Al Mueller

[burgundy]

I doubt that many UK modellers will have heard of Al Mueller, who died recently in the US.
Al was a keen modeller of the railways of the American Civil War (ACW) from the early 1860s, although he also had a layout of the Great Northern Railroad in the 20th century.

I joined the ACW internet group (then on Yahoo) when I developed an interest in southern 5' gauge railroads in Georgia a few years ago. The group is a tremendous source of information and, as is often the case, it becomes apparent that there are a hard core of members, who really set the pace. Al was one of those, freely offering advice to me on an area of modelling that was well outside my comfort zone – no doubt demonstrated by the naivety of many of my questions. In particular, he picked up on my ambition to do something different in building a model to “real” 5' gauge (17.5mm) 

From comments by others, who knew him much better, it was typical that he should want to explore new ideas to develop ACW modelling. Starting by rebuilding HO scale Mantua Generals to look more like a range of ACW prototypes, he publishing his ideas in a book - Mantua General Rebuild -  to make them more widely available – with detailed instructions down to 3 decimal places of an inch!

He had moved on, with a number of other members of the ACW group, to develop 3D printed kits for other early locos, Yonah and General Grant, which are now available on Shapeways. https://www.shapeways.com/shops/gdykstra?li=pb
These also are supported by books for each respective loco. 

Throughout the comments that I have seen, there is the common theme of pushing the boundaries and encouraging others to do the same. There is also a reluctance to take things too seriously - see the two photos below! 

For a short video that illustrates Al's layout see 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZO227ytnak&lc=z225ifob0r2kznyqn04t1aokg5y54bnqbswqdlwwuejzrk0h00410&feature=em-comments

Gerry Dykstra's words provide as good an epitaph as one could wish for.

“I cannot paint as well as Al did…..yet, but I’m getting there.
I cannot detail an interior as well as Al did …..yet, but my next one will be closer.
I still don’t know how to make corn grow in HO scale like Al, but I’m going to eventually figure it out.
When I meet someone in the group who does not yet have my abilities, I’m going to try to help him get there and maybe he’ll even pass me by.
I think that is the way Al would want those of us who were his friends to go forward.”
My condolences to his wife Barb, who has regularly accompanied him to the ACW annual conventions. 

 

Eric

 

His books are
Mantua General Rebuild
Building the Yonah – a 3D printed HO engine
The Mantua General becomes the General Grant
https://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=alan+mueller&type=