One of the Coffee Shop Crowd inspired this poll as he mentioned that there where certain aspects that he did not enjoy about the hobby. I too share his frustration and to show him and others that we all have our strengths and weaknesses I thought it would be interesting to see where we all sat on “this” fence.
For me it’s electrical.
Fergie
The bits I realy like are structure construction, weathering and PC’s and DCC control. I really can’t say that there is any part of the hobby that I dread.
I like all aspects of the hobby, I just wish i had some ******** Room to do it in!
I like tweaking and tuning mechanisms and repairing stuff, also adding DCC and other electrics. What I don’t like at all is scenery - it just gets frustrating and expensive. I can wield a soldering iron happily but dealing with watered-down PVA and scatter just results in a mess!
I put other. what I hate is the waiting. I want to get some things done and right now progress seems stalled. I have to do some major clean-up in the basement and that will take doing this to get to that to get to this to get to that to get to this. It may be 3 months before I can do bench work.
I voted “Loves it All”. I’m new to the hobby (3 months hands-on with 6 months theortical prior to that…aka the reading phase), and there have been parts that I struggled with. My very first solder connection wasn’t exactly a work of art! [:p] But I can’t say there’s anything I “hate”.
I agree with Spacemouse who said he doesn’t like all the waiting. I find this a bit of a pain as well. Waiting for glue to dry. Waiting for paster to set. Waiting for the next trip to the Hobby shop. Waiting for the next trip to the hardware store. Waiting for the paint to dry. Waiting for my next payday! So much waiting…
I try to combat this by doing the tasks I have to wait for as the last task on any given modelling session. Example, I’ll install some extruded foam which must be glued together just before I head up out of the basement for the night. The next night when I return I can then start shaping that section.
Happy Railroading,
Trevor
If you mean by designing the development of a track plan, I vote for this. In my very limited space (6 X 7foot around the basement wall HO scale 18 inch shelf) I am very frustrated and about ready to give up. It seems like I am always finding out what I would like to have is not possible. Have thought about switching to N scale, but the eyes and lack of nimble fingers makes this appear too cumbersome. Later on I may have to vote for sometning else. Rudy
Track laying was my least favorite a while back. I starting using Liquid Nails to attach the track to the roadbed, and that hatred went away.
I find I have to be in the right mood to do some of these things. If I’m in the mood to lay track, I can lay a lot of track fairly quickly and get good results. Same with the rest. Luckily, my empire is in various stages, so if I am in the scenery mood, I can go to those sections and work away.
How do I hate track laying? Let me count the ways:
I can NEVER get the flextrack cut properly for those 30"-radius [min] curves; always cut too much off one side, then the OTHER, then the OTHER…
I can NEVER get rid of those hidden humps and dips, that cause my 85-footers to keep coming apart (and yes, I DID use an NMRA coupler guage to check the height!);
I melt half of my ties when I try to solder wires onto the rail for proper electrical contact, the smaller soldering irons never get the track hot enough the melt the solder;
In spite of the track planning software (Abracadata) that I use - which ASSURES me that a curve will fit within a space - it never does, and I end up having to eliminate a favorite structure to make room for the [censored] trackwork;
And this is all with standard DC - I dread the thought of what will happen when I try to install the Digitrax system that has been collecting dust for the past 5 years.
Those of you who have the talent to hand-lay your own track, gawd I ENVY you…!
I can releate to the melted ties (I’m in N-scale). I finally started soldering feeds to the bottoms of rail joiners, which has worked out great. When I am in a soldering mood, I can make a few of dozen of them and then not have to worry about them again for a while.
Digitrax has been a pleasant surprise for me. What I have installed so far has worked exactly like it should, which rarely happens. Even the block occupancy detector has been no problem, except when I forgot to plug it in and was trying to test a section. For whatever reason, it seems to detect better with power [:-^].
The toughest part has been crimping my own loconet cables, but I have never really liked crimping cables. Flat cable would really make that easier (I’m using round).
I voted for track laying, benchwork comes in a very close second.
I’m not a “carpenter” and hate working with wood, so benchwork is something I dread.
However, after all the difficulties I’ve had with my mediocre track laying skills, track laying is my least favorite. That is why when the current layout gets replaced, (starting soon, I hope) the new one will be getting Kato HO Unitrack. With a little weathering I can make it look bettter than what I currently have and I won’t have quite the battle getting the track “just right”.
I’m not fond of weathering. I don’t hate doing it so much as I don’t want to have it. I have done some, attended a clinic on it , and still don’t like it. Fortunately, it is one of the things on the list that’s easy to avoid.
Enjoy
Paul
Ballasting is incredibly tedious to me if one “does it right”. I’ve visited layouts whose owners claim ballasting is a breeze, but I observe that its been done sloppily.
I feel so strongly about this that I’m considering Kato Unitrack or Fleischmann Profitrack for the next section of my layout. No, it doesn’t look as realistic as properly ballasted track - but this hobby is supposed to be fun.
SCENERY I hate SCENERY! it was the Achilles heal of both my earlier layouts and I approach it on my current layout with dread. I am following Joe’s Scenery clinic but so far havent had a chance to try anything yet.
Oh boy oh boy.I agree with Ken the track laying is for the birds9actually don’t like doing it full size at the museum either)Another bugaboo is wiring lets see positive and negative soldered here. Zap[oops][xx(]looks like I’ll have the frizzed hair again for a while.
Structures. I can’t assemble complex structures properly. No matter how slow I go, there are always gaps and misaligned corners. Pain in the [censored]
Weathering…Ugh, I’m pretty good at, or get someone esle to help with the other items but weathering I massacre. It looks so terible Rips out hair.
Aggro: I feel your pain! I will put in Scale 8"x 8"x 10’ s in the corners of the buildings. I find this keeps everything squared and gives more surface area for glue.
Fergie
I just think that painting is a headache because I have to pay attention and not watch Tv while doing it. LOL I honestly think that fixing mistake is the worst part of it. That really sucks
Well, I voted for benchwork, then read Ken’s post and it was Deja Vu all over again. So now there’s two things I hate doing. Benchwork and curving flex-track (Ken, you think you’ve got solder-melted ties, you ought to see some of MINE! They look like bomb craters!). But really, truly, folks–it’s the benchwork that gets to me. My dear old Dad, God rest his soul, was an engineer, his hobby was carpentry and he was good–I mean GOOOOOOOD! Did Sonny Boy here inherit any of that talent? Yah, sure!! In a pig’s rear! So any time I have to get out the saw, drill, screwdriver and level and square, I just grits my teeth and ready the neighborhood for all of that colorful language that’s going to emanate from the garage in my neck of Carmichael. My neighbor Pete says I should charge admission, or at least put up translations of what I just yelled.
Benchwork–the Bane of my Existence!!
Tom [banghead]