CHEATING! For or Against?

[MCL_RDG]

As muh nature directs me I can't but help but want to play. Whether it be with trains, music, or ...

Anyway- I thought I'd cheat a lot (not just a little- why bother)!

Remember when they had paper doll cut out books for HO Scale buildings? I like to pre-plan- to "suppose" with out commiting $ and to wonder, "What if"? So, I made my own.

I took the images from DPM's site- re-calculated the image sizes- dropped them into MS Word- printed the sheet and have a "near wall of building". Pasted to card stock, trimmed and re-attached- they offer a grand scheme of what's to come when I'm satisfied with the "temporary" arrangement (Hell- they look great- a little colored pencil to fill the gaps- actually I trim with a knife and make a nice job of it- In other words, "Temporary/Schmemporay!). Cost? Man hours- 2.

This link is to the MS Word doc that I created. You'll need MS Word to View/Print the document. It is prepared for N Gauge (I was gonna post this in the N Gauge forum but only but, I figured the "other" scalers need help too).

Deliveries

Any thoughts?

Regards,

Mark

 

[TerryR]

Mark,

You can take this a step further - cut out the windows & doors, glue a sheet of clear plastic to the back that covers the windows (but not the doors), and then glue another copy of the picture to the back of that. It gives the windows & doors depth and it gives the windows a nice glassy shine.

 

[Casey Feedwater]

Pretty neat idea, Mark.

For the Mac users out there, (if you don't have MS Word) you can open Mark's Word doc by using the "Place" command in PageMaker 7 or InDesign 2. I didn't try Appleworks or Nissus, but I imagine they will open the doc also.

 

[Ralph]

Hey Mark,

They say "the unexamined life isn't worth living". Hadn't thought I'd encounter too many ethical issues in model railroading though.

I think your idea is clever as is Terry's suggestion. I've seen a traveling club layout that featured temporary structures made of photocopied DPM components. Nice way to convey large factories, etc.

As for "cheating" I believe that images the DPM people put out are free for private use just as are the magazine photos I sometimes clip out of Model Railroader for backdrop buildings. I suppose it would be more slippery ground were you to market and sell your creations based on DPM pics.

Te absolvo!
Ralph