Pencil sharpening like it was 1975

The red square shows the pointer I bought in 1975 at the Grand & Toy in Cedarbrae Mall

Over the Christmas holidays, when covid wasn't having its way with me, I worked on a stack of drawings for projects I'd like to build this year. I showed the one for Inspiration Point in a previous post. Above is one for an old, repurposed firehouse I saw when I was on Cape Breton Island last year.

Unfortunately my old mechanical pencil pointer gave up the ghost during this marathon drawing session. I thought its pointing days were over. Well, at least until I consulted that fount of all things we call The Internet.

The cups arrived as advertised: old, but never used

It's turns out the pointer was made by a company called Tru-Point in Michigan. The problem I was having centred on a little cup inside the thing that has an abrasive paper liner that does the sharpening. Mine was worn flat and torn so it wouldn't sharpen, and it jammed the device when I tried to rotate a pencil in it.

By some miracle a search of eBay turned up a seller in Calgary who had a 'new old stock' of 3 never used replacement sharpening cups - and in their original box too! They arrived quickly, and I was soon back in the pencil sharpening business. 

New cup installed and ready for action!

I guess it shouldn't be, but it still seems amazing that I can buy a new-old replacement part for something I bought 50 years ago. Given the high quality of the sharpener, and the fact that I've still got 2 new replacement sharpening cups, I should be good for drawing like it was 1975 for quite a long time.

Some thoughts on 'Analysis Paralysis in Layout Building'

Over at Trackside Treasure Eric has posted an interesting essay called Analysis Paralysis in Layout Building. This morning I read some equally interesting comments called Analysis-paralysis: the too long comment by Chris at his Prince Street blog. These posts got me thinking. I tried to post a comment to Eric's essay, but Blogger told me it was also a "too long comment", so I figured I'd post it here. Before reading it though I'd recommend starting with Eric and Chris's essays. 

Without further ado, here's my too long comment - you've been warned :-)

This is quite an interesting post. I can’t say I have any answers for the points you’ve raised, although I do have some further points to add :-) They include things like how social media has created a new, formidable psychological barrier to entry into the hobby; how old ways of thinking about layouts in terms of plywood sheets, basements, garages, and spare rooms has limited thinking about layouts in terms of modules, micro-layouts, dioramas, Lego, hextrak pieces, as well as other configurations; how the quest for supreme detail has overshadowed design and composition thereby limiting what is considered acceptable, and so on and so on. 

One of the ‘and so on’ topics I’ve found useful is the idea that model railroading could be viewed as either a finite or infinite game as a way to try to fight paralysis.

Back in the 80s I read a book by James Carse called ‘Finite and Infinite Games’. The first few chapters I found quite interesting, and their ideas have stuck with me over the years. To quote the opening chapter: “There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other, infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play.” There’s more to it than that, but one’s about winning, and the other’s about how to keep on playing.

For me, model building is an infinite game. You can enter and leave the field of play - that is, in literal terms, the workshop for me - at anytime. My projects are not governed by schedules, project plans, work-break-down-structures or deadlines (or even the instructions in the box for that matter if I’m building a kit). If it takes a year to build something I like, that’s ok. If it takes two weeks that’s ok too. Model building, like anything else, can be a finite game, but it’s not usually that way for me. Projects are much more fun when I don’t fret over my rate of progress. 

When it comes to model railroading, it could also be approached as either finite or infinite. The finite version is one characterized by deadlines, schedules, building for competitions, getting likes, pleasing peers, shows, conventions, or magazines or other such venues. There are rules to be followed and rewards to be won. In this approach, model railroading is somewhat like a business activity, or professional sport or entertainment. On the other hand, one of the key features of an infinite game, and infinite model railroading in particular, is that it isn't driven by externalities like events, deadlines, recognition, going viral, becoming an influencer, prizes, or money, and their associated rules. It's a personal pursuit where playing 'the game', in all its dimensions, is the focus. The infinite approach isn't a disguise for new age squishiness as things like the pursuit of the craft through skill enhancement and mastery aren't abandoned. 

My belief though is that the pull of social media - a powerful finite game in it’s own right - can be detrimental to practicing model building or model railroading as an infinite game, thereby contributing to overall paralysis. In crude terms, “if I can’t win (ie, do just what is acceptable on social media), then why bother.” Paralysis is the outcome.

But, now I’m going to do a complete 180 and contradict myself. Last year for the first time I entered a model railroading challenge sponsored by a magazine. It had rules and requirements and the trappings of a finite game. As soon as I read those rules and requirements an idea immediately popped into my mind for an entry and I went for it, full speed ahead, and had a great time. I found being ‘forced’ to build my idea in a short time to be invigorating and it helped rekindle interest in other ‘infinite projects’ I had on the go. So, I’m thinking some flipping between finite and infinite approaches to the hobby is beneficial, but I still think if one is focused completely on the finite aspect, much is lost. 

I’m not saying the finite and infinite game lens is the one and only way to view the hobby, just that it’s one of many conceptual tools that can be useful at times. Maybe posing one or more finite games might be a way of getting newcomers started in the hobby, or maybe as a way of breaking down the start of a potentially big project into assessable pieces without making a big upfront commitment. Look at them as short stories or novellas that might be the basis of a future novel or saga. None of this is new of course, but I believe having many conceptual tools on hand to reframe problems is useful.

A European model railway to sell a prescription drug to North Americans?

Snipped from ENBREL's 2022 tv commercial

Michael alerted me to a tv commercial he recently saw for ENBREL as it opens with an interesting model railway scene, which is something of a rarity in mainstream tv. What struck me is the layout looks European, and I only note this because the commercial is being aired on American tv. I haven't seen it yet on tv, but now I'm on the lookout. My assumption is that a European commercial was repurposed for US tv to save some money, but that's all just speculation on my part. It looks like quite a good layout. I especially like the water feature seen in the lower left quarter of the image. It appears to be cast resin so you can see what's under the water's surface. Has this layout appeared in Continental Modeller magazine? Was it custom built for the commercial? If anyone out there knows anything about this layout, please leave a comment.

“Under the cellophane wrapper, the parts!”: The Secret History of Kitbashing*

Dodge AT-AT Kit-bash

From chapter 13 of Lew Voltz’s Gluestick Traces, the definitive history of model railroading’s punk era*:

The term ‘kitbash’ first appeared in print in the 1967 book, The Society of Spectacular Models, by French Groucho Marxist theorist, Polystyrene philosopher, and model railroading expressionist Guy Dekit. In the book Dekit argued that capitalist production of polystyrene model kits that began in the 1950s and skyrocketed in popularity throughout the 1960s was a debasement of the centuries old folk art of making miniatures of beloved, iconic, and worshipful objects of personal interest. Dekit considered the once creative activity was being steamrollered by a mass-market simulacra of true model making.

The book was the culmination of many years work by Dekit and a number of other plastic radicals who formed the group Polystyrenist International in 1959 (the same year the first edition of The Dictionary of Non-Existent Model Railroading Terms was published), whose purpose was to critique, divert, and subvert the tidal wave of polystyrene-based model construction. 

Dekit developed a détournement, which he referred to as ‘bashing’, whereby the components of several commercial polystyrene models were used to construct miniatures that held no resemblance to the objects that could be constructed by following official instruction sheets. Bashing was often an act of performance, undertaken in a party like atmosphere (aka a ‘bash’, or using the term of the time, Le Bash), and commonly began with a shout of, “Under the cellophane wrapper, the parts!” The bashing of polystyrene components became so strongly associated with Dekit that the activity was colloquially known as ‘bashing de kit’, which quickly became today’s plain, old 'kitbashing'.

But for every radical intervention is an associated mainstream recuperation, and kitbashing’s started with none other than Dekit’s closest colleague and PI co-founder, Au Courant. 

In the mid-1970s Courant broke with the PI and formed Craft Light And Magic (CLAM**) for the purpose of building kitbashed miniatures for the movie War in the Stars. The movie was a monumental success, but not necessarily for Courant, who lost control of CLAM through some complicated legal maneuvering by his investors. Fed up with movies, and ostracized by his old PI colleagues, he took a job offer from an American model railroading magazine and left France forever.

Courant went on to global acclaim with his innovative kitbashing techniques and educational programs; however, he and Dekit were never to speak again. That didn’t stop Dekit from commenting on Courant and his work in just about every interview he ever gave. It was clear Dekit had mixed feelings for Courant, who Dekit would often flippantly refer to as The Dark Lord of Kitbashing. 

On the one hand Dekit’s comments towards Courant could be spiteful and derogatory***, but were just as often admiring and praiseful***. He admired Courant’s ability to help show a powerful way forward to restore creativity and authenticity to the ancient art in the face of overwhelming kitization, but frequently condemned Courant’s success as simply a way for the companies to further increase sales of their plastic kits, thereby continuing to help degrade the art.

Dekit and Courant never reconciled.

Hot Rod Falcon Kit-bash

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

*It should go without saying that this ‘history’ is completely fictional, and has no relation to any person, place, or thing either living or dead.

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

**Urban legend has it that within CLAM an entire CLAM-based insider speak developed that included such terms as: CLAMity, meaning a kitbash that had gone seriously wrong; CLAMbaked, meaning a CLAM employee was exhibiting symptoms of breathing too much plastic solvent; CLAMedup, meaning someone had signed a non-disclosure agreement with CLAM; and so on.

***When Dekit was being spiteful and derogatory towards Courant he’d refer to CLAM as Courant’s Lazy American Modellers, and when he was admiring and praiseful CLAM became Courant’s Legendary American Modellers. It’s not known what Dekit was thinking when he said these things as Courant and CLAM had parted ways several years prior to Courant’s great success.

Blogging on hold for a little while

We've been caught up in the storm that hit Ontario on Saturday, and I will be pausing blogging for a little while. We're fine, but there're things to attend to. More later once my modelling and blogging mojo return.

It wasn't the Ramsey Journal Building after all :-(

A snap from Season 1, Episode 13 of Young Sheldon

I was watching an episode of Young Sheldon and caught a quick glimpse of an intriguing building on his model railroad. Cursed with thoughts that every miniature building I see is somehow related to E. L. Moore, I thought it might be a kitbash of the Ramsey Journal Building. No such luck. It's actually a classic Lionel O gauge building: #436, Power Station. It looks like MTH Electric Trains sells a reproduction that appears to be the same as the one used in the show. So, in answer to the question posed in the photo, the equation is: ??? = Lionel Power Station.

33 to 41 for 2

Layout height is often a concern and although it’s not a big one, it has some implications. Over the past few weeks while working on the Alta Vista TC, I’ve come to appreciate its street-level height of 41 inches above the carpet as it’s very comfortable for me to work at while standing. I’m 5’-8”, so your dimensions may vary.

By contrast, the EVRR has always been on a Workmate during construction, and its 33 inch height I’m finding less than optimum. It’s awkward for sitting at as I always seem to be reaching across it to other places and bumping things. And it’s much too low for standing while working. I’m going to raise it to 41 inches or so, and place it directly under some room lights so illumination is improved. Perhaps that will speed up progress :-)

When it comes to showing off these layouts, and especially the Alta Vista TC, I want to boost them to close to eye-level. My rationale is this: when I’m riding the streetcars and buses and subways of Toronto, I’m experiencing everything at eye-level, not from some giant’s aerial perspective. Even at 41 inches, roofs dominate the view and I don’t want that. Also, with the Alta Vista TC’s bent island design, the higher street-level will allow viewers to walk-around, look around corners and down streets much like in they would in the world. All this might not apply to the EVRR – it might have it’s own unique height that gives best viewing. Some experimenting is probably called for.

"Forget the layout ...

... build large scale EL Moore structures set in a vignette recalling EL's younger days!" comment from a well known Agent Provocateur.

I was going through some photos and came across this neurotic list I made a few years back to offload some thoughts on projects I’d like to build. Looking back I see I’ve only built: the Branchline Station, the Mt. Lowe Observatory, the Frankenberger Building, and the Mexican Restaurant (which turned into Gecko Records during construction). That leaves about 23 to go + a raft of other projects I’ve been thinking about but had the good sense not to add to the list :-) Maybe focusing on buildings, and retail buildings in particular, is the new model building frontier if this Bloomberg article is to be believed. It speculates that retail stores are following a similar track the railroad business took throughout the 20^th century and we’ll see less and less of their ilk as the 21^st century grinds on. Simpsons? Eatons? Woolco? Zellars? Aikenheads? Eddie Blacks? Sam the Record Man? Weall & Cullen? Mr. Donut? Red Barn? Beaver Lumber? Honest Eds? Dominion? Stienbergs? Kresges? Jupiter? Consumers Distributing? And on and on. If you’re a Torontian of a certain age you'll know the locations and you know the list of the departed is long. Who knows who’s next? 

Well, there's thing - an 'extreme' model railroad for the Contemporary Architecture Museum in North Adams, Ma which includes an equally extreme set of model buildings. Since staritects and big money are involved, who knows what will happen.

"This is beyond impressive"

I don't know, maybe you're getting sick of these, but with the frame-of-mind I'm in, I can't get enough. And, need I say, tipping me off to the work of Randy Hage was all Vince's doing.

Ok, well, he didn't send me links to these videos, but to this article. Naturally, I then sent myself over to YouTube. 

But, yeah, I know, I live in Ottawa, not NYC. There are some interesting store fronts here - well, interesting to me - that I want to incorporate on the new layout. That's one up there.

And that's another. They're not the run down grit and grime of those NYC models, but functioning shops - functioning at one time - that won't look out-of-place and have good memories attached. It's looking like I need to create an opening at the 30 Squares media empire for a new director of video :-)

Incredibly depressin', low down mind messin', workin' on the layout blues

I've been in a funk the last few days. Vince sent me a link to this awesome little video and it got me looking around YouTube - you know how that is.

And then you know, I saw that one being recommended to me.

Which lead me to this one.

I started thinking, well, I think I have a relative in Tennessee, but more importantly, I need to get back to work.

Streetniks

After embedding the Shuffle Demon's Spadina Bus video along with the Rapido New Look bus notes, I went looking for the Shuffle Demon's lp in my vinyl collection. Yeap, it was there. On the back it suggests the Spadina Bus video was recorded at the corner of Queen & Spadina on 25 April 1986. Punch those coordinates into your time machine for your next trip :-)

Railways and snow

Vince forwarded me this link to some online scans of Meccano Magazine. Here in Ottawa the snow is almost gone, but this picture from the March 1928 edition still caught my eye. A model of this would make for some easy scenery :-)

Was Robert E. Gilbert REG?

[Robert E. Gilbert's Small Town Warehouse from the April '57 issue of Model Railroader [1] and REG's "bizarre landscape with tiny people and weird shapes." sourced from The Outer Space Art of Robert E. Gilbert.]

I recently read that E. L. Moore started in HO model railroading in 1953, so I thought I'd read through model railroading magazines published from 1952 to March 1955, the month E. L. Moore's first article appeared, to see if there were any obvious stories or photographs that might have influenced Mr. Moore. On one side trip I stumbled across a biographical note on the prolific model railroad writer, Robert E. Gilbert, in the July 1959 issue of Model Railroader. Here's a snippet:

His first article in MR appeared in the Apr. '57 issue, and since then he has written 22 articles for MR and Model Trains. He's also written a number of science fiction stories, and a detective story, plus "how to" articles for an art magazine. He's also sold a number of drawings and paintings.

In model railroading, his primary interest is structures - and he has a 5 x 10 ft. layout still in its earliest stages of construction in his family home overlooking the Southern Ry. station in Jonesboro, Tenn.

So, you're thinking, ok, interesting fellow, but what's up? Well, he had 5 stories reprinted in Kalmbach's 1958 Easy-to-Build Model Railroad Structures. When I got into the hobby back in the '70s I was crazy about that book and more-or-less memorized it. I particularly liked his section tool house project and built a stone (!) version. The bio released a load of nostalgia in my brain, so I looked around the internet to see what else I could find. Nothing more on Robert E. Gilbert, model railroader, but some intriguing stuff on a Robert E. Gilbert, science fiction author and much published artist in science fiction fan magazines. That second Robert E. Gilbert signed his works REG. His art is way out and you can see a good selection at the Artisans website. There are also a couple of good posts about REG at kentmcdanielwrites here and here.

There seems to be some common points in the biographies of these two gentlemen - other than name - that make me wonder if they're the same person. 

REG was active from the 1950s to the 1970s in science fiction fan art. Robert E. Gilbert was active in the model railroad press in the late '50s and into the '60s [2]. The eras overlap.

REG was a native Tennessean and was thought to have died in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Robert E. Gilbert is noted to have lived in Jonesboro, Tenn.

REG was an artist; drawings and paintings. Robert E. Gilbert was noted to have "sold a number of drawings and paintings".

REG published 3 science fiction stories: A Thought for Tomorrow in the Nov. '52 issue of Galaxy, The Rocks and Rills in the Sept. '53 issue of If Worlds of Science Fiction, and Stopover Planet (initial publication place and date appears to be unknown). Robert E. Gilbert was noted to have "written a number of science fiction stories".

There's nothing conclusive here. And the online material about REG doesn't mention anything about model railroading. But, there seems to be some strong circumstantial evidence that Robert E. Gilbert, model railroader, and REG are one and the same [3] - but maybe I'm just the last to know :-)

Digressions

[1] I chose that example of Robert E. Gilbert's work only because the signs above the doors read: N. E. Moore.

[2] One of the most interesting of Robert E. Gilbert's articles is A changeable railroad in the June '62 issue of Model Railroader. In it he explains how to build a small layout where it's easy to change the location of buildings and scenic elements because nothing, and that includes the scenic material, is glued down. It's well thought out, and the drawings and staged photos are excellent. And it reminded me of the Sand Table described in my grandmother's manual training text book. I don't know when Robert E. Gilbert went to grade school, but maybe that's where he got the idea.

[3] If they are the same person, then this statement at Artisans is fascinating: "One of the most striking things about Gilbert's work is the strong sense of the alien. Landscapes are strange and unexpected." Yet, his model railroad work is the complete opposite. I'd say it had a strong sense of the real. 

Reader's cities

In January I connected the free version of Google Analytics into the blog. It collects some interesting stats; some I have no idea what they mean. One that's particularly interesting is the list of cities where the blog is read. Here are the top 10:

1. Ottawa, Canada

2. Melbourne, Australia

3. Bristol, USA (not sure which state)

4. Virginia Beach, Virginia

5. London, Ohio

6. Stoneham, Massachusetts

7. Boston, Massachusetts

8. Toronto, Canada

9. Ridgecrest, California

10. Ashland, North Carolina

But, as is shown in the map, readership is rather spread out. Thank-you to everyone for taking some time to stop by wherever you are!

P. R. Wickham's model village layout

In the comments section of the E. L. Moore's Court House post I mentioned the English village layout described in P. R. Wickham's book Modelled Architecture that was published by Percival Marshall & Co. Ltd in 1948. 

Assuming a scale of 1/4 in. to 1 ft., the room required would be 7 ft. by 12 ft. 6 in., a by no means excessive space demand. The plan, based on an actual village of the familiar English "square" plan, covers the major part of the room, but with adequate viewing space at the entrance end, and sections to lift out for access purposes.

The plan is found on page 129, and as you can see it's dominated by a large church. If this layout was ever built, it must have been quite impressive. I haven't tried any of the book's construction methods, but it's filled with great line illustrations and I often thumb through its pages just to look at them.

The Chair

Sliding down to my neck in the Morris chair (every shop should have a priority on one of these), I propped my feet on a box, lit a cigarette, and fell into sort of a reverie.

George Allen gets to thinking in Mifflinburg Mill, Model Railroader, July 1952.

No, my chair isn’t a Morris chair, it’s a 1960s Canadian knock-off of a 1960s Danish modern chair. And not a bad one at that. When I was a boy it sat in my father’s study and was my favourite place to sit when I went to chat with him. It came into my possession a couple of years ago and was looking quite forlorn in my basement, stashed away behind the snow tires. Last December I took it apart and Debra had the seat reupholstered as a Christmas present. 

When the good weather got here in the summer, I could finally take the frame parts outside and use a chemical stripper to remove the worn-out old finish. Those are some of the parts before they were refinished. I used a rubber mallet to carefully knock the frame apart.

I used Circa 1850 furniture stripper. Just follow the directions on the can. It does a fine job. One thing I'll mention is that it'll strip the varnish and lettering off that workmate as it did with mine when I accidentally slopped some around. 

The legs on the left are almost stripped and the unstripped seat frame is to the right.

Here's all the parts done and ready for re-assembly and refinishing. Once put back together the frame was treated to some oil that contained a light stain. 

I went to the window and took a worried look at the big flakes that were lowering over the winter’s afternoon gloom like a curtain. Shivering in disbelief, I returned to my Morris chair and settled back in solid comfort

George Allen seeks refuge from the winter in part 7 of the Tuxedo Junction saga, Model Railroader, April 1953.

I’m hoping the new old chair will work some magic on me this winter.

A new model railroad?

A secret tunnel through a mine shaft needs a railroad...

... with a long, long section of track to efficiently move all those X files*...

... for who knows what at the end of line.
--------------
* it should go without saying, "April Fools", as seen on 'Paper Clip', episode 2, season 3, of The X-Files

Celebratory Muffins

Circumstantial evidence suggests that you can take a Texan out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the Texan. This being the case, Debra baked up a batch of her world renowned jalapeno corn-bread muffins with cheddar and sage – organic, no sugar added - in honour of the conclusion of another successful year of model streetcar-ing. Well, it might have been in celebration of me getting the train stuff out of the workshop, but I’ll go with the first explanation :-) Either way, they are indeed the most awesome corn-beard muffins this side of the Red River. That's it for the photo tour and here’s to another year!

Three favourite facades

I've been sorting through my photos and these are three of my favourite building facades. The one above - Park Square - is located on Elgin Street in Ottawa.

I shot the photo from the passenger seat, through the rolled-up window, while Debra drove. That's why the raw image - one of the last I took with my film camera - has an odd colour, but as you can see, the print is not too far off HO scale. A little reduction and maybe the image itself could be glued to a sheet of plastic and used as the beginning of a building.

This post office I think is located in Merrickville, Ontario. I took the photo sometime in the late '90s and didn't take note of where it's located.

This is one of the entrances on the Austin, Texas, power and light company building. I like that lightning-bolt through the 'City of Austin'. Another great thing is the sign on the side of the building - it lights up at night and looks great. Unfortunately, I don't have picture when it's lit.

Bob and Emily’s couch

I’ve been thinking about building a model of the Chicago office tower where Bob Hartley, played by Bob Newhart, had his fictional office in The Bob Newhart Show television series. From what I can tell, the building has undergone an extensive facelift since the ‘70s when the series was shot, so digging up information is a bit of a challenge. While wandering down a dead end on one archeological expedition, I had a look at some pictures of furniture Bob and Emily had in their apartment, and thought it might be interesting to try and use their couch as a prototype for a couch building project for the Oceanview Hotel. I needed 6 – one for each floor – but after I had built 1, I had had enough of what turned out to be a rather finicky construction task. So, I have 1 ‘Bob and Emily Hartley’ couch on the 5^th floor of the Oceanview Hotel and need 5 more couches so guests don’t have to sit on the floor :-)

Here are a few pictures from the project,

[Here's the original. As you can see from my heavily 'weathered' version in the top photo, mine should probably be put out by the curb on trash day.]

[I started with some drawings to figure out how it would look. I used our own family room couch for some basic dimensions.]

[Here's the pieces for the frame. They're cut from 0.020 inch styrene]

 [Here they are glued up and ready for 'cushions'.]

 [And speaking of seat cushions, here they are! It doesn't look too comfortable.]

[But, when it's placed way up on the 5th floor, and obscured by figures, it's useable.]