I have been building/ working on my modest 13x4 HO layout for 3 years and consider it 50% complete, when it should have been done along time ago, it’s like a gov’t contract…spending money with no progress. Come spring, i got honey do lists, go fishing, maintain 5 acres of landscape and this lasts till fall which is about november here. and then i try to do more layout work. Any one got any tips how to motivate summer layout constuction?
Having had similar layout construction problems ranging from un accomodating parents, to Just simply all the stuff that comes from being in college. One of the things that I find helps is having a special place to just leave set up to work on your projects. When things are set up you don’t have to spend extra time searching for the tools you need or setting up. You can just go to your spot and work. If all you do is sit and stare at it for four hours to do a 15 minute coupler installation. It is still a good way to escape your cares for the time you spend there.
Just some of my thoughts.
James
I always sit aside some hobby time…I’ve done that for years including the 91/2 years I worked on the railroad and while serving in the Army except for my tour of duty in Viet Nam.
I don’t suppose this would apply to you but since I don’t have AC in the house and both the layout and workshop are located downstairs, I find it fairly easy to wander down to do a little work while escaping the summer heat for awhile.
I also have a projects list so if I can’t think of anything to do I’ll check the list.
Thought it’s off topic, thank you for your service.
I try to stop looking at the entire layout as one big project. I pick out just one thing I want to do and tackle that. On the layout it may be one square foot of scenery, one section of track to ballast, or one hillside to shape.
As for rolling stock equipment, I keep two or three projects going and rotate through them. This allows glue to dry, paint to set, decals to settle, etc. I work on what ever strikes my fancy at the time.
One little project at a time equals a sense of accomplishment. If I complete the entire layout…who cares? I’m having fun with whatever I set my hand to today!
I’m like dragenrider, small bites at the big apple, setting small goals and projects to finish gives a sense of accomplishment and a boost to start (and finish) something else on the list, I recently had the same thoughts as you and decided to consolodate my efforts into one project at a time, maybe not finish it but concentrate on it for that period. Its not rigid and I dont always stick to it, this is a hobby after all, not a job but it helps to focus on one thing instead of the 842 other things you know also need doing on the layout.
Above all…
Have fun & be safe
Karl.
I seem to have several big projects going all the time. I tend to wander by and putter away for a few minutes at one another. Eventually one interests me and I assume they will all get done sooner or later.
I am pretty sure that you approach all of your projects the same way; unless you are consumed by them, with a big rocket under your butt, you demure and defer. If you were really keen on your ideas, or on your plan, I am guessing you’d have done it long ago. So, I must conlcude that you have…“issues”…(God, how I have come to hate that word!) that you need to grapple with. Something isn’t quite right for you, and your layout will continue to languish until you deal with it. Maybe it’s as simple as the fact that model trains no longer have the zip for you…or, at least, something else has reduced its zip substantially by comparison, in the interim.
As a psychologist, I can tell you that people do what they are reinforced for doing. What reinforcement have you been receiving by demuring and defering? That thing has a higher octane rating for you at the moment.
Willy6, is the layout area a comfortable place to go? AC and such, if not and its a hostile environment then that will also spawn reluctance to work there, make the area as comfortable as possible so that you look forward to going there and allocate some specific time in the week that is your hobby time, honey do’s can usually wait an hour or two if planned well.
Have fun & be safe,
Karl.
i did not do much in the way of modelling the last couple of weeks THEN i had a visit from the local train club…2 x solid days of getting things done… this a/noon some one in a forum asked for infomation, spent 5 x hours looking for article, found lots of usefull stuff i can use on my new layout… i am building a new train room 20’ x 30’ and taken 2-3 months of work to build it and get trains runningand i am working to a deadline and very high standards…sometimes having pressure to do things is good…my advise…invite people ove and before they come try and get part of your layout perfect (no matter how small)…hope this helps…peter
Why not add some “honey do” projects for the other honey in the house, you. If you don’t plan the tasks and allocate some time for it, November will be here before you know it. Let us know what the “excuse” is then!
Will
This was a MAJOR issue for me with my garage layout. It was always below freezing in the winter and a sauna during the summer, installing a heatpump/AC wall unit solved that problem.
Next, I still had to deal with a filthy cluttered area and building a whole new layout ‘from scratch’. So, as a few others have mentioned, I established ‘milestones’ (garage de-cluttered, benchwork built, track laid, track wired, etc…) and realistic time spans for getting them done.
Also, I started posting messages about my progress here (in the CoffeeShop thread) so I could get ‘positive reinforcement’ from fellow modelers and feel that ‘sense of accomplishment.’
This approach has worked for me, I’m about 80% done![^]
Good luck…
I like to keep a small table test track (use snap track) stood up against wall in closet for those moments when I just want/need to see a train run. A little 40in by 48 in (for HO) foam board oval with one or two spurs. The spur gives me a place to test fit a structure kit I’m working on, and lets the structure serve as temporary scenery. Put felt pads on bottom of board so I can set it on the kitchen or dining room table without getting in trouble. Last but not least, gives me a place to test/break-in car and locomotive projects I’m working on.
I’ve also used 15in radius and done the “test track” in a 3ft by 4ft piece. But I model turn of the century 
Or get some snap track and set it up on the floor or the table.
When the foam or track gets too battered, build a new one.
These simple ideas also help me keep workmanship quality up on the primary layout, since I have less pressure to “get something running” - from both the wife and myself.
Last thing I do is normally set myself up a “hobby” evening once a week (OK, it seems like it ends up every other week). I aim for about 2 hours after dinner. Perhaps a 3-6 hour Saturday/Sunday once a month. Since I have pretty much given up TV (rest of family hasn’t) except for sports play-offs, I generally work in room next to TV (kitchen or dining room) with a portable work tray and tool caddy.
Layout is a bookshelf layout that has a drop-down front cover. That way layout is presentable enough to hang on wall in any room in house, keeps the dust off. Keeps me nearer to family on “hobby” night, and they secretly show off my work when I’m not around. I gave up on basement and “train room” empires as impractical due to time constraints and wife’s issues with disappearing into “train room”.
A little boy that loves trains was my motivator. I hope he never loses interest, but if he does, we’ll have had some golden years with a railroad to enjoy.
I’d suggest that you get the basic layout done with rough scenery. Details can come later. Once you have a layout, time could be spent on scratchbuilding, detailing locos, etc.
Good advice Grande but sometimes it’s not that easy, for me anyways, I get an image of how an area should look and work to mimic my mental picture, I sometimes wont work on any part of the layout for a week while I await a detail part delivery for the space I’m working on, I loose myself in making an item or scene the best I can to the detriment of overall progress, even then I never get there as I always realise what I am doing and try to move on to a bigger picture, then the cycle starts again with that area… no wonder I’ve got so much 80% completed stuff lying around everywhere waiting for a widget a wotsit or simply me to learn how to finish it [:D]
Fun, Fun, Fun, but I love it
Karl
You’re also doing exceptional detail quality, Karl. Different strokes for different folks, I went for speed with “good enough” detail. I hope the details can continue to get better as time goes on. It’s a hobby, by nature it can be done to suit the tastes and desires of the modeler. That’s one thing that makes model railroading such a great pastime. Keep up the good (exceptional) work and post us some more pics!!![:D]
I say to##### buythe parts you need in the summer. Then work on the layout in the fall or spring—which ever you prefer, if these are the kind of tips that you mean’t??
Richard
…and I wasn’t yelling at you. I don’t know why the bolder letters came out that way!!
Richard
I can relate to this problem. Guess I’ve just accepted the fact that progress on the layout slows in summer, and mine is in the nice, cool basement. Unfortunately, the yard work doesn’t do itself, and my wife’s support and patience might not survive me paying someone else to do the yardwork while I work on the layout. Truth is, the fact that I get maybe an hour or two a week this time of year motivates me a lot more when fall comes around.
Truth is, I enjoy the construction process, so having something always going on does not bother me.