More Practice

After sharing the last post about Practice, I immediately thought of a few ideas about how model railroaders might do just that - practice!  In no particular order, here they are:

Fos Scale Models Kit of the Month Club

This is a pretty cool idea from a relatively newer craftsman kit manufacturer who has been making deep inroads into that market.  If you've watched Jason Jensen build anything, you've likely seen a FOS Scale Models kit, and probably one of these offerings.  For about a dollar a day, you get twelve kits a year.  Or to put it another way, for the price of one South River Model Works or Fine Scale Miniatures kit resold on eBay, you get twelve little HO scale structure kits.  

Now $375 sounds like a lot all at once.  But how many modelers buy a single craftsman kit for that much, only to leave it on the shelf because they're afraid they might ruin it?  And ruin it they might - the fear is not unfounded if their modeling eyes have been bigger than their skills!  Setting aside the Sunk Cost Fallacy, I think it is still better to practice new techniques on smaller models over a longer time, than to dive in and take on a huge project only to lose steam part way through and leave it to gather dust.  Practice can give a person confidence to take on a larger project because the necessary skills are no longer unknown variables.

Walthers Build-A-World

Another option with a high cost up front is a new offering from Walthers.  Designed to build a full range of skills from laying track to building scenery and structures, this is a service that delivers - literally - a box of tools and supplies to your doorstep each month for six months.  The modeler follows along with a video series where experts guide them through the necessary steps to complete that month's tasks.  At the end of the process the modeler has completed one of three dioramas, (selected beforehand).

Again, $399 is a chunk of change.  It is also the cost of a new locomotive with DCC and sound, less than season tickets to the NFL franchise of your choice, and FAR less than season tickets to any NBA team.  How many movies can you see for $400?  With popcorn?  You get the idea.  While both of these options could possibly be assembled more cheaply by purchasing your own supplies or small kits, the missing factor in either case would be the pre-arranged delivery schedule.  That kit is going to show up each month.  That can be a wonderful external stimulus.

Other Options?

I have tried twice to write something positive about model railroad forums and the NMRA, only to end up grouchy and irritated.  Suffice it to say, if you find either of those options helpful, whether through periodic "challenge" builds on forums or the Achievement Program of the NMRA, good for you.  Personally I have issues with both even though I have only participated in forum challenges in the past.  Unfortunately the Attaboy Culture, at least for me, tends to rob praise of any meaning and bury or outright dismiss honest criticism as being harsh or a buzzkill.  Neither setting seems to be conducive to any structured form of practicing a technique or mastering a skill through repeated, deliberate activity.

That said, I believe joining with a group of like-minded peers to take on a group build project or learn a new skill together would be a great benefit to anyone willing to give and receive constructive criticism.  There are stories, legends really, on old VHS tapes, about "round-robin" groups with contrived names like "Hartford Workshop" or "Friday Night Choirboys" that would work on each other's railroads, visiting a different home each month.  Does anyone do this anymore?  Sure, many modelers may be lone wolves by choice and some of us by default, but if being part of a small group like this is possible, it could be a venue for the kind of encouragement and feedback that drives good practice.

If it is to be...

...it is up to me!  That was the slogan printed on a long ream of printer paper (the kind with the holes down the sides on strips you'd carefully tear away...remember that?) that hung in a middle school band classroom I visited once.  Sometimes practice is simply done as a daily discipline, mustered and motivated by a passion within or driven by a performance deadline.  Sure, a peer group for feedback would be great, but when the op session is over and the snacks have been consumed and you're left alone in the train room, who do you have to please, ultimately, but yourself?  

I for one like the idea of practicing a technique - not just trying out a new thing once - in order to gain confidence in my ability to create what I'm envisioning.  For me one such technique is applying static grass.  I only recently built my SG-1 static grass applicator and have used it exactly twice, just to try it out.  But before I apply even a blade of grass to the Pine Branch Park scenery I will be practicing on smaller test strips to learn how it behaves best and see what I can do with it.

What skill do you need to practice? 

 

Practice

The YouTube algorithm suggested this video as one I might like to watch.  It was right, this time.  I don't know anything, really, about this man but I like what he has to say in this video.  I also think there's a few nuggets for model railroaders to mine here.

There's one idea that Mr. Roberts proposes that really stuck with me and caused me to ponder; practice.  Model railroading, like it or not, is a creative art form, and is a reflection of the modeler's skill.  I say, "like it or not" because I think there's a tendency among some modelers to say, "I'm not an artist" as a way of excusing what they believe is a poor scenic result, or as a way of distancing themselves from the more overtly artistic modelers, such as the oft maligned Malcolm Furlow*.

They may resign themselves to a "Plywood Pacific" railroad, since track laying, benchwork and wiring aren't considered "artistic" skills, but engineering skills.  While these skills do take practice to master, it could be perceived as easier and less painless to relay track or fix wiring instead of ripping out scenery.  That may be because these functional aspects of the railroad are less heart and more head, so to speak, whereas scenery reflects a vision of a place that is likely connected to a mood or feeling.  We are less likely to rip out or redo something we're emotionally invested in.  

And I think model railroaders are more likely to use the word "experienced" when speaking of a skilled modeler, rather than someone who is naturally "artistic", meaning they don't need experience, but are born talented and take to a skill easily.  "Mastering a skill" is not a phrase I hear used by model railroaders.  That sounds too much like work, and this is a hobby, right?  Well....um....Is the implication there that hobbies don't take skill? 

Perhaps the problem is one of practice.  While I think it is environmentally irresponsible and perhaps signifies a lack of planning, there is some merit to Joe Fugate's "Chainsaw" layout idea, wherein the first layout a person builds is understood from day one to be destined for the dumpster.  That's because it is a test bed on which mistakes can be made without fear, knowing you likely won't be keeping the thing.  It is in essence, a practice layout. 

But maybe there's a better way.  Recently I was reflecting on a diorama I had built and some of the mistakes I made during that project.  One such mistake was in the use of overly-coarse texture to represent a dirt path.  On close examination, my Dad remarked that some of the particles were large enough to be stones when viewed next to the man and his horse standing on that path.  He was right, and that observation was spot on.  While I haven't decided on the final disposition of that diorama, I'm not going to toss it in the dumpster!  The offending texture can be scraped away, vacuumed and replaced, or the structures and figures removed and used elsewhere.  (Full disclosure: I did take a hand saw to it, however, in order to divide it for use on a previous railroad.  I had initially planned to put it on the Pine Branch Park pike, but changed my mind.)

This is where people who paint miniatures or make sketches have an advantage.  A sketch can be recycled, literally, and a miniature can be stripped or painted over.  Scenicking a diorama or a larger area involves much much more than just paint or pencil and paper.  At bare minimum there's a layer of paint, then glue, and some sort of ground cover.  In more advanced scenic work there can be many layers of color and texture plus trees, shrubs, rocks, details, etc.  Starting over isn't as simple as tossing a model in a sonic cleaner with some LA's Totally Awesome.  

So how DO model railroaders practice?  Building many dioramas?  Multiple railroads?  And what about clubs?  The aforementioned diorama was built as part of a club challenge to kitbash a Life-Like General Store.  I used it as an opportunity to try some new techniques and materials, but is it practice?  It certainly fits with Mr. Robert's idea of a group challenge with peer feedback.  

I've been at this hobby long enough to see my own skills improve, but I can say without doubt that I have not "practiced" any of those skills.  I play the piano and I practice daily - deliberate practice.  I solicit feedback from peers and am considering taking some lessons again to improve my skills.  Though I am being paid to play the piano, I would still practice to improve my skill and thus increase my enjoyment of the instrument and the music I make with it.  So how much more would I enjoy my hobby if I practiced those skills that cause me grief - enough that I'd rather watch YouTube than sit at my workbench and face a potential failure?

*By the way, I absolutely love Furlow's work just as it is and I have always found it inspiring and enjoyable to look at.  When this pandemic is past us, the California State RR Museum's Model Railroading Exhibit is on my short list of places to visit sooner than later, primarily because Furlow's San Juan Central is on display there.