The Making of Tom Miller’s Fabulous F-scale Layout

The Making of Tom Miller’s Fabulous F-scale Layout
Pacific Vista Publishing, LLC
PO Box 220
Newberg OR 97132
Running time: Approx. 3 hours
Price: $34.95 plus shipping
Web site: www.pacificvistapublishing.com

If you’ve been reading the model-railroad press over the past two years, you’ve undoubtedly encountered an article on Tom Miller’s 1:20.3-scale indoor railroad (Garden Railways featured it in the October 2009 issue). “Impressive” doesn’t begin to describe this railroad, with its 12′-tall mountains and intricate detail throughout. Most of the magazine articles I’ve seen on this line focus on the finished product, leaving readers to wonder, “how the heck did he do all that?” This video from Pacific Vista Publishing answers many of those questions.

The video itself is no small undertaking. It was shot over the five years the railroad was under construction, starting with the empty room (a mere 45′ x 90′-larger than many backyards!). It follows the railroad’s construction, with visits every six months or so to see how things have progressed. The program is divided into chapters, each covering a different aspect of construction-benchwork, scenery, electrical, structures, etc. It ends with a segment of beauty shots of the finished railroad. Production quality is very high, with smooth camera moves, “on-board” camera angles, and well-lit interviews.

Much of the video features demonstrations by some of the modelers who have been helping Tom with this project. These are well shot and the techniques described are pretty slick. The “in progress” shots are mixed with shots of the same area once it’s done, so you can see how things relate. Overall, the video is well produced and I enjoyed watching it. It’s three hours long, spread over two DVDs, and it moves along at a good pace. I never got bored or felt the need to hit the fast-forward button.

I do wish there was more “demonstration” and less “description.” A lot of the interviews featured the artists talking about what they did but not a lot of detail showing much of the actual process. (The most detailed was the “geodesic foam” scenery construction.) Granted, any of these techniques could fill an entire video in their own right but I still felt like I never got the full scope of any one technique. For instance, rock construction was great but we never saw how to actually paint the castings to achieve the realistic colors found on the finished scene.

I also found myself wanting more detail shots. Most of the interviews are shot fairly wide, so you don’t get a chance to really see what they’re referring to or doing in any kind of detail. That’s really a shame, since there’s so much detail on this railroad. The few gems I did get in terms of detail shots (the fully operating stamp mill, for instance) left me wanting to see more and more of that level of detail. I really wanted to see more of the railroad than this video ultimately showed. What it did show was fantastic, which makes the lack of additional shots all the more unfortunate.

For the garden railroader, there’s not a lot, in terms of technique, that’s directly applicable, but there are a few gems in there. It’s really the inspiration that the program provides that makes it worth watching. It’s a great look behind the scenes as one man fulfilled his childhood dream, and it’s sure to get your creative juices flowing.