This is a heartfelt plea to all the Electrically Powered Fixed Guideway interests --- trolley modelers and clubs; trolley museums; geographically-focused clubs like CERA; British trams; European transit groups; Light Rail associations etc. --- to set aside personal and local concerns, issues, and past differences . Understand that the hobby as a group can act together --- in unison --- and achieve their goals on many levels by cooperating in the formation of a national --- or even international --- group of enthusiasts (I love the British term as it addresses the necessary levels of focused emotion) .
If we could get the leadership of the various groups, special interests, clubs, and museums to truly lead :
a. Decide on a set of Missions and Goals that rise above track standards and a focus on local geography; b. Become a trend-setter instead of a collector of historical materials;
c. Lead their group to be more than an organizer of a once-a-year display;
d. Recognize that our public is beginning to consist of a smaller and smaller audience;
e. Put aside past grievances, imaginary or real;
f. Analyze the possibilities of this Special Interest of ours;
This can all be accomplished in the following straightforward way :
1. Organize nationally. This is now truly within reach through the use of the Internet, the Social Media, Remote Meeting methods, and other electronic means.
2. Inform the public through the Mainstream Media;
3. Utilize the powerful impact of viewing T-to-the-Fourth Power equipment in action
4. Through a carefully planned series of events that demonstrates What we Do and What we Love
5. Don't dwell on past differences ;
6. Don't keep doing the same thing over and over again, and expect different results --- Albert Einstein's definition of insanity;
7. Look back over previous Electric Railways Network Blogs;
8. Don't get bogged down by trivial past or imagined slights; and especially
9. Search beneath the (admittedly very modest) humor posted here, Get Together and Get the Word Out to throughout North and South America and the World by planning and running one or more major Conferences and Exhibitions in reasonable venues :
A. NOT a college gym adjacent to a Bikers' Bar in an obscure town
B. ... at times of comfortable environmental conditions and pleasant weather
C. NOT Frostbite Falls, Minnesota OR Nunavut inside the Arctic Circle;
D. NOT Florida during Hurricane Season, as one national model railroad show did
E. NOT in distant, physically unreachable places --- Kuala Lumpur (no kidding, it was once
suggested and even planned) OR the Amazon Rain Forest OR Siberia
F. ... accompanied by an instructive, attractive broad-based exhibition, even encouraging commercial
interests to participate
G. ... with broad instructive talks, NOT with minutiae or trivial details
H. ... as part of a major, well-planned campaign to demonstrate, teach, and sell the many fascinating
aspects of our hobby.
10. Keep in mind that teaching T-to-the-Fourth-Power history is fascinating but NOT the Goal.
11. Remember that even in All-In-Combat, the antagonists shake hands before they "Come out fighting!" ... keep all your disagreements in a civil context, and confined to policy issues, not perceived personal ones
12. Recruit NOT just the trolley and transit magazines, but the national and international general- interest media The New York Times and its brethren; New Yorker magazine; TV channels --- History and family-oriented TV; Readers Digest; Reminisce Magazine; TIME magazine; children's media --- TV, Scouting magazines like Boys' Life; the model railroad magazines; EVEN transit advocacy groups and Transportation Planning organizations on the Local, County, State, and Federal levels (yup, you heard me correctly).
13. Hold it in a place where people will go with delight (e.g., Disney World, Orlando); places that are easy to get to, where people will want to bring their family, even --- NO, especially --- the ones not interested in T-to-the-Fourth-Power; provide a Guest Program for them, which automatically means a place with many family-oriented diversions (like Disney World, Orlando).
Use the power of technology to schedule Pre-Event planning meetings using remote video conferencing communication.
Save the Naysayers and Sour-Faces for your local meetings (How has that been working out for you?).
Make it easy for non-US groups to participate --- it may be painful for some to admit, but neither financial nor transportation issues necessarily revolve around the USA these days --- that means easy Bureau de Change currency exchange --- try that in your local college gym -- plan for multi-lingual translation (including Russia, China, the Near- and Middle-East)
See if --- as a Group, a nascent Organization --- you can persuade major interests in Transit to foot the bill for some of the expenses of the planning period.
We were appalled when, in planning for a respectable Conference, we tried to contact major transit equipment manufacturers. Most of them didn't even respond to our (literate) letters or our eMails, providing us with an example of How to Influence People in the worst possible way ! It only takes five minutes to decline an invitation politely by eMail these electronic days.
All in all, we've given you a large amount to chew on. If you're happy, please let us know. If it's Quixotic, we guess we agree with you, but that shouldn't stop anyone. If you're angry beyond reply or polite discourse, we're so sorry --- as one of our faculty colleagues used to say --- So sad, Too bad.
Just consider the consequences of doing nothing (AGAIN : How has that been working out for you?).
HNILS@MSN.COM HYBRIDPELTA@HOTMAIL.COM
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
A New Concept in T-to-the-Fourth-Power Museums
First, probably most of you are wondering what "T-to-the-Fourth-Power" means.
The several hundred good people who have been reading this Blog may already know :
It's an abbreviation for the four "T"s" :
Trolleys
Trams (essentially, European, Australian, and Asian trolleys, streetcars, and light rail)
Traction (the old name for rail lines run by electricity), and
Transit (the New York subways, the Chicago El, the London Tube, the Paris Metro, interurban electric railways, etc.)
Second, why a museum of this stuff? We already have trolley museums; the famous Tich tram museum in the U.K. (England) ; the many local trolley museums in the United States, and quite a few others. Do we really need more ?
... and why now ?
Questions with easy answers, once you think it through in a broad Time and Space perspective.
1. Our North American trolley museums are delightful , nostalgic collections of antique and vintage traction equipment. BUT, they need very large budgets which will undoubtedly increase with time and inflation, and large amounts of ever decreasingly-available space.
2. Equipment maintenance is a difficult labor-intensive task , requiring large expenditures these days
3. The ride provided to visitors is overshadowed --- in most visitors' minds --- by the kinds of "rides" available in theme parks and amusement parks
4. Volunteers --- for any optional activity --- are becoming less and less available because of economic times, an older labor force that needs to spend its time in more financially rewarding ways, the increasing dearth of knowledge about "streetcars", how they work, and the mission, ethic, and function of museums, [we know; we've been there].
5. Grant money, local government appropriations, and private donations are becoming rare.
6. Much information regarding traction, and appreciation for its role, is fading from the public consciousness.
What is the answer ? ... or rather, what is one solution?
Follow the course set by maritime museums, which have become satisfied with --- and flourish with --- model ships.
Arguably the largest percentage of trolley museums provide a passenger ride for a few miles on hard-to-maintain track laid on hard-to-come-by land. It occurred to some of us that with many of the huge "Big-Box" stores, very large restaurants, and Supermarkets going belly-up in this economy, leaving enormous empty spaces that, in our own experience lie vacant for --- in many cases --- years, could be turned to good and interesting use.
Dictum one : Don't Ride 'em, watch 'em
If we take into consideration the tremendous impact size has, and can convert our model thinking into mega-model size --- anywhere from "Live Steam" scale (one-eighth size) up through GH size for the late Gordon Hatch of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (one-fourth size) models --- that can run indoors because they are safely powered by electricity, like any model transit equipment --- you realize that, with one stroke, costs of acquisition, construction, and maintenance have been reduced to manageable proportions.
Dictum Two : Size Matters
Suddenly, these museums become readily manageable, on every count.
1. Youngsters, eager for new experiences and without the funds or physical strength of adults, can become candidates for both membership and internship as working members;
2. retired adults: an enormous untapped resource. One retirement community --- not a nursing home, not a managed care facility --- alone can have over 2,000 residents who can participate or commit to volunteer; an operating budget no longer matches that of the Pentagon ; retired workers often carry with them into retirement the very skills and work ethic required;
3. the scope of both display and operation is within everyone's capability.
4. Location of, and access to, many of these vacant properties : much more convenient, translating into many more visitors and easier access by volunteers and staff.
5. Cost of exhibits drops dramatically.
6. Non-availability of replacement parts is much less of an issue.
7. A modest machine shop can serve dual purposes : it can be used to site-manufacture metal and wood parts for use in the museum OR offered for sale to new hobbyists, and it can be used as a basis for training youngsters in the use of serious machine tools under adult supervision.
8. Some of these museums might become adjunct facilities of school systems that are strapped for money and that (coincidentally) are not building a knowledgeable labor base for the future of manufacturing in America (North and South). Working with the Society for Industrial Archaeology or other such major non-profits as engineering schools could also be considered.
9. We just read a survey which indicated that a large majority of our youth don't even know which way to (ready for this one?) turn a screwdriver ! There's a selling point for a private education initiative !
10. Our education systems (full disclosure : of which we ourselves have been members for many years) often appear to lag many years behind our country's needs, and generally provide inadequate career guidance to both students and workers alike.
It doesn't take much to start a traction museum, one that would match the best of the maritime museums, other than the good sense and the will.
If the project seems beyond the means of a group, just compare it to running a conference or exhibition each year, with attendant set-up, breakdown, advertising, and persuading members to pitch in. Here, once set up, the basics remain. Comparing it to an operating trolley museum leaves the operating approach far behind in many ways.
More requirements and ideas will follow !
The several hundred good people who have been reading this Blog may already know :
It's an abbreviation for the four "T"s" :
Trolleys
Trams (essentially, European, Australian, and Asian trolleys, streetcars, and light rail)
Traction (the old name for rail lines run by electricity), and
Transit (the New York subways, the Chicago El, the London Tube, the Paris Metro, interurban electric railways, etc.)
Second, why a museum of this stuff? We already have trolley museums; the famous Tich tram museum in the U.K. (England) ; the many local trolley museums in the United States, and quite a few others. Do we really need more ?
... and why now ?
Questions with easy answers, once you think it through in a broad Time and Space perspective.
1. Our North American trolley museums are delightful , nostalgic collections of antique and vintage traction equipment. BUT, they need very large budgets which will undoubtedly increase with time and inflation, and large amounts of ever decreasingly-available space.
2. Equipment maintenance is a difficult labor-intensive task , requiring large expenditures these days
3. The ride provided to visitors is overshadowed --- in most visitors' minds --- by the kinds of "rides" available in theme parks and amusement parks
4. Volunteers --- for any optional activity --- are becoming less and less available because of economic times, an older labor force that needs to spend its time in more financially rewarding ways, the increasing dearth of knowledge about "streetcars", how they work, and the mission, ethic, and function of museums, [we know; we've been there].
5. Grant money, local government appropriations, and private donations are becoming rare.
6. Much information regarding traction, and appreciation for its role, is fading from the public consciousness.
What is the answer ? ... or rather, what is one solution?
Follow the course set by maritime museums, which have become satisfied with --- and flourish with --- model ships.
Arguably the largest percentage of trolley museums provide a passenger ride for a few miles on hard-to-maintain track laid on hard-to-come-by land. It occurred to some of us that with many of the huge "Big-Box" stores, very large restaurants, and Supermarkets going belly-up in this economy, leaving enormous empty spaces that, in our own experience lie vacant for --- in many cases --- years, could be turned to good and interesting use.
Dictum one : Don't Ride 'em, watch 'em
If we take into consideration the tremendous impact size has, and can convert our model thinking into mega-model size --- anywhere from "Live Steam" scale (one-eighth size) up through GH size for the late Gordon Hatch of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (one-fourth size) models --- that can run indoors because they are safely powered by electricity, like any model transit equipment --- you realize that, with one stroke, costs of acquisition, construction, and maintenance have been reduced to manageable proportions.
Dictum Two : Size Matters
Suddenly, these museums become readily manageable, on every count.
1. Youngsters, eager for new experiences and without the funds or physical strength of adults, can become candidates for both membership and internship as working members;
2. retired adults: an enormous untapped resource. One retirement community --- not a nursing home, not a managed care facility --- alone can have over 2,000 residents who can participate or commit to volunteer; an operating budget no longer matches that of the Pentagon ; retired workers often carry with them into retirement the very skills and work ethic required;
3. the scope of both display and operation is within everyone's capability.
4. Location of, and access to, many of these vacant properties : much more convenient, translating into many more visitors and easier access by volunteers and staff.
5. Cost of exhibits drops dramatically.
6. Non-availability of replacement parts is much less of an issue.
7. A modest machine shop can serve dual purposes : it can be used to site-manufacture metal and wood parts for use in the museum OR offered for sale to new hobbyists, and it can be used as a basis for training youngsters in the use of serious machine tools under adult supervision.
8. Some of these museums might become adjunct facilities of school systems that are strapped for money and that (coincidentally) are not building a knowledgeable labor base for the future of manufacturing in America (North and South). Working with the Society for Industrial Archaeology or other such major non-profits as engineering schools could also be considered.
9. We just read a survey which indicated that a large majority of our youth don't even know which way to (ready for this one?) turn a screwdriver ! There's a selling point for a private education initiative !
10. Our education systems (full disclosure : of which we ourselves have been members for many years) often appear to lag many years behind our country's needs, and generally provide inadequate career guidance to both students and workers alike.
It doesn't take much to start a traction museum, one that would match the best of the maritime museums, other than the good sense and the will.
If the project seems beyond the means of a group, just compare it to running a conference or exhibition each year, with attendant set-up, breakdown, advertising, and persuading members to pitch in. Here, once set up, the basics remain. Comparing it to an operating trolley museum leaves the operating approach far behind in many ways.
More requirements and ideas will follow !
Sunday, October 9, 2011
A Plug (the Old Word for "Endorsement") for Quarter Scale T⁴ Models
This is what I'm calling GH SCALE in honor of Gordon Hatch of British Columbia, Canada, who ventured into this rarest of rare scales, in which 3 inches = 1 foot, that is, one-quarter full size.
He chose to run these hand-built trolley models on 15 inch gauge track, which the quickest calculation will show is not exactly to scale, the prototype standard track gauge of 56.5 inches divided by 4 actually working out to 14.125 inch gauge (exact) Fine Scale OR 14 inch Coarse Scale (OR 15 inch Gordon Hatch's personal convention).
Here are 14 reasons to venture into GH Scale : Trolleys / Trams in one-fourth full size.
1. It's large enough so that older modelers, with classic over-40 presbyopia (in which, when in one of nature's many ruthless jokes, you suddenly find that you can't see all the fine detail you had planned to put into that H0 gauge --- or worse, N gauge--- scale model) can now indulge themselves .
2. By putting the layout, if we dare call it that, if we're only going to portray one city street a few blocks long, up at a height of (say) 3½ feet above the ground, we obtain a true perspective of what the street might have looked like in 1925.
3. It's still possible to cut ¾" plywood for the sides into pieces light enough to carry.
4. We can put seamstresses to work sewing new clothing --- I hesitate to call them costumes for those 18 inch male figures and 14-16 inch female dolls --- that accurately resembles the normal street clothing of the historical past, instead of the fancy-dress-ball gowns of the usual doll.
5. An entire new cottage industry is now possible for small custom metal-work shops to create all the many accessories, roof-top details, trolley poles, trackside and roadway signals, etc. to be sold to one-fourth scale participants. We needn't wait for ideas to be purloined by workshops in other countries, as our local businesses can run these detasils up for us quickly and easily... unless they sit on their hands and wait for instructions from heaven, or mess up the marketing by waiting for the annual Trolley Show to display them.
6. We can assure you that there will be a WOW Factor, courtesy of the basis of the giant size alone.
7. As neither adults nor children will be able to ride on the roof of the model, you can really go to town detailing the roof. Visitors will be able to see and appreciate the fine rooftop detail that seemed so irrelevant in H0 or 0 Scale.
8. With realistic passengers (see (4.) above), you have created a scene that makes sense.
9. The use of Forced Perspective allows you to model backdrops for scenery that looks realistically far away. You might be amazed at the way that scenery designers for movie sets have used that trick from the beginning of theater (unless you think that they really burned Rome to the ground in Ben Hur).
10. Large, but lightweight, models don't require enormous amounts of power to propel them because there's no longer that 200-pound owner perched on top. Small powerful electric motors powered by batteries ensure that power is readily available, and does not depend on the vagaries of drawing it from the live overhead.
11. You will probably be a pioneer (The First One on your Block) to venture into this scale --- an exciting prospect.
12. If you are persuasive, and if you have access to people in retirement communities, you've got --- simultaneously --- a ready-made audience and a group of craftsmen and women looking for projects of just about that size. Look for the woodworking shop and the Craft Group.
13. Easy to stow in the trunk, back seat, or hatchback of your car. Readily breaks down into body, trucks, and interior details .
14. At this stage in the development of this scale, you will be able to engage in a new Battle of the Gauges (14¼ inches vs. 14 inches vs. 15 inches), or contribute your "Handy-Dandy Hints to the Helpless" columns to hobby magazines.
*** for Gordon Hatch, of British Columbia in Canada, a pioneer in the field
He chose to run these hand-built trolley models on 15 inch gauge track, which the quickest calculation will show is not exactly to scale, the prototype standard track gauge of 56.5 inches divided by 4 actually working out to 14.125 inch gauge (exact) Fine Scale OR 14 inch Coarse Scale (OR 15 inch Gordon Hatch's personal convention).
Here are 14 reasons to venture into GH Scale : Trolleys / Trams in one-fourth full size.
1. It's large enough so that older modelers, with classic over-40 presbyopia (in which, when in one of nature's many ruthless jokes, you suddenly find that you can't see all the fine detail you had planned to put into that H0 gauge --- or worse, N gauge--- scale model) can now indulge themselves .
2. By putting the layout, if we dare call it that, if we're only going to portray one city street a few blocks long, up at a height of (say) 3½ feet above the ground, we obtain a true perspective of what the street might have looked like in 1925.
3. It's still possible to cut ¾" plywood for the sides into pieces light enough to carry.
4. We can put seamstresses to work sewing new clothing --- I hesitate to call them costumes for those 18 inch male figures and 14-16 inch female dolls --- that accurately resembles the normal street clothing of the historical past, instead of the fancy-dress-ball gowns of the usual doll.
5. An entire new cottage industry is now possible for small custom metal-work shops to create all the many accessories, roof-top details, trolley poles, trackside and roadway signals, etc. to be sold to one-fourth scale participants. We needn't wait for ideas to be purloined by workshops in other countries, as our local businesses can run these detasils up for us quickly and easily... unless they sit on their hands and wait for instructions from heaven, or mess up the marketing by waiting for the annual Trolley Show to display them.
6. We can assure you that there will be a WOW Factor, courtesy of the basis of the giant size alone.
7. As neither adults nor children will be able to ride on the roof of the model, you can really go to town detailing the roof. Visitors will be able to see and appreciate the fine rooftop detail that seemed so irrelevant in H0 or 0 Scale.
8. With realistic passengers (see (4.) above), you have created a scene that makes sense.
9. The use of Forced Perspective allows you to model backdrops for scenery that looks realistically far away. You might be amazed at the way that scenery designers for movie sets have used that trick from the beginning of theater (unless you think that they really burned Rome to the ground in Ben Hur).
10. Large, but lightweight, models don't require enormous amounts of power to propel them because there's no longer that 200-pound owner perched on top. Small powerful electric motors powered by batteries ensure that power is readily available, and does not depend on the vagaries of drawing it from the live overhead.
11. You will probably be a pioneer (The First One on your Block) to venture into this scale --- an exciting prospect.
12. If you are persuasive, and if you have access to people in retirement communities, you've got --- simultaneously --- a ready-made audience and a group of craftsmen and women looking for projects of just about that size. Look for the woodworking shop and the Craft Group.
13. Easy to stow in the trunk, back seat, or hatchback of your car. Readily breaks down into body, trucks, and interior details .
14. At this stage in the development of this scale, you will be able to engage in a new Battle of the Gauges (14¼ inches vs. 14 inches vs. 15 inches), or contribute your "Handy-Dandy Hints to the Helpless" columns to hobby magazines.
*** for Gordon Hatch, of British Columbia in Canada, a pioneer in the field
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
AN ENDORSEMENT FOR QUARTER SCALE TROLLEY MODELS
I'm calling it GH SCALE***
Here are 14 reasons to venture into GH Scale : Trolleys / Trams in one-fourth full size. That scales out to 3 inches to the foot, with the prototype standard track gauge of 56.5 inches divided by 4 = 14.125 inch gauge Fine Scale OR 14 inch Coarse Scale (OR 15 inch conventional scale).
1. It's large enough so that older modelers can now indulge themselves, even though they may have classic over-40 presbyopia --- in which, in one of nature's many ruthless jokes, you suddenly find that you can't see all the fine detail you had planned to put into that H0 gauge --- or worse, N gauge--- scale model .
2. By putting the layout (dare we call it that if we're only going to portray one city street three blocks long ? ) up at a height of (say) 3½ feet above the ground, we obtain a true perspective of what the street might have looked like in 1925.
3. It's possible to cut ¾" plywood for the sides of a Birney into pieces light enough to carry.
4. We can put seamstresses to work sewing new clothing --- I hesitate to call them costumes --- for those 18 inch male figures and 14-16 inch female dolls that accurately resembles the normal street clothing of the historical past, instead of the fancy dress ball gowns of the usual doll.
5. An entire new cottage industry is now possible for metal-working buddies to create all the many accessories, roof-top details, trolley poles, trackside and roadway signals, etc. in a small business, to be sold to one-fourth scale participants.
6. We can assure you that there will be a WOW Factor, available by size alone.
7. As neither adults nor children will be able to ride on the roof of the model, you can really go to town with detailing the roof. Visitors will be able to see up close the fine rooftop detail that seemed so irrelevant in H0 or 0 Scale.
8. With realistic passengers (see (4.) above), you have created a scene that makes sense.
9. The use of Forced Perspective allows you to model backdrops for scenery that looks realistically far away. You might be amazed at the way that scenery designers for movie sets have used that trick from the beginning of theater (unless you think that they really burned Rome to the ground in Ben Hur).
10. Large lightweight, models don't require enormous amounts of power to propel them because there's no longer that 200-pound owner perched on top. Small powerful electric motors powered by batteries ensure that power is readily available, and does not depend on the vagaries of drawing it from the live overhead.
11. You will probably be a pioneer (The First One on your Block) to venture into this scale --- an exciting prospect.
12. If you are persuasive, and if you have access to people in retirement communities, you've got --- simultaneously --- a ready-made audience and a group of craftsmen and women looking for projects of just about that size. Look for the woodworking shop and the Craft Group.
13. Easy to stow in the trunk, back seat, or hatchback of your car. Readily breaks down into body, trucks, and interior details .
14. At this stage in the development of this scale, you will be able to engage in a new Battle of the Gauges (14¼ inches vs. 14 inches vs. 15 inches), or contribute your "Handy-Dandy Hints to the Helpless" columns to hobby magazines.
*** named for Gordon Hatch, of British Columbia in Canada, a pioneer in the field
P.S. It's ineresting to note that "Quarter-scale --- 3 inches to the foot) is a surprisingly active and popuar scale among model automobile hobbyists ..
Here are 14 reasons to venture into GH Scale : Trolleys / Trams in one-fourth full size. That scales out to 3 inches to the foot, with the prototype standard track gauge of 56.5 inches divided by 4 = 14.125 inch gauge Fine Scale OR 14 inch Coarse Scale (OR 15 inch conventional scale).
1. It's large enough so that older modelers can now indulge themselves, even though they may have classic over-40 presbyopia --- in which, in one of nature's many ruthless jokes, you suddenly find that you can't see all the fine detail you had planned to put into that H0 gauge --- or worse, N gauge--- scale model .
2. By putting the layout (dare we call it that if we're only going to portray one city street three blocks long ? ) up at a height of (say) 3½ feet above the ground, we obtain a true perspective of what the street might have looked like in 1925.
3. It's possible to cut ¾" plywood for the sides of a Birney into pieces light enough to carry.
4. We can put seamstresses to work sewing new clothing --- I hesitate to call them costumes --- for those 18 inch male figures and 14-16 inch female dolls that accurately resembles the normal street clothing of the historical past, instead of the fancy dress ball gowns of the usual doll.
5. An entire new cottage industry is now possible for metal-working buddies to create all the many accessories, roof-top details, trolley poles, trackside and roadway signals, etc. in a small business, to be sold to one-fourth scale participants.
6. We can assure you that there will be a WOW Factor, available by size alone.
7. As neither adults nor children will be able to ride on the roof of the model, you can really go to town with detailing the roof. Visitors will be able to see up close the fine rooftop detail that seemed so irrelevant in H0 or 0 Scale.
8. With realistic passengers (see (4.) above), you have created a scene that makes sense.
9. The use of Forced Perspective allows you to model backdrops for scenery that looks realistically far away. You might be amazed at the way that scenery designers for movie sets have used that trick from the beginning of theater (unless you think that they really burned Rome to the ground in Ben Hur).
10. Large lightweight, models don't require enormous amounts of power to propel them because there's no longer that 200-pound owner perched on top. Small powerful electric motors powered by batteries ensure that power is readily available, and does not depend on the vagaries of drawing it from the live overhead.
11. You will probably be a pioneer (The First One on your Block) to venture into this scale --- an exciting prospect.
12. If you are persuasive, and if you have access to people in retirement communities, you've got --- simultaneously --- a ready-made audience and a group of craftsmen and women looking for projects of just about that size. Look for the woodworking shop and the Craft Group.
13. Easy to stow in the trunk, back seat, or hatchback of your car. Readily breaks down into body, trucks, and interior details .
14. At this stage in the development of this scale, you will be able to engage in a new Battle of the Gauges (14¼ inches vs. 14 inches vs. 15 inches), or contribute your "Handy-Dandy Hints to the Helpless" columns to hobby magazines.
*** named for Gordon Hatch, of British Columbia in Canada, a pioneer in the field
P.S. It's ineresting to note that "Quarter-scale --- 3 inches to the foot) is a surprisingly active and popuar scale among model automobile hobbyists ..
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