The post about the barbecue kit, and the difficulties in assembling kits, got me thinking about the different ways that kits and scratchbuilt structures can be assembled. And so my question is this - when you need a particular part for a certain job, and there’s nothing available, do you:
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Improvise with what you’ve got to hand?
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Duck down to the local hobby/hardware store to find something appropriate?
For example, I’m currently in the process of assembling a Precision Scale tank car kit. During the handling it received during the construction process, I accidentally broke off a plastic valve casting on the top of the tank dome. I had noticed that the track nails I use were quite similar, and I was able to use one of these as a replacement. That sort of thing.
Cheers,
tbdanny
I love to improvise and use what I’ve got on hand. You know you did well when you’ve forgotten how you fixed or made something, only to stumble upon it again years later still working. You chuckle and say “qapla”.
How quickly a piece of improvised work is no longer noticed is how I measure success.
Brent
Hahahaa! Most people doesn´t speak Trekkie…
I am not above kimchi rigging if I need to…
I screw things up as much as anyone, but when my improvised fixes don’t look and/or work quite right I get a tightness in my chest every time I encounter them, so most of the time I just fix it right. Consequently, I’m pretty good at fixing things. Still, if they look less than just right, I’ll do what it takes to get it right – buy replacement parts, etc. Sometimes, I’ll put a project on the shelf and wait for the appropriate solution to come along. Those solutions are much of what I prowl for at train shows.
It may be an attitude I picked up working in the Space Program – so much of my experience involved tools, facilities, and products that were crisp and precise. When mistakes were made, the corrections were also crisp and precise. While there were tolerances on everything (even the thickness of a coat of paint), the attitude was never that something “is good enough”; it was either right, or not worth the risk. That is the standard I still work toward. I guess that’s my “styl
I try not to make mistakes to begin with. But when I invariably do, I see what I can glue into place, or scrounge around my many “leftovers” and “stuff” I have under the pretence of “I might need that someday” or “this COULD have a function on the layout” to see what I can use as a replacement.
If not, I will hunt the lhs for something to work. If not, I will check the Walthers catalog to see what I can order to replace.
If it’s really messed up It goes into my "kitbashing/scratch building supplies.
Definitely a tinkerer. I’ve used bamboo skewers and paper clips to make a turnout linkage, ca glue and styrene dust to make body putty, and lord knows how many Frankenstein lab projects have gone into my scenery.
But then, I have a 100+ year old house, so I’m well versed in what to do when you can’t find original parts…
As for style, I follow my old man’s lead…
Lee