Real info on train subjects with real facts, why is this so hard for community to do

This is a pet peve of mine. I find the lack of information on a lot of stuff either wrong or incompleat. Example, on recent layouts I have used beaded foam (use these tearms so there is no misunderstang of the product I am talking about). I was told many years ago that it was a fire hazard and that it was dangerous to cut, kinda half truths. It will contribute fuel to a house fire but then so will your couch (in fact the couch is worse). I persoally tried to start a fire on a peice but it only melted and I am talking about hot soldering iorns and burning matches etc. It only emits toxic fumes over 467 degrees (Woodland Scenics hot wire foam cutter only gets to 425 degrees). Other myths is the beads will get everywhere, the will if you use a saw but with a sharp knife or wire cuter, this is mainly done away with (and for places with a more static eviorments there are remidies). Another thing they talk about is shrinkage which it dose do but only when brand new (most people never see the just manufactured stuff) In fact I experimented myself to verify this, took a measured peice and left it in the hot sun during summer and then put the same peice in the freazer over night the next day, measurments were taken at each step and no difference that was measurable for our situation. This is not the only thing I have had troubles with, there are countless others, went so far as electrical foresics (yes there is such a thing) to find out about wiring hazards. Question is why did I have to do all this instead of just buying a book or other.

I think the root cause of so much misinformation is the self-appointed-know-it-alls are too afraid to admit that they do not know everything.

The situation has become measurably worse in recent months.

So they post replies on subjects they know little about, people assume they know what they are talking about, then the incorrect information gets repeated.

I do not know why some people…

  1. Have a hard time admitting they do not know something.

  2. Have a need to respond to threads where they have little knowledge.

  3. Think that people who use different approaches are wrong.

  4. Cannot admit when they are wrong.

I come to online forums to learn. I do not know everything, I might not even know much.

When I do respond with knowledge, it is usually based on experience I have gained from building 6 previous model railroad layouts and helping on many others.

I do not repond with information I learned just from reading about other people building their layouts. I never trust a know-it-all that does not share pictures of what they have built.

If you want to convince me, show-me. Maybe I should move to Missouri.

-Kevin

Same thing was said about the EPS foam (the pink or blue - Lowes has green) stuff. There was a web site where they videoed all sorts of ways of trying to make it burn. Even with a direct flame, all that happened was the foam melted until the edges of the melted hole were too far from the flame to reach the melting point. They also tried things like a shorted wire and a soldering iron.

Liek the beaded foam, it makes a mess when sawed - my first layout with it, I recessed Tortoise machines from the top, so I used the router attachment on my Dremel to cut the recess, and even with the shop vac held right against the cutting point, it made a lot of pink snow. But cutting out squares with a steak knife made less chips than cutting a piece of wood, and for long cuts, I used a straightedge and made multiple scores and then just snapped it off, no mess at all. A hot wire will also carve contours without making a mess.

But - you will find the National Fire Code says this stuff is to be used only for insulation, and must be covered up, not exposed. When the whole wall is covered with this stuff in a vertical alignment, instead of horizontal model railroad benchwork, the results may not be the same. ANd since the fire code says this, you will pretty much NEVER find a book that contradicts this because if someone recommends doing something and someone gets hurt or worse, they can be held liable. SO the books will all tell you it’s a fire hazard. Or if it’s known to give off harmful fumes - there’s no gurantee every brand of the XPS foam you buy has the exact same characteristics, so the books will say not to use a hot wire cutter. It’s not that they are lying to you, if the dispense information that can be in any way construed as dangerous or harmful, they can be held liable. So they always err on the side of caution. Right or wrong, that’s a topic not for this forum, but there’s a YouTuber I watch who does a lot of repair on old tube radios and test gear. Before h

This is very true. Once anything is written in NFPA, Fire Code, NEC, Electrical Code, or Building Code, no one will contradict it. It becomes gospel.

For what it is worth on foam…

I build an N scale portable layout in the 1980s that used sheets of white “bead board” foam. We shaped it outside of our club’s storage locker using wood rasps! Little white beads went everywhere!

There were still white beads all over the storage facility for months.

What a mess.

-Kevin

Yes, most any sort of abrasive tool and foam are not friends. Takes a totally different method to work compared to wood. As with most things, using the right tool makes the job easier.(and less messy)

–Randy

And let’s not forget the use of big words by those same guys so that we don’t know what they are talking about and cannot be sure if they know what they are talking about.

Rich

I only use the information I get from the masses as a starting point. There are too many forks in the road to take the first one someone suggests.

The masses are programmed on what to eat, how to handle their finances, which one of the 4500 religions or what Diety to follow. It all stems from not educating yourself. Critical thinking is key to success. Take suggestions and break them down for yourself and do what you want to do.

When the stock market crashes as it always will from time to time, the masses panic while a few of us see lots of opportunities. Eating more than your body needs to sustain itself presents a long list of issues. Using debt to “have it now” makes you half as wealthy at retirement than if you just save up for it in the first place. You can study the Bible or you can study religion, which of those gives you a better understanding of humanity and the world we live in?

I never have a problem admitting I am wrong, those that are imprisoned by vanity will defend themselves to the end even if they know they are wrong. I built my current layout 14 years ago using open grid, foam and spline. I got some pretty nasty comments and PMs telling me I was an idiot. I think it worked out quite well and I learned a lot.

Change is how we grow and make things better, but that requires the same kind of rational thinking that protects you from buying your friend Larrys hot stock tip.

I have received so many bitter private messages.

It is hard to believe that the decision to set my layout on a specific day in 1954 would be someone else’s hot-button issue that inspired them to sit at their keyboard and write a manifest about how stupid I am.

-Kevin

I dunno where to begin . . .

I try to glean through the ‘helpful’ advice and determine who has actual hands-on experience with the topic under discussion. Watching somebody else do something on a YouTube video doesn’t count. The technical term for this is bona fides; the casual term is street cred. You either got it or you don’t, and it’s pretty easy to spot.

BTW, I avoid white beaded styrofoam sheets because they tend to crumble like granny’s dry cornbread. [Comment removed by moderator]

Robert

We told you it should have been 1953![(-D][swg]

I find on FB when people challenge me on a method of doing something, which seems to be commonplace on some sites. I just say to them “do it your way then, I was just offering up one method” and that shuts them down pretty quick. It’s like arguing about what guitar strings to use, there is no such thing as personal taste or choice to some people.

Sure, whenever people have, and express, an opinion they are likely to be dogmatic about it because, well, because that is what they think. It is when they continue to think that even in the face of people who show visual evidence of very different results or experiences with the same product or technique – hey, the bumblebee flies! – that it gets disappointing.

When the very first resin based kits were introduced I can recall modelers saying that this was the worst possible material for making models out of – they should cast in metal, never resin. Now some modelers regard resin as the only type of kit they would even consider building or running on their prototype based layouts.

Back when solvent based paints like Floquil were still freely available, you often read opinions that it was not possible to get good results painting metal or plastic using non solvent based paints. And then of course we all HAD to get good results using non solvent based paints and those objections either went away or were rephrased. I remember one time in MR Andy Sperandeo opined that weathering with chalks didn’t work and was not a good idea. I was getting good results and wrote a letter to the editor (which was published) disagreeing with Andy. I doubt if I changed his mind however. And by the way back before Andy Sperandeo was an editor at Kalmbach his first appearance in the magazine was a letter to the editor saying that Kadee coupler’s “delayed action” was a terrible thing and nobody should use that feature and that Model Railroader should stop pushing it on people. Then editor Linn Westcott’s bewildered reply was “when did we push it on people?”

But there has to be an “on the other hand” so here is my “on the other hand.” I’d just observe that there are many varieties of beaded (white) foam products out there, of various densities and makeups. Some types used

Now some of these things may be based in what was. Being in the trades I tried some of the water based interior gloss paints when they first started coming out, things would stick to it even months after applied, they fixed that (but Lowes recently sold some paint that did this, someone made a boo-boo).

Just to note I use packing foam too but everything ends up covered.

My only opinion on foam is I want things to be stronger, and I don’t like working with it.

Others are encouraged to do what works for them.

I work in construction and I only think there are a few good uses for it there as well. JUST MY OPINION.

Years ago on here I was called some pretty ugly names because I challenged the idea that everyone should switch to DCC.

And then again when I demonstrated with facts that REBOXX was recommending the wrong size axles for Kadee sprung trucks. I was told that Intermountain wheel sets would not work in Kadee freight trucks, despite my own experiance with about 500 freight cars - and then another guy spoke up and said he too used Intermountain wheelsets in Kadee trucks with the same great results.

I’m amazed at what some people in this hobby don’t know, or have not bothered to learn, about trains, model or prototype.

I try to offer what I have learned, and I skip over threads where I have nothing to offer.

I get criticized still by a few for repeating some information, but it is clear that not everyone reads every every thread, so if it applies I repeat it, including my personal views on some things, which I think have bearing on some of the technical info I try to share.

Notice I almost never post in threads regarding N scale - I have ZERO practical experiance - and honestly, zero interest.

Why do some people act the way they do on here? I don’t know. I will leave that to my wife the counselor.

I know my behavior has not always been perfect, but I try to offer what I know, and learn what I can.

Sheldon

good enough vs esoteric concerns. it’s for personal use, not for commercial sale

in most cases, there is no one right way. It depends on the goal, situation, skills and tools

unfortunately, it takes experience to learn how as well as how to digest forum comments

I have privately contacted a few people but not to trash them.

Some will never see eye to eye with me and I avoid getting into any debate with them…all it does is stress me out.

A few more thoughts:

Greg commented above that there is often “no one right way”, so very true.

Some people see no need to change things that have worked for them for years, or decades.

Others see some value in always being on the “cutting edge” of new methods.

Some prefer consistancy, example, using all the same type of switch machine, or the same brand of turnout.

Others will have a hodge podge of what they feel will work in a given situation.

Some are very picky about accuracy or detail levels, some not so much.

These kinds of views also effect the answers people provide to questions.

Sheldon

This is a good point. Urethane foam was thought to be relatively fire resistant but when used for walls it turned out to be a firetrap. The root cause of the flammability in the “real world” was relatively still hot air air causing the urethane to release flammable vapors which then “pooled” against the ceiling. Ignition of the vapors creates a very scary flashover.

This is me when it comes to the layout. Current layout has foam, spline, steel, cement and plywood for roadbed/sub roadbed. Terrain is foam, Plaster of Paris and hydrocal and I am sure other things. We just did a bathroom and used some new products on that, I had leftovers in the bucket that went on the layout.

This stretch over the fireplace is a real collection of various cement type products and when I get around to painting it, I think it will look really good.

I don’t have a lot of history with PM’s, maybe 300 so far in all my time on the forum (Jan 2005). A few have been critical of what I posted, some supportive, some asking for some kind of help or affirmation for something they have been criticized for… Often it’s just the usual commiseration between two like-minded people on an issue. So, I feel badly for those whose experience with PM’s has tended toward being forgettable or downright nasty.

I can’t possibly know everything, and if I’m honest with myself (and others), I get my nose rubbed in that fact every single day. But, as others have said, we’re all different and we all come to a problem with different histories, skills, knowledge, limits to success and resources, and motivation. What I like about this forum is that people DO come here and argue about stuff. It makes for a greatly extended range in both factual information (eg, ways to accomplish the same goal) and in reasoning or rationalization. I think it’s best that we exchange views, skills, photos, our journeys through the hobby, and why we do things we feel should be done the WAY we feel they should be done. This richness gives each of us a greater range of choices.

We can agree to disagree. We needn’t be disagreeable in expressing our contrarian views. We can respect each other as brothers and sisters in a worthy hobby that has far more silent members than outspoken ones. I can still like you, sight unseen, and still value and respect your dissent if/when I can’t win you over to my way of seeing the problem.

A warm greeting to all my friends here. [:D]