mortals can pursue. Oh, and in case you missed it, slot cars
have not killed the hobby of model railroading, either.
Model railroaders or railroad modelers?
Another implication of the “no craftsman in the hobby left” con-
cern is that those of us lamenting the bygone craftsman days of
the hobby seem to prefer model railroaders who are builders to
those who take the broader theme of being railroad modelers.
Here at MRH, we feel it’s all in how you define model building.
At some point you let someone else do the work and you just
pay them for it.
Do you dig the iron and copper out of the ground yourself, or
do you let someone else do that, and do you buy the brass
sheet? Do you build your loco motors yourself, or do you let
someone else do that, and you buy pre-built motors?
Do you let someone else make mold masters and cast the
detail parts, and then you buy the cast parts?
Do you buy a car kit and assemble it yourself, or do you let
someone else assemble it?
The hobby is trending today toward ever more prototype fidel-
ity, be that proto-freelance or modeling a specific prototype.
Thanks to those RTR plastic trains, modelers can purchase
some portion of their needs, and then focus on kitbashing
or scratchbuilding only what they can’t buy. And in case you
didn’t notice – you can’t model any prototype well and just
buy everything. You will
have to
kitbash and scratchbuild if
you intend to do your prototype justice.
Should the highest goal in the hobby be that modelers can
show how macho they are by denying themselves of readily
MRH staff notes - 3
MRH-Feb 2013
