I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps
RR_Mel As a mater of curiosity I was wondering if others experience the same feelings as I do when I’m building a scratch build. During construction the project becomes very real to me, its like I’m building my own house. The one I’m presently working on at night I dream that I’m actually working in the house on my model railroad stuff up stairs in the train room. ...maybe I’m just an 80 year old weirdo after playing with trains for 72 years.
I certainly get lost in a world of imagination when I build anything.
.
It is actually worse with my miniature wargaming stuff than the trains. I tend to give each soldier a name and a back-story as I am painting them. Then when I am commanding them, I can go completely bonkers.
With trains the models are just structures or machines. I don't go quite to the same depths, but I do go.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I have to concentrate on what I am doing. Otherwise I make mistakes. With the arthritis in my hands I need to complete as much as I can, when I can.
Mel. It takes a certain amount of skill and craftsmanship to build a miniature structure like the one you posted. If that makes you a weirdo, ... More power to you.
I'll join that club when I get around to building structures for my layout.
Can't say that I do, although it sounds like a wonderful imaginative pleasur. Of all the things you could dream about, model making sounds like a pretty good one to me.
I find that scratchbuilding really enhances my understanding for how the prototypes were built. Awhile back I posted on the process of building some outside-framed wooden ore cars. One astonishing takeaway: a wooden truss is surprisingly strong. I was impressed how much actual physical solidity these apparently frail little car bodies had, once the structural members were in place.
http://mprailway.blogspot.com
"The first transition era - wood to steel!"
Your scratchbuilt house looks great Mel!
My pleasure in scratchbuilding comes from seeing something take shape and grow out of the stack of materials that I started with. Whether it is the brass critter in my avatar, or a small country passenger station, or a large engine house and machine shop, all give me a real sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when they are done. Part of that satisfaction is that I rarely draw up plans. I go with the picture that is in my mind, and so far at least, that method has worked fine for me although I certainly have made my fair share of mistakes.
I think that scratchbuilding is my favourite part of the hobby.
For those who haven't taken the leap yet, I strongly encourage you to do so.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
You know Mel I had to go read your original post again. This time I read it a little slower and read between the lines.
My first reply in an earlier post was a compliment and I hope you took it that way.
My friends tell me I talk in metaphors. It's my personality. I guess I do.
Yes I can relate to the part of strong feelings in your work. You dream at night and you go to what you're working on so hard, in your dream.
That hasn't happened in my model railroading work as I've taken a 35 year break.
The same exact thing has happened in my construction work as I get stumped on the job and then lay awake at night thinking about it and fall asleep. The answer comes to me in a dream. I'm actually back at work in my sleep and in the morning I have the solution to what I'm working on and don't even have to think when I go back to work in the morning. I just do it.
As far as arthritis goes. I have beginning symptoms in the morning, especially the finger I shattered two years ago when a grinder Stone blew up in my hand and darn near took my finger off.
Other than feeling the effects of that. It hasn't slowed me down yet. The key word is yet.
I have not reached or earned the age of eighty.
Yes I can relate to you and respect what you're saying.
Thanks for sharing.
Track fiddler
guess i fit into this catagory as what i build appeal to me , like some place out of the past or some place i've lives through the years. not having a online photo storage prevents me from posting photo's here but do post them on the MTF.
Hey, Mel, with me, it doesn't have to be scratchbuilding, it applies to kitbashing, too--or maybe my current project isn't technically 'bashing. Some of you are aware that I'm currently reworking an AHM "Big 2-Stall Engine House," in O scale and I'm certainly bashing the daylights out of the kit. As I've said before, this kit looks like it was designed to be rearranged, maybe because it's O scale and molding such large pieces would cause warping that they duplicated so many panels and pilasters. At any rate, I've shortened the stalls by a pair of brick window panels, turned them 90 degrees, and will add them next to the stall ends, creating a shop wing.
Trouble is, I get hung up on things such as how would the structure, built in 1904, in Janesville, WI (in my model railroad history), be heated, and so forth. I spend time looking up stuff on the internet, stuff that I probably won't model, like the aforementioned steam heating system. Turns out, they probably would've run steam pipes, ganged in three or four rows, along the bases of the walls, so I'm not going to bother. I actually overthink this sort of thing--keeps me awake nights! Another thing is my current mania: trhying to figure out how they changed speeds of machines driven by overhead belt lines.
I, too, have spent hours thinking about what it would be like to stay in the AHM hotel I 'bashed and detailed for my long-gone HO Colorado Western. Same with houses in the surrounding neighborhood in the fictional Farley, Colorado... (Then there was the red light on the front of Val's Place, across the tracks--and one of my friends even found a nude woman figure to put in one of the upstairs rooms. Talk about getting into the spirit of things!)
It's probably a good thing our neighbors don't know about out railroady obssessions.
Deano
RR_Mel .... so maybe I’m just an 80 year old weirdo after playing with trains for 72 years. Mel
Alton Junction
I don't use plans when I build, and I'm not always 100% prototype,but it has to be believible. So I must get down to 1/87 size to locate doors and windows and such. I also figured out many a problem on my way to sleep.
So I consider myself in your camp.
Weird? compared to what?
I especially hear what Mel says about dreaming about the scratchbuilding project. Some good solutions to construction challenges have come to me in dreams. Actually useful solutions at that. I have not gone so far as to keep a notebook bedside during these projects to preserve these insights but it could come in handy. I have been puzzling out a complex double-angle hip roof lately and dream about it alot. One of these days the solution will appear in a dream and I sure hope I remember it when I wake up.
Dave Nelson
dknelson I have been puzzling out a complex double-angle hip roof lately and dream about it alot. One of these days the solution will appear in a dream and I sure hope I remember it when I wake up. Dave Nelson
I have been puzzling out a complex double-angle hip roof lately and dream about it alot. One of these days the solution will appear in a dream and I sure hope I remember it when I wake up.
Unequal pitch hip roof ?
Yes those are tricky.
RR_Mel During construction the project becomes very real to me, its like I’m building my own house. The one I’m presently working on at night I dream that I’m actually working (in the house on my model railroad) stuff up stairs in the train room. Mel
Track fiddler Mel. This could get really interesting here. If you don't mind me asking. Are you saying you dreamt that you were working in the model house you're building that's on top of your layout, and working in the train room upstairs in the model house you're building ? If so that's quite an interesting dream ! Thanks Track fiddler
Yup. Sometimes I wonder if our subconscious allows us to come up with Solutions in our sleep. Our mind is at rest and our body relaxed. Maybe frees up more energy to our mind.
I can tell you this though. A lot of that wake up at 2 - 3 in the morning restless sleep has been going around.
I do believe it has to do with age but I don't believe it has to do with a specific age as Judy and I have experienced that same thing.
What we have found when we wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep, our stomach is upset and we don't even know it, this is what keeps you awake. We realized this over time.
So now we keep antacid by the bedside and a glass of water, sometimes it's a little dehydration too. It's been working, we fall right back to sleep.
Try it out. I hope it will work for you too.
Thanks
Mel, I don't dream about actually being in a structure that I'm building, but most of my scratch builds are either a variation of a prototype or some other model or completely made up or kit bashed. In any event the structure that I'm building is uniqely my creation, so I'm designing it as I go. The structure I'm working on right now, for instance, is a combination yard office-maintenance-of-way shop, all in a scale 45' X 9 1/2' building, which will be along the house track on my layout.
The point is, I try to imagine what an actual prototype of my made-up creation would be like. To me, it's like a good actor/actress in a performance; it has to be believable. After all, that's really what striving for realism on our model railroads is all about - - does it remind you of what you see, or have seen in real life.
The above-mentioned structure was supposed to be a kit by MoTrak models, No. 83007, HO scale tool shed, which is a 2" X 2" clapboard sided building with rolled tar paper roofing. It has a small attached shed (approx. 1/2" X 1/2"). When I was looking for a basic design for my yard office, it had some basic elements that appealed to me (like the attached shed). But, I wanted board-and-batten siding, shake shingle roofing and I wanted a bigger structure. Hence, my new creation.
By the way, Very nice work on that house! It almost looks like lazer cut parts; very clean.