The Model Railroad Perspective | Boomer Diorama ~ # 212 

Greetings From Colorful Colorado WJ, The very least I can do for you is take you an Miss Wendy to Dinner. You have given more than I would ever imagined all year. My confidence has grown 100 fold because of your generous teaching and Spot-on Philosophy Thanks Man, John Millard Arvada Colorado

Thank you for your gift to us.

Boomer, you don’t have to feel like you need to justify your modeling decisions. For someone to say your trees are too big, don’t know what they are talking about. I was at Howard Zane’s layout last week. He said someone told him his rocks were not to scale. Doesn’t that sound crazy. Some people say stuff, sometimes out of ignorance, sometimes to be spiteful. Or, for a myriad of other reasons. Don’t worry about them. You are doing an amazing job and producing great content. We need people like you with decades of experience to pass on some of the knowledge you have gained. Keep up the great work!

Incidental music cracks me up... ...and God Bless right back at you

Years ago I filled the hills built in my layout with trees of various types. Many people knew him and considered him well accomplished. One day recently, a friend came with his 6-year-old grandson and looked at everything and asked me why the trees were so small. I measured them and the tallest one was 4.5”. I spent months changing them

If your trees were any bigger, Dusty might climb them! 😁😁 I really liked the way you showed the perspective down the brewery tunnel with and without that tree. When you pull out the tree, the enclosed tunnel effect almost goes away and it seems too open.

Your trees are incredible and prototypically accurate.

Super. You just have fantastic tree growing skills. P.S. I love those power poles. Hello from the Tracy Mountain Railway in Colorado. 💙 T.E.N.

The trees on your layout are awesome my friend, definitely not too big. Most Model railroaders are way too small in their thinking when it comes to scenery, imo. Thanks for breaking down a practical philosophy and concept of the small footprint layout, it really helps.

I am amazed by all aspects of your modelling and have been influenced by many of your techniques, for example, guess how I do all my flat roofs after the diner build! How dare anyone call your trees too big - they're magnificent. Cheers

Thanks Boomer. You can argue scale with some folks“forever and ever” (loving the Handel). The best we can do is model a representation, which you expertly. My layout is based on outback/central Australia where prototypical passenger trains are over 1.5km long and intermodal freights even longer. As you would know at HO scale prototype trains would be over 17m long, not very practical. Keep up the good work. Cheers Peter.

I’m gonna need some big trees for Northern Idaho in O scale. Good thing I have a whole library of tutorials from you to work from. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

"Prototypical influence",,, very nice. It is a phrase that fits well. It's way better to have a focus or clear idea of what it is your trying to present in any model or else it's just random 'plonking' of scenery and track. Thanks again for your videos and perspective. I always enjoy how you put your whole approach to modelling in to words.

That's cool, love the scenery 😊

I can not speak for everyone but to me trees are something that has no set size if you are going for a realistic look on the layout. I also like the train to play peek a boo through the trees. Visiting a lot of layouts some are a bowl of noodles worth of track. To make switching easy there are a ton of turn outs. Perspective, again I feel is not figured in on layouts and should be. Thanks again for your ways to make our layouts a piece of reality.

This helps my planning. Thanks for your perspective on perspectives !

It amazes me that anyone would comment that your trees are too big. Even if I wrongly believed my modeling skills were in the same ball park as yours, I would recognize that everything ..EVERYTHING you do is intentional (except sometimes with paint). Who would I be, to question your modeling decisions on your railroad. LOL, that's a whole topic of discussion in and of itself, apparently there is always someone out there who knows what you should do better than you. I appreciate that you have let me know every tree I have ever built is too small, and inferior!! My future trees will be much better. 😉

First, thanks for playing Handel this season. 👍🏼👍🏼 Second--and Boomer, I know you know this--people are quick to criticize things that are relative to the modeling situation. They say your trees are too big because they don't have experience with your area and the large size of old growth trees. I have the opposite problem. On the edge of the plains people tell me my oaks are too small because in the Eastern Midwest oaks grow to 80-90 feet or more. Here, however, a 50-60 foot oak is big. In the area I model in North Texas, Mesquite trees are plentiful but are often only 20-30 feet. They look like shrubs to some, but they are correct in my modeling environment. Do what looks right in YOUR modeling environment.

You continue to teach me new things, and reinforce what I already know.

Wonderful stuff, you inspire us lesser mortals to try and do better. I am less skilled, but that doesn't matter to me, I enjoy trying, I enjoy my little victories, this week I built a freight car kit, got it nicely balanced, couplings perfectly in line, next week I will probably mess up the painting of it, but it is trying that counts and your videos are a wonderful inspiration.

I have always thought trees were too small on model railroads. I'm trying to model a portion of East Texas called the Piney Woods. My problem was I haven't lived in Texas since 1966 so dim memories and lack of access have plagued me about "The Woods" until I found the electronic book "Trees of Texas" put out by Texas A&M. It not only has illustrated trees in color (colour to Canadians) but native undergrowth and flowering plants along with common locations, sizes they can grow to, and details of leaf and needle counts on the stems and branches. Now I have something I can show people when they say my trees will be too large! Thank you for your great videos, all the great tips and especially the inspiration!

Thanks for sharing. I have 6 trees on my land over 150 feet. or 45.72 meters. One of them I'm sure is 200 feet. I live on a little larger than a quarter acre in Sacramento California.

Awesome...looks pretty good boomer... especially the trees in the background..I think it gives that extra touch..cheers

What nice video. The music itself is inspiring. Thanks to you I am learning to "lose the fear" and just start doing something. By the way, the pole to right of the tree is fantastic. Did you cover the build?

I think these are all good points to convey Boomer. Whether or not guys realize it, it's the single most common reason for our struggles to achive a convincing scene. Especially us ogaugers. We build benchwork, lay down track, and just stick in the other design elements to fit as an after thought because of the limitations of available real-estate. Especially for those of us who are building in 0-scale. It's important to know that for those of us who struggle with creating a believable scene, I find that it is easier to do so by recreating an actual scene from any point in time from our past. It doesn't necessarily need to be an exact duplicate to work but useing any of the design elements always seem to be the most familiar and convincing that not only works for the individual but for others who has never had that same experience. Plus, it gives validation to the individual for conveying his story convincingly. Boomer what you call limited track plan in HO is a lot of track real-estate dedicated for 0.

Boomer, great thoughts on the trees in our layout. It is often very hard to get commercially avaible trees if they are not standard European trees or pines. In the area I am modelling, there are a lot of Australian River Red Gums, these are typically 20 metres to over 45 metres in height, in HO Scale that is 9 to 20 inches. Most ready to place are 5 to 7 inches max. I am trying to teach myself to make them, but still in the infant stages, your videos really help. Your trees are just as I remember from my visit to B.C. back in 2019. Absolutely majestic. Thank you, and stay safe, Michael

Another great video and lessons to be taken, for those who don't waste time on criticism and do nothing of modeling.

A model railroad is all about tradeoffs and compromises. I model a prototype and try to model accurately when possible but sometimes its just not especially if you operate. I'm modeling a town in a long narrow valley and the prototype had a three track yard + main with turnouts on both ends. So I modeled that but found that with the shorter length available and having turnouts at both ends which take a lot of room, even using short trains, I found I did not have enough track in the yard for operations. So I ended up adding a couple of short stub sidings where I could put cars. So now it definitely looks different than the prototype but operates much better.

Lessons are learned. Much fun in a relatively small space.thanks Boomer.

Love your videos. I am just starting out model railroading and you inspire me.

Excellent tutorial AND perspective, once more...

Your model is amazing!! It is hands down the best I've ever seen

Thank you. You gave me a lot more food for thought.

Great video Boomer for me perspective is key in all aspects of model railroading, weathering for instance,thank you for sharing

I will play this music when I get my layout done 😂 Anyway great video once again.

Boomer, I think the scene you showed of the barge slip looks as good as the photo you have there perspective and all. You do amazing work and I'm learning so much. And trees we all tend to model them too small, yours look fine and much more realistic.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, your family, and Dusty 😸

Hi Boomer , I think this is a topic most Modelers have issues with , especially when it comes to compression on a scene to fit there given space. Compressing the wrong space , building , a siding or whatever , like you say it can brake or make the scene . On paper things can look good but sometimes spatial perception when track it's the base , can be challenging . If you maybe can touch on that issue some time and hint or how you go through that process. love your talks about modeling issues we all go through. Hope you , your family and Dusty have a wonderful , peaceful and merry Christmas , with all the best for 2024 . Cheers an thanks so much for your wisdom , and passing it on..

Great as always! Have you previously covered room lighting; and also do you have an opinion on Berkshire Junction - EZ Line Simulating Wires (telephone wire)? One myth you've destroyed for me is that such delicate-appearing scenery is actually pretty robust. I put up thread as a kid and aside from poor appearance, it became a pain in the neck to constantly work around it...

I agree that trees need to be representative of the area being modeled. Just a thought, what about a large diameter stump from when they cleared the area for development. Maybe even a barber chair that was left.

Dear Boomer, love the subject. Simply beautiful how you showed the perspective angle from the Axton side. The difference between the shots with and without the red cedar tree significant! Also, love the way you placed the different buildings along and into the brewery alley. If only for the placement of those buildings and their slightly different angles, the perspective grows on the eye in a space just some 3” wide. That’s just awesome to observe. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with ‘flats,’ however the askew arrangement of structures definitely opens up a whole set of opportunities and angles to further explore the immersion beyond the footprint of the modeled scenes. Cheerio

Awesome 👏 and happy holidays! Cheers 🥂

The hallelujah chorus was an epic choice

Can't wait to see phone/power lines go up (down?) IMHO one of the more difficult things to get right... Also looking forward to the next time you run train (s) I dig your choice of camera angles... Cheerios

Always interesting camera views. How are you mounting them and what cameras are you using to film with? Gives a very interesting perspective of River Road while you narrate.

Thank you!

what about a little 🐱 by that boxcar!

Thanks. I think bigger trees look better. The argument for smaller is probably aimed at not letting them upstage the trains. Thanks also for using The Messiah for your background music.

Well i found that interesting, it doesn't matter the size of the model trains, it's the enjoyment that matters, yes you could get it correct, but would you be happy, like you said if you want to model freelance, go for it!

Great tutorial as always and timely to. I am planning a new layout to replace my first effort and have been thinking a lot about perspective and spacing.

Don't let the naysayers what prototypical is because I live in the PNW, and I have a Redwood in our backyard that is at least 150ft tall. Most of the trees that I modeled thanks to you are half that size!

Hi boomer. It's always a pleasure to follow you from the caribean, and to learn so much things about your technics. I have to remove some tracks from my layout. The problem is that my track is already ballasted and that I want to do this clean so I wonder how can I remove a track glued with diluted medium or white glue. Do y have any suggestion ? Thanks

Hi Boomer, btw that's my wife's nickname, too. Have you done winter in the PNW? i'm doing the line from Tacoma to White Pass in winter. Lots of snow in the mountains. Have you done winter scenes? Do you anyone who has done good winter layouts or scenes? Love your stuff. Run8

Your trees aren't too big, other modelers trees are too small! Until recently I lived in a house that has a 40metre Red Gum tree in the back yard. And it's only 7 km from the city. We are all forced to compress perspective due to space limitations. Thanks for all the great information.

My railroad is inspired by the BN line that went from Chehalis, WA out to Hoquaim, WA. As with yours, some of the trees are huge. And there’s parts of the line that is hard to follow on satellite images because of the tree canopy. But I’m not going to put trees on the railroad that are as tall as a passenger car is long. I’d have a very difficult time if there was a derailment. I suspect I’ll end up with a number of 60 or 70’ in HO. It’s going to be challenging enough to model deciduous trees that are anything close to that. Anyway, I won’t be telling you that your trees are too tall. That’s ridiculous. 😀

I’ve always thought that you are not really “seeing” your layout unless you get your camera down to a scale eye level and in a location a scale human could be. Rob

Thanks

Did you have a permit to move that tree?? lol.

Model railroaders in general make trees way too small. 10-12" trees in HO are still technically small, but much more realistic, to me, than 4-6 or 8" trees.

Bring the cat back-

Boomer, I suspect your trees are just saplings at the moment, give them time they'll get there. Just a quiet morning at River Road before the ferry arrives. Enjoy the moment. Cheers, Chris Perry.

It's funny when they are saying that the trees are to tall lol. I have done tree work and there's Oak trees that are 100 foot guess they don't have a sense of heights in there eyes 😂

Nothing much to say Boomer, other than another good video! Cheers from Ontario Bob

How did 1/64 scale get confused with HO?

OK Boomer: well at least the evergreens look great.

Hi, I think trees are generally modelled too small. Here in Australia at gum tree has a average height of between 30 and 160' thats 100mm (3")to over half a metre (20"). I will go to an exhibition and often say, good layout but your trees are too Small.

Sooooo Canadian.

I do not like critical citric's, I am a ceramic artist ad all the time people have the comments or suggestions that do not relate to my creative work, so now I just nod my head and go yep ya think so ok sort of a I do not care, but I create for my pleasure and for others of like minded ilk!

If you do a little research you’ll find Handel’s Messiah was not very well received by the critics of the day. Maybe that adds a little “perspective”to the discussion