THE CONVERGENCE of MINIATURE WORLDS

Until now, this BLOG, Electric Railways Network has focused entirely on Gordon Hatch's magnificent creation, the scale of three inches to the foot (one-fourth full size) executed for the first time in a trolley/tram/traction/transit setting  (T-to-the-Fourth Power). BUT, not everyone has the space necessary for a layout of that scale . Then we began to notice the convergence of miniature worlds, smaller than the scale of Gordon Hatch's execution and therefore much smaller in area ("varies as the square of the linear measure, for the mathematically inclined or the many engineers and architects among us) that was taking place in several different expressions of enthusiasts' interests .

People are beginning to notice and appreciate the convergence of several major miniature hobby worlds into a common scale of two inches to the foot, one-sixth full size:

Barbie and others of her ilk, the long-lived and very popular eleven-and-one-half inch tall so-called fashion doll --- a dreadful terminology as it pre-determines a mind set of a certain very restricted, very unrealistic milieu with a huge suite of architecture, decoration, furniture, clothes and accessories; this group attracts primarily pre-teen girls, and we sincerely hope to build an entirely new and different following as well as an entirely new world ;

GI Joe and other popular military action figures, twelve inches high to allow a generally taller average male, with an incredible array of authentic uniforms and weapons ranging through every war fought in the past century; what do we mean by authentic ? These modelers will quibble over patterns on the sole of a boot worn by different military units ! However, we must note that this presents the tailors, clothiers, and haberdashers of our world an unparalelled opportunity to create clothing for these miniatues, after we divest them of their uniforms, now that we have decided to focus on, for example, the civilian world of the 1930's and 1940's . 

Dioramas --- these days generally displaying war scenarios, with an emphasis on World War II combat situations, and in that structure, generally the European Theater of Operations, the Allies (U.S., the British, French, etc.) versus the Axis (Germany, Italy, and Japan). Not our idea of nostalgia , and certainly not an era we feel comfortable reminiscing about .

We will focus on a potential P Scale miniature railway size to complement a hometown of one-sixth full size miniature houses and rooms, with furniture and accessories. Why "P Scale" ? Well, the Mattel Corporation, which has such a massive marketing lock on the Barbie-size world (and deservedly so as a true pioneer in this scale), has opted to call it Playscale. As we model railway people, almost always adults, feel uncomfortable believing that we're "playing", we here at Electric Railways Network have set forth two possible names for this size, when referring to our hobby : We have been very sensitive to and wary of the Copyright Trap and the civil penalties attached to misuse of a copyright term used in the lawyer-rich environment of Intellectual Property Law (really, that's the technical term for hanging on to names, music, and prose long after it may have lost its popular appeal) .

We thought of adding on a prefix and calling it DisPlayScale, as its major intention is to look at it as an operating display of our work rather than just running around in weary never-ending circles OR following the trend of other model railroad scales that refer to their size in single letters (and their derivatives), we thought of P Scale , extracting the easy-to-remember single letter .

We will leave the choice up the comfort level of our hobbyists . Whenever you write or communicate about this scale, please use the word of your choice, and the Power of the Marketplace will prevail .

Continuing with our laundry list of possible detailed and authentic products : accessories produced for sale by manufacturers to populate this two-inches-to-the-foot world include custom sculpted and painted heads made to replace mass-produced look-alikes; horses large enough to pull 1:6 scale wagons; some beautifully designed “dollhouses”; and civilian clothing of several eras, for both male and female figurines, To this we mentally add one-sixth size items we would like to see available in the future:

• classic and vintage automobiles;

• historic horse-drawn carriages;

• model railroad trolleys, trams, traction, and transit, plus whatever other railroadiana flourishes in our world ;

• buildings, backdrops, and flats --- scenery to the proper scale;

• model work boats, tugs, trawlers, and pleasure boats, although we admit that a one-sixth version of the Titanic would fill even Donald Trump's Palm Beach estate, and

a miniature of just about anything else in the full size world that fits into the space we have available.

We are limited only by our imagination and our talent as we attempt to reproduce these eras completely and authentically. We will be pursuing, in this web log, the many different aspects of this models and miniatures hobby. Because the topic is so very broad, we personally are going to concentrate primarily on the United States in the twentieth century, and, generally, focusing on the nostalgic charm of towns and small cities . However, we would be absolutely smitten with a DisPlayScale layout modeled after, say, some small British landscape :

• buildings and backdrops,

• civilians dressed in normal street wear,

• residential and commercial areas with the normal life that transpired in those times and those places.

No war games ; no circuses ; nothing tasteless, grotesque, or fear-inspiring ; as we strive to remember and reproduce the pleasant aspects of those times in miniature. We’re going to explore current and future offerings from toy companies, artists’ studios, and custom makers. We hope you share your imagination, images of aesthetically pleasing work (no ogres or fantasy monsters, past or future). We will be publishing links to many other web pages, personal and commercial, and hope that you take advantage of surfing the Internet as we will continue to do. Please let us know if we have missed some aspect of this fascinating special interest that you believe we should share with the blogging world.

PLEASE COMMENT ; We really value your input !

READY - TO - RUN MODELS

WANT TO SELL MODEL TROLLEYS TO A LARGE MARKET ?
DON'T EXPECT CUSTOMERS TO BUILD THEM !

You may disagree, but it's a Fact of Life !



This next advantage might not take hold quickly, but it's something to consider, so hold your fire until you see the general reaction to this proposal and think it through . If we built automobiles like we build live steam locomotives, we'd probably still all be driving teams of horses !

Picture this Alternate History : The instruction book --- all 650 pages --- would begin : "First order the castings for the frame" . The instructions would continue "Lay out the main frame according to Construction Drawing # 2063 " ; "Weld Part 104 to Part 675" ; and so on, until you had your brand-new (?) automobile in front of you a few years later, one of --- maybe --- six in your entire home town . It certainly would save on road construction and maintenance .

Our proposal suggests building and selling ready-made, assembly-line-built, buy-it-and-run-it the same incredibly exciting day (can you picture Christmas Day 2016, finding a two-inch scale New York Central Hudson or Peter Witt trolley under the tree?). I suppose it would mean adding a (not to scale) lifting crane to your workshop to move the heavy gift up to the benchwork and on to the rails.

As we shrink our space requirements to conform to the new scale , many times the number of hobbyists could participate in the MEGA - SCALES by building their layout in space much smaller than Central Park (exaggeration for effect !) . The hobby could shift its Center of Gravity from giant cooperative (or, as we have personally witnessed, not-so-cooperative) club ventures to a backyard, or even indoors, pursuit .

Another probable advantage is that the price of a Gross Scale engine would drop precipitously when small manufacturers find that they can produce multiple models at assembly line costs, making it much more affordable by the average household, and spurring more people into the hobby . We just might give Chinese manufacturers a run for the money !

We just heard a savvy East Indian businessman say (about Japanese manufacturers, but equally valid here ) , "If the [Japanese] want to sell to the Indian market, they must first understand the Indian market : buyers wants and needs" , The same holds true for potential modern U.S. trolley buyers and enthusiasts.

We really might have to create a designation for this new aspect of our special interest, something like "Model Engineering" instead of "Live Steam" (No offense intended, Traverse City) . By necessity, it takes into account having bridges and viaducts in place for the layout ... OR it might bring into existence an entirely new branch of the hobby . Traction modellers would truly come into their own, with their arcane, but complex and fascinating, overhead wire , purchased ready-to-erect or craftsman-hand-built, to add still another challenge to this great aspect of the hobby .

Enthusiasts may find that it's at least as fulfilling a hobby if we concentrate on building one small area --- a diorama --- and do it well. The Europeans have got it down to a science...  so have some noted Brooklyn subway modellers !