Mitchell's Closing?

Where is it located in Delaware?

As I recall it is a little over a mile north of I-95 exit 8 on US 202 on the north east side of Wilmington. Mitchell's is at the north end of a large strip mall on the east side of 202. Geezer

Never heard of it.

-- Cheers Roger T. See the GER at: -

Gee Roger they have only had ads selling brass models in MR for 40+ years.

Who buys brass? Not me, hence I'd never read their ads.

-- Cheers Roger T. See the GER at: -

For that matter, who reads MR?

If the circulation figures are to be believed, more people than read Railroad Model Craftsman.

As the market for ready-built off-the-shelf model railroad items has grown, so MR has gone with what they see as the coming thing: a magazine that concentrates more on electronics and layout building and less on the scratchbuilder/kitbasher.

As that has happened, RMC has more and more become what MR used to be; minus the slick Kalmbach graphics.

There's probably market share for both approaches.

-Pete

If the circulation figures are to be believed, more people than read Railroad Model Craftsman.

As the market for ready-built off-the-shelf model railroad items has grown, so MR has gone with what they see as the coming thing: a magazine that concentrates more on electronics and layout building and less on the scratchbuilder/kitbasher.

As that has happened, RMC has more and more become what MR used to be; minus the slick Kalmbach graphics.

There's probably market share for both approaches.

-Pete

Maybe I had better take another look at RMC then. I've missed articles in MR about kit bashing & building models from scratch. I've been doing this long enough to remember E.L. Moore's buildings and Art Curren's "kit-mingles." I've built many of the latter and really enjoyed the process. I'll have to admit that I'm not as creative a he was but have even tried my hand at a few of my own.

Now that I'm working on my own layout, I've stocked up on the old AHM / IHC kit that could be a townhouse, firehouse, grocery store, funeral home or restaurant (and perhaps others as well). Those seemed to be the best "raw material" for creating brick buildings that would be at home from anywhere around the turn of the century on forward.

Today, MODEL RAILROADING, as you suggest, seems to be leaning towards RTR, DCC and stuff like that. I'm old school enough that I'd rather build it myself. Oh sure, I'll by something that isn't otherwise available as a kit but if it's something that you buy & put on your pike, it's a thing. But if it's a kit that you bought, assembled, painted & weathered, then it is in a large part a creation of yours.

dlm

I agree wholeheartedly. And would add that scratch-building can also be a rewarding way to waste time*.

*My mom always used to tell me that my hobbies were a waste of time. She very carefully never said that within my dad's hearing though, since he'd been a serious model railroader since the late 1930s and was the guy who introduced me to the hobby...

-Pete

Ooops! Of course, I should have said MODEL RAILROADER...

dlm