Modelling While On Vacation.

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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I have read of some of you guys taking models to work on, while you are on the road for work. I also came across a CP engineer building an “N scale” town on his picknick table while railfanning at Canyon Hot Springs, a campground on the CP mainline in B.C. Of course, there is Rod Stewart that has done a lot of building in his hotel while on the road.

With the kids getting close to being out of High School, the wife and I are looking to spend three or four months a year somewhere warm in the South Pacific each year. There is no question that our health is much better in the warmth than it is in the cold we get North of the Forty-ninth.

So I am interested in the experiences of those that have or do build away from home. I know how quickly things can grind to a halt when you forget just one thing. I am getting better at improvising, however, that is always not possible.

It would be great to hear of your experiences. Were they positive or an exercise in frustration due to not having your full workbench at hand?

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In his three articles for the Three Rivers City layout – Rocker, Rod Stewart, made models, structures, bridges, etc., when on Rock Tours.

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My wife and I have a vacation condo in Door County, WI. I have kept a supply of rail and model rail magazines there for poolside or rainy day reading (and for reading in the smallest room in the condo, if you get my drift).

While we usually go in the summer when I prefer to be outside doing stuff rather than model railroading, we do visit in the off season and winter and this year I purchased a TV table at a thrift shop, a self-healing cutting mat, a small tool box, and a storage box. I found I had enough extra basic tools: knives, files, clamps, sprue cutters, tweezers, and such to equip the tool box. I also had plenty of the usual modeling “stuff” - scale ruler, extra screws, couplers, washers, toothpicks – to equip the storage box, which can also hold a couple of kit boxes. I got an extra Kadee coupler height gauge, an NMRA gauge, and the glues and cements I like best.

The whole ensemble: TV table, tool box, materials box, can be easily stored in a closet when company comes.

I decided that my focus would be on having enough space and the kind of basic supplies needed to work on kits of the Accurail/Bowser/ Walthers/Athearn/Model Die Casting variety. Shake the box or just slightly harder. I have a large supply of such kits and somehow at home the more challenging kits and projects seem to get tackled first. So this vacation home focus has actually helped whittle down the over-supply of unbuilt kits.

Weathering is done at home either before or after assembly depending on the kit. The trucks and wheels can be painted and weathered beforehand (I usually swap out the kit wheels anyway).

I did not want to have to get involved with painting (airbrush or rattle can), weathering, soldering, Dremel tool grinding or cutting, using the drill press, major filing, sawing, “Choppering” (to coin a word) and such because I set up the TV table on nice carpeting. My goal is thus r

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My only comment is first try doing some modelling during a short trip. When I was doing some business travel I started bringing the tools I expected to need and a kit. All too often I found that there were one or two other tools or supplies I should have included, bringing the project to a standstill. That could be a problem far from the nearest hobby shop.

John

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WOTS a vacation!!![(-D]
Gidday Brent, When w**king away from home, I’ll take a freight car kit to assemble, generally of a type I’ve done before so I know how much weight to add , if any; what couplers to fit to get the correct height, and I’ll pre paint any steel weights beforehand. Though another small toolbox on the back of the ute doesn’t make any difference, I generally just take the tools I need. I always carry a cheap pair of spectacles for any close-in-work work and if good light is an issue I also have my head band light which is also part of my everyday work toolbox.
I’m sure as a former air freight logistics guy you won’t be using your Exact

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When I go on vacation I don’t really think of my trains. Why would I do that, I rather spend time with my loved ones then sitting alone building a kit.

Even when I was working and traveled to many locations my thoughts were not on my trains but on my job. Never had the time To build anything when traveling.

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Tried the pack enough tools to finish a couple kits last summer. Did not have needed taps and vacation location is remote enough to where delivery services are almost non-existent (600 miles north of 49 th parallel). Nearest hobby shop is 500 miles away.

If you decide to do model building away from home, do more planning than I did. Anticipate all tool needs, adhesive needs and painting needs. Will you have access to a real work bench or would you be using the kitchen table? Will the vacation location have adequate lighting to do detailed work? Will you need operational test track? Will you need coupling gauges or track gauges?

Lots of people have successfully done vacation modeling. With proper planning you can too.

Jim

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Last time I checked, vacation was time off work to do what you want. If what you want to do is work on your railroad, stay home and work on your railroad. If you take a trip with the family, do things with the family.

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Dave, thanks for the well thought out response. Depending on where we end up could really mean having limited access to hobby supply items. I would like to maybe build a craftmans kit or two while sitting on the lanai under a palm tree. I think painting would happen after I return home, though I would probably prime them before I leave.

Bear, I consider you New Zealand’s Attache on this forum. The wife and I are seriously looking at the Cook Islands as our first empty nest destination. Therefore please ensure there will be a well outfitted hobby shop in the islands by the time we arrive.[(-D]

I think it would be fine to pack the sharp’s and small glue bottles in checked luggage and any other hard to get items as well.

Carl and David, if you reread my original post we are talking four months away from home. While you may be able to engage your family for four months nonstop, I indicated that my two kids will be out of High school and off at some institution of higher learning somewhere in the world. It is most likely that they will both join us over the Christmas break at which time we will be off scuba diving or fishing or doing something else as a family.

The wife and I would spend long days scuba diving, hiking, golfing and a host of other exiting activities when on vacations in the past. A great trip we had was a sailing trip through the Whitsunday Islands in Australia on a fifty foot sail boat. Lots of diving and snorkeling and drinking pina colodas as th

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Brent,

For you taking four months in a warmer climate may make sense for you to do some modeling. For most people though taking four months off is just in the cards for me and others

I’m 70 and still working 25 hrs a week of which I love and don’t want to give up. The money does help us enjoy our retiremen. I also volunteer at the local VA talking to young soldiers who just came back from combat. They will come out of their shell/depression if talking to somebody like myself who was also in combat.

This is the way I envisioned my retirement and I love it.

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When you’re retired. it’s not vacation. Which BTW, is defined as official permission to defer work. [:)]

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Being blessed with occasional insomnia, (like right now) and more so on vacations, it’s nice to have a project or 2 to turn to in order to use those hours for something other than tossing and turning. In preparing to go, I have a list of tools and supplied I refer to, to make sure I don’t leave something important.

This is a good time to work on less exciting stuff, like tedious repetitive freight car kit assembly

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I just finished up two weeks vacation and there is no way I had time for modeling; I hosted my wifes brother and two kids (15 & 18) from England and I could only manage to check forums now and then and post a little. If anything, I had to be done with vacation, then take care of some house and other “to-do” things before I could even think about getting back to modeling or work on the layout.

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Batman:

Four months at a different retirement location is not a vacation as most people think of it, but rather a temporary move.

Space, incremental transport cost, and preplanning will and should be the only limiting factors. Go for it.

Dave

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Heck Batman, diplomacy is not a word associated with the Bear. [|(]