Author: Nitin Agarwal

The American Flyer model trains were at their peak of popularity between the 1940s and the 1960s, they actually had a long history before that, and their popularity seems to be on the increase again today. William Hafner, working as a toymaker in Chicago, developed a clockwork motor for use in toy cars in the very early part of the 19th Century and by 1905 was making toy trains using that clockwork motor.

The American Flyer then, is now more that 100 years old and has gone through a number of ownerships and fluctuations in popularity. Once again making a resurgence, dedicated S-scale enthusiasts now believe that this renowned model train is.

The American Flyer trains proved very popular, in part because they were lower priced than other makes popular at that time, and also because their detailing made them more realistic than other low budget model trains.

With the advent of television – to distract both younger people and older people from their regular hobbies – together with the rise of the discount chain stores which undercut prices and demanded lower wholesale prices, AC Gilbert Company ran into trouble and in 1962 was sold to Wrather Group. The new owners produced lines of toys, including model trains, which were of very poor quality and sales dropped sharply until in 1966 productions of the American Flyer ceased. By 1967 the Company was bankrupt.

General Mills began selling some of the original Gilbert designed American Flyer trains by 1979 but in 1984 sold its Lionel Company section to a toy manufacturer, Kenner who on-sold the company to Richard Kughn in 1985.

He re-developed the American Flyer as S-scale in 1939, a scale which was a modification of the very popular O gauge model trains then on the market. The S scale, which scales trains to the 1:64 ratio and made them smaller than the O scale trains, had a number of major advantages in terms of the track and track layouts.

With a friend, William Coleman, and using a small hardware manufacturing business known as the Edmonds-Metzel Hardware Company, Hafner began producing toy clockwork trains during 1906-7. These Edmond-Metzel trains were sold so successfully through some major retailers that the brand name The American Flyer was adopted for marketing purposes and by 1910, the name of the hardware company had been changed to American Flyer Manufacturing Company.

Kuhn was very successful for over 10 years with the Lionel and American Flyer trains but sold in 1996 to Wellspring Partners who set up the company Lionel LLC, which operates today selling a range of model trains, including the S-scale American Flyer. Lionel LLC concentrated on promoting the O and O27 scale model trains of its original lines but since 2002 has been releasing more and more American Flyer models.

Until that stage model electric trains had run on three rails, with the center rail carrying the current. The new owners produced lines of toys, including model trains, which were of very poor quality and sales dropped sharply until in 1966 productions of the American Flyer ceased.

Until that stage model electric trains had run on three rails, with the center rail carrying the current. This two-rail track, which had seven-eighths inches between the rails, made the track layout, and hence train operation, more realistic as the track now looked like ‘real train track’.

Hafner left the partnership in 1913 to start up his own company and Coleman’s American Flyer trains did extremely well during the First World War as they had no competition in the US from the German companies. By 1918, the first of the American Flyer electric trains were in production and business boomed during the 1920s but declined sharply during the Great Depression.

At this time, Lionel Corporation, which was itself in financial trouble although it had been the leading model train manufacturer for many decades, bought the rights to the American Flyer. By 1969 Lionel Corporation itself was bankrupt and sold the rights to the manufacture of its model trains, including the American Flyer, to General Mills.

He re-developed the American Flyer as S-scale in 1939, a scale which was a modification of the very popular O gauge model trains then on the market. The S scale, which scales trains to the 1:64 ratio and made them smaller than the O scale trains, had a number of major advantages in terms of the track and track layouts.

Classic toy rain collectors who are also fans of gardening can combine their hobbies with a garden railroad. A garden railroad is a toy train that runs on a rail road that is routed through your garden. A railway garden is a garden that is planted with miniature plants and landscaped to accommodate a garden railroad.

Others never touch a model train set, they prefer to read books on the construction and collecting of toy trains, they might even attend the toy train shows and auctions This type of collector is happy to sit back and dream about someday building a toy train model. Some collectors spend hours fiddling with the scenery, touching up the paint and designing structures, this collector thinks of their classic toy train model as an art form. Another type of classic toy train collector is fascinated by the mechanical aspect of the toy train, they spend all their time working on the mechanics of their model that they never even bother to add scenery. Most classic toy train collectors will say that no layout, small or large, is ever complete.

Others never touch a model train set, they prefer to read books on the construction and collecting of toy trains, they might even attend the toy train shows and auctions This type of collector is happy to sit back and dream about someday building a toy train model. Some collectors spend hours fiddling with the scenery, touching up the paint and designing structures, this collector thinks of their classic toy train model as an art form. Another type of classic toy train collector is fascinated by the mechanical aspect of the toy train, they spend all their time working on the mechanics of their model that they never even bother to add scenery.

Collectors claim that the toy train set gave them an opportunity to imagine a whole new world, one that revolved around a steaming locomotive. When they become adults, the collectors of classic toy trains claim that working on their model’s layout is a way to relive stress and escape from the pressures of day to day life.

The layout of toy trains and their railroad tracks consists of scenery and landscaping. The structures are commonly made out of plastic or bits of wood. The mountains are made out of painted pieces of plaster or foam, while the rivers are created by plastic resin.

The average size of the collectors classic toy train layout is 4X8 feet. Most classic toy train collectors will say that no layout, small or large, is ever complete.

When they become adults, the collectors of classic toy trains claim that working on their model’s layout is a way to relive stress and escape from the pressures of day to day life.

There are all sorts of ways to excel at event planning and if you are one that is gifted and naturally talented with the skills that are required in order to be an event coordinator and planner then you must use those skills to the fullest. A couple of the ideas in order to learn how to event plan effectively can be learned through actual courses that teach you how to coordinate large events as well as becoming an assistant for an actual event planner.

Event Planning Courses

Even though it does not seem like event planning would have it’s own special section among universities and colleges, there are actually some places of higher learning that include degrees that can be achieved in event planning. Some of these universities and colleges may have bachelor’s degrees that can be received on the subject, they may have associates degrees, or there may even be simple event planning certificates that one can earn through other specific programs that the college or university offers.

Of course getting a full fledged authentic university degree is just one option that one has for taking classes in event planning, but there are also plenty of single courses that can also be taken if one just simply wants to get into the basics in order to start their own business from scratch. A few of the courses that may be taken at colleges and universities throughout the United States that do focus on event planning include Introduction to Event Planning, Party Planning, Organization, as well as Site Selection and Writing Event Contracts. There are plenty more classes that can be chosen, but these are only a few examples of event planning classes!

An Assistant Event Planner

A couple of the ideas in order to learn how to event plan effectively can be learned through actual courses that teach you how to coordinate large events as well as becoming an assistant for an actual event planner. A few of the courses that may be taken at colleges and universities throughout the United States that do focus on event planning include Introduction to Event Planning, Party Planning, Organization, as well as Site Selection and Writing Event Contracts. Becoming an assistant event planner for an event planning business will definitely help more than anything in order to know what’s all involved with becoming an event planner.

All in all, event planning courses will definitely teach you have to efficiently and effectively work your way up the event planning industry in order to become one of the best event planners around! Taking just a few event planning courses or becoming an assistant are good ways to become just that!

Even though taking courses in event planning is also a good idea, learning factual material and reading textbooks are not going to teach you about the day-to-day work that an event coordinator will oftentimes actually do. Becoming an assistant event planner for an event planning business will definitely help more than anything in order to know what’s all involved with becoming an event planner.

Whether you have just gotten involved with event planning or you know someone who has just started their own event planning franchise or business, most likely you already know that event planners are very busy, have most of their day spent with their clients and sometimes are too overworked to actually look at themselves in the mirror. Beginners in the event planning industry probably already realize that most of their time is accounted for when they wake up in the morning, but being on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week is one of the keys to being one of the most superb event planners in the United States.

Knowing the time requirement that an event planner must make is only the beginning that those who are just starting out should realize about the event planning industry. There are plenty of other things that one should know about, so here are some basic ideas to think about for those who are just beginning with event planning:

Communication Is Key

Then chances are that they are coming from clients that are already having trouble, if the calls don’t come from potential clients. In other words, for your event planning business you are essentially the main line to customer service. Being at your virtual desk every day and all-day long is important to not only your event planning business but also to your clients!

As mentioned, your event planning business will need to be on-call pretty much all day long. Even though you may turn your cell phone off during sleeping hours, communication is key with the event planning business and so your clients should be able to get a hold of you at any time of the day no matter where you are. It is also important, as the event planner yourself, to answer those beeper noises and cell phone rings when they come.

The Second Key: Understanding

Even though you may turn your cell phone off during sleeping hours, communication is key with the event planning business and so your clients should be able to get a hold of you at any time of the day no matter where you are. Being at your virtual desk every day and all-day long is important to not only your event planning business but also to your clients!

As an event planning business owner you will also have to wear numerous hats when dealing with your clients.

As an event planning business owner you will also have to wear numerous hats when dealing with your clients. Chances are that if this situation arises then you should naturally defer your opinion to your client since customers are always right, but since you are the main event planning it’s very important not to conceal your honest opinion!

For beginners, these can be some of the most useful tips for anyone around. In order to succeed with your event planning business one must be able to be understanding and communicate effectively; all businesses have special keys for their business, but communication and understanding are the two keys for your event planning business!

There is much to be stressful about when event planning for several hundred people, but chances are that you probably already knew about the event a great deal of time before it was actually here. If you need a little bit of advice and help, one suggestion that many people use is to actually use an event planning checklist for all the things that need to be accomplished. Some of the things that should be on your event planning checklist that needs to be done well in advance of the actual date of the event include:

Looking at Event Sites: This step that should be on your event planning checklist should also be done as soon as you know about the event and many times this is at least 12 months in advance! Visiting multiple sites for the event is an important task on your list simply because you’ll need to make sure there is enough room for all the guests that are going to attend.

Obtaining Food and Drink Quotes: Whenever any large event is being planned the number one thing that should be on your event planning checklist right after the locations for the event are visited is the gathering of food and drink quotes from multiple caterers around the area. This step should also be done at the same time as the previous two.

Booking Entertainment: In the event that you are planning to have will host some form of entertainment then it may be up to you to choose the individual or group that is going to be the guest entertainer for the event. When event planning the most important thing you could do is to make sure that entertainers know that they have a scheduled date well in advance of the actual event so taking this step is also important as soon as you found out that you should plan the event!

Choosing the Theme: If you are creating this event from scratch then chances are that you will also need a theme. When it comes to event planning then choosing a theme should be the least of your worries although it is an issue that definitely does need to be thought about and given some consideration. This step should be done at least 12 months prior to the event, or immediately decided as soon as you knew the event has to be planned.

Of course these are only some of the first steps that should be taken in order to make sure that everything within your event planning checklist is taken care of. From the food and entertainment to securing a location for the event, all of these things are very important when event planning!

There is much to be stressful about when event planning for several hundred people, but chances are that you probably already knew about the event a great deal of time before it was actually here. If you need a little bit of advice and help, one suggestion that many people use is to actually use an event planning checklist for all the things that need to be accomplished. Some of the things that should be on your event planning checklist that needs to be done well in advance of the actual date of the event include:

Another aspect of email marketing which can cause your marketing campaign to result in failure is the inability to properly execute your marketing plan. In each aspect of your email marketing campaign, you should strive to ensure the information you provide to your email recipients is informative, interesting and accurate.

Whether you are already involved in an email marketing campaign or are simply considering the possibility of launching an email marketing campaign it is important to note that email marketing does not always work. Some of these reasons may be a lack of interest on behalf of your target audience, failure to properly execute your email marketing strategy or poor planning in your strategy.

Whether you are already involved in an email marketing campaign or are simply considering the possibility of launching an email marketing campaign it is important to note that email marketing does not always work. Another aspect of email marketing which can cause your marketing campaign to result in failure is the inability to properly execute your marketing plan. In each aspect of your email marketing campaign, you should strive to ensure the information you provide to your email recipients is informative, interesting and accurate.

Poor planning can cause an email marketing campaign to falter. If you were to issue a component of your email marketing campaign hoping to generate a huge interest in your products and receive a great deal of interest, you should be prepared to be able to sell your products.

We will consider why a lack of interest from target audience members can result in a failed email marketing campaign. Before investing time, energy and money into an email marketing campaign, it is worthwhile to hire a consultant to conduct market research. If market research indicates the members of your target audience are not likely to purchase the products or services you offer online or even use the Internet to research these products or services; investing in an email marketing campaign is not worthwhile.

, if you look hard enough you will find research on almost any given topic.. Were you aware that there are certain times when sending email marketing is probably a bad idea? When sending marketing emails makes perfect sense, there are also times.

There are also times when sending marketing emails makes perfect sense.

It should be noted that you might find some receptivity to email marketing campaigns that are sent out to individual consumers late in the workweek or even early in the weekend. This is the primary difference between business-to-business email marketing and business-to-consumer marketing.

If your email comes in over the weekend chances are pretty good your email marketing campaign will be subject to a readily used email purge without serious consideration.

Saturday and Sunday – The weekend is generally throwaway days for email marketing for much the same reason as Monday and Friday. The last thing they are interested in is marketing emails if someone is in the office on the weekend. , if your email comes in over the weekend chances are pretty good your email marketing campaign will be subject to a readily used email purge without serious consideration.

Monday and Friday – These two days are not as useful to email marketing as other days of the workweek. Since most email marketing can be sent out on command, this is something to consider when developing an email marketing campaign.

Essentially what we are seeing is if you can approach consumers and business contacts during the ‘trench’ part of the workweek, when their minds aren’t focused on either closing time or lunch you may stand a better chance at affecting a site visit and potential sale. When you work within this simple time frame for email marketing, you may even find fewer opt-out requests.

Tuesday through Thursday – These are the three days when all email marketing seems to have the greatest impact. Employees and business owners are fully entrenched in their workweek and the result is their minds may be better geared toward business decisions or consumer purchases.

Remember, no one likes junk mail and they don’t like emails that are thought of in terms of spam. Make sure your content is relevant to the topic the individual signed up for, make sure you can provide information or price reductions on products the customer may be interested in or has purchased in the past. Relevancy and timing are keys to acceptability in all email-marketing campaigns.

Interestingly if you can send your emails out around either 9 am or 1 pm, response seems to be better than if you wait for either lunch or the end of the workday.

.

Since most email marketing can be sent out on command, this is something to consider when developing an email marketing campaign.

Email marketing is certainly one of the most powerful strategies in internet marketing. It’s quick, cost effective – you do not have to pay a set price for every email that is sent out – and allows contact people in all parts of the world.

How does one accomplish bulk email marketing campaign?

If you have the time to manage your prospects list and accomplish your email campaigns with a constant frequency, using software can be the most cost-effective method.

You can use online bulk emailing services, or you can pay a marketing firm to do your bulk email promotions, or you can use direct email marketing software to distribute your email campaigns sitting at your computer.

There is wide choice of direct email marketing software packages available on the Internet market. Some are even freeware programs that don’t require any investment. They don’t generally have the value-added features that come with software packages that you purchase; however, if you aren’t running a large email marketing campaign, they may suit your needs for accomplishing specific tasks just fine.

What is Drip Email Marketing?

The concept behind drip email marketing consists in sending periodic emails to clients and prospects hoping to bring them to your website and make them purchase products or services. It is an effective method to generate new purchasers from your prospects and keeping relationship with your existing clients.
Drip Email Marketing tactic results from the idea that nobody purchases online products or services instantly. This is where a drip email marketing campaign is quite to the point.

Based on the subscribers’ preferences, you set up a drip email marketing campaign catered to their specific needs. Each message you send them give more information about their inquiries slightly hinting them at you and your services or products.

If your drip marketing email can not keep the client’s interest, it will be deleted immediately next time when they read the sender’s email address. If you are trying to build the relationship based on trust and faith, you can not tolerate that they never open your emails. When the rapport of useful and informative emails is established, your prospects and clients will be looking forward for every email from you and they will even recommend your company and your products to others.

It may probably sound like you will need more than one tool to accomplish your drip email marketing campaign. You can find many programs on the Internet that can handle your growing lists of present and prospective clients. Our email management software must be flexible enough to treat each client or prospect according to the routine of your drip email campaign.

For your existing clients, a drip email marketing campaign is similar. Your email drips must contain relevant information that can help the customer with the services or products he purchased.

The most important thing to remember about drip email marketing is that you must not send meaningless emails. Each message must have an informative content, a real reason to contact your clients and prospects, not just a note saying “Hi!” or “How are you?”.

The most important thing to remember about drip email marketing is that you must not send meaningless emails. If your drip marketing email can not keep the client’s interest, it will be deleted immediately next time when they read the sender’s email address. When the rapport of useful and informative emails is established, your prospects and clients will be looking forward for every email from you and they will even recommend your company and your products to others.

Imagine that a prospect has just visited your site and left you the email address. It’s important to note that you should add a sign-in form to your web site to collect the prospects’ email addresses. All this information will help you segment your prospects and send more relevant email messages to each group.

Email marketing is certainly one of the most powerful strategies in internet marketing. Our email management software must be flexible enough to treat each client or prospect according to the routine of your drip email campaign.

Drawing is a wonderful art form in itself, but it is also an excellent exercise for other forms of art, like painting. Learning how to draw will truly open your mind to your surroundings enabling you to really see what is before you.

Choosing your drawing supplies

Horse Hair Drafting Brush – You should be able to purchase a horse hair drafting brush at any local art supply store or online store. This is a really helpful tool for brushing away unwanted eraser scraps from your drawing.

Eraser Pencil – These are wonderful for getting into small areas of your drawings. They can also be sharpened like ordinary pencils.

There are a variety of different drawing tools available for today’s artists and what you choose to work with is based on your own preference. It comes to down to experimentation. You have to work with a number of different things before you find the tools that fit your style of drawing.

Charcoal Pencils – Charcoal pencils also come in a range of hardness and are labeled either from H to B like graphite, or simply as “soft”, “medium” or “hard”. They have a noticeably different feel to them and produce a rich dark line. Because of their softness, charcoal pencils tend to wear pretty fast.

Kneaded Eraser – A soft pliable eraser that can be kneaded into any shape to pick up and remove pencil and charcoal. May not be the best for erasing smaller details. The SANFORD Kneaded Rubber Erasers are very popular.

Erasers – You may want to have a few different types of erasers on hand to fit every occasion.

Don’t go out and spend a ton of money on your drawing supplies in the beginning. You can really get started with a beginner pencil set and some newsprint paper. You can then venture out and spend money on better supplies when you become more experienced.

Paper – In the beginning, for the purpose of practice, you may want to consider purchasing some inexpensive newsprint paper. When you are ready to purchase a more expensive grade paper, choose something that will work best with the medium you use. A really smooth paper may not work well for some mediums as the surface lacks texture and will not grab certain drawing mediums very well.

Fixatives – Fixatives protect your drawings from being smudged or ruined. Permanent fixatives are used on a finished drawing to protect, where a workable fixative is used during the drawing process as you are working. When spraying the fixative, make sure you do not spray any one section for too long and only spray a light mist standing about 3 feet away from the drawing.

Graphite pencils – Graphite pencils range in hardness and are labeled from 9H to 9B. The B pencils are softest. The H pencils are generally used for detailed lines where the B pencils will produce rich dark lines great for bold expressive drawings.

Blending Tortillions – Tightly wound stumps of paper with a point used to blend in your drawings.

Basic Drawing Techniques:

You should try to avoid smudging and blending in the beginning so that you force yourself to use your pencil more to achieve value in your drawings.

There are two basic ways to approach a drawing: tonal and linear. The linear approach to a drawing focuses on line and outlines of shapes. In tonal drawing, you make use of gradations to indicate the various planes of your subject.

Others hold a pencil with the pencil between the thumb and index finger, with the rest of the pencil resting under the palm of your hand. Whichever method you use for holding your pencil, make certain that you do not hold the pencil too tightly.

Dry Wash Technique – This technique works quite well if you want to cover large areas of your drawing. You begin by adding marks with a pencil or apply some graphite powder to the desired area on your paper.

Hatching – This drawing technique uses a series of parallel lines drawn close together, in the same direction, which gives the appearance of value.

Negative Drawing Technique – This technique teaches you how to properly see the “white” or “negative” space in your picture. This is the area that surrounds your subject or “positive” space. Instead of drawing out the positive part of the drawing with line, you draw in the shapes that surround the positive part of your drawing.

Tonal or Value Drawing – In this approach to drawing we are indicating the various changes of light and shade in our picture without the use of strong edges and lines.

Contour Drawing – This very basic technique is simply drawing the outline of your subject without any shading to indicate form.

Never throw out any of your drawings. Keep a neat portfolio of everything you draw. This is an excellent way to see your progress over time.

Upside Down Drawing – Drawing upside down is a wonderful exercise to awaken the right side of your brain. You are making it unrecognizable and somewhat abstract when you turn an image upside down. This forces you to draw what you see as opposed to relying on your memory to draw something.

Avoid looking at your drawing too often. Focus on the subject and draw what you see.

Blind Contour Drawing – Similar to contour drawing, only you do not look at the paper. The point of this exercise is to force you to better observe what it is you are drawing. You should have no concern over the outcome of your drawing so it is important not to peek.

Permanent fixatives are used on a finished drawing to protect, where a workable fixative is used during the drawing process as you are working. A really smooth paper may not work well for some mediums as the surface lacks texture and will not grab certain drawing mediums very well. Upside Down Drawing – Drawing upside down is a wonderful exercise to awaken the right side of your brain. Negative Drawing Technique – This technique teaches you how to properly see the “white” or “negative” space in your picture. Instead of drawing out the positive part of the drawing with line, you draw in the shapes that surround the positive part of your drawing.

Crosshatching – Similar to hatching only you draw multiple layers of hatch lines at different angles that overlap one another.

When drawing cartoon characters you can override many of these guidelines but to break rules in the style you first have to be aware of them.

Draw eyes to express the state of mind: Eyes express the state of mind so be careful while you are drawing eyes. Hands are not too difficult; you just need to practice more: When drawing your character do not avoid drawing hands. Properly drawn hands separate a good figure artist from mediocre ones so practice drawing hands diligently. The negative space drawing will make your work easier: Negative space drawing is drawing space that is not part of your intended drawing subject.

Draw eyes to express the state of mind: Eyes express the state of mind so be careful while you are drawing eyes. Make a habit of observing people and how they express their emotions through their facial expression.

The negative space drawing will make your work easier: Negative space drawing is drawing space that is not part of your intended drawing subject. Or in other terms it is basically nothing but drawing the outline of your subject. Because it lets you concentrate on the overall form without getting bogged down into the details of the subject, you may find this approach useful.

Drawing people be it cartoon-like or realistic can be challenging. The pure joy you can have from creating drawings of people is really awesome. Here in this article you will find some tips that will help you create drawings of people that are not only beautiful but also full of life.

Hands are not too difficult; you just need to practice more: When drawing your character do not avoid drawing hands. Properly drawn hands separate a good figure artist from mediocre ones so practice drawing hands diligently. Use your own hand as a model and draw from various angles, this will give you a very good practice.

Why shadows are important: Shadows can add depth to your scene. Drawing accurate and elaborate shadow takes time; instead add some shadowy patch near the feet of your character. Your character may appear to be floating in mid air if you do not add shadow at all.

Practice drawing from real life: Initially when you start drawing it is easier and natural that you will be drawing from other’s photos or sketches, but as you start to become good at your job you must start drawing from real life. Real life gives you the freedom of choice and rich variety.

While drawing cartoons you can reduce the complexities by drawing four fingered– three plus thumb– hands. Or you can make your character wear gloves that will make your work even easier.

Pay attention to various proportions: To draw a realistic human body you must have a clear understanding about the sizes and proportions of various body parts. Things like: a man is around 7 heads high, width of a human body at the waist is little more than one and half times of his face and things like that. A good anatomy book meant for figure artists can be very useful for this purpose.