Re: (erielack) Good enough

["John Adams" <jadamserie5_@_nycap.rr.com>]

Here Here
- ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joseph A. Braun" <joebraun_@_optonline.net>
To: <erielack_@_lists.railfan.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 8:50 PM
Subject: (erielack) Good enough


> Paul Tup's comments a few weeks ago about not noticing small deficiencies 
> in
> a model when it is part of a moving train left me pondering the issue of
> model accuracy right up to this current thread about "good enough".
>
>
>
> We need to be very humble about our own standards of modeling and very
> tolerant of others' standards - because ALL models are compromises,
> especially railroad models. It is illusory to think that any model under 
> our
> nose is not a compromise in some way or does not force compromises in 
> other
> ways. I have a neighbor with an uncompromising 1" scale PRR E6 Atlantic 
> live
> steamer plus ten freight cars and a caboose to go with it. When you look 
> at
> that model, you forget about all others. Somehow the one big model can put
> you in touch with all of railroading and its mystique. My neighbor's
> compromises? One engine and 11 cars is all he can afford. He cannot run in
> winter because his club shuts its operation down. Did you ever hear of a
> steam loco that had nowhere to go because it was winter and that even when
> running never hauled more than eleven cars? Did you ever hear of any
> prototype steam loco where the engineer sat on the tender and reached down
> into the cab to run his engine? Compromises! The most "uncompromisingly"
> made and detailed  HO car may have couplers sticking out one-half inch so 
> it
> can go around 24" curves and #4 turnouts. Compromises!
>
>
>
> Passenger train and Erie lover that I am, I have over decades accumulated 
> 32
> NWSL Stillwells, because I want to model not just one train but many, so
> that one feels that one is by a railroad system. It was rather deflating
> when I finally realized that my modernized Stillwells lacked a pair of
> windows on each side. It was more traumatic to suddenly discover last 
> year -
> after having looked at these models and the prototype for decades - that 
> all
> the models have THREE steps. The real Stillwells had FOUR steps! So what 
> do
> I do with 128 incorrect stairs? Answer: live with them!! The models are
> "good enough". Put ten of them into motion behind a PA and all your mind
> sees is a Port Jervis express.  All you feel is the delight at recreating
> history and a train-watching experience. As Paul Tup implied, when the 
> train
> is moving, we don't have the mindsets we have when staring at one model on 
> a
> shelf.
>
>
>
> I have been reading FineScale Modeler for the past several years. The
> primarily military and aircraft models there are amazing for their 
> accuracy
> and the techniques used as in weathering are complex and creative. But 
> even
> this magazine will admit that some of these top modelers make only 2 or 3
> models per year. At that pace, how could we ever get a whole railroad 
> going,
> let alone a long freight train? What if we wanted not just one model with
> such accuracy but a string of 25 for a whole train? Recently the editor's
> page also addressed the issue of "good enough", stating that it was each
> modeler's prerogative and need to declare when a model under construction
> has reached the subjective "good enough" stage. Then it is time to let go
> and move to the next project.
>
>
>
> The danger is when one puts one's own standards out as the expected norm 
> for
> all. And it is even worse when we give someone else's standard the power 
> to
> become our own -- before we ever give ourselves a chance to listen to what
> our own standards and needs really are.
>
>
>
> Joe Braun
>
>
>
>
>
> The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
> http://EL-List.railfan.net/
> To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html
> 



	The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
	http://EL-List.railfan.net/
	To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html

------------------------------