Modeling History Will Thank You Someday !

[JohnReid]

More on modules.
A few posts ago I mentioned something about building layouts and large dioramas using modules.
I was back in the same hobby store yesterday and made some more inquiries .Evidently,they had two scales on display there "N" (very small scale) and "H" (larger).Someone had the foresight to do the "N" scale in modules and they moved it out in a single morning.Unfortunately the "H" scale will have to be busted up.They are going to try to preserve portions of it if they can.
With all the modern electrical fixtures ,quick dis-connects etc... there should be no excuse for this in the future.With a little planning in the beginning this hassle could have been avoided .
On a more personal level I am sure that a lot of families would love to be spared the agony of putting Uncle Joe's or Grandpa Jim's layout in the garbage because it is just too big and difficult to move.A lot of these decisions have to be made quickly at a very bad time in people's lives and some very fine work and in some cases real artwork is lost forever.
Modules could be built as separate dioramas each with its own little story and complete scene that when put together makes for an even bigger story.
Take nice overall pics of the huge layout as it once was and then create a picture book for your each modular section that could go with it to its new home.Even museums could make a very nice display of your work and put it in context for the viewer without have to find space for the whole thing.
Maybe it is because I am going on 71 now and these things have become more important to me.We all get old some day and faster than you think,believe me.This may not be important to you now but maybe someday it will.Do your family a favor and plan ahead.
Someday layouts will be as rare as old baseball cards are today and probably just as valuable.Lets face it we are in the golden age of modeling when old farts like me are realizing their boyhood dreams and have the money to do so.What I could buy with my allowance as a kid is history now.Times change rapidly today and a lot of stuff competes for our attention and money.

Personally I don't do large layouts but I do large aircraft dioramas in modular form and donate them to Canada Aviation Museum.Even if there comes a time that that they no longer want them chances are the airplane models themselves will survive as historical examples or maybe in a future collectors home.I feel good to at least have given my stuff a survival plan.
Nothing is forever but humans have since ancient times loved models of all kinds and probably will continue to do so.Kids never change and future imaginations will thank you for it and so will the memories of future older folk too .

[JohnReid]

I recently read in the local newspaper that a large RR diorama (layout) here in Montreal is being forced to find a new home.The problem is there never was any plans made for this eventuality and there is no way to take it apart.
So another huge piece of modeling history will now end up in the garbage due to poor planning.
I see this often too on an individual level.Guys take a lifetime to build layouts that can't be moved and are just too big for most homes.Some of these are really little works of art that deserve a better fate. Someday they will probably be highly sought after by collectors ,hobbyists and museums ( after most have already been tossed in the garbage) as examples of our brief historical era of modeling will then be quite rare.
If you care about the fate of your stuff and I think most of us do,give a little thought about the future and do your stuff in modular sections or even a series of mini-dioramas that can easily be taken apart.I don't know how many times I have overheard the RR guys at the local hobby store talking about this very subject in very sad tones of too bad about this guys layout and what a shame about that guys layout when a little pre-planning may have made all the difference.Modules are really the modern way to go now if you care about the future of your stuff.

[Lyle]

John,
You are of course right about making these layouts "re-locatable". I have seen some incredible work in MR and other magazines and have wondered as well what would happen to them after their creator(s) went west.
John Allen's Gorre and Daphetid HO layout was a true masterpiece, and it was destroyed in a house fire after John's death.

[JohnReid]

Some of those RR layouts are really incredible 3D art and the moving train is actually a distraction in my opinion,but boys will be boys !