04-30-2009, 09:16 AM
nachoman Wrote:iis612 Wrote:When I post pics (which is rare these days) it is purely to gather information. There are a lot of people with a great eye who will offer up critique and advice, just as Herc said, and I too like looking at the work of others, if for no other reason than to drool.
When I posted what I said about mountains and major class I roads, I made several references to mainstream publications. Mainstream publications don't seem to publish layout photos unless they are set in the mountains, hence making it seem as though everyone has to have mountains somewhere on there layout. I have nothing against layouts with a mountain setting, quite the contrary, I love seeing them, especially when they are done well. I just want to see more variety in layout themes, especially in the mainstream magazines.
I think the internet has nearly rendered the idea of "mainstream publications" dead. the last publication i picked up was "narrow gauge and shortline gazette", and considering the subject title, you can probably assume it would have a higher mountainous bias. As for the other publications, I don't think I have done much more than thumb through a new issue in 5 years, so I don't know what they put in there now. But from what I remember, featured layouts were frequently appalachian coal haulers, rocky mountain, or dense urban. Rarely did they feature an iowa prairie layout (although I remember seeing a few)
Since most modelers seem to want to try their hands at scenery, I doubt there are many "Iowa prairie" layouts that could be featured. Modelers usually want to get the most bang for their buck out of a layout, and while it may be highly prototypical, watching a train run across a flat landscape isn't very exciting.
There is a reason why mountainous terrain is the most popular.
As regards your comment about the Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette, I have lost interest in that publication because they have never included N-scalers.