Outside the Box: Model Railroading

As I did once before for my collection of Dry Cell memorabilia, I'm borrowing the "outside the box" idea from My Hockey Card Obsession. This time its all about my new favorite hobby: model railroading, something a bit more hands-on than card collecting.

It was sometime last summer that I decided for whatever reason that I really liked trains again and wanted to start modeling again. I had been really into it when I was younger and even built a large 4' x 8' HO scale layout with my dad in our basement. I remember it being a ton of fun just getting to build basically whatever you want and being able to watch your creation come to life with when the trains started running.

Fast forward to late last year and I already had my first layout completed. It's just a simple display piece (no running trains) to put on one of our bedroom walls. It also served as a practice layout to help me learn some of the ways to do things that were not around back in the early 90's. Here's a look at the finished layout on the wall.

Just like in card collecting, I've got several different projects going on at the same time. For example, I am working on learning how to repaint some locomotives and rolling stock with my new airbrush. That is something I've never done, but am having a great time learning about. In addition to that I'm working on designing my own freelance fictional railroad with custom paint schemes and everything. I've actually started using Inkscape (the software I used to design my custom card designs) to do this. Beyond that I am working on a second shelf type display layout to practice a few more things.

While hockey and cards will likely remain my main hobby, I've gone through stretches lately where I feel that model railroading is so much more enjoyable just because of its hands-on nature. There is something really satisfying about coming up with a design and actually building it. There are so many things you can customize about a model railroad. Everything from the time period you're modeling to the type of scenery you use to the types of locomotives and rolling stock you have running around the layout.

I've been at this modelling thing for about 9 months now and have really enjoyed what I've been doing so far. So much so that I even started another entire blog dedicated to it, called Michigan Model Railroader. Click here to check it out if you are interested. I also have it linked at the bottom of the sidebar on the Card Boarded main page. Below is a look at one of my recent posts and the main page of the blog.

For now I plan on maintaining both hobbies as time permits. Some days I get really into looking for new cards and others I just don't really have the motivation to even look at them. Trains are the same way, some days I get so into a modeling project I lose track of time. Then there are days when I get frustrated with it and decide to take a break.

My Picks #94: Mike Richter

Showing off the Patrick Roy Power Deck card got me wanting to do a few more of these since I already had all of the cards scanned and saved into my computer. This one is just another plain old base card, but sometimes that what these posts are all about. This one is from 1995-96 Topps Stadium Club and features former Rangers goaltender Mike Richter. 

It's not the first base card I've shown off from this set either. There was one featuring Arturs Irbe  (click here) and one featuring Bill Ranford (click here). All three are great examples of excellent base set photography. 

As far as the specific photo on this card of Richter, I'm not sure if we are looking at a save or an attempted save that led to a goal for the other team. I'm going to guess that we are looking at a save, but who knows? Either way, it's another great looking base card I'm glad to have in my collection. 

My Picks #93: Patrick Roy

Lately I've been going back and reading through some of my older posts here on the blog. In doing that I noticed that I haven't done one of these posts since February of 2013. That's way too long between posts for such a simple thing to write about. The only real criteria for this series is that it's actually a hockey card and there's something I can write about it. 

That being said, I thought I would jump back into things with something a bit unique, at least at the time it came out. I've had this card for almost 15 years now and saw that I had already scanned it at some point for one of these posts so I figured, why not? Here is a Patrick Roy from 1999-00 Upper Deck Power Deck. 

While it's not a card in the traditional sense, it came in a pack of cards and is part of a set, so I think it qualifies just fine for use here. In case you didn't know, these are actually mini CD's that when loaded into a computer will have some video highlights and interactive stats for the player pictured on the front. I don't know where this thing is at the moment, or I would pop it in and get some screenshots. 

Jimmy Howard: 2013-14 Select Emerald Prizm

Here's another one to add to my list of $0.99 experiment results. I didn't think this one would end at only that much, but eBay proved me wrong once again and I now have another awesome parallel for my Jimmy Howard collection. 

This one is the emerald version of the red Prizm parallel I posted a little while back. It is numbered 10/25, although that is on the back so you won't see it in the scan. What you will see however is an amazing looking card. I love the way the red of the Wings uniform pops out of the green. It's much better than having red on red like the other one I posted. 

So this gives me two cards of a possible six for the complete rainbow. I still need the base version, the regular Prizm parallel, the gold Prizm numbered to 10 and the 1/1 black Prizm. I'll probably never see the black, so I will just focus on the others and go for a nice looking partial rainbow. Besides, does anyone really count 1/1's a absolutely 100% necessary for a rainbow? I guess some people would, and that's fine, but really what are the odds of landing a card like that? I've only got one such card in four years. 

Super Script Update

Time for another update on one of my favorite sets: 1999-00 Upper Deck MVP Stanley Cup Edition. It's actually be a few months now since I've had anything to show for this set, so its nice to cross another one off the want list. Like I said in my last post for these, no matter the card, I always get excited when I come across one of these rare gems. That tells me I'm doing something right by collecting this set. 

On to the card itself. This one comes from the CHL Prospects portion of the set and features former Oshawa Generals left winger Brad Ralph. While spending almost his entire carreer in the minors, Ralph did get into a single game with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2000-01. This card is #207 in the set and is serial numbered 15/25. 

This one set me back just under $10 including shipping, which is a bit high if you ask me, but I'll take it to help complete the set. I now have 54 out of a possible 220 or 24.5% of the entire set. I've still got a ways to go, but that's what I like about this set, there will always be something for me to go after.