Hello all: About a month ago, I was at work, walking around outside, when I noticed some of last years mulch had washed out on the parking lot. It was pretty fine and weathered a light gray and light brown. I thought to myself, this would make a great looking forest floor under my trees. So, I got a sandwich baggie and a plastic spoon and scooped a baggie full. I’m pretty sure that if anyone saw what I was doing, they would’ve thought I was crazy. On another occasion, my wife and I and another couple had dinner in Harrisburg and afterward, drove over to city island(a kind of city park) and at what once was a beach, I noticed that the sand there was the finest sand I had ever seen. I mean as far as texture goes. Again I though to myself, this would be perfect for my sand tower in my loco servicing area and for sand bars in some of my streams. So I found a plastic bag and fairly clean cup in a garbage can, and collected a bag full. There weren"t many people around, but I’m sure if anyone saw what I was doing, they would think I was crazy. Anyone else do stuff like this? I say creative. A couple pics of how I used this stuff on my layout.
creatively crazy. certfiable.
DJ,
Like all the rest of us, you are an adult whose pastime is playing with children’s toys. This might be looked on as odd by someone whose hobby is stamp collecting or photography. It comes with the territory.
As a mentor of mine liked to ask: “What do you care what other people think?”
My wife must think that I am crazy for using the “coffee grinder” to grind up WS foliage clumps, and green Florist’s foam, (but how else is one to get the “proper textured” railroad “stuff”.)Without offending the over-anxious “model railroad father”, I thought that getting an electric model railroad for his four-year old son, was priceless! I got my first Lionel train when I was 10, and am still an " HO scale model railroad kid", at age 81 ! Bob
You have the eyes of an artist, the mind of Einstein and the stinginess of Thurston Howell the III.
I applaud your resourcefulness
I find this aspect of model building to be the most fun, by that I mean that when making something from junk or something someone else would have thrown away or by kitbashing something and it turns out like I wanted it, makes me feel good in just the fact that I was able to do what I wanted, how I wanted to do it and make it look the way I wanted it to look.
I did it. I did not throw money at it or have someone build it for me.
DJ, I have a bag of mulch my self! Coworker was wondering why I was cutting dead twigs off tress? They make good trunks for tress and bare one are dead tress. After 2 years Jim is uses to the odd things I do and find it kind of fun as well.
Cuda Ken
Hi!
Model railroaders tend to be creative, and enjoy the hobby to the utmost. I’ve been “playing with trains” for about 55 years now, and the vast majority of folks that have seen my layouts or modeling efforts have been very positive, supportive, in their comments.
When I was “between wives” from 1986 to 2000, I informally used potential girlfriends reactions to the hobby/layout as a gauge. Of the group (15 or so) over those years, most seemed to think the hobby was “nice” and “harmless” and a good pastime (as opposed to barhopping, gambling, or chasing women???). A couple of them - who happened to be well to do - were quite obvious in their feelings as the first question they asked upon viewing the layout was “what did all that cost?” Ha, they sure did not last long!
My present wife was very different, in that she was extremely interested. She was “wowed” and asked many questions, and even took several unpainted dairy cows and a handful of unpainted figures home with her - and presented them to me a few days later - absolutely beautifully painted!
Needless to say she was a keeper, and we have been married 7 years now and a more supportive wife would be hard to find!
In short, those with negative comments of the hobby are typically folks that I don’t care to be around much. I surely don’t expect everyone to love the hobby, but I do want my friends to respect my feelings for it.
Hey,
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
Hello,
Congrats. Answering your questions, let`s say BOTH and its really not incompatible[D)]
Cheers,
Wha’d he say? Sometimes the echo in these foil pyramids make hearing difficult.
I can’t look at something without thinking how it might fit into my layout. When driving, I’m constantly looking at scenery and trees and blasting patterns in rocks. I probably lean a bit more toward the crazy side.
One place I worked at, my co-workers would see me looking real close at something and yell-It won’t fit on your train! Now get back to work![:D]
As far as I am concerned, we are all the normal ones. Its everyone else that has me freaked out… 
On a more serious note, I think a serious model railroader is bit different than the average person, or atleast those of other hobbies or passions.
-
My Dad, is an avid golfer but I am sure he has never eyeballed an old building and though what fun it would be to tee off from the roof where as I wondered what detaisl where up there for my buildings.
-
A freind of mine loves his boat to fish and go water skiing but I know he hasnt looked at a small stream or pond and thought if he could pull someone up quicki enough to get them around. Me? I would think "how cool to have a all small pond somewhere, add something nice to look at.
We as modelers definatly pay attention more around us, more notably if it is something we are trying to model. (parks, industries, trees, etc) And throw in the “bonus find” of that perfect small weed or crushed gravel to fill our small dirt parkign lot, I would say on whole we are bit different.
But being aware of our surroundings or taking in more of nature or the simple things I think is great way to enjoy life. I have even found, doing the most boring, frustrasting thing, such as driving in rush hour traffic, I have drifted my thoughts or gaze and thought… “Wow, that’s a cool looking tree, I need one.” or “What a neat old building, faded paint, chipped roof, perfect.” and brought a smile to my face.
The last time we baked a turkey, I found myself pulling out the little thing that pops up when the turkey is done, and saying to myself, “Hmmmmm…”
All are strange save thee and me, and I have my doubts about thee…
Model Railroaders are creatively crazy. We develop great situational awareness (which was VERY helpful in my former day job.) We see creative uses for mundane things. We try to capture our view of reality, whether that view is historically accurate, whimsical or idealized.
We also tend to develop a great width and depth of knowledge and interests - which makes us poor candidates for political lemminghood. We learn more than we want to about finances, both our own and those of the larger world.
The problem with the word, “Crazy,” is that most of the world’s crazies are destructive, and that tends to slop over on those of us who aren’t.
One final comment. My very favorite edition of Model Railroader’s long-running “Silver Plate Road” cartoons involved Mister Van’s dumpster dive after a piece of perfect handrail wire. He was accompanying Mrs Van in the Easter Parade at the time…
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I think this board represents a good cross section or the US white male population in general.
Which means some of us are stark raving looney tunes.
And none of us can dance.
Ohhhhh-kayyy.
In my most recent case, the plan what to do with it came first. I am modeling a scene based loosely on Galveston, Texas. I wanted a souvenir and shell shop, like “Murdock’s” on the Galveston seawall.
The building didn’t necessarily need to look architecturally like Murdock’s. In fact, I wanted a storefront across the street from the seawall rather than on the seawall itself. (I have nearly finished a pier nightclub to go out over the water and plan to build a roller coaster that will also be on pilings over the beach.) But I wanted something like Murdock’s, a shell shop with seashells decorating the outside to attrack tourists, and a color and design which might be described as pastel-gaudy.
But what to use to model N scale seashells.
On the fractal “chaos theory” that patterns in nature reproduce themselves in different scales, I decided to try saeashells to represent seashells. Couldn’t find anything small enough in the shell shops. So I walked 8 blocks from my house in Corpus Christi to a convenient beach. Not an oceanfront beach like Galveston seawall, but an inner bay beach, a beach made of tiny bits of shell.
Off topic: this is beach overlooking which I proposed to my wife 14 happy years ago. I took her for a walk
What sane person would be fascinated looking at an old rusty, abandoned track siding?[:-^]
HI all: Thanks for all the repies. When I used the word, crazy, I was referring to being a little bit out of the ordinary. My family, freinds, and co-workers understand and accept my slightly odd behavior, at times. And, I’ve found most people are generally supportive, especially when they see the results on my layout. One of the most frequent comments, is “I would have never thought of that, that’s amazing”. At my age, I really don’t care what other people think about my hobby. It’s fun for me, and that’s what counts. So, keep your eyes open for those little things that you can use creatively on your layout. It is fun to make something from nothing.
Seriously, I think this board represents a far higher intelligence level than the average population. Go read the “shopping at K-mart” thread on General Discussions if you want a glimpse into the other half.
No argument from me on that one. Or from my wife.
I’m still working on the creative part, but people seem to be telling me that I’ve got the other aspect down pat.
Absolutely wrong Galatic Rodent!!! I can dance almost as good as Mr Rove!!
Lou the Dancer
[swg]