A Neat Slot Car and Trains Layout

NYCfan:

How about the Model Power HO scale cannon cars? Maybe you could add the old GI Joe Tyco set. I think the RR also needs an Athearn Hustler dragstrip.

If this layout had just a bit more trains and a bit fewer cars, and maybe more ambitious scenery, I'd like it pretty well. There were a few modelers back in the day who integrated 'model motoring' and railroading successfully. I sometimes wonder if with a bit of work the US-1 truck sets could be a good addition to a working model RR...imagine an operating highway-to-rail coal dump or a working intermodal yard.

Cordially yours: Gerard P.

There was a time in the distant past when this "news group" was a legitimate place for the exchange of information and observations relating to model railroading -- and when there were folks here who'd provide non-judgmental comment and advice on ANYone's questions.

Those days are long gone, and most of those folks have moved on to more useful venues. If you want to discuss model railroading with actual model railroaders who share your interests rather than tinhorn pundits who have nothing but anguished criticism to offer, there are dozens of email groups on Yahoo (and elsewhere) that you'll find more hospitable. There are email groups for every taste -- some for the history of specific railroads, some for each and every imaginable scale, specific eras, particular kinds of railroad operations, etc., etc.

I understand your wish to re-create the enjoyment of those Lionel trains of the '50's and there are plenty of other folks who share that nostalgia -- and now have the time to become more active in the hobby. If you do a little searching, you'll find them . . .

JR Hill

It's just this sort of perversity that has ruined America.

"How about the Model Power HO scale cannon cars?"

Styrene barrel. I don't think it would take the combustion and the recoil load. I was thinking metal. I was thinking about scratchbuilding a model of the civil war era 'the dictator'

I was thinking that it would be fun to shell this layout with it.

"Maybe you could add the old GI Joe Tyco set. I think the RR also needs an Athearn Hustler dragstrip."

Why?

"If this layout had just a bit more trains and a bit fewer cars, and maybe more ambitious scenery, I'd like it pretty well. There were a few modelers back in the day who integrated 'model motoring' and railroading successfully. I sometimes wonder if with a bit of work the US-1 truck sets could be a good addition to a working model RR...imagine an operating highway-to-rail coal dump or a working intermodal yard."

I don't know enough about slot cars or trucks to comment but I prefer more linear track plans.

Eric

It wouldn't be complete without an animatronic Buster Keaton trying to load it, though.

Why not?

US-1 was one of Tyco's better ideas which was pretty much killed off by the video game craze -- operating HO scale trucks that ran on 'concrete gray' standard slot-car track, and interacted with accessories similar to the Tyco train line. The trucks looked rather good, and thanks to the virtues of 'box scale' were approximately 1:87 rather than the usual slot-car 1:64.

Page (incomplete. I did not make this, BTW):

Model Power seems to have taken over the 'HO tinplate' niche. Recalling how much I liked those awful-looking but fun operating accessories as a youngster makes me wonder why hobby pushers don't try to peddle them more.

Cordially yours: Gerard P.

Interesting. They told you this themselves, or is that your own conclusion? Because as far as I can see, in this context, building much better and more convincing models *does* make them superior

*modellers*... :-)

I can appreciate that the slotcar layout shown in the link was a fairly crude and unconvincing bit of work - how else do you reckon I should think of it?

Cheers,

Mark.

So what? That's not what makes a person a rivet counter. What makes someone a rivet counter is the more or less obvious claim that being a better modeller and/or having more knowledge of the prototype and/or (insert whatever bee inhabits the rivet counter's bonnet) is what the hobby is about. It ain't. The hobby is about enjoying yourself - any way you want to. And sharing your pleasure with those who able and willing to share it with you.

The reason "rivet counter" became attached to this obnoxious personality type is that back in the days when pretty well everybody had to kit- and scratchbuild, there were these jerks who complained that someone else's pride and joy lacked or misrepresented some detail(s) of the prototype (including the rivets), and was therefore not worthy of consideration by "serious" modellers.

Crude, sure. Unconvincing? That depends on who's looking at it, and how they imagine what's being represented by the layout.

Do you really intend to imply that you have trouble seeing things as others see them?

HTH

I much prefer this one:

The citing article incorrectly identifies it as General Lee's railroad gun (which had no side armor). The picture is of a Federal Parrott rifle at Petersburg late in the US Civil War.

I have a model of this one for my own n-scale layout:

I propose a truce.

If I may co-opt the words of the late great American statesman, Adlai Stevenson. If the Vesties stop telling lies about the Rivet Counters, The Rivet Counters will stop telling the truth about the Vesties. ;-)

Eric

Ken Rice skriver:

Hey that's the German Leopold railcannon. It is (was) manufactured in H0 as well.

Klaus

Normally I don't like to add fuel to the fire to these types of discussions because, unlike some of the apparent posters I in this discussion, I am an adult and have learned that not everything in this world fits into my cookie-cutter ideals. I try not to belittle someone else's accomplishments to make myself feel better, it really doesn't work out in the end -- you'll discover that soon enough.

I also enjoy fishing, but I don't feel that someone who uses a closed face reel and a bobber has any less right to show off what they catch than I do -- just because . . . god forbid . . . they are not using a fly rod like me!

I mean, for christ's sake, why would I want to see a picture of some crappy fish caught on a worm? Hell will probably freeze over if I just smile and say nice fish, even if mine is bigger. I mean, just think of how terrible it is that not EVERYONE used the same fishing equipment and techniques as me! There should probably be separate lakes for the different types of fisherman, I mean why should everyone be able to fish on the same lake? Even if its a 2000 acre lake, its not like I can just fish further away from the bobber fisherman and mind my own business!?

This is a ridiculous disccusion, and that's all I'm ever going to post about it. Time to move on.