A scratchbuilding project

A scratchbuilding project (building structure) from start to finish using styrene. No kits involved; from pure scratch. Thanks for letting us give input, Joe.

I will second that...

And to be a bit more specific, scratch building modern freight cars, since $30-40 for a new one is a bit out of most modelers pricer range. Include materials cost and man hours per project.

Then maybe "Yard Operations, Then and Now". To show how yard classification has evolved over the years to get cars going in the right directions. Highlight both prototype and model yards, and how to efficiently and effectively operate a model yard.

One more, "Railroad Paperwork". Since the beginning of railroading, there has always been a need for paperwork, timetables, telegraphs, general orders, then train orders, waybills, manifests, track warrants, rules books, and so on. For those that dont have room for a layout yet, but are planning to build one someday, can start now creating the paperwork necessary to safely operate trains over their railroad.

Steven

Architectural History

A book that gives examples of architectural styles from 1800 to 2000, a "spotters guide" for buildings.  the orientation would be slanted towards commercial and industrial buildings. (you can get books on houses all over the place). 

What is typical of the various styles, how to estimate the age of a building, when did various details (gutters, air conditioners, vent pipes, metal stacks as opposed to brick, round stacks as opposed to square.)  Roof details.  Popular colors.  Roofing materials.  Regional biases. 

Track building comparison

Choose 3-4 different techniques for building track (e.g. spiked to wood ties, PC ties, CV strips, Fasttrack jigs) then have one person for each method build a switch, a crossing, a lap switch (3 way) and a double slip switch in each method.

Give modelers a variety of techniques.

eBook ideas

MRH Mini Mags (Series)

A collection of specific articles and topics taken from past MRH publications. Multi-part articles can all be in one eBook.

eg: DCC articles, scene construction articles,

Building a Home Layout - One Module at a time (Series)

The intended audience would be those new to the hobby that want to build a small layout in a spare bedroom. Say 10x12, around the walls with a swing gate or drop gate for the doorway to allow for continuous running. No rocket chairs, jetpacks or helmuts please.

This series could start with building a single module which will be added and combined with other modules to complete an entire home model railroad.

Starting out with proper bench work design and construction. This is meant to be a semi permanent home layout that can be disassembled and moved in the future and not a portable layout for weekends at another location.

Construction of each module could focus on a different topic.

- track work

- wiring

- scenery

- back drop options

- more ,,,

Don't know how feasible this would be without a budget and a space to demonstrate it in. But we just know that M.C. could whip this up in a weekend or two

Other eBooks

- tree building - not just super trees

- Painting backdrops - (hear that Rob )

- Photo backdrops how to

- Photographing models how to

These a just a few ideas

Randy

What I don't Want...

Rather than telling you what I would like to see, here is what I don't want to see.

Another publisher has and is already doing this to death...

Along that line

and I agree with Kevin, but what about some sort of index by topic?  Would speed up the process of trying to find that MRH article saved on my hard-drive.  As it is now, I have to google it/search it on MRH, then find the month/year, then either open it up at the site or open my copy.

Index

I'm currently creating a text and excel based index of MRH, for MRH. Look for it to be completed in about 3 weeks.

Why an Index?

That's what Rod Goodwin's page is for.  And it does all magazines, not just MRH.

My Wish List

I think Mike Confalone is already doing it, but I'd like an in-depth article on weathering a locomotive without using an airbrush.  

I also second the scratch building idea, but expand it to more mediums - a volume on styrene, one on wood, one on cardstock, etc.  There are so many different ways, it would be interesting to see them all.

Index

See the thread at the bottom of this page regarding the index:

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/magazine

This kind of articles is what

A book that gives examples of architectural styles from 1800 to 2000, a "spotters guide" for buildings.  the orientation would be slanted towards commercial and industrial buildings. (you can get books on houses all over the place). 

What is typical of the various styles, how to estimate the age of a building, when did various details (gutters, air conditioners, vent pipes, metal stacks as opposed to brick, round stacks as opposed to square.)  Roof details.  Popular colors.  Roofing materials.  Regional biases. 

Dave Husman

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This kind of articles is what i LOVE too, but I've to admit it's hard to find one "modeler" that can spend his time to collect his knowledge and put together so much documentation for a good article. Anyway... +1 for me too.

What I've appreciated in past year of RMC numbers was the "industries" story: some good read about some particular type of industries serviced by rail. "Unfortunately" all articles was focus on East coast and North-East part of US... nothing on West Coast?

Also put a PLUS on the freight truck article... what about a similar for passengers cars?

Since you're just getting started...

...how about looking at your overall eBook architecture?  What I'm thinking of is similar to what Steve suggests above but goes a bit further; an architecture that treats each publication as a segment of a larger structure, as if each were a "chapter" in a "mega-book".  Plug in a new one and you get a table of contents, searchable index, keyword search capability, etc. for an integrated whole.  When new materials or techniques appear in the marketplace it may be desirable to upgrade a chapter so you purchase and install the update.

Rather than reprinting articles and topics from past MRH publications, have an appendix capability that allows you to plug in issues as they come out.

Just some pie-in-the-sky thinking. 

"scratch building modern freight cars"

Here's an easy way to build modern cars at little cost. Find a photo of the car that gives a nice square side view then print it out scale size and glue the photo to styrene, wood,or cardboard backing. Add details and trucks and couplers and it's ready for the road. This gondola is TT scale, I had to glue side ribs over the photo and touch up paint them but otherwise it's just the photo so no decaling or weathering needed. Grab irons and steps are bent wire. Ends are styrene shapes glued to styrene sheet. N scale couplers and TT scale trucks are the only commercial parts....DaveBranum

If you could author some of this content ...

Dave's post brings up a good point. As you are reading these wish list items, if YOU are in a position where you could help author something called out on this list, then you need to CONTACT US and let's discuss how we could fulfill the wish (and you could make some hobby mad money in the process).

Yard design

Enzo beat me to it

Enzo beat me to it.   I don't know enough about specific industries to be able to pick something interesting and then do it justice as a model.

I was thinking the same thing - I would like to see in depth articles about specific industries.  Things covered would be types of loads in and out and what might be typical schedules, types of cars used during different eras (ie - at one time grain was shipped in boxcars with "grain doors" or in sacks before covered hoppers came along).  When did hoppers take over??  At multi-building plants, how would buildings be arranged for best efficiency.  I would also like to know about the process(es) inside the industry and how this might affect the use/choice of railcars. 

In the November, 2011 magazine, David Karkoski did an article titled (IIRC) Rodchester Coal Deliveries which I really liked.  Not only did he cover the above, but also had information about the raw material suppliers and the customers of the spotlighted industry.

If there is not enough interest in a really specific industry to warrant an ebook of its own, maybe several related industries could be combined.  For instance - if not enough interest in meat processors alone, they could be combined into a book on food processing which could cover,  farms/ranches and feed lots, meat processor/canneries, cold storage facilities, to food distributors, to grocery stores. 

Anyway, just my thoughts.

Decals

In depth article on painting, weathering and making your own decals or making the artwork to produce your own decals.

Modular Layout and Industries

I vote for the build-a-layout-in-a-modular-fashion article idea, as well as the industry information articles. The latter would probably be more pertinent to a greater part of the readership, but I have a love for all things modular... and N scale!

Andrew

Photoshop

How about a basic how to edit, blend pictures together, etc on photoshop?

Digesting that manual is a pain!

PKS

Espee over Donner

Photoshop

How about a basic how to edit, blend pictures together, etc on photoshop?

Digesting that manual is a pain!

PKS

Espee over Donner

Can't believe I missed this

Anything on lighting and animation would be fabulous.  

Good start

Good start ... remember I said the sky's the limit. If you can dream it up and we see it could be very useful, we might figure out some way to do it.

Also think of things that have given you problems in the past and if there had been info available on it, you could have saved yourself a ton of grief.

Photo Shop

I second or third the idea about photoshop... But how about going a bit further. Include different freewhare such as Gimp. or others. I tried Gimp a year or so ago. and really couldn't make heads or tails of it. I kinda remember the photoshop that used to come with windows 95 or 98. Now that was easy to use.......Mike