About
This site is a way for me to document me building and enjoying Model Railroad in both N and Z Scales. I didn't however wake up one day and just decided these scales where for me. I first was introduced to this hobby from O-Scale. Both of my grandfathers had Lionel Trains when I was little. Nothing to fancy either just an oval of track on a 4x6 board.
During the early 1980's my father was an artist who ran his own art studio. He specializing in graphic arts and three dimensional work. Such things he made where signs, tv commercial props, scale model layouts for architectural projects and such. Well my dad had a job for a local Wisconsin client that made magazines for crafts and hobbies, called Kalmbach Publishing. What my Dad did for them I am not sure to this day. However part of this job they gave him some sample magazines to do his project. Three of these magazines where the Model Railroader Magazine. Well I seen these when I visited him one day and since I first opened those magazines, I been hocked on the hobby ever since.
My Dad got me a HO Scale train and I would spend hours every week designing layouts. I never made a true HO layout when I was a kid. However when I got my first full time job out of college in the early 1990's I started on that path. At this time in my life I lived in very small apartments so HO and O scales where out. N Scale and Z Scale would become my scales because of the limited space I had. Also it would have to be portable enough to move often.
In 2001 one of the Apartments I lived at in Chicago, IL. had a fire and I lost most of the stuff I owned including much of my model railroad stuff. Only a few Z Scale trains and rolling stock remain, some of which was damaged because some of the plastic parts melted.
It has taken several years after that fire to get back into the hobby as life became a whirlwind I lost my job as a professional advertising photographer. I would freelance for a few years but I had also been doing programming ever since I first got a computer in the 1980's. Several years earlier around 1997 I started making web sites for people as a part time thing to help pay bills. Well by 2003 I was getting over 80% of my work programming web sites and making software then for Mac and Windows that I switch my career. I started my own business and had to focus most of my free time to building that business. That model railroad just did not get the time it deserved.
Several years ago around 2013 I wanted to finally remake my layout I lost in that fire over decade ago. So it began. I got a software product called RailModeller Pro for Mac OS and started designing what I wanted to do. Again it had to be portable because I still live in apartments not as tiny as before but still small enough. I bought things, I built things, I 3D printed things.
Finally in 2016 I started the layout. I know a ton of timed past. Time goes by so fast specially when you run your own business. To assure I actually kept working on this layout till it was done I decided to document it by video and post a new video to youTube every week. That taken some time to get use to that schedule because you have to record, build, edit and upload all at the same time while running a business.
It was not easy to juggle all that. It was not even 3 months after I started the layout and videos till I edited the first amount of footage. However I seem to have found the time every week to keep building this layout and every week to keep uploading videos. Expect for holidays I would push it two weeks, but hey everyone needs a break now and then.
Well for the last 43 weeks I been building this layout. I wanted to cover even the little of details and so far so good. Well 43 weeks means I have 43 videos, so far and there will be more to come. I decided last week I should have made a blog because there so many things I do not cover in the videos that should or could cover.
See I did the video documentation for me, friends and family. Specially those who live far away and can not visit in person. Well soon I found out other model railroad fans would join in and follow along. Well then I really could give more info to some of the products I use and such. Like where I got them and all sorts of info. So today this blog has been born to just that. I will most likely do a post on all the videos I uploaded over the year and embed them here to. Just so it is all in one place. Going over what I did the past 43 weeks will take some time but I think it will be neat to see everything it taken to get here. This inculdes others I watch on youTube to get inspiration. And there is many of them out there.
However also feel free to join in on youTube at this link. Obleo's N Scale Layout
Thanks, your friend Obleo Beck
During the early 1980's my father was an artist who ran his own art studio. He specializing in graphic arts and three dimensional work. Such things he made where signs, tv commercial props, scale model layouts for architectural projects and such. Well my dad had a job for a local Wisconsin client that made magazines for crafts and hobbies, called Kalmbach Publishing. What my Dad did for them I am not sure to this day. However part of this job they gave him some sample magazines to do his project. Three of these magazines where the Model Railroader Magazine. Well I seen these when I visited him one day and since I first opened those magazines, I been hocked on the hobby ever since.
My Dad got me a HO Scale train and I would spend hours every week designing layouts. I never made a true HO layout when I was a kid. However when I got my first full time job out of college in the early 1990's I started on that path. At this time in my life I lived in very small apartments so HO and O scales where out. N Scale and Z Scale would become my scales because of the limited space I had. Also it would have to be portable enough to move often.
In 2001 one of the Apartments I lived at in Chicago, IL. had a fire and I lost most of the stuff I owned including much of my model railroad stuff. Only a few Z Scale trains and rolling stock remain, some of which was damaged because some of the plastic parts melted.
It has taken several years after that fire to get back into the hobby as life became a whirlwind I lost my job as a professional advertising photographer. I would freelance for a few years but I had also been doing programming ever since I first got a computer in the 1980's. Several years earlier around 1997 I started making web sites for people as a part time thing to help pay bills. Well by 2003 I was getting over 80% of my work programming web sites and making software then for Mac and Windows that I switch my career. I started my own business and had to focus most of my free time to building that business. That model railroad just did not get the time it deserved.
Several years ago around 2013 I wanted to finally remake my layout I lost in that fire over decade ago. So it began. I got a software product called RailModeller Pro for Mac OS and started designing what I wanted to do. Again it had to be portable because I still live in apartments not as tiny as before but still small enough. I bought things, I built things, I 3D printed things.
Finally in 2016 I started the layout. I know a ton of timed past. Time goes by so fast specially when you run your own business. To assure I actually kept working on this layout till it was done I decided to document it by video and post a new video to youTube every week. That taken some time to get use to that schedule because you have to record, build, edit and upload all at the same time while running a business.
It was not easy to juggle all that. It was not even 3 months after I started the layout and videos till I edited the first amount of footage. However I seem to have found the time every week to keep building this layout and every week to keep uploading videos. Expect for holidays I would push it two weeks, but hey everyone needs a break now and then.
Well for the last 43 weeks I been building this layout. I wanted to cover even the little of details and so far so good. Well 43 weeks means I have 43 videos, so far and there will be more to come. I decided last week I should have made a blog because there so many things I do not cover in the videos that should or could cover.
See I did the video documentation for me, friends and family. Specially those who live far away and can not visit in person. Well soon I found out other model railroad fans would join in and follow along. Well then I really could give more info to some of the products I use and such. Like where I got them and all sorts of info. So today this blog has been born to just that. I will most likely do a post on all the videos I uploaded over the year and embed them here to. Just so it is all in one place. Going over what I did the past 43 weeks will take some time but I think it will be neat to see everything it taken to get here. This inculdes others I watch on youTube to get inspiration. And there is many of them out there.
However also feel free to join in on youTube at this link. Obleo's N Scale Layout
Thanks, your friend Obleo Beck
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