Mr. January

Blatant self-promotion time returns, as The Hills Line is featured in several publications this month. The first is my article in the always impressive Model Railroad Planning. For the 2024 edition, I share how I can host two separate eras on the same layout. It's always an honor to appear in Tony Koester's annual treatise … Continue reading Mr. January

Vantage Point: 2024

As The Hills Line approaches its fifth year of existence, I find myself continuing to develop new approaches and processes for building and operating the layout. Not that I'm unsatisfied with my concept, but because there are always new avenues to explore in prototype modeling. Those same avenues involve how I document and distribute images … Continue reading Vantage Point: 2024

The Case for Image Manipulation

If you've ever watched any cooking/food show featuring Alton Brown (and honestly Good Eats was one the best television productions ever created regardless of topic or genre) then you know how much he scorns "single-use kitchen gadgets". With the increased usage of focus stacking and photo editing for our model photos I'd make the case that, when … Continue reading The Case for Image Manipulation