May/June 2010 - O Scale Trains Magazine Online

Joe GiannovarioA “Golden” IssueThis is issue #50, our ”golden” issue. I think the mix of articlesin this issue reflects the ”golden” age of O Scale that we’reliving in. Never before have we had access to so many qualityitems for our hobby.If you are a ready-to-run fan, there are tons of models foryou to purchase and plunk down on your layout and beginoperations immediately. If you are a kit-basher, there are tonsmore models and kits to purchase that you can bend, fold andspindle to your heart’s desire. If you are a scratchbuilder, thereare more materials than you can possible use on any givenmodel that will yield your desired result. Oh, I know there aresome folks who miss the cast bronze doorstops and paper carsides, but I don’t.The response to Capt. Tom Mix’s scratchbuilding series hasbeen extremely positive. His work inspires people to achievemore with their own model building. There hasn’t been a serieslike this since Mel Thornburgh wrote for MR and Tom certainlyhas earned the right to Mel’s mantle. Tom’s third installmentappears in this issue.I’ve also been surprised at the positive response to my seriesStarting Over. Many of you have sent short notes sympathizingwith my situation and expressed a great deal of interest in howI developed the new trackplan. In this issue you’ll see how weprepped the room for the benchwork. Some of you have askedabout the operations and I will discuss that in later issues. I’llget specific about each destination.Bill Davis’s article on scratchbuilding a stock car is a goodexample of the new materials I mentioned above. Bill’s car isbuilt from styrene, one of my favorite mediums, but he alsouses Archer resin decal rivets. If you have not seen these, youneed to visit [www.archertransfers.com] and check out theircomplete line of surface details.The rest of the issue is more scratchbuilding and kitbashingby the likes of Conley Wallace (Jawn Henry), Warner Clark(Roundhouse) and Jerry Zaret (Scratch Buildings). I think there’ssomething here for everyone. I hope you enjoy our 50th issueand I promise well be around for the 100th.A New VentureI want to take this opportunity to announce the formationof a new enterprise; OST Publications Inc. Mike Cougill and Ihave joined together to create a publishing company that willfocus on the needs of the intermediate to advanced O Scalemodeler in terms of fine craftsmanship. First up, Mike authorsa trackwork book. Our second project will be a Proto48Handbook. There are other titles in the works and when we’vedecided on the next one we’ll let you all know. In the meantime,watch for the ad announcing Mike’s new book.Pet PeevesI’ve been meaning to get this off my chest for a while. I’vebeen a member of eBay since 1998 and while I am not aneBay ”powerhouse” I do look at it every day for things I aminterested in buying. One of my pet peeves is people whocannot seem to fathom the idea of a category. I have O Scalebookmarked and one of the categories under O Scale is BrassImports. So, will someone please explain to me how a diecastLionel Hudson belongs under brass imports? Or for that matterwhy plastic tubing, or books, or a plastic freight station is there?I find it most annoying.Is There Life Beyond Trains? (Gasp!)For those of you who live in the Northeast corridor, youknow we’ve had a record snowfall this season. As of today,we’ve hit 7 feet of snow since December. As a result, Jaini and Ihave spent a lot of this winter indoors with the pups (talk aboutcabin fever!).Between doing OST administrivia all-day and working onthe new OST layout, I have to take a break from trains and dosomething else. That something else is video games.Yes, Jaini and I are hard-core gamers. We play virtuallyevery evening for a couple hours. We’re Xbox users (which isamazing because I’m a Macintosh computer die-hard). We gothooked on the Xbox because of a game called HALO, a firstpersonshooter (FPS). We have all four HALO games and we’rewaiting for the new HALO: Reach beta to debut in March.Other games that we’re especially fond of are: Star Wars:Knights of the Old Republic (aka KOTOR I) and KOTOR II bothrole-playing games (RPG); Mass Effect 1 and 2 (another sci-fiRPG); Metal Arms: Glitch In The System (a platformer); and ournewest favorite, Borderlands, which combines elements of anRPG with an FPS.But the one game we’ve played consistently for nearly twoyears is Civilization: Revolution. It’s a strategy game that canbe played in as little as 20 minutes or as long as three hours,depending on the goal and difficulty level. Civ: Rev is aboutresource management and problem solving. It’s an easy gameto start playing but it takes a long time to understand all thenuances of the choices you make during a game. Not to go intotoo much detail but any given game involves 5 of a possible 14civilizations, each with unique abilities. You can win a game bydominating the others (war), amassing 20,000 gold and buildthe World Bank, create a strong culture and build the UnitedNations, or with technology by building and launching a starshipto Alpha Centauri.I bring this up because the choices we make early on indesigning and building a model railroad will have consequenceslater on down the road. Playing Civ: Rev has given me anappreciation for planning and resource management as appliedto my hobby.So, I’m wondering if anyone else has a non-train hobby thathas lessons applicable to trains? If you do, let us know and we’llshare them with everyone.Another SurveyI’ve set up a second OST Reader’s Survey. I would appreciateit if everyone reading this would take a few minutes tocomplete the survey online. Go to the OST website [www.oscalemag.com] and you will find a link on the front page tothe survey. We’re interested in knowing more about who ourreaders are, how they model in O Scale and what they’d like tosee in future issues of OST.Keep Highballin’u66 • O Scale Trains - May/June ’10