Rewarding: I think the internet has really got me excited again about the hobby, not just for product information and keeping track of things. I have a lot of fun looking for anything like prototype photo’s and things I might want to model or loco’s I’m super-detailing.
Examples:pictures of what goes in a diesel repair facility (looks like I’m scratch-building a scissor-lift) decal placement on containers and wells and logos signs and storefront details.
Frustrating:For the price that kits cost, mostly structures and passenger car kits and rtr, the mfr’s should really ask themselves whether they’ve given the customer everything they could to make the finished product a complete model.
Examples:why can’t passenger car interiors be molded in other colors besides beige?why did I spend $40 on an add-on accessory for a $100+ structure only to find the exact same items already in the box. why do some structures not even have a floor in them?
Most rewarding: the planning stage and scenery construction and operations.
Neutral: tracklaying and ballasting, paintwork.
Frustrating: the wiring work, soldering the wires to the joints, etc. I really hate that and despite having done that many times over the years I will probably never ever make a really good job at it.
Most frustrating: My eyesight became weaker and I’m in N scale. When I do loco maintenance or change couplers or do some other detailed things I just don’t see enough, despite of magnifying glasses, good spectacles and proper light, but I would need a third hand in order to get a real close view on what I’m doing.
For me i would have to seperate them into home and show categories.
Home
Most rewarding:
When i have a stressfull day and i get to forget about it all and work on a project.
Fustrating:
When i get back to a project to find i have no idea where i put away the parts for safe keeping.
Show:
Most rewarding:
When i have kids that come up to the layout and point with happyness.
Most frustrating:
When i have somewone come up to me and tell me that a scene should be Set up one way and mine is anouther. Like a few years back i had a retired military man tell me i was using one of my military equipment wrong. At the time i had set it up the way i did because i knew the kids at the show would love it. And he was the only one who complained about it.
Rewarding: Seeing my trains run flawlessly after spending hours making sure the track was laid correctly; having op sessions with few-to-zero derailments; shooting photos of my layout that make it look ‘real’
Frustrating: Discovering at 10:30pm on a Saturday night that I’m missing an item that I’d need to run to the LHS to pickup, so my project has to be put on hold until Monday evening; turning the hobby into an Olympics-type competition and feeling ‘deprived’ because I don’t have the money, talent or whatever to build a layout like the modelers who get published in MR; being unable to fit a loco shell back onto its chassis after I’ve installed a decoder[banghead]
For me the best part like Challenger is spending time with my girls they love watching me run my trains even if it is just on a test track the look on a kids face at times is worth a lot
The worst part in not having the time or the money I want to spend in the hobby
For me, the most rewarding part would be either operation or kit building. The most frustrating part would be wiring [mainly because Dad has been saying for years that he would wire up the bus wire and hasn’t yet].