A review of Stinson's pullouts/printouts

[FJ and G]

A review by nature is biased so here's my take, after building a Plymouth diesel, freight and passenger trucks and most way thru a combine and coach.

When I first got into garden railroading just a year ago, I thought I'd have no use for the pullout plans and that they often interefered with the photo spread. But over the course of the year, I have felt the itch to build things.

To build things museum quality takes an obsessive compulsive personality as well as a lot of time and love for doing this. But not all work need be museum quality.

Ted's plans gives you the "basics" of a particular model that a beginner can work with. A more experienced builder can easily add greater detailing.

The plans are not perfect. Sometimes you have to reconcile the measurements with the drawings and interpolate how it goes together. With a little thought and planning, I find this can easily be accomplished.  And, if you really get into a bind, there's always the forum to turn to.

Most of Ted's plans call for working with wood. This in itself is an exciting topic, with the many types of woods and various ways to work the wood. These you have to discover for yourself, as the plans don't go into all of the how-to's.

Ted's plans have opened up for me another hobby within a hobby. I still have several more projects to go and I now feel confident I could go off a builder's blueprints, having learned the fundamentals. (Now if I could only bone up on metal, styrene, clay and other mediums as well!).

There's no better feeling than watching a train weave through the garden, knowing you built it.

 

[cabbage]

I too have a large collection of the pull out plans -but I have never built any thing that they were plans of.... What I DO tend to do is use them for the basis of plans for models I want to build. For instance I doubt that there is an "official" plan of a Rhodesia Railways Class 3 coach from the the early part of the previous century -but mine look the part and are based on the pullout plans. This is because at that time they bought quite a "FEW" coaches from an american builder, (hence the similarity of construction) -but there are definate "Colonial" add ons!!!





regards

ralph

[Anonymous]

I don't do any of this stuff, necause im no good at it, wish i was.

Rgds ian

[kstrong]

I don't do any of this stuff, necause im no good at it, wish i was.

Rgds ian

Not meaning to pick on Ian, but he expresses a very common sentiment. I always like to remind folks who think they're "no good at it" that we all started somewhere. There's a good reason my early models have long since disappeared into the scrap bin. I've mentioned it my past columns from time to time, and Marc touches on it in his upcoming editorial. Skills can--and do--develop over time. You just have to want to develop them. (And there's nothing wrong with not wanting to develop them. If it's "not your thing," that's perfectly fine.)

Just for kicks, though, here are two shots of some of my early work--I think 22 years ago, when the "Stomper" craze was running rampant through garden railroading circles. (sorry for the photo quality, I was just learning that part of the hobby, too.)

A small diesel based on one that used to be in the Edaville collection:

The frame was made from balsa, and the cab and hood from styrene.

RGS Goose #6

Most of this, besides the 1:24 model "A" car kit, was leftover wood from some building kits that Dad had bought for the railroad.

Neither would win any contests, but I sure learned a lot from building them. And that's the most important thing. If you do one thing better on each subsequent model, then you're always improving your skills.

Dave's stuff is a perfect example of someone who thought he was all thumbs sitting down and trying something new. I can't wait to see what he's turning out in three or four years. We'll turn him into a obsessive/compulsive rivet counter yet! Once you start down the dark side, forever will it rule your destiny. You're next, Ian!

Later,

K