The Philosophical Musings of Teach Yourself Modelcraft

Back when I was in high school I borrowed the book Teach Yourself Modelcraft from the library quite a number of times. I can't remember what the attraction was, other than just feeding my addiction for reading every book on model making that I could find, so when I saw a copy for sale online at a reasonable price I bought it.

It was written by H. S. Coleman, the editor of Modelcraft Magazine, and published by English Universities Press in 1952. I didn't realize it was that old at the time, and I'm surprised our school library had a copy in the mid-'70s. 

Back then all I was interested in was model building techniques, so I likely skipped what I then considered the fluffy parts and focused on mining whatever techniques I could find. These days, with these older books, my approach is the opposite. Oh, the book presents techniques, but it is equally full of what I'd call philosophical musings, practical encouragement, and pleasant parables. Here's one for male readers who might be concerned that modelcraft isn't sufficiently macho or socially acceptable:

It is one of the strange perversities of human nature that men like, in the choice of their side-interests, to adopt some occupation which, for some obscure reason, belongs to the category that is labelled "manly" or "sporting". The idea seldom occurs to these good people that the terms themselves are entirely arbitrary ones, having arisen from a class of people whose judgement is by no means omniscient.

That sounds rather modern and applicable to many situations.

My copy doesn't have the distinctive dust jacket of the Teach Yourself Books series, but it's in good condition. I think my father owned a copy of Teach Yourself Algebra, or maybe it was the one on geometry. It was something mathematical, as I remember that classic cover design on his book shelf.

I leave you with a musing from Mr. Coleman on The Value of Odd Moments:

As for the actual shortage of time in a busy life, it must be said that it is amazing what can be done in the way of model construction in the most haphazard odd moments. Many of the most artistic examples now in existence have been brought into being during a spare ten minutes here and an odd half-hour there. Actually this is one of the most attractive attributes of the craft. A piece of work can be started, can be left lying on the work-bench for a week, and then can be returned to at any moment. Model making is the ideal occupation for broken time, and will adequately fill up many an odd moment that would otherwise be swallowed up in idleness or reading stale news in the paper.

Or stale 'news' on the internet.

Perry Mason and The Case of the Loopy Leaf

Last fall I dove into watching the Perry Mason tv movies that ran from 1985 to 1995. I gave up after the first 4 1/8 films, but decided to try them again. This time though I figured I'd pick movies at random instead of marching in sequence through all 30. This is proving to be a good strategy as they get better as time goes on. 

Recently I watched The Case of the Silenced Singer from 1990. It's interesting, but one anomaly leapt from the screen: it looked like there was an upside down Canadian flag flying above the entrance to a hotel where Perry was interrogating a piano player. To me it looks like the stem of the maple leaf is at the top of the flag. Given that the movie was supposed to have been filmed in Denver, it seemed odd the Canadian flag would be in the centre of the group, and upside down to boot. Maybe it's a subtle message of a Canadian in distress? Maybe a set dresser was in a hurry to make some nondescript building look like a hotel or restaurant? Or maybe I need new glasses :-)

Testing the track plan, Part 3

I mocked up a passing track with an internal cross-over made from 2 right hand switches. The purpose of all this was to convince myself that it would function ok, and it did. On the layout this section of track will be about twice as long as shown in the mockup, and the simple passing track will be the same size as its mockup. 

I should move on to finishing the disassembly of the old layout so I have room for the new board, and can test putting together the new track plan on it.

E. L. Moore's Branch Line Station: Two scales, double the fun!

Original Rocky Ridge Station on E. L. Moore's EVRR layout

Once upon a time E. L. Moore had an HO scale layout called the Elizabeth Valley Railroad. Nestled in one corner was the Rocky Ridge Station. Let's let Mr. Moore take the story from here:

It seems that of everything I build I eventually get around to making two, and this is my second station of this type, having built my first one some ten years ago, and then in a weak moment selling it and now finding I need another.

It's that 'another', the second build, that's in the collection of E. L. Moore buildings. Mr. Moore continues:

It fits so well on a certain curve on my pike that the only change I made was that the first was built of capped siding while this one is made entirely of balsa.

So begins E. L. Moore's Branch Line Station article that appeared in the April 1964 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman.

This little station is another of my favourites, and since the N-scale EVRR tribute layout needed one, I had a perfect excuse for diving in and building one in N-scale. Those wires you see in the photos are from my model. Mr. Moore's makes no provision for interior lighting, unlike his first version which you see lit up in the night photo of his layout.

The model arrived more-or-less as I saw it back in 2015, although some details had come loose and had to be re-glued. As well, the chimney was cracked and the train order signal had to be unbent.

The model was easily fixed up with a little Weld Bond. If you look at the article you'll see that there were many other details in the scene like milk cans, a wagon wheel, and some barrels and furniture. None of those were present, but I suspect some eBay searching might unearth some of those accessories. 

You'll notice that the bottom step on the front platform's set of stairs is missing. I went back through the packing materials with a fine-tooth-comb as they say, but it wasn't there. The 2015 photos show it was also missing then, so I suspect it's been gone for a long time. 

But, the search was not without its rewards. I found that figure in the very bottom of the wrappings. It looks and feels like a Weston figure. I don't see him appearing in the article's photos, but E. L. Moore used a lot of Weston figures, so it'll no doubt come in handy.

This station is quite small, and even smaller in N scale. 

I had to laugh when I saw Mr. Moore's model had brown doors and yellow trim, and I used yellow doors with brown trim. I don't recall if I did that deliberately, but makes for a nice contrast.

You can also see that I need to add a train order signal. I'm quite impressed with Mr. Moore's. His is made from thin brass, and will turn in its support so you can change signals.

The size difference is quite apparent in this view.

The chimney guy wires on E. L. Moore's model are actually wire, not thread as I had mistakenly thought. Also, look at that window frame. It's quite fine and nicely proportioned.

In this view the weird little warp I have in the back corner of my model is embarrassingly clear for all to see :-(

His roof uses his standard woodburning technique for etching the shingle pattern into balsa sheets. Mine, again, uses the paper strip technique.

To wrap up, I thought I'd test place the N scale station on the layout to see how it looked. It seems about the right size. I tried powering up the station's light with a battery, but although the light lit, the battery was too weak for anything other than a dull glow. I need some new batteries, and probably a dedicated power supply for these sorts of tests.

Recently Updated: Maybe the E. L. Moore Carolina Camera episode still exists

John Carter at WBTV's Carolina Camera graciously answered my emails asking if they had the episode featuring E. L. Moore. So, I've updated the post Maybe the E. L. Moore Carolina Camera episode still exists, and will use that one to keep track of developments to the story.