If I was going there, I wouldn’t start from here... (N part 2)
In the first of this series we began by talking about the opportunity of N and introduced the Englewood Railway. In this second instalment we’re going to explore mindset, and I’m going to hand over to Chris to kick things off...
Just before December I started working on the layout here at Prince Street. Guided by principles of iterative and impermanent design (Agile?) I learned to distinguish between productive variables that spoke to my creative self from those that just didn’t matter. Focussed, I learned to do good things—if I focussed on work that felt right I was doing it right. I was building a model railway but learning how to make myself happy.
Rambling here as my opening comments feels like the right way into this conversation because James and I have been talking a lot about N scale models. It’s so easy to default into a conversation about N scale and then worry how we will make worthwhile models in this smaller size. Let’s ignore that narrative. It’s not productive. They say the hardest part of learning a language is to stop translating back and forth. It’s easier once you just relax and start thinking in the new; learning how to express yourself on this new medium.
Do I have the blinkers on? I am perhaps a victim of my own mindset, throughout my modelling life I have enjoyed working with the proportions detail level and textures provided by HO/OO scale modelling. In fact more recently in the garden, working in 7/8 of an inch to the foot scale has allowed me to really push the boundaries of what is possible blending artistic interpretation and an engineering approach. For many years I have modelled Narrow-gauge railways in British 009, which uses proprietary N gauge mechanisms to recreate smaller prototype‘s running on 9 mm gauge track - so I’m familiar with the improvements in running performance of mechanisms in N over the past 20 years, yet in all my life I’ve never seriously experimented with N scale itself...
What keeps me coming back to HO/00? I wonder if it is just that level of comfort understanding what works and what doesn’t in terms of detail and texture, what you can put in as well as leave out to achieve a level of realism. It feels like the only thing holding me back is myself, yet that strong desire to model more than just a small cameo or shelf layout and represent the railway as part of its landscape, to show its purpose, to enjoy the journey - That could be so easily answered by working in N scale…
It's not that in N scale I think I'll have to do less work but what excites me so much about this conversation is that it’s becoming one between friends, that is exploring the territory of learning to think in this scale as a means of using it to connect an emotional value to the voice of our work. How can I say this in N scale? What have I been phrasing wrong and how has that been corrupting my expression?
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| One is small, the other far away… (apologies to Father Ted). This Lifelike N SW1200 is being worked over by James, flanked by a H0 Rapido SW1200RS. |
In N, that sense of feeling right is not going to be a tally of grab irons and track spikes in the right places but by the way colour and texture work to relate each component part of the work to those that share the space. I want to be learning and then applying more about colour theory and how we perceive light. I already know that I prefer impressionist art in paintings. Expecting to see the scene as a whole feels like an essay in learning how to read colour to create mood. I want to step back and now practice the broader composition.
I’m really excited!
We all have it I’m sure. It’s that feeling of growth, trying something new, exploring a familiar yet unknown prototype through the lens of a new scale with the support and encouragement and a good modelling friend. There are plenty more things on this journey to consider, discuss, perhaps even develop. Thank you for reading, and being part of this, it would be great to hear of your own experiences so please leave a comment if you want to add to the conversation. Until next time, more soon…
I could go on at some lehgth about agile, since I'm supposedly a qualified agilest, but I do think there is an Minimal Viable Product, Minimal Economic Product discussion to be had, particularly in the spotlight of SocMed. What is your "epic?" And apologies to everyone not currently a software developer. Not that I am.
ReplyDeleteThere is something, and this is obtuse, about "ignoring" the scale. Not that it is important, but it doesn't define what you do. How often have you been to an exhibition and thought "Oh, just another N gauge/16mm layout" A good N/2mm layout is just a good layout.
You know when you read a comment back to yourself and realise it doesn't reflect the really deep stuff you meant to say? N gauge is distinct, it needs a different mindset, but the overarching message isn't "I'm building a N gauge layout" it is "I'm building a layout to achieve this outcome, and N gauge is the best way of doing so"
ReplyDeleteI don’t disagree with this at all James, I think though that perhaps it over simplifies the challenges we face as modellers with our own experience and mindset. I hope by exploring that and talking about the process that may help others in a practical way rather than just a over arching statement that you’ve well captured in your comment, if that makes sense! Thanks for joining in!
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