Someone ought to have taught him about operating. If the whole point is to build the layout, then why even have working models on it?
The hobby shop that I go to would never sell that to anyone except those who have enough expirence. What hobby shop do you go to!?
Think about the prototype; it isn’t user friendly at all. RC prototype cars can pretty much go wherever they want, in contrast to Trains, that can only go where the tracks are, not to mention how huge and heavy the components included are. I don’t see how this differs with modeling. Yeah MRR can be un- user friendly, but for the people that love it they don’t imagine doing anything else. Assuming how many people are MRRs(myself included); it’s a “problem” that is worth dealing with. I enjoy MRRing much more than RC cars or airplanes, etc.
It’s the illusion that makes it work. IE using mirrors, backdrops, forced perspective, etc to make it look bigger.
I enjoy them both the same. I actualy race my Inferno US Sports competitively, and I am getting into backyard and park R/C flying. (using smaller planes.) Model railroading is something I turn to when I am stressed out, or need a break. At least when things work, it calms me down. I just got the first unit in my sectional layout built, and am in the process of scenicking it. Once it is finished, I will move it on to it’s benchwork, which is still being planned out.
Mostly, I go to model railroad shops. You know, where they specialize in trains.
But I have never seen a hobby shop that refused to take a customer’s money, especially in this economy. And I have seen people demolish flying models soon after building them, so someone is selling them the aircraft.
You are new to the hobby as well new to the forums. I am familiar with your posts and I must say that you are indeed standing at the base-camp of ModelRailRoad mountain.
MRing is a hobby where many different skill sets are drawn upon. From drafting to wood working to soldering to painting…etc…there is alot to learn. Unfortunately, this experience comes with time and cannot be learned over-night. So my advice is to take a deep breath and suck up all the information you can from experienced modelers.
One example is what I bolded in your text. Typically benchwork is done BEFORE you lay track, let alone scenery.
David B
When I first read this post, I thought, “Uh, oh, someone’s trying to get the goat of us model railroaders and rile us up just for the fun of it.” However, after reading through all the posts, I think that it has spurred some thoughtful discussions on the relative merits and otherwise of other hobbies vs model railroading. It’s been an interesting read.
Too bad about the fellow with the layout on the door. Too bad he didn’t have someone to further his interest in model RRing. I guess he tried it, didn’t like it, and tried another hobby. If the whole point is just to build a layout, then why not go into the business of building layouts for other people? I’m sure there’s lots of money to be made there. I’ve been building for years, off and on. I don’t spend huge amounts of time on it because I have too many other interests and duties. I can run trains on parts of my layout, but at the moment that’s not what is important to me. I actually enjoy building the layout![:O] I like making scenery. I like making structures a lot. I even enjoy making the benchwork. Yes, I do look forward to the day when I will run trains, but that’s in the future. I suppose it’s like restoring an antique automobile. One spends many years in the garage working on the vehicle knowing that some day he will drive it, but right now his enjoyment is in the restoration. A very good friend of mine likes to rub it in every so often telling me that I will never have trains running on my layout. Maybe he’s right. At my age, who knows? But in the meantime I’m getting all the enjoyment I want out of building. [2c]
I would have to say that Model Railroading is far superior to RC. Where else can you get: mechanical skills, model building, woodworking skills, artistic, painting, senicking, etc all in the same hobby? If you do the outdoor railroad you can even throw in gardening!
i suppose one could just collect stamps (not that there’s anything wrong with that !) , nothing to build , nothing to break and it’s pretty portable too
i’m not sure i understand the question , model railroading , model car racing , and model flying are all very different hobbies . so whatever floats your boat … oh wait , that’s another hobby !
ernie
I am building a SECTIONAL layout. The Benchwork is not as important with this kind of layout, as it only supports the sections and not the track itself.
My hobby shop would not sell someone a scale heli as their first aircraft. They would normaly tell them to start with a hobbyzone supercub.
Sectional=modular in a few people’s ears. I also believe that there is still a type of BENCHWORK (platform, foundation or whatever) that has to be worked upon, under, over, through (whatever, again…) befor scenery gets put down. Otherwise you get to do scale sized renewal projects on them. 
I call that the Section base. On my layout’s first section, I used 3/4" plywood and glued 1/2" blue insulation foam on top of it.
I am not a total noob in this hobby, but I am a novice. I have already made my way past the starter set phase, but my first attempt at a true layout failed because the idiot who helped me with the benchwork cut a LOT of corners during the construction.
Btw, my layout will be Semi-modular because I would be able to put it together in three different sizes.
I’ll throw in my 2 cents.
Compared to R/C, the scope of model railroading is far larger. A reasonably similar scope would be to build a Bowser steam locomotive kit (assuming you are building a real kit R/C plane or car), equip it for DCC, and take it to the club layout to run and “tune” by itself - without having to build, buy, or pull a train. If you are taking a Ready to Fly plane, it’s like taking the latest sound-equipped DCC loco to the club layout and playing with it. Building and running a locomotive is just one facet of the hobby of model railroading. See the difference?
Another huge difference between the hobbies is the creativity involved. Very, very few R/C hobbyists build a plane or vehicle of their own design - and those few that do certainly wouldn’t be considered mainstream. But model railroading generally expects one to design his own layout as a part of the experience. And even if someone else’s track plan is used, one is expected to customize and tailor the track (usually) and the scenery (always) to suit one’s own taste and vision.
I assume a reasonable definition of “user friendly” means assistance provided to a newbie by the design, hardware, or other people without his having to seek it out. By this definition R/C modeling is quite user friendly. A hobby shop advises (and repairs), a group provides operating facilities (coordinates or obtains use of fields, parking lots, or tracks), and the kits are specifically designed to make assembly reasonable for a newbie. And if the kit assembly is perceived as too difficult, ready to use items are available.
Model Railroader magazine and others have been pushing the availability of Ready-to-Run model railroads for many years. The development of track with roadbed built in, RTR locomotives with DCC and sound installed, DCC systems, RTR cars, and ready built structures are all part of this movement. Kalmbach just announced a book about quickly building a model railroad using all RTR components. Can’t get
Chuck, I’m guessing you are not including the nose-dive-off-the-layout-onto-the-tile-on-concrete-floor kind of locomotive accident, right? [swg] (Of course, those might be due to having the tracks too close to the layout edges without also having some restraint method to keep the loco off the floor)…[:-^]
Jim in Cape Girardeau
HAND; comment re; cutting of corners, makes me wonder were his head was at but at the same time the fact someone found what corners were cut becomes part of the learning curve. I had some help on setting up the line but i still had to do it…
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this topic should be stickied so that no one else can try to make their own topic on the same topic.
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That was my FIRST attempt at a walk-in model railroad, so I couldn’t build it alone.
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as I said before in another topic, benchwork is a weakness.
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… … … … I don’t know. think of something for me to put here.
And you found out were the corners were cut I presume. The problem for me was that I had to do some hunting to find someone who could point me in a direction that was useable for me.
In R/C I found that I needed far more space to store the things; mind, furry one and fuel,hmmm…[%-)][sigh]