There are layouts on this site that raise the bar for the rest of us. You know, Joe’s realistic landscape, Bob’s level of detail, Art’s logging camp, and Karl’s mega trestle. There are more, but I’m only mentioning the ones most recently come to light. Last night I spent 4 hours doing scenery on 20-30 square inches–but it is not close to being done. I look at may layout and taking it to the point where I am calling it done–far short of the level of details of Bob’s layout I can see years of work remaining and I only have a 5 x 8. I want to start the Redwood Empire, my basement layout.
Yet, part of me wants to take the Rock Ridge and Train City all the way before I start the larger project.
Certainly done for me is:
complete landscape every where you look–modeled to represent the dynamic between man’s enterprises and nature’s agressive randominity.
weathered and purposeful buildings that, of course, represent the era I am modeling. Interiors if they can be looked into…
weathered and, in my case, converted to oil locomotoves
weathered rolling stock
action scenes, animals and people, involved in things they do as part of the environment I am modeling
Good question.as for myself I don’t think anything is.I’ll finish a scene to my satifaction and find myself going back to it many many times to change this and add that and it never ends for me.[:D]
But then again I don’t think I want it to end either.
Well. I cannot say too much that will help except that if that was “MY” railroad,
I would probably build to the level of all track laid, switches set, wiring bugs removed and all trains running properly in all kinds of operation (Including operation) before starting the scenery.
But, plywood central will be somewhat boring after a while to me. I might actually finish a small scene. Perhaps a industrial district or a outlying town complete down to vehicles, people and what not. That way I can have a place to shoot trains with the camcorder or camera while finishing the rest of the layout.
Then the scenery work will progress outward from the finished areas in small sections like maybe a bridge, farm or something and just blend between the scenes.
I am a slow worker with a tendancy to ponder how to paint a object for 6 months before actually painting it. So it will take me a long time to “Finish” the entire layout whatever it’s size might be.
I know that I dont want to slap the rails down, scenic everything and find that there is a major problem with the feeder wire under that track requiring me to rip everything in that immediate area out all over again.
I’m with Safety Valve on this one. I’m looking at a ‘N’ gauge or ‘HO’ gauge switching layout, but I’ll probably never be satisfied, keep refining it to the Nth degree.
To me, it’s never “good enough.” I plan to put in scenery, structures, people, details, etc. so that the entire layout is covered as appropriate.
Will I ever get to tthe level of, for example, someone like Bob Grech, Joe Fugate, Bob Boudreau? Probably not. I don’t have the eye for the details. I don’t have the artistic ability. What I do have is the mechanical ability to make things work, flawlessly. I can’t remember when was the last tiime I had a derailment, or a switch machine failed to throw the points completely, or I had a wiring problem.
Please don’t take me wrong. I am not bragging. I feel incompetent in the presence of people like those mentioned above and many others. I do what I like to do and do the best I can on those areas where others are much more competent that I.
Not sure where all of the above came from but thanks, Chip, for asking the question.
Easy…For me it close enough good enough…I am not worried if my engines and cars isn’t 110% correct just as long as they fit my given eras.Also,trouble free operation is a must.
“Good enough” comes in two flavors for me. There is “good enough for now.” Frankly, to me this used to mean track and wiring operational and scenery roughed in and colored in some earth tone that was something other than pink, blue, or white. Now that I’ve had this stage of scenery for awhile on part of my layout, my standard for good enough has slipped to track and wiring operational and scenery roughed in enough to keep things from generally hitting the floor. This is how I managed to get through this phase to the point where the layout is basically fully operational.
Now I’m starting to think this summer my “good enough for now” may shift back to the first version so that all that plywood staring back at me needs something done about it.
[8D]
Then there is my other “good enough” standard. That is when I’m done with a car, loco, structure, or expanse of scenery up to the level of my skills. That’s a satisfying feeling. Eventually, this standard will also shift, usually in an upward direction, as you pick up new skills and techniques. Only some of our work will truly achieve this level of “good enough” unless you have more time for the hobby than most. We all take that path as far as we want to in this hobby. YMMV.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Odd question, impossible to answer? Would the answer be watching someone rebuild a brass engine with every nut and bolt under the locomotive to scale and operable? or file off every single rivet and replace them with the actual scale size of rivet? count the number of threads on a connecting rod to the correct amount? how about scaling down the thickness of the leather on the firemans armrest in the cab? are the grab irons of the exact size? Just what is good enough? this poses the question as to how far you actually go to achieve “prototype” One person may tell you his locomotive or tank car is exactly prototype and they have spent 1300 hours at achieving this point, only to have a another person tell him the nut holding the headlight rim is a 5 sided nut not a 4 sided nut. Who or what decides at what point “protoype” has been achieved. How can exactness be reached unless a person has the actual locomotive builders blueprint? Is this not a hypothetical question?
Good enough for me is when I complete a project to best my abilities will allow and the best I can do with what I have or can afford. How long that project stays good enough, depends on how my talents progress and what I can afford later on. I also believe that there is no such thing as good enough for a layout if we persue this hobby as we are always improving a layout. When a layout is what we phrase as finished, then I guess good enough would be appropiate.
I don’t think it is ever good enough. I keep finding myself going back and adj or adding to particularly after reading or seeing a pic on this forum. But that said I do move on but always think I can do better. As my experience grows I see things that I didnt before and find solutions that were not evident at the time. Again mainly due to info/insight I get from this forum. So I guess it is a never ending struggle to reach perfection. I will never be there but its going to be a fun ride.
Terry[8D]
Okay, I’ll take the bait. Then what is the difference between a branch line and a short line? The California Western connected with the Northwestern Pacific in 1911 and had scheduled passenger runs and hauled freight to and from Fort Bragg and the NWP. There were multiple branch lines that ran up to the logging camps, but the main line from Willits to Fort Bragg was used for many purposes.
The California Western was owned by the Union Lumber Company.
Good enough now? Or good enough two years from now?
A year ago, I had a frame and some sheets of foam. I laid my first tracks and put down some ballast. I got a train to run around a simple loop. And I was in heaven.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that I’ve built a better layout now than I ever dreamed I could do. (Give yourselves a hand, guys. You are my source of information, and my inspiration.) Each mini-scene or detail, I set my own bar a little higher. So far, I’ve got plenty of things left to complete, but someday the last of the pink foam will disappear beneath the scenery, and then I’ll be upgrading and retrofitting my earlier work.
Good enough now? Unquestionably. Do I want to make it better? Without a doubt.
I recall starting a thread on this very topic a few weeks ago and getting trashed because of my low standards…
These days, good enough for me is anything I can do at all. After getting a rip-banging start on my benchwork in early April, I haven’t had a chance to lift a finger on it since.
I have a large layout that if and when it is completed will take up most of the space in a 46x26 basement. With a layout that big, I am striving for an impressive overall effect. I can’t be concerned with exceptionally fine detail. Except for a few industrial spurs, the track is in place but the scenery is maybe one third done. I will be happy when there is no benchwork visible and the layout is operating as I envisioned. From there I will move on to phase 2 which is to build a branchline that will run on both sides of a center pensinsula. When that part is scenicked and operating that will be good enough for me. At that point, maybe I will go back and start adding fine details but more likely, I’ll just enjoy operating the layout.
Hey mononguy,
I thought you’re start looked good. I was just too busy to comment. There’s been some talk of negativity in several unrelated threads here lately. Sometimes. I think you have to consider how important it is to someone to be the first trash sopmeone else – then consider the source in that light.
We’re all students here, except fopr the few that can claim PhD status. Some can make that stick – and some are just stuck in the mud.
[|)]
Don;t let the _____ety ____ get you down.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Short and sweet, but to the point. I guess in my mind it will never be done, which if its done, its good enough. I will always find better buildings, better cars, better track and so on and so on. Plus, my skills will be better and better, so in theroy, there will always be room for improvement.
So, to keep it simple, on cold mornings its hotcoffee, and hot evenings, it cold beer. I have a couple while I work on whatever it is at the moment, scenery, structures, car, etc…and when I am done, I tell myself good enough… for now [:)]
Good enough is when everything operates reliably and the scenery is cosmetically adequate. This does not preclude adding more and better detail, or completely reworking something to make it better.
Done is what things will be when my executor reads my will.
I’m slowly coming around to this way of thinking. It is easy, when bashing away madly at a new layout, as I am currently doing, to get lost in the weeds. I am trying hard to temper my temper, and to keep a reasonable pace this time so that I can enjoy it, and so that I don’t have to remind myself of all the “oh, well, it’ll be hidden” stuff. I would like to know that I can go back anytime and undo cosmetic deficiencies, but I would really not want to undo mechanical ones.
I hope that this layout, done with some careful learning and planning, will be mobile, utile, and as much a source of satisfaction as the old one when I began to run trains on it. If this ones looks good and runs well on my own terms, I will happily call it good enough.
Well for me, i have two versions of "good enough. One is half as good as some of these layouts http://www.greenmon.com/some_n_gauge1.htm
The other as good as i can do