In defense of the blue box
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G.J. Irwin
The STMFC and the RPMs show that we can aspire to great modeling without feeling superior about it. (And boy, would I need a lot of aspiration to get anywhere near what RPMs display.)
As much as I enjoyed shaking the box, both with my dad when I was much younger and with my children before they "aged out" (for now?), I also enjoy seeing what is possible. One of the happiest moments of my life was taking my late dad to an RPM-like display in Central New Jersey (Somerset, I think, or thereabouts) and watching him marvel at what was there AND having explained to him what the modelers did, with not a hint of pretense. Kudos to all of you who make that happen everywhere-- I'm sure my dad's experience was not an isolated occurrence. Cheers, George Irwin "I can spell RPM, at least" |
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Paul R Greenwald
Al - Well said Paul Greenwald
-- Paul R Greenwald PRRT&HS #1802 NMRA #129229 |
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Today I would be unable to assemble a Westerfield kit. I have pretty severe hand tremors and poor close-up eye sight. That hasn’t stopped me from building an operations layout here in Tucson. I’m using all blue box type cars, which I can still assemble. I bought a bunch of late stem era freight cars at swap meets and brought them up to NMRA standards, even if only one side is decent. It was fun working with the same kind of cars I assembled when I was 12 – all metal Roundhouse and stamped metal Athearn. Instead of heavy steam I once ran, everything is DCC early diesel that I don’t have to fine tune. Everything is a compromise but I’m adapting. I call it geezer modeling. – Al Westerfield
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
From: Doc Bond
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2018 6:39 PM To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] In defense of the blue box
Hi Tim,
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Hi Tim,
Interesting article. I would change "mediocrity" to "good enough". We all have our levels of good enough... just have to accept what we are comfortable with... it does change with time. I have a more acceptance of good enough as I get older. Life is finite after all. Gordon spalty |
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Dave Owens
I've been working on a couple of freight cars -- steam era, mind you
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-- a building and some vehicles. And I have reached the conclusion that I am truly mediocre. But I'm still having fun. I do aspire to do models like Bill Welch, Brian Banna, Mal Houck, Neil Schofield and so many others, but I'm a long way off. Dave Owens Muddling along in West Hartford, Connecticut On Wed, Oct 24, 2018 at 4:42 PM naptownprr <jhunter@...> wrote:
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naptownprr
Tim,
Bravo! I have always assumed that we do model trains for fun! And I agree that not every model has to be a museum piece. If I approached it that way, I'd never get around to building my layout. Jim Hunter ________________________________________ From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> on behalf of Tim O'Connor <timboconnor@...> Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2018 3:24 PM To: stmfc; bbfcl@groups.io Subject: [RealSTMFC] In defense of the blue box Some light reading... and yet I hope it strikes a good chord. I still assemble blue box kits and I get a kick out of it. :-) Not every model needs to be a museum piece. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/29/opinion/sunday/in-praise-of-mediocrity.html Tim O'Connor -- *Tim O'Connor* *Sterling, Massachusetts* |
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Some light reading... and yet I hope it strikes a good chord. I still assemble
blue box kits and I get a kick out of it. :-) Not every model needs to be a museum piece. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/29/opinion/sunday/in-praise-of-mediocrity.html Tim O'Connor -- *Tim O'Connor* *Sterling, Massachusetts* |
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