I am working on 4 cemant hoppers detailing them out, two boxcars awaiting paint to come in, 6 or so other boxcars awaiting time to install break gear etc, 6 or so passenger cars awaiting parts then paint. 2 tank cars awaiting time to install parts, decals. Is this unusual to have this many things going on or is it normal?
[^o)]Well that’s at least two loaded questions in one!!
Just how normal are Model Railroaders anyway??[:-^]
Do you prefer to be known unusual or normal?? [swg]
Hi!
While I much prefer to pick up a project and see it straight through to completion, things rarely seem to work out that way. Usually it comes down to needing a part or paint or coming up against a problem that isn’t readily solveable.
And to be perfectly honest, there have been a few times when a more enticing project comes to light and I drop the old one and take on the new.
The thing to keep in mind is that MR is a HOBBY - not an obligation, a job, or a pain in the backside (although that does happen).
So whether you do one or ten projects at once, just make sure you do one thing - and that is to ENJOY!
IF I took out the time to count my projects… THAT in itself would be yet another project!
At the very moment I’m adding a railing and platform detail add-on kit to my Walthers blast furnace that has been sitting idle since I installed it in, what, 1998 or so? This renewed project started about a year ago when I began ballasting some trackage that runs behind the steel mill complex. So, I removed some of the foreground buildings to access the track and, well… since the buildings are removed why not dress things up a bit.
BUT that’s just the current (as of the last few days) project! Oh, there are others…
Painting brass rolling stock, about 5 locomotives and eight passenger cars and three cabooses;
Finishing up a Sylvan Great Lakes ore boat;
Upgrading some older locomotives, swapping out Tsunami boards for Loksounds, replacing axle gears;
Painting and lettering ten Pullman coaches to go with the A-B Alco demonstrators for the GE More Power To America train;
Upgrading the layout lighting to more LED spot and can lights;
Installing a stock yard and meat packing house;
Making background buildings with the dozens of DPM wall sections I have on hand;
Still upgrading wiring from my DCC conversion eleven years ago;
Building two more Hulett ore unloaders to go with the two I built three years ago;
Weathering rolling stock, locomotives and passenger cars;
Making labels for about two-dozen turnout panels that just have Post-it® notes on them now;
Weeding out older freight cars that I’ve had on the layout for twenty-five years (just can’t bear to see them go [:'(] );
Installing carpet/fabric on the fascia;
Make CV adjustments and speed-match several dozen locomotives;
Adding more signals and adding detection to the o
One… I do one project at a time and stay with it until it is finished before moving to the next project.
The why question is easy…My work bench is a student desk so,I need to keep it organized and above all tidy since I’ve always been told a sloppy work area leads to shoddy work and accidents.
Yep, I have alot of projects going on, too many projects.
I have at least 30 projects ongoing right now.This includes three layouts,one N scale and one Z scale that are my own and the third is a HO layout the club will be using for locos as it will be dual powered ( DC/DCC).
I have at least 15 ongoing HO loco projects (most are Athearn blue box my favorite HO toy).Roughly 10 N scale loco projects,and 2 Z scale loco projects.There are rolling stock projects not included in this list.
I tend to bounce from project to project because there are times that parts for one project do not show up when they should so I got to the next one either on my list or what ever inspires me to work on it.
I was not meaning to write a book but this is what makes this Catt purr. Remember this is a hobby and hobbys are enjoyed by the person who has it in the way that person wants to.
The main point to keep in mind is that this is not a job but good clean fun; a diversion from what we have to do to survive. Setting a schedule will help to complete projects but do not keep looking at the watch. If your goal is met, great. If not, the only boss that will get on your case is the owner of your railroad; you. It’s good to be the boss albeit for only a few hours of the day.
Usually several. When I was building my current 4x6, I would have a scenery section or two waiting for something to dry or another project (trees or ?) to be finished. I’d also have a kit or two going, though most of those were completed in a fairly short time. What I worked on depended on the amount of time I had availalble and what was inspiring me at the moment. Sometimes one just doesn’t feel up to working on a complex project at the moment, so a simple one fits the situation.
Have fun,
Richard
I guess I have several, but only 1 “out” at a time.
I have some P2K locos in need of sound decoders. They have the boards pulled and were lubricated. I’m waiting on the money to add the decoders.
I’m still finalizing my layout design, so that’s an ongoing thing, but that’s still all on the computer.
I haven’t even started building any scenery. I don’t plan on doing that until I have absolute destinations for it. I bought exactly one backing building I’m going to use, but it’s still sealed.
On the other hand, I went nuts buying locos ove the past year. I now have:
Athearn RtR UP F7 A/B set
Athearn Genesis UP F& A/B set
3 Bachmann UP GP30s, and 1 Big Dawg GP30B shell (Bachmann-based)
BLI E9 A/B set
P2K UP GP20
P2K UP GP30
Roco GP40
Bachmann DDA40X
Bachmann Plus F7A (Chessie)
Parts enough for a Bachmann F7B
Bowser UP VO-1000
I only have about 25 cars, so you can see how rediculous this looks.
2 cabooses to weight and install couplersfirst DCC install
start laying track buildings to buy and build
loading dock to build
repair unknow number of couplers with new springs and spring boxes
That’s just off the top of my head and doesn’t include the vegetable garden or getting the motorcycle ready.
Please define “working on”. (After how many inches of dust does it nolonger count?)
ROARING! LION is working on the layout. Sometimes. Two flights up is a strain on the knees of the old man. Most urgent is the repowering of six more subway trains. Not6 only to you have to put the new motors in, but then you have to balance the train, not to heavy, not too light, with draws bars that have enough play in them both laterally and vertically.
Then there is the Coney Island station. I have to get that finshed. Then of course there is the rest of the layout.
Dust is still measured in mm rather than inches of feats.
ROAR
I tend to do one as if I start another, the other project may never get finished.
Well said! I don’t get hours in a day to work on the layout, so I try to maximize time. For instance, eletrical work is often done on the weekend at night. The worst fear is leaving the soldering iron plugged in after going to bed. Now that I have a list, I try to work on one project at a time.
I have far too many projects going on continuously. My norm was two until my full stocking hobby shop closed about 7 years ago. Over the years I’ve built up a very large stock of parts but I still lack so many needed parts it’s hard to finish a project in less than three weeks if I need to order something to finish it.
I currently have 13 AWP projects, AWP is an acronym for “awaiting parts” I picked up working on an Air Base. I have a total of 15 AWP bin boxes on my shelf and my norm is all 15 bins full. When I fill all 15 bins I wait on starting any new projects until I have a bin box to work from.
I put the AWP bin number on the parts order so when it comes in I know where it goes.
Mel
I have about 3 active projects: Kitbashing a building, installing and detailing an HOn30 Forney, and kitbashing a couple of Hustler shells into HOn30 road switchers (started that one over a year ago, got sidetracked). Maybe a half dozen others ready to start, and many more in the box waiting for the urge to get to them going.
I like to have a couple fairly active projects, so I have something to do when paint or glue needs to dry on others.
Model railroading is a project in itself, in (millions?) of sub parts… let’s see, which part(s) shall I do today?
I’m like Ed (gmpullman), as I have many. When outside stuff dominates my time, each project gets put in a box, along with all parts, etc., and waits for my return.
Mike.
Just the new SIW. But on Easter break.