I was thinking tonight, as I was taking a razor saw to my caboose, that I really got to get more organized when it comes to my MRR projects. I am currently all over the place.
I have yet to install the undermount switch machines on either of my diorama’s. I have them ready, I just haven’t installed them yet…
Once I get that project completed, I have to finish ballasting the track around the turnouts…
Come to think of it, I haven’t finished the electrical wiring either. It’s just a bunch of feeders hanging down through the sub roadbed…
I started a project to add a working chute mechanism to my coaling tower, and left it about 40% completed while I try to figure out how I’m going to raise and lower the coal chute…
I have yet to finish installing any of the the detail parts in my enginehouse. Again I have all the parts, they are still in the plastic baggies they came in…
So with all of this on my plate, yesterday I was inspired to set down and start a whole new project. I am modifying my stock Bachman On30 caboose to more closely resemble a photo I have of a Colorado & Southern prototype. This involves filling in two of the four windows, widening the coupla, and moving it to the back side of the caboose away from it’s current center location. First I just started innocently diassembling the thing to “check out the feasability” of making some of these modifications, the next thing I knew I had picked up my razor saw and was hacking away. So now I have another partly finished project setting on my workbench.
Are you like me, one of those people who has 2 or 3 things going at once? Or do you start a project and only work on that one project until it’s completed?
2 or 3? No, only 5 or 6. Probably most of us always want to start a new project before finishing the one they’re on, whatever they say. IMO, if that’s more enjoyable, do it. After all, if you’re not enjoying the hobby, why do you participate in it?[swg]
I’ve got so many projects going the plate shattered from the weight of them all![:P] Not all train related either. It’s more lack of funds that’s holding me up than lack of organization.
My problem (or at least one of them) is that I get excited about a new idea. A lot of old ideas are scattered around the train room and on the layout itself.
I finally got the brewery placed on the layout. About 85% complete. A MAJOR accomplishment. Now I can spend the next 3 weeks looking at it and imagining what else I will do with it. Maybe, by the next big holiday, I’ll get it done.[:-^]
For me, layout construction and railroad progress is like sketching a bare tree - except that this sketch starts with the tips of all the little branchlets and works back toward the trunk and, eventually, the ground. Therefore, I can’t say that I have too many projects going. What I have is the ability to make forward progress on whichever front I decide to work on, depending on my mood and perceived needs.
I consider the entire model railroad to be a single project, with a rather complex PERT chart that may simplify itself as I proceed.
Waaaay too many right now. Our group is trying to finish modules before the NMRA show in July, trying to get everything to specs before said show and get some decoders installed tested too. Also trying to get ready to move all my stuff back to Nebraska in August just before I head overseas for the last time.
The projects in the Trainroom that are now under way no longer fit on just one plate…Therefore I have numerous plates (most all spinning out of control) for my MRR projects.
I also have another entire set of plates spinning for everything that is none related to MRRing.
I just keep moving between the sets of plates…At a dead run!
My biggest project at the moment is finishing up the trackwork on my layout. I’m very close to being done. I’ve only got one electrical block to wire and one switch machine to install. After that, I’m going to paint the track then get to work on scenery.
The only other project I’m contemplating taking at the moment on is installing working diaphragms on half a dozen Athearn heavyweight passenger cars.
I usually sketch trees starting with the trunk, but that’s my way. The things that help keep me from finishing most projects and starting new ones are detail parts and research. I start on a new project and after more researching find that it needs a detail part. Sure enough, that part isn’t made so I start to fabricate it. Then, usually, right after I finish building it somebody announces they will be producing it. Another scenario to this is, I know a company has the the molds completed but may be waiting for the right time to produce and sell it. For some projects I am trying to find pictures/info for key details that I just know are going to pop up when I finish the model incorrectly. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Who doesn’t have too many projects going on? If you don’t, you’re probably doing somethign wrong. [;)] I’ve got three or four structures sitting around in various stages of completion and over a dozen locos and freight cars in various stages of completion.
I don’t have too many projects. Just three layouts in various stages of completion. Each of them has a project or two on their plate. All of them hampered because I still can’t move with all the office stuff in my basement from my move several months ago.
I know I have way to many projects on my plate right now. I’m in the middle of building 4 buildings for my layout, I just took on building a freight house for my club’s layout, I’m in the assembley stage of 3 freshly painted Bombardier GO Transit cars, I’m remotoring one of my R/C cars, I’m in the middle of installing my new race motor in my Trans Am, I have an old dirt bike that I’m in the middle of rebuilding the top end on and now my mother in law has dropped off her riding lawn mower because it won’t start and she wants me to fix it.
After having retired from the Army and having a couple of medical problems, I have way too many projects to work on. I model in N-Scale in the basement and G-Scale in the back yard. I am presently moving the large scale layout that is on the ground, from under the trees, closer to the house and on benchwork. A shed that houses my workshop and storage is completed. Most of the old stuff has been pulled up and is being refurbished. The basement layout will most likely be redone next winter. As if this isn’t enough, I’ve got a complete house renovation, inside and out, going on too. Luckily, projects are started after finding the materials at the right price. This keeps things at a easier pace than going full tilt. I just keep going at it a little bit at a time. I think having a list of things to do keeps you alive and kicking.
Too many? No. Do I work on several simultaniously? Of Course! I never have been one to sit around and watch the paint dry. I try to have sveral different kinds of projects going all the time.
I have to re-face my Sierra Buttes with the Cripplebush rubber rocks that I ordered, but before I can do that, I have to search for a ‘Topside Creeper’ locally that will allow me to lean over the layout to GET to the Buttes in the first place–yah, plan ahead, Tom[D)]–and if I can get THAT done without falling through the scenery, well, there’s:
Replacing all of my ‘fall’ WS clumpy trees with Scenic Express ‘instant’ trees and multi-colored flock.
Waiting for some Cal-Scale castings to get in (probably today) so that I can put decks between some of my locos and tenders, and an ash-pan for an oil-burning steamer that I converted to coal.
Re-paving Highway 49 through Sierra City and installing highway signs.
Installing Tomar track shoes on a couple of new brass lokies.
Planting evergreens in the Tahoe National Forest (an ALWAYS on-going project).
Negotiating for a small part of the garage so I can install a holding yard for the trains.