Alright all, so I’m going to attempt my first rolling stock scratchbuilding project soon and was wondering if anyone had any tips?
I will be turning one of my Athearn P42s into a Genesis GEVO. All that really needs to be done in the complete changing of the cab, which is where the scratchbuilding begins.
GE’s new five-window bullet-esque passenger nose really reminds me of that on the Japanese Shinkansen 700 series. Trouble is though, nobody makes one. That’s not too surprising as it’s not a sure thing if Evolution-powered Genesis engines will ever be built. My line is freelanced though, so I can and will take a few liberties.
So yes, again if anyone has any advice scratchbuilding, please go right ahead, I’d like to know what I’m getting into.
Mostly just take your time, take a break when frustrated, or even time off. The difference between the newbies and the old pros is patience. Most are willing to take twice as long in order to do the job ten times better.
Other than that just have fun mostly. [:)]
Just take your time.
on this first project; take your time and do your best. think it through and while building, adjust your plan as necessary around the obstacles and make sure you finish.
on each subsequent project, incorporate your learning curve and make the improvements that came to you during the previous project.
keep driving forward; don’t look back. if a traincar needs a major change; incorporate the changes in a new project (you will be getting good that quick).
sometimes you might want to set a project aside until you get the parts you need, or you just need more time to work out the design. keep it on a shelf in front of you, and plan to continue. if it ends up in a box, you may never get back to it, and that time could be wasted.
build for yourself; unless someone is paying you. if so, try to overcharge them.
myself, anecdotely speaking; i will build a traincar up to the point where trucks and couplers are installed. then i drive them all over everywhere to exercise their trackability (you don’t want something really pretty that will not track). then i will continue adding parts until done or “good enough”.
this one caboose i’ve building for the past six years will get more built into it once or twice a year as i think necessary. as a complicated project matures, it gets really easy to do something dumb and ruin everything. beware!
take your time. if it ain’t fun; adjust something.
i find that upon completion, i tend to lose interest in a project. it’s probably why i take so long to do them.
This appears to be a kitbashing project; scratchbuiilding implies starting with raw material to make something out of nothing. Like if you took some scribed wood or styrene and made a structure, rail car or even a diesel.