Folks:
Once again I pried open my wallet and bought a hobby magazine, and found it very useful. This has happened a few times lately.
The July RMC was good. I like their plain and comprehensible format. MR's is pretty good now that they've recovered from their attempt at graphics stew, but I do like a plain one-page table of contents.
Articles were excellent. The plastic-simulating-weathered-wood article
was probably the best, and fits in with the house-detailing article, too. I hope we'll see less unpainted brown plastic. The Vulcan centercab is nice; I like me some centercabs and critters. Somebody needs to change their CAD system settings, though, because the medium gray lines don't show up well against all that color. Indeed, I prefer a separate (smaller scale, even) color model and a plain black-and-white line drawing for clarity. Clarity is the soul of an engineering drawing.
The hobbyshop layout was good. It's neat when model shops can do this kind of promotion; it gets the 'civilians' interested. It doesn't even have to be perfectly accurate--I'll be the first to admit that that is one UGLY plate girder bridge--as long as it is somewhat attractive and realistic. Remember, most people have seen only Christmas displays or your typical Lionel independent loops on a green mat.
What got me to buy this was the MDC kitbashing article. While I don't do narrow gauge, there are some tricks there I might use with the std. gauge old-timers...if they ever come out again at an affordable price. Sigh. Horizon needs to bring those out if they're profitable, or spin 'em off to someone who can make a profit on 'em. I suspect, though, that in Horizon's "Penn Central", Athearn is the "PRR" and MDC is the "NYC". :)
Cordially yours: Gerard P. President, the Sparta Railroad