Track Detailing, AKA Track Knoblification

Track detailing is underway, with some help from Details West RB-93 Railbars and Central Valley #1603 Switch Detail Parts.  In the photo below, check out the luminescent grey railbars.  I'm carving away spikes and cementing them in place with medium viscosity CA. Track weathering will eventually blend all of this together.

Dig those glowing light grey railbars

The addition of track details like these reminds me of some of my earliest efforts to improve my modeling. Back when I was a wee lad in the early 70s, my Monogram model kits included glossy brochures authored by diorama and military modeling meister Shep Paine. (Shep went on to expand on these brochures with several authoritative modeling books.  And Jim DeRogatis of American Public Media's incomparable rock n' roll talk show, Sound Opinions, has also penned Sheperd Paine: The Life and Work of a Master Modeler and Military Historian.)

Track Knoblifications and Fiddly-Dits

Shep, whom I have had the honor of meeting, had a technique called "creative gizmology," which he used to detail such things as aircraft engine compartments and armored vehicle interiors.  The idea was to fill these empty spaces on his models with plumbing and miscellaneous knoblifications, fiddly-dits, and whatnot--but not necessarily to reproduce these interior spaces in an absolutely prototypically correct way. In short--he filled in the spaces with what the viewers' imaginations thought belonged there.

So instead of having smooth and relatively featureless track and turnouts, I've added some knoblifications and fiddly-dits to fill in what all of us train fans know belongs in those spaces. Interesting how these old but really good ideas--not necessarily model railroad ideas--still work today.