Clever scene, interesting way

Clever scene, interesting way to tie some of the past to one of your own layouts.

Great scene

Michael, I know you gave a lot of thought to this scene and it shows...great article!

Nice!

Michael, thank you for sharing your creative process and the final result with us. The mill scene turned out great and your descriptions of the thought process should be very helpful to other modelers. Good job!

Very nice!  I love the

Very nice!  I love the thought process and the way the scene came together!

John Allen

Michael, the scene looks great and has a relaxed feel to it that I really like. As a fellow John Allen inspired modeler, I can 100% relate to your motivation.

Rob Clark
Cornhill & Atherton RR

Nice article and modeling,

Nice article and modeling, Michael! 

Confirmation

My thought processes are the same, what a relief, thought I was getting lazy but realize I'm not alone. Not lazy after all, just an effective planner!!

Yes ...

Imagineering: Modeling a signature scene

Excellent model and scene!  However there is one thing, the building looks like it was built in the middle of the creek.  One really good rain, and a flash flood, would destroy that building really quick.  I would have "built" the mill to the side of the creek instead of the middle of a stream.

Dredging up an old thread...

But hey, I haven't been here in a long while!                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Always bugged me that I ended up with the mill too much out in the middle of the dam. I think it was a product of rushing my first ever article and the beginning of medical issues that kept me on the sideline for so long. A good lesson can be learned here though. Even with the most careful planning and consideration, a good idea and concept can be ruined by simply not taking our time. As happened here, a pretty glaring mistake can be made.

Everyone probably already knows this but they can trust my experience here too. It's going to bother you until you fix it. To that end, the elements of the scene have been carefully preserved but they are being rearranged to accommodate more realistic placement of the mill structure. I will post updated pictures here at some point but I'm slowed by carpal tunnel right now. It's a blessing in disguise though because I need to slow down and do it right. More to come...

Michael

Original member of the "Gang of Six"

R.I.P. Verne Niner. The time I got to know you was way too short my friend.

Can't wait

Michael, can't wait. Further insight and follow-up like this is really interesting.

A first pic...

Not much to see here yet but this is the now cleared area. Time to start scraping up and vacuuming plaster. Just a small bit of repair on the dam where original sluice-way location was. Pike is a mess and a piling place. Not a lot of attention since the article. 

Step one of the rearrangement

I hope I'm not boring any of the "old heads" with this but these days I feel a real drive to reach out and help the "new guys". I hope we have new folks anyway!

 Scenery is one of the easiest things to change on a pike and I would say your model railroading dollar goes further with scenery than any other of the hobbies endeavors. This picture finds a general idea of rearranging key structures in the scene. The water wheel has been moved to the other side of the mill where I think it belonged all along anyway. One can also see that numerous repairs are underway and that junk inevitably piles up on an unused pike.

This was funny, I saw the

Been away awhile!

Unfortunately, this was my one contribution to the Imagineering column. Medical issues caused me to have to step away from my  part in the column and being active in the hobby. I never completely walked away, I still downloaded and read MRH, bought an occasional MR and read this forum. I just didn't participate because I felt I had nothing to contribute. I'm back now though and I'm retired now too. Plenty of time! Except for carpal tunnel, which will hopefully be fixed soon, I'm feeling great!

Michael

Looks like a good change. Definitely makes more sense as far as placement goes.

Is there any place here on MRH where your RR is laid out with plans and photos?

Jack

Photos but no central place

There are photos of various projects here and there but no central place. I haven't updated my blog in years and I really should just start a new one for the RR. I have been photo documenting some other small projects that I'd like to share and I've gained some real excitement about my concept, scenic ideas and even simple operations which have always been a difficult concept for me to wrap my head around with a small one man show like mine.  I've had some partial trackplans but I really need to just fire up SCARM  (my track planning program of choice) and get the whole thing down. I'm waiting for a call from the orthopedic surgeons office referral so I can get the carpal tunnel taken care of and I've been bouncing around the house a lot trying to knock out the smaller honey-do projects I can at my reduced capacity. I will get a centralized place for photos and plans, it's just going to take some time.

I was and am still very humbled and proud to have my work included with the other five gents in the original  imagineering column group and I really do feel a drive to help newcomers to the hobby with stuff that is old hat to a lot of us. I'm seeing many old ideas recycled and revamped and I figure I might as well give my take on them as well!

Rediscovering my blog

The question about a place where  my RR is laid out got me to consider doing a new blog but I looked at my old one that has been neglected for a few years and realized there were photos and discussion on the newer "Black & Blue". I had just forgotten them. I hope to work on the blog soon and trim out some of the older post that concern my aborted first attempt after my change from N to HO.  I just have to figure out how to do it first. Hopefully I can edit, condense and re-title so a whole new blog isn't necessary. Then I can start adding to it again and those who are interested can follow along with me on this adventure.

Michael just start a new one

Michael just start a new one with your new scale. It has been long enough that folks will still likely rehash the old subjects with out going back and reading the old material. I for one will be reading what you write.

And

the information you change or delete might actually have value for others (and perhaps you) when you look back.  It is amazing to me when I look back a number of years and see what I was thinking at the time or little details I don't remember.  Better to keep it, even if you don't think it valuable as you never know what value it may have to others or to you down the road.

I've found out it's not so

I've found out it's not so easy to mess with so I'm going to leave it be and keep going. Each new post can have a title so it will be easy for folks to know what is in the here and now. I agree with you Dave, the old stuff is of importance. I was reading some of my old post and a lot of the comments on those post are of great value. It is interesting to see where my head was! Joe did tell me that they took away the self delete feature because some of us were deleting things and regretting it later. You can still delete with a moderators help but it keeps one from doing anything rash. I can certainly identify with that.

 Rob, it's very nice to know you will be following along too! I always appreciate your perspective on things as well.

Redirect...

Sorry to dredge up an old thread again, but I though I'd post a pic of how the rearranged scene is turning out. It's still not finished, there are details to attend to but I'm happy where it is now.  Moving forward, everything about the railroad, including a trackplan is in my blog so I will redirect anyone who has interest there.

Looks very pastoral

Peaceful even. But I don't know that I'd want to be there when the snow melts in spring... 

Thanks

It's actually late winter/early spring. There are visual cues to that elsewhere. Not that much snow in this area and any left is in the higher elevations. There is additional "runoff area" out of frame if that's what you're worried about.