Ken:
Good point. I did miss this point (along with most of the discussion). I still dislike The Sixties (tm) but my post might have had just a /little/ too much bile in it...
Good luck, Ben. If you ever get the chance, buy some 30-year old copies of Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsman / The Model Craftsman, and look up articles by E. L. Moore -- plenty of excellent, cheap-to-build models with some ingenious construction tricks. Many widely available plastic kits are modeled after them. I do have to say the '60s model RR magazines were most excellent!
Cordially yours: Gerard P.