My philosophy of model railroading, as I've written many times before, is this:
Railroads are about people, not trains.
Let me explain. No train exists without the work of multitudes of people. Engineers, designers, craftsmen, construction works and all the many people that make the trains go. Nothing about a railroad operates or exists without people. The story of the railroad is a story about those folks involved and their stories. By focusing on the people, the story that is the railroad really comes to life.
See how people really make the model come to life? This is a Boulder Valley Model's conversion kit that has been heavily detailed and using Arttista figures in O scale. I encourage you to visit Boulder Valley as they have some incredible On30 stuff! Photo on Boulder Valley site.
So people are important on the layout...and you need a lot of them. In O-scale a painted figure is $5-$7 each, unpainted is about $3 with two hours of work to decorate it. Even a small layout like mine can easily use 100 people.
Here's what I see wrong with most layouts:
1. There are not enough people
2. The people on the layout are not painted correctly
3. There are not enough varieties of people
4. People are often from the wrong time/era, or dressed wrong
5. The painting of the people is usually too bright
6. Model train figures are too thick and often out of scale
I've seen many a work site model on a railroad with five people. In the 1920's a lot of labor was done manually and a job site would have workers scattered everywhere. You may have a choice of about 6-8 figures in HO scale that might fit the bill, and from their you are duplicating. If they are prepainted you'll have Darrel, my brother Darrel and my other brother Darrel all working at the same site.
Here are some solutions to the problem of population:
1. Start gathering people before you build your layout! Don't wait!
2. Every time you go to a hobby shop or train show, buy some people. Build your collection!
3. Learn how to paint miniatures...and change the paint schemes on painted models
4. Learn to change the figures and customize them
5. Make your own!
6. Start a people swap with friends, or five friend "people" on their birthdays!
Make my own you say? Why yes! It is possible! In fact, I've found that if I sculpt a good figure I can get exchange that figure for MANY castings of it with a figure supplier, who are always looking for more masters. I have tinkered with this, the carving of "greenies" as they are known. Greenies are made from a special two-part epoxy that is workable and bonds to itself. Greenies can be turned into spin cast molds which produce metal castings. Or resin castings if you prefer.
Below are some links to get you started. Follow along with me on future blogs as I make some Navajo miners for the layout!
Will from Storm the Castle's How To Series on Sculpting:
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-bor7koo_Q
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRxvPk85Mnc
Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEdQVuAZjdw
Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UpkoY-GC1o
Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzthmgnOmLA
Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8th5iPaollU
Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-1K9toCiGU
Part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8eE8vDVB5s
Part 9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXTobRCbkfY
Part 10 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT70PEwNqPA
Part 11 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TtkzKIAWkM
Part 12 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8RDG0kfSmA
Part 13 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr1UOAiYCTQ
Part 14 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCu-SXvAVqE
Part 15 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsBhITtmKvI
Michael Chartres from across the pond:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z089P3TdNoI
Sculpting figures:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rMqFlxggr4
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWYrNWO5bFw
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCbUfuYweDc
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4u8Ka6dH8c
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOotMF9qQX4
Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABwsl83d9VU
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLZHm9zONGs
Painting figures:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiTDBN2pbrg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SN_JuLnCA0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HWrf8axHTs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIzxQP2XxlY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODqCZEzfdl4
Painting fantasy miniatures
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pJJ5UODBfQ
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TqNRk2tKrw
Casting figures from Will at Storm the Castle:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ_qwuxUrjw
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXeX5VjAw-4
One part mold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTq6qkWbpsY
Other educational links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoMLvLuUlHc
Take some time to look at these videos and consider making your fleet of folks!
Wizdom:
1. Can't find what you need? Build your own!
2. Youtube.com is a great source of how to videos on most every subject
3. You can never have enough people on your layout
I've tried to do this. It's really hard to sculpt a person from scratch and make it look correct and convincing. Our eyes are trained to immediately recognize the figure of a person and anything that's slightly off sticks out like a sore thumb. What I have seen some really great work on doing is customizing figures. This is something I'd eventually like to master. However I see a lot of O scape people cast in pewter. This seems much harder to customize than plastic.
ReplyDeleteGood point Titus on casts that are made in pewter. I usually recast them in resin, and hack them up from there. We'll be doing some of those here on the blog.
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