This is the only hobby (I know) where there are a number of things to learn.
Carpentry, track laying, electricity wiring, model making, scenery etc.
To me the thing is to remember it is a hobby. How deep you wish to be involved in it, is up to you. Do you want to run only certain trains in a certain timeframe? Are you a person who runs what you like? Are you somewhere in between like me? Who cares? Nobody but you. (And I emphasise that.)
Whatever you do, enjoy the journey. It is enjoyable. Mistakes will happen, it is part of life. Learn from them. Maybe you might not be perfect at everything, but You will have a lovely layout.
Weekend Photo Fun. That’s what made me a better modeler. I look at the photos that guys and the occasional gal have done, and realize that most are no different than me, but they’ve got more practice, and they have the will to get up from their computers and try.
My early modeling left much to be desired, but I always ask myself, “Is this good enough for Weekend Photo Fun?” If not, I’m likely to go back and keep improving it until it is. Along the way, I pick up new materials and techniques that help me along.
I don’t care if the thread’s old – it’s still relevant, and some of us may not have been here in 2016.
I think the idea is like Napoleon Hill’s “every day in every way I try to be better and better” – and a forum like this one is the right place to be able to ‘pick and choose’ what skills you might want to become expert in, and read the kind of advice and be steered to the right kind of sources or inspiration that you best learn from.
I note that even the relative ‘gods’ of model railroading here are enthusiastic to teach and show what they know to everyone. And that is a wonderful thing to experience.
Hi Kevin, I’m glad you found this post because I always feel that Modellers as well as Model R/R Products improve over Time, which itself - waits for no man. It has been interesting to read comments from 5 years ago. Bit like a Time-Capsule.
Money was mentioned and whilst it cannot guarantee many things, it could buy me time in that I could pay for DIY or decorating - whilst I get on with building my MRR, - if only.
For me, my bug-bear is that my Knowledge of, Interest in, Enthusiasm for and thus Ability at - Joinery, is 9 below 0. A quick way of saying I’m no good at it. I would have employed a Joiner to do a professional job, if I could have afforded.
But IMO, the parameters I have listed have a bearing on how good you are at something re your mind-set to it.
Weekend Photo Fun and Show me Something - are two of my favourite topics. Long may they continue. It doesn’t matter if a Modeller posting photos and text, isn’t good at everything. I accept it for what it is. A picture paints a thousand words and there is always something there to learn from. Paul
You know, sometimes if you start a new thread, someone jumps in and says we already discussed it, but if you bring up an old thread sometimes that same person will jump in and say “necro-thread” again.
I too gave up caring a long time ago. I like old threads.
I was not here in 2016.
Mine too. Those are two of the “meat and potatoes” threads in the forum.
-As ANY odds in the universe will tell you, that answer has to be, yes, there’s atleast one person who is good at everything, in the grand scheme of all of us.
And as this forum is proof (all the threads with pics for example), there are ‘many’ of us who are good at ‘alot’ of things.
Further down the line, ‘most’ of us are good at ‘something’.
Lastly… there’s all the ‘other’ hobbys in the world which could never compete with this one. This one has all the other hobbys in it. To be here, your atleast good at ‘one’ thing! And thats all that counts.
There used to be a saying along the lines of " . . . a million monkeys pounding on a million typewriters would eventually turn out the entire works of Shakespeare." I think the internet has pretty much proven that to be wrong.
Absolutely true! there are many of out there proving it wrong.
There was a show on about the same time as “Myth Busters” began that analyzed urban myths. Not as entertaining as Myth Busters, but much more analytical.
They did a segment where they calculated how long it would take a million monkeys to pound out one of the short stories by Steven King. I think it was Word Processor of the Gods, but not sure.
Their math team calculated it would take millions of years just for that one work, and they pointed out that before the monkeys did this they would have created over one billion copies that had just one typo, and dozens of copies that were perfect except that they had the names of the main characters wrong.
They also said they would produce at least three versions in different languages before they did it in English.
You know, there’s another way to look at this. There is a kind of forum presence that does nearly everything well. It’s analogous to the ‘hivemind’ at /. – the collective wisdom and evidence and ‘show-me’ threads that can be looked through for best practices or methods whether you’re a beginner or a self-perceived klutz or someone who is frequently, awfully wrong but learns from his every mistake. Sure, you may not have finger dexterity or eyesight, but if you wanted, you could bring someone in and tell them everything you wanted, and show them where to acquire or polish the skill, and get it done YOUR WAY, the right way.
And conversely for the *non-*perfectionists, this community is inclusive without any judgment of ‘picking and choosing’ interests: you’ll get the same attention, consideration and regard from the very best skilled people in the hobby no matter what level you start … or what interests are ‘subsidiary’ to others.
This is one thing the Internet does if used appropriately. Wikipedia may not always be right but it is informative nonetheless.
This forum may not always be right but it is informative.
To produce the Compleat Works of Shakespeare by infinitely random keystrokes may not be a practical idea but no matter anyway since he did it already. Finding a reasonably faithful version of those complete works is pretty easy. We have a very interesting incomplete works of the bard, misleadingly labelled as complete. Bookbinding error.
The information on the internet is far less random being directed by sentient beings with a modicum of intellect substantially surpassing that of the smartest chimp. Not random.
The problem is the same as so often with Wikipedia: when people are wrongheaded it’s not a 50-50 random binary shot at being right vs. wrong – it’s a structure of wrong, an empire of wrong, a whole constellation of crook data and often fabricated reality, often in ways that cause further problem if swallowed as being fact and then requiring what may be painful or protracted ‘unlearning’ to get rid of the misinformation – or causing pain or danger in cases where facts regarding safety or health or welfare might be involved.
I found it reasonably healthy to adopt “the net has a thousand lies” (which is a pretty good pun) as a rule about Internet information (remember Preston Cook’s quoting EMD on the value of free information?) but there is the power of a first impression, or the desire to follow a positively-stated opinion as though it were as factual as assertive. That is not as much a problem if there is additional collateral, easily accessed, that is more informative – and as noted there is an enormous collective wisdom that can always be revised in light of a ‘better predictor’ when better methods or thinking comes along. There may be arguments or distractions in some threads here, but the *non-*perversity of the forum universe tends to a maximum…
Ah yes, but when did intelligent people have such access to all this information on demand? The pepper from flypoop filtering was always a problem but the more stuff you can sift through the better.
Wikipedia is a weird thing but it remains an important idea.
Sites like this are driven by people earnestly providing or seeking useful information. Deliberate or careless misinformation is swiftly corrected. The process is like attending the most amazing model railroading show on a daily basis. Sure there’s lots of less than perfect communication but compared to the monthly local club newsletter of not so long ago this is Aladdin’s cave.
