Ok, we've gotten past the bridges in the first post, so now let's get to the second level: 8807 turns into the "blurb" past the "HoJos"--my Xmas break project interrupted by a week in Florida doing essentially nothing. A helicopter view of the blurb that is Allston-Brighton. The church at right center is just a placeholder. There are lots of stories here for another time. 8807 has made the U-turn, headed for Downtown. Another U-turn across my workbench will bring it to Downtown. At this stage, we're still placing buildings. Detailing will come later. And, as I mentioned at the beginning, these are helicopter views. Now we've S-curved once again to the outskirts of Downtown, with printed building flats against the far wall, and "skyscrapers" holding up the second level. Rope lights and halogens light the strets of downtown. As we detail this scene, it will resemble the Newbury Street neighborhood of Boston. 8807 circles Downtown. The skyscrapers, built from matte board and printed paper, support the second level, which is a long ways away by track. The "high bridges" are visible at the far right, just above center. That's where the train is headed. OK, 8807 is basically above the HoJos, headed true south before a turn to the west before the high bridges. 8807 crosses the high bridge to the second level. It will climb to the thrid level before descending to the other bridge on this level. Hope this hasn't overloaded your ISP, folks. But I thought Paul, for his gracious hosting, deserved first shot at this. I'll post second and third levels later. Pete [ 05. January 2004, 00:06: Message edited by: Pete Nolan ]
Thanks Pete keep the pics coming I'm sure they dont give the layout its true justice but its great to be able to get a good voiew of your layout.
Paul, It's always a compromise when it comes to what to show and what to hide. This time I chose to show more of an overall view. These images would never make it in a MRR magazine, but I've given up on them. Not worth the bother. It's weird that I can deal with National Geographic, popular publishers, the coffee table book publishers, and a host of major corporations with the highest graphic standards imaginable without a hitch, but can't deal with the MRR editors. But that's another story altogether. I guess my modeling doesn't meet their standards. I guess, also, that they can "hold" articles for countless months, without acknowledgment. Pete
Pete, You are not the first to tell me the same thing. your layout would certainly surpass some of the layouts been featured in MR although they still seem to be prejudice to HO layouts. What about one of the N scale magazines?
Paul, I think the HO bias of MRR is probably overstated. If we in N scale could model and photograph stuff at the same level as HO, they -- I believe -- would feature N scale. But we do face a disadvantage just in the ratio. When I mentioned MRR, I included the N scale publicatons, with the exception of N Scale magazine. I've not dealt with Bob Hundeman--yet. I've been disappointed in my dealing with MRR ands NSRR. Pete
Maybe it's just me...a humble beginner to the model railroading world...but I've been seeing a LOT of N scale stuff in Model Railroader lately. I gather from my reading here that Mr. Nolan is a well known modeler. I'm kind of new to the model railroad world and therefore, Pete, you are new to me. Without knowing anything about your background, I can tell that you apparently have "issues" with the model railroading magazines. Maybe you've been trying to get your layout featured and they're not obliging...or maybe it's something else. Whatever the reason doesn't really matter to me. But, to say that they are biased towards HO scale isn't entirely true in my opinion. Maybe they WERE at one time, but as I said earlier, I've been seeing a LOT of N scale stuff in Model Railroader lately. [On edit: I now realize it was Colonel who said they were biased to HO. My apologies.] Anyway, I think your layout looks good and I enjoy seeing the photos you've been posting. Please keep them coming. I'm impressed with the size of your layout and wish I had that kind of room to work with for my little empire (although I wouldn't go with multiple decks just because I prefer one deck). Your bridges exhibit some exceptional modeling. Keep those pictures coming.
The overall view really helps for seeing how the individual scenes come together. It helps me a lot to see under construction areas. It gives a lot of insite as to how things are put together. Now I know there are some things that I don't need to be overly concerned about. I will continue to be a regular here, I like the stress free enviorment.
Its always a pleasure to see excellent construction Pete! Your bridges show like they were real! Good work! The "Christmas" lighting is an excellent idea to distract from the underside of the second level too! Very thoughty there old buddy!
Hoss, I'm really not well known as a modeler at all, although I have been participating on various forums for about two years now, and publishing some pictures, which have been well received at screen resolution (about 72 dots per inch), but not so well received at print resolution (about 300 dots per inch.) I really don't have issues with the two magazines I've approached so far--after 35 years as a writer, I'm used to rejections, believe me. Editors do what editors have to do--which is to encourage and publish the very best. I'm just not there yet, and may never be. That's OK by me. I've known lots of editors over the years in many fields--and I also know that editing a model railroad pub can be a really frustrating job. I model for fun--if my commitment isn't up to their standards, well, that's my choice. The quickest way to become an ex-editor is to not enforce the highest of standards. I chose N scale 30 years ago because it enabled me to do "grand" vistas--not the detail stuff that hobby editors seem to like the most. And I tend to manipulate images a lot, which they definitely don't like. My computer is calibrated to my commercial printing firms (I design many of the brochures I write), which can be very different than their printing firms--that has been an issue between the editors and me. I rarely have time to set up a miniature shot (which is what model photography is) "just right" and, when I do get the time, I don't have that burning desire to get it "just right." I just hate shooting under lights--I'd rather be outdoors hunting (with a telephoto lens, of course) a white wolf or that "just right" sunrise in the mountains. I'll keep the pictures coming. The best place to see what I really do is at: http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/publications/annual-report/index.html This is my "showpiece" document every year--and I do it in six weeks. Pete
Pete, You don't seem to be too upset over the possibility of not having your layout in MR, but if it makes you feel any better they would probably laugh me out of the office if I were to submit a photograph. Anyway....your layout looks great and I enjoy the pictures so keep them coming.
Pete, the overall views of your layout are very interesting in being able to see how all the scenes fit together, and some of your construction methods. Yet the closer views of parts of the layout are excellent. I am pleased I don't have that much space though, I would NEVER get the layout finished I look forward to further photographs.
Alan, January is usually my slow month, so I hope to get a lot finished. The backdrops will hold me up, as I'm not scheduled to get "back East" until May. I have very specific panoramas that I want to shoot, but need the greenery of late May. As to size--well, I'm fortunate to have the space. I've also found, once I set my mind to it, that it's just as easy to lay 100 feet of track as it is to lay 10 feet. But then, I don't have a model railroad-related business to run. If I did, I'd probably have a shelf full of inactive models! Pete
Hmm! Don't understand why that's happening, unless the URL is wrapping to a second line. Did you try copying the link and then pasting it into the browser address line? Otherwise, try going to www.sandia.gov, then clicking on the "News Center" tab at the top. On the News Center page. click on "Publications"; on the page that comes up, click on "Annual Report". Then you can click on either the title or the image. It this doesn't work, please let me know. I used to manage the entire site, and will be glad to let the current managers know of any glitches. Pete
