match. So, I unscrewed the trucks from the bodies and brush painted the side frames. Sounds easy, right? Problem is I found the trucks were screwed into those bodies extra tight, and it was quite tricky to apply sufficient torque with a fine screwdriver without damaging the bodies. But, everything worked out, and now my mind is at ease :-)
It's crazy early on a Saturday morning and as I contemplate all things blue and the philosophical implications of going back to bed to catchup on dreams or facing the day and making coffee, I'll leave you with the legendary Angelique Francis:
A little earlier in the week the copy of Landscape Modelling by Barry Norman I ordered arrived in the mail. Like a lot of books I've bought recently it has been on my list for a long time, and finally one came up for sale online at a decent price.
It's a clean copy, and there isn't any indication inside of who the previous owner was or where this book may have resided before coming to Canada. All I can say is it was published by Wild Swan Publications of England in 1986. If you're doing any comparative reading you might want to dig up your copies of John Olson's 1983 book, Building an HO Model Railroad with Personality, and Malcom Furlow's 1984 book. HO Narrow Gauge Railroad You Can Build. Both were published by Kalmbach in the US. Even though Olson's and Furlow's book cover all aspects of model railway construction, it's interesting to compare their scenery modelling techniques to Norman's given that all three books were all published in the same era.
The entire book is an enchanting mixture of prototype photos, model photos, and expertly drawn line illustrations.
I liked this book right from the get-go. Bob Barlow, the editor of Model Railway Journal, has this to say in the Foreword which sets the tone for the pages to come:
"However, there's far more to this slim volume [JDL: it's only 66 pages] than useful modeller's hints and wrinkles; there is a deeper dimension which speaks of success out of failure, of observation blending with a determination to get things right, and, above all, of love for the subject - in this case, our own British landscape. Looking around and loving what you see is a taller order than taking it for granted as most of us do, especially when those surroundings are conventionally 'ugly' like so many urban landscapes today. But somewhere, even in the grimmest of city wastes, beauty exists. And if you're out there studying the landscape closely enough - in order to build an accurate model, for example - you will assuredly find it. Not just once, but dozens of times: images that will linger and give inner pleasure for many, many years. I find it comforting that this hobby of ours - which most will concede is a fairly insignificant part of whatever great scheme exists - can lead us to great insights into our relationship with our own small planet."
Inside is a thoughtful account of how to go about creating a landscape for a model railway. It discusses both design and implementation aspects, and the author's layout, 'Petherick', provides examples. It's well written, clear, and the modelling techniques are effective and easy to understand. All the photos are black-and-white, but that hardly seems to matter given the excellence of the text.
This book is also great for just dipping into and browsing. Well, all Wild Swan publications are, but this one especially so for me because I'm a sucker for well done line drawings, and there are a lot in this book. The layout of the book is excellent too. Inspired page layout is a rarity these days, so it's even more impressive to me when I just stumble across it.
Out on the back porch with my 'tree box' getting a start on the community garden trees, and looking through my just arrived copy of Landscape Modelling.
The book showed up at an interesting time. I had started work on making trees for the community garden layout, and I had just heard of David Hockney's passing, so I was a bit preoccupied with thinking about landscapes.
Hockney was a favourite artist. I never pay much attention to the passing of media figures, but this one hit home. As silly as it sounds, he seemed like an indomitable presence who would live forever. His work was varied, but I especially appreciated his thoughts that direct observation and wrestling with the problems of depiction were key things to deal with in art, as it should be for railway modellers. Here is Sam Hamper's tribute to Hockney where he goes into that and many other things about his life:
At around the 7:23 mark Hockney makes an interesting observation about trees in a discussion about perspective, well, maybe it's an obvious observation, but I thought it was good he said it out loud:
"Any cameraman will tell you it's not so easy to film the tallness of trees for instance because you have to look up to see the tallness. It's the tallness that would give you the majesty of the tree isn't it? The majestic nature."
Which is why I think it's important to model trees to their correct scale height and volume, otherwise it's conventional toy train lollipop trees all the way down that are completely without majesty.
There are a lot of Hockney videos at YouTube, but I'll simply point out this short one of Hockney painting a tree dominated scene in Yorkshire:
The ways of the YouTube recommendation algorithm are a mystery to me. As I was looking for Hockney videos it recommended some from a channel called Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't ! The videos at that channel are serious, hilarious, and scathing, but in line with Barlow's comment that "... somewhere, even in the grimmest of city wastes, beauty exists" have a look at this poignant one of a tour of an abandoned Southern Pacific station in West Oakland, California (Warning: This is serious stuff):
I've started to work on the scenery by laying out the primary areas. There'll be 9 garden plots, or pieces of garden plots: 5 inside the loop, 3 bounding the outside the loop pedestrian pathway, and 1 close to the loco re-charging station (it's the gravel area with the repurposed porch railing as one of fences that bounds the 9th garden plot).
The shed is tucked in a corner inside the loop. Beside it will be a tree. I've pretty much decided on using the tree in the photo below even though it's maybe 100m or so away from the shed on the real thing (selective compression in action!):
That green patch across from the loco recharging area will be home to this tree:
It isn't actually located in the community garden grounds, but on a boulevard on the walk to it. All I can say is I like it, and it will be an interesting challenge to make, so there you go.
While I was out walking today I noticed the city has marked where they're going to plant new trees. I need some of those sorts of signs for my layouts.
As part of their A History of the United States in 100 Objects podcast series the BBC features the biography of Thaddeus Lowe - yes, that Thaddeus Lowe, of Mount Lowe Railway fame - in episode 4. His story begins at the start of the American Civil War, continues on through the creation of the Mount Lowe Railway, and ends with Michael Collins, Apollo 11 astronaut, orbiting the Moon. Give it a listen. You won't be disappointed.
A few years back I was undertaking an informal study of books about the works of artists who used scale models of one sort or another as their medium. Other interests took over and I parked the project. The last few months though I've felt a need to revisit that project, especially now that the Havelock micro-layout has reentered my thoughts. There're things I want to communicate with that little chunk of foam and track that I think the techniques employed by these artists might help with, so I thought now was a good time to get back to my studies.
One book in this genre that I've been meaning to get for quite awhile is Hitler Moves East: A Graphic Chronicle, 1941-43 by David Levinthal and Garry Trudeau (of Doonesbury fame). I found a copy online that was a good price, and the shipping cost wasn't crazy, so I ordered it.
In the past I didn't pay much attention to any internal markings indicating something about a book's provenance, but these days I do, what with today's book shredding frenzy and a mass turning away from the printed word and all.
This book used to belong to a university library. Wikipedia tells me that the Kent Institute of Art & Design was formed in 1987 as a result of a merger of three art and design schools, and the University for the Creative Arts was formed in 2005 under a different name from a merger of the Kent Institute with another school. The merged entity became the University for the Creative Arts in 2008.
The book was first published in 1977 by Sheed, Andrews, and McMeel, and reprinted in 1989 by the Laurence Miller Gallery. My copy is the reprint edition.
There are many text-free, double page spreads like this one that let the photos speak for themselves.
In the Preface Trudeau refers to the work as a "paper movie", and I think that's a good description. It's a collection of staged photographs of HO and 1/35 scale toys and models, integrated with quotes and descriptive text, of the World War II German invasion of the Soviet Union. The book's story starts in June 1941 and takes the reader chronologically through the horror up to February 1943. The work was the thesis project of Levinthal and Trudeau at the Yale School of Art in the early 1970s.
An example of the integration of text into the "paper movie".
The photos aren't like the typical ones shot by hobbyists. They're monochromic, atmospheric, soft focus, and impressionistic. Showing off detail and fidelity to visual reality isn't the aim, but capturing real moods is. The Technical Information section has this to say:
"The sense of reality was augmented in this [JDL: the photo of an explosion throwing soldiers into the air that spans pages 18 and 19.] and many other photographs in Hitler Moves East by the narrow depth of field used in taking the pictures. Having only one small area in sharp focus permitted the models in the background and foreground to assume amorphous shapes that both obscured their identities as toys and contributed atmospherically to the compositions."
I found the imagery stunning. The only other book of Levinthal's work I have is War Games, but I'm looking forward to digging up his others.
One of many Pillsbury Hoppers seen at Havelock Yard in the mid-1970s. This photo is a restoration by Gemini of one of my old snapshots. Yes, the trucks on the prototypes were blue, so the models need a little updating.
I never finished the scenery on that layout. I seemed to be looking for the right inspiration, but couldn't find it. Nevertheless, I've been looking for Pillsbury hoppers for it ever since installing the last piece of track. And John has too!
The search came to an end on a recent trip to Van Horne Hobbies when John saw a Pillsbury Hopper in the front row of one of the many, many display cabinets in the store. It turned out there were 4 hoppers: I bought 3 and John bought 1, as a souvenir of the long search for these things finally coming to an end.
The fleet lines up for a glamour shot along the Havelock Yard's display track.
These freight cars are made by InterMountain and are quite beautiful items. I saw their big brothers in Havelock Yard when they were more-or-less brand new, so they aren't going to be weathered. I think the only thing I'll do is paint the trucks blue to match those on the prototype if I can find the right shade.
But before we head back to Havelock via Laval, let's take a side trip to Chicago:
John and I went out to Van Horne Hobby in Laval the other day. He'd visited in March and was blown away. Hidden away on the grounds of a road sweeping business is this lair of model railway extravagance:
Upon entry ....
Photos don't do it justice.
Your humble scribe points out his personal Holy Grail. Many years have we searched! More in future posts. Stay tuned!
I decided to take some glamour shots with all the pieces I've so far assembled to assess the composition.
Once I finished testing the track in the pit I decided to do some odds-and-ends work that I had been putting off. This included: finishing installing the internal stiffeners in the launch pad section, finishing installing the walls of the blast trench under the launch pad, installing the launch pad, priming the roadbed in the pit, and sticking down the pit track. Nothing glamorous, but all essential.
Business end of the blast trench.
It's more-or-less all scenic work from here on as I think the major structural and infrastructure components are now in place.
A major discovery in the monolith pit!
And I think the scenic work will be quite interesting. At my usual snail's pace it could take a year or so to complete, but I've only touched on lunar scenery, so lots of learning ahead too.
R100 in Canada by Barry Countryman Published by The Boston Mills Press, 1982
There was a long trail of old mental associations that got me thinking again about this book, R100 in Canada. The short version goes something like this: The Dam Busters -> Barnes Wallis -> R100 airship ->R100 in Canada. Ok, the part I didn't make explicit in the chain was that Barnes Wallis was the engineering mastermind who designed the most advanced British airship, the R100, which, as it turns out, was the only rigid airship to fly in Canada during the classic airship period of the early 20th century.
I've known about this book for a long time, but finally broke down and bought a copy last week after coming across a very good deal at an online seller.
Layout of St. Hubert airport as of August 1930. The airship mooring tower is in the upper left. The CNR track is the dark, dashed diagonal line. The temporary excursion train station is the wavy line above the 'Spur of Railway' label.
The story of the R100's visit to Canada is actually quite exciting and was a huge event, so I'll leave you to read all about it in the book. However, I'll give you a quick summary of the R100's itinerary: it left Cardington airfield in England early in the morning on 29 July 1930; completed mooring at St. Hubert airport near Montreal 78 hours and 49 minutes later on 1 August 1930; in the early evening of 10 August the R100 cast off for a tour of southern Ontario which included flying over or within sight of Ottawa, Smiths Falls, Gananoque, Kingston, Belleville, Peterborough, Oshawa, Hamilton, Niagara Falls, and Toronto; returned to Montreal on 11 August; departed for England on 13 August.
It turns out the Canadian National Railway had a permanent station at St. Hubert airport, and also built separate, temporary stations at the airport and in downtown Montreal to handle the crowds expected to see the R100 when it was berthed in St. Hubert. It was estimated that around 600,000 people visited the airport while the R100 was there (for comparison, the population of Canada in 1930 was 10.2 million), so they certainly correctly predicted the enthusiasm of the public.
From the book I get the impression that the CNR had a big role to play in the visit. One aspect that surprised me was it provided you-are-there radio coverage of the R100's approach and landing:
"The Canadian National Railways Radio Department in Montreal, believing Canadians would not be satisfied with colourless government bulletins from the mooring mast, decided to report as much of the R100 flight as possible, following the airship up the St. Lawrence until she moored in St. Hubert.
For the 15 station coast-to-coast hook-up it hired Andy W. Ryan of the Department of Agriculture in Ottawa and Charles Findlay, a former Royal Navy wireless operator, to man a broadcasting outpost at Laval University in Quebec City; established an observation post on the roof of its downtown Montreal studios in the King's Hall Building at 1231 St. Catherine Street West; and erected a 60-foot-high wooden tower composed of two telephone poles on St. Hubert Airport property between the main entrance and the CNR excursion train station.
From the tower, W. Victor George, a programmer and announcer at CNRM. Montreal, with other duties at CNR Radio headquarters, and Captain John A. Barron would describe the R100's arrival at the mast."
I was also quite surprised to learn that FROG released a 1/500 scale plastic kit of the R100 in 1965, and Barnes Wallis himself (!) consulted on the kit's development. And as a bonus, a model of the mooring mast at St. Hubert is included. Apparently the kit has been re-popped over the years, so if I ever find one for a reasonable price it might show up here.
I spent some time over a few days installing the track in the monolith pit. I was surprised that it was quite a pleasant experience. I'd maybe work on it for a couple hours each day and almost immediately after beginning my mind would enter a flow state. I thought this would be a stressful job given the precision needed to get all the pieces to fit properly, but it turned out to be rather restful.
There are some minor alignment issues with the landscape, but they are easily corrected. After watching the loco climb the grade I think the loco still has enough - as my father would say - 'oomph' to pull a couple of cars.
I think the next task will be to do a little landscape cleanup.
From the article, N Scale Puts on a Show, Railroad Modeler, August 1975. The caption reads: "A fanciful N display was this 'city in a tree' built by Barry's Hobbies of Garden Grove, California. It just might be the thing to get N scale out of the garage and into the living room."
I've been falling down on my review of the entire print run of Railroad Modeler, but hopefully I'm getting back in the groove. My excuse is I was trying to get Gemini to produce an index for the 1975 issues, as I did for 1974, but I ran into so many problems I gave up, and my interest in the entire project soured. Apparently I need to take a lesson or two in so-called 'prompt engineering'.
Anyway, I'm again reading my way through 1975. In the Aug '75 issue, in a report on an N scale show put on by the Belmont Shore Railroad Club of Signal Hill, California, I stumbled across this photo of an N-scale railroad set in a tree. The only words about it are those in the caption, so I don't know if it's technically a micro layout, or anything else about it, but it looks quite close. However, if migrating layout fun to the living room was a goal, it certainly seems sized to fit MCM-7 :-)
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