Modeling Cliches to Avoid when Building your Layout

[nachoman]

I think that most of the opinions voiced here are legitimate, but we should not loose sight of the ends 99% of RR modelers are trying to accomplish....Namely, to entertain ourselves...

Bingo. It all goes back to the goal in which you want to accomplish, or who your audience is. If your audience is you and you alone, there is nobody else you have to answer to. If you have kids, friends, or family you want to impress, perhaps your goal is different. Then you chose the details and methods to accomplish that goal.

At the same time, we should always strive to do better. If I don't try to do better with the next steam loco I detail, there really isn't much point in detailing the next one. I can either care that I have an industry with no means for the workers to get there, or I can recognize it and try to do better next time.

But in the end, as long as we are satisfying our individual goals - nothing more is needed.

[Sumpter250]

There are a few things that could have been done better, and I will get to those in a moment.

Every once in a great while, a response comes to a post, that was "solicited"
Your analysis of the stream, as modeled, demonstrated exactly the point I wanted brought out......that knowledge of the subject, and applying that knowledge to understand what it should be, by how the nature of it would have created it.
Fun!, that is what this hobby is really all about, and the greatest fun I can have, is to learn something new. Kevin, I have learned something new, thanks!

That "stream" was inspired by a short section of the Greenbriar river, in Cass, West Virginia.
The stones?......They had washed off the roof of the building next door to the railroad club...yeah, they are pretty much the same size, good call!

[nomad]

I haven't read every post, so if some one mentioned this, fore give me.
The worst thing I can think of would be a string of wooden, 30 ft billboard reefers going by a cell phone tower.

Loren

[Bigsteel]

id agree with nomad on the cliche of running equipment WAY out of its era,i do 5-8yr differences occasionally,but i think there is a limit,but then again thats only if your trying to be serious in your photos,if your just havin fun,do whatever you damn well please --josh

[BR60103]

RMWeb recently had a thread on cliches by layout nationality. This is probably more notable where you can easily see a variety of layouts.The one I remember is an obligatory house on fire on a German layout.
The (Welsh) narrow gauge layout stuffed with winding track and tunnels was given the name "Rabbit Warren".
A lot of John Allen's brilliant ideas come close to being cliches -- sagging and humped truss-rod cars, the bridges (see above), the dinosaur switching the yard. I haven't seen too many Diesel salesmen being lynched lately, though.
Is my flock of sheep blocking the road a cliche, a joke, or an excuse for none of my cars moving?

[MountainMan]

John Allen did his stuff long before anyone else, and he did it to fit his unique vision. For him, they were not cliches but breaking new ground, and he was so good at it that many modelers have unashamedly copied him. The tricks become cliches, however, when everyone else did them outside of any meaningful context whatsoever.

I once saw a brilliant Eastern seaside layout in one of the modeling mags that was spoiled by a crane loading a triceratops onto a boat. Why "ruined"? Because the dinosaur did not fit into any plan or context whatsoever; it was just there. Sometimes, these visual tricks can be passed off as "Easter Eggs, but only with skill and finesse; otherwise, they look like what they are - something totally out of place and context, put there perhaps to amuse the kids.

Allen put his "Easter Eggs" into his layout as part of the overall picture, and that is what made him brilliant.

[Squidbait]

How about a track crossing the line at 90' as it comes out of a tunnel? You never see that in real life... :p

[doctorwayne]

How about a track crossing the line at 90' as it comes out of a tunnel? You never see that in real life

That's certainly true, Squid, but you gotta admit, the modeller who did that scene certainly did a fine job. Nice crisp photography, too.

Wayne

[MountainMan]

How about a track crossing the line at 90' as it comes out of a tunnel? You never see that in real life

That's certainly true, Squid, but you gotta admit, the modeller who did that scene certainly did a fine job. Nice crisp photography, too.

Wayne

And what would that modeler's name just happen to be?

[doctorwayne]

It appears that the modeller in Squidbait's attached photo isn't credited, only the photographer.

Wayne

[MountainMan]

Which I am assuming was you?

[doctorwayne]

I was referring to the "modelling" in the photo which Squidbait included in his post.

Wayne

[Ralph]

I definitely have the spaghetti bowl and stair step thing going on my layout. Over the years there have been "styles" of layout design that have come and gone in popularity. The kind I have was very much in vogue when I first stated noticing layouts as a boy, especially the local club layout. All of the action made an impression so I think I semi-subconsciously carried it into my plan!

Ralph

[MountainMan]

I was referring to the "modelling" in the photo which Squidbait included in his post.

Wayne

Sorry - I didn't know you were a male model.

[lightbender]

Hmmm. the electric dog, the giant squirrel and the daleks have to go then, eh?

Tony.

Tame Rhino is ok though?