Details and Story Telling - NMRBO23

While this year's diorama for the National Model Railroad Build Off was designed with a broader picture and clear 'front' view in mind, there was still great emphasis placed on detailed scenes that contribute to the overall story.  That narrative is one of leisure in the "winter paradise" that was Florida of the 1920s, when tourists flocked to the state to escape the cold snowy north and play in the sun.  Of course there were residents there too and they found ways to relax and enjoy the day.  Below are some close-ups of scenes that tell the story:

Most of this year's figures were already painted, including the garden gnomes - accurate for the 1920s, actually - but I did paint a few figures and details.  I also built three vehicles, two from Jordan Miniatures and one from Sylvan, confusingly a 'Jordan' roadster.  I'm most pleased with finding a new job for Ma Spumoni; instead of hanging laundry she's picking oranges.  The fellow in the rowboat was originally going to be fishing.  Before that the rowboat was going to be a scratchbuilt steam launch or pleasure craft such as would be seen at that time.  But time ran out for adding more, and space got compressed at the waterfront so the steam launch was replaced with the rowboat, a metal casting.  The man snoozing in the boat was marketed as a 'hobo' but in this case he's just a fellow out relaxing on the water...for the moment.

Diorama Design and Composition - NMRBO23

 

 

Click on the image above or open in a new tab to see a really large version.

The top-down image above offer a good view of the overall layout of this year's National Model Railroad Build Off diorama.  The main idea driving the design is the flow across the scene from side to side, primarily left to right, interrupted by elements that break that flow.  Elements that run from one short side to the other are the lakefront, the track and the road.  Elements that interrupt that motion are the bends in the road, the stream and bridges crossing it, and the trees.  The houses and larger trees at the back of the scene are adjacent to or behind these longer, sweeping elements, and are almost interesting background features in and of themselves.  More on them in a moment.

Let's start with the water.  Since Woodland Scenics Deep Pour Murky water and a plate girder bridge were two required elements in the product bundle, it made sense to make them primary features in the design.  I placed the bridge front and center with the water making a V towards the bridge.  The small 'surface rocks', also required, point along that V toward the bridge.  (Another line of surface rocks points toward the concrete arched bridge, but it is secondary to the railroad bridge and serves another compositional purpose).

The last required element in the product bundle was "Aunt Lucy's House", a two-story wood house kit by Walthers, (nee Faller).  This structure might get its own blog post, as there's much to talk about there, but the topic for this post is about how to use the design of the diorama to highlight the required elements.  To draw the eye to Aunt Lucy's house I put a bend in the road and placed the big white house at the end of it.  I then put parallel elements in front of it which reinforce its location, connecting the street to the track to the fence to the driveway and finally the roof of the house; there's even a line of surface rocks between the track and the fence.  See the blue lines in this image below:

Note also how the other house on the left relates to the curving road, track and lakeside over against the strong parallel lines at the farmhouse.  In "reality" the home would have been the last thing built - the lake being there first, the track coming next, the road after that, and then the house.  But for the purposes of the design composition it is the most eye-catching large element on that side of the diorama, and the shape of the elements in front serve to reinforce its location.

As I implied in last year's analysis of my diorama entry from 2022, balance is important.  The weight of things influences how the viewer sees the scene.  So far the discussion has focused on a top-down view, but this year I added more vertical gradients to the diorama.  The lowest elevation is the lakefront and stream, and the highest the ground level under the mission-style bungalow on the left.  However the tallest structure is still the white farmhouse.  The paved road is the only leading line that changes elevation; it is above the track on the left, level at the crossing, then below it on the right.

Finally the trees play an important composition role.  There is one more (broken) horizontal line on the diorama - the trees across the back.  I had originally planned to include a printed backdrop but decided late in the construction to omit it.  I had even considered using a small mirror to give the illusion that the stream extended back further into the distance but disguising it with a tunnel of trees would have changed the overall feel and balance of the diorama, putting too much weight in the center instead of out front on the bridge.  

I firmly believe that nature, whenever appropriate, should dominate our modeled environments.  Big trees should be big, maintaining the relationship to other structures, trains, people, etc. as they do in reality.  My Bald Cypress trees are 60-70 feet high; this is about average for this species, but still tall enough to cast a long shadow over their surroundings as a model.  

The palm trees dotted throughout are mainly there to set the locale but also serve as punctuation marks, places to interrupt the flow and keep the eye in the scene a bit longer.  As painter Ian Roberts notes, strong lines across a composition tend to take the viewer outside the scene, so elements that keep the viewer in the scene need to be placed to do just that.  It would be easy to follow the paved road right off the right side of the diorama, but that big Cypress says "Stop!" and keeps your eye at the lakeside "beach".

Thanks for keeping your eye on this longer blog post.  I hope these thoughts inspire you to consider design and composition in your modeled worlds.

National Model Railroad Build Off 2023 Diorama

Here are some images of the diorama I built for the Walthers National Model Railroad Build Off this year.  Click on each image or open in a new tab to see them larger.

This year I chose to depict a lakeside setting in north-central Florida in the 1920s.  Most of the folks on the diorama are having fun or engaged in other leisure activities.  I say "north-central" Florida due to the inclusion of surface rocks, an element required by the product bundle I purchased for the contest.  These are rare in the state, but limestone outcrops do show up here and there.  The other elements were the big white farmhouse, some Woodland Scenics Deep Pour Murky water and a short plate girder bridge.  I also chose to include Walthers' Mission Style Bungalow and to kitbash a Rix overpass into a concrete arched bridge.

The hardest part of this year's diorama wasn't building the thing, but photographing it.  I tried three locations before arriving in the driveway using the neighbor's landscaping as a backdrop.  I was most pleased with seeing the diorama in full sun, but the sticky wax I used to hold some figures in place didn't like it, nor did some old decals I applied to the Jordan mail truck.  

I think this will be the final diorama I build for this contest unless there's a bundle I just can't pass up next year.  While I enjoyed the last four months of model making, I've got bigger ideas for the Pine Branch Park railroad and would rather put my energy there.  Plus, I've been enjoying painting minis and playing Star Wars Legion at my local gaming store.  I've got a few tubs of assorted bits I've been collecting that will become terrain pieces for that game.  But the biggest draw right now is the desire to rebuild old rolling stock and get some vintage trains Back on Track.  The weather around here is just beginning to heat up so it is time to stay inside and build models.

More posts on the diorama will appear eventually.  Details, design, and other thoughts.  Thanks for reading.

Burma Shave Signs

 

The Burma Shave company used to make roadside signs to advertise their shave cream.  These were placed along the road in a sequence, inviting motorists to read their message as they drove by.  First appearing in 1927, the signs were continually updated with new jingles through 1963.  I model the late 1920s and so a set of Burma Shave signs just barely fits into my era.  

I've been considering adding a set to my National Model Railroad Build Off 2023 diorama but have yet to decide if I'll include one.  It is the sort of detail that may or may not fit depending on how the scenery evolves.  Ditto telegraph poles, but that's another topic.  Anyway, I found this archive of Burma Shave jingles, nicely organized by year:

http://burma-shave.org/jingles/

If you are a stickler for prototype accuracy, now you can sleep well knowing your roadside advertisements are appropriate for your era.  Whether or not they fit your locale is up to you to determine.  Perhaps the book mentioned on the jingle page can help you there.  I like to know I'm close enough but I won't lose any sleep using a jingle from the wrong year, and some are funnier than others.  The selection from the 20's is limited and none are railroad related.

I hope the readers of this blog might find this site useful or at least get a chuckle from some clever ads.

2023 Diorama Update - Farmhouse Layout

Entering the final lap, not quite the final stretch, for this year's NMRBO diorama.  Track is down, painted and balasted.  Bridges are installed and the road has been paved.  All the landscape structure has been shaped, plastered and painted (though not yet in these photos).  Now comes the planning stage where smaller decisions are made.  This post is about just one such decision - where to place the chicken house.

In the first photo you can see the little red shed behind the main house, with a pale green wagon next to it.  Ditto the second photo, but I've rotated the shed and wagon 90 degrees counterclockwise.  Right now I'm leaning towards the second orientation.  But I've been cogitating over this one for a while.  I had thought about a barn in that space but it was too much competition with the main house.  The chicken house is just the right size but getting it placed has been more challenging than I first thought it would be. 

Diorama In Progress

After some consideration, I decided to enter the Walthers National Model Railroad Build Off 2023.  Here are a few "teaser" images from this year's diorama so far:

I'm really enjoying building this year's diorama.  This time there are two main buildings and two bridges, one long stretch of track, a road and a lakeside scene, with plenty of trees to build and many opportunities for detailed scenes.  Last year I included several craftsman kits but this year the structures are almost all plastic and all built as intended...mostly.  Of course I have to make upgrades.  Once again the setting is Florida but the era is the late 20's or early 30's instead of 1914.  I'm pleased with how the overall composition is laid out and steadily working to bring it to life.  

I don't want to give away too much too soon so I may not share much more than this until after the diorama is complete and the contest deadline has passed.  But there may be a handful of other posts...we'll see.  Once again I'm reminded of what I consider one of the main benefits of this contest; the ability to complete eight square feet of fully-scenicked model railroad in a short period of time.  I think it's time we lay to rest that tired old trope, "model railroads are never finished", don't you?

2022 Retrospective

Well, it's that time of year again, when I look back and assess the state of my hobby.  This year, perhaps more than the last two, has been a year of change punctuated with highs and lows.  It began with some scenic work on the Pine Branch Park railroad and continued work on the Milk & Mail passenger train, but quickly ebbed.  (See the labels in the sidebar for more on these and other topics).  In May my family and I learned that my Mom was coming to live with us; glad news yet filled with the promise of new opportunities.  By that time I was well into building the diorama I would enter into the Walthers National Model Railroad Build Off 2022.  I began blogging about that after I learned I didn't even place or make the top five.  That was a major disappointment, but despite that the work itself was four months of joyful creativity.  I may enter in 2023...we'll see.

 

Orange Avenue scene against a real Florida sky

While we did find a new home and have moved into it, we're still settling in, finding places for things, culling and reorganizing, etc.  Initially I had high hopes for turning the detached garage into a comfortable model train space.  I soon realized that wouldn't happen without significant investment of time and money.  With a son about to go off to college next year, that's not likely to happen anytime soon.  So, the focus shifted to how I might bring the existing railroad into the house.  Turns out there IS space if you're willing to accept the limitations and find a way to model within them.  This means no long trains sweeping around broad curves at high speed, however, I can focus on building smooth-running steam engines, a broad variety of rolling stock and highly detailed scenes.

This fire station is just begging to be modeled.

A few personal notes.  Somewhere during the move this summer I managed to develop an inguinal hernia.  I'm not taking the surgical route unless it becomes absolutely necessary.  This means 2023 is the year I get in shape, no excuses.  On the 29th we said goodbye to a dear family friend, our dog of 11 years, Maggie.  She will be missed.  While my Mom is nearly settled into her "apartment" in our house, there are still a few big items to deal with.  Half of this house was built in 1936 and half in 1992 and some maintenance was deferred longer than it should've been by previous owners.  Hopefully by this time next year I can report all is up to snuff and in good working order - both in my home and my body!

 

Our sweet girl in October, wondering why I'm taking her picture.

I still maintain that blogging is useful for archiving bigger ideas.  That is, Facebook and Instagram are great for sharing a quick idea with a short shelf life, but good luck finding that tidbit in a sea of chatter.  Someone recently commented to me that my blog is a "thinking model railroader's blog".  I hope it continues to be thoughtful and maybe even thought-provoking in a positive way. 

If you have been, thanks for reading, and I look forward to sharing more model railroading with you in the upcoming year.

Galen