Is there something you put effort into, but you have no idea why you really do it?
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This just occurred to me as I was gluing the crossmembers into a Tichy 40 foot boxcar underframe. There are ten of these in the kit that must be individually installed. I have built at least a dozen of these cars, and I have installed these pieces into every single one of them... and no one will ever know.
They cannot be seen. They serve no mechanical function (on the model), and my wife certainly does not care. Why do I take the 30 minutes per model to install them? I guess I want to know it was done right, and it would probably bother me if they were not there.
What do you spend time on that will never matter, and why do you do it?
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190....why do you do it?
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
SeeYou190I guess I want to know it was done right, and it would probably bother me if they were not there.
I think you've answered your own question. I've built up a few Tichy kits - boxcars and flats, along with all the brake lines and hardware underneath that no one will ever see. I felt good about them when I was done. I assume you do, too.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I enjoy the challenge of building a Tichy or a Kaslo Shops kit or the like, and I try to do the best job I can. I recently added a couple of LaBelle wood passenger car kits to my stock of projects, partly because they are the only non-brass models available for my prototype, but also for the challenge of building a couple of fairly challenging kits. To me it is not time wasted because when it's done I can be proud of my workmanship. Also, sometimes people want to have a closer look so I don't hesitate to hand them my completed Tichy freight car or my Kaslo Shops resin cabooses or whatever. When I do that I would like them to see a properly completed model.
I also have to admit to being disappointed every time I turn a model upside down to find that there is very little detail below decks as it were. I will still run them because, as the OP implied, they look just fine from the top or sides, but I'm not particularly proud of owning them. They are there primarily to fill a gap, and in case you are wondering I'm not planning on super detailing the undersides of all of my Athearn BB freight cars. I'm not quite that nuts, not yet anyhow. (Others might disagree about the not being nuts part).
I think the bottom line is that you are supposed to be having fun with this hobby. If part of it is not fun, why do it? It's your railroad after all.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
That's 30 minutes where you weren't able to think about work, money etc.
The same holds true for the [NOT in the instructions] interior detailing of my NYC freight house. Very few, if any, are going to appreciate or see the plank-by-plank stained wooden floor I installed...or the sewer stack conduit that hides the wiring for the interior and exterior lighting...or the stained trim work around the walls and windows...or the front & back working sliding freight house doors:
But...I know that it's there...and that's reason enough for me.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Fer fun.
Ed
For kicks. For the challenge. For bragging rights. For 'inclusion' into the gang of kit builders and detailers. To be able to participate in discussions on the topic, including being able to argue from experience.
For the personal satisfaction, to learn and to develop new skills, to follow detailed instructions to the end to see if it's possible to turn out the desired product....
What have I missed?
I've asked myself that with great frequency over the last months, while I'm insrtalling brake levers and rods (not to mention chains) under my cratch-and-parts-built 34' OT boxcars. However, I've known since I went back into O scale, back in the early '90s, that i was going to have to do it. O scale is so big that you can see under cars on the shelf--and if there ain't something under there, it'll be missed. After applying the levers, clevises, etc., and put the first one back on the shelf, by golly, I could see brake stuff under there! 'Nuff said...
Deano
I once read, " That when man builds somthing, it is his signature---years later when viewed by somone else, his signature will speak as to the type of individual he was."
Some truth to that statement. herrinchoker
SeeYou190 Is there something you put effort into, but you have no idea why you really do it? This just occurred to me as I was gluing the crossmembers into a Tichy 40 foot boxcar underframe. There are ten of these in the kit that must be individually installed. I have built at least a dozen of these cars, and I have installed these pieces into every single one of them... and no one will ever know. They cannot be seen. They serve no mechanical function (on the model), and my wife certainly does not care. Why do I take the 30 minutes per model to install them? I guess I want to know it was done right, and it would probably bother me if they were not there. What do you spend time on that will never matter, and why do you do it?
On my layout, I often see the undersides of rolling stock as a result of a derailment.
Rich
Alton Junction
selector For kicks. For the challenge. For bragging rights. For 'inclusion' into the gang of kit builders and detailers. To be able to participate in discussions on the topic, including being able to argue from experience. For the personal satisfaction, to learn and to develop new skills, to follow detailed instructions to the end to see if it's possible to turn out the desired product.... What have I missed?
Maybe none of the above?
Why we do it may be as simple as the instruction sheet shows us how to do it and we been program to complete a job once we start it? Think about it..We was taught to finish our school home work,our public job demands it,a honey do list demands it..
But,Larry it's only a hobby and we don't need to complete the detailing we can't see..
True,bit,after decades of programing,its automatic that we follow instructions in getting a project done correctly..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
The main thing I do that (arguably) doesn't matter is that I research to find any photos of the exact car I'm weathering, or at least one from it's number series. Then I weather according to those photos. Very few people are familiar with a specofic hopper enough to know it's exacting weathering, but Im a lot happier when the car matches a photo, than if I were to use one of those "Realistic Wethering In 5 Minutes!" articles. It also forces me to be more controlled when weathering, instead of slopping on heavy layers of brown paint, and calling it rust.
Modeling whatever I can make out of that stash of kits that takes up half my apartment's spare bedroom.
This question could be asked for any part of any hobby, or job , or life in general.
herrinchoker I once read, " That when man builds somthing, it is his signature---years later when viewed by somone else, his signature will speak as to the type of individual he was." Some truth to that statement. herrinchoker
Yes there is something to that. A couple of years ago I bought some rolling stock (and most of his supply of detail parts) from the estate of a guy named Larry Penn, the guy who wrote a song about John Allen and the Gorre & Daphetid. There was a thread on the forums about it.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/247259/2758647.aspx#2758647
I never met the guy, at least not knowingly (we obviously went to the same hobby shops). I wish I had, although our politics are so different I am not sure he would have wanted to know me. But what a meticulous craftsman he was, and underbody detail was one of the things he took very seriously. He left a mark on the world with his music - perhaps a local one -- but he also left a mark with his model railroading, and at least I and the others who bought at his estate sale appreciate it, and him. Better than an expensive tombstone that becomes just another ignored one in a few years.
Dave Nelson
The reason that I bother is because I want to know what I am capable of doing. I am often disappointed by the results, but those which please me are usually the ones about which no one else would even bother to care. My self-satisfaction, on the rare occasions that it's achieved, is priceless to me, and probably useless to anyone else. Our definitions of "fun" likely vary, too.
Wayne
Curious. Where did the OP go?
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
richg1998Curious. Where did the OP go?
I am right here... enjoying the reponses.
I just finished painting two covered hoppers, and took advantage of what might be the last perfect day this year.
I did put some chick boxes and mail sacks inside an express car. Which maybe you can see if ya look just right.
On t'other hand, when I built a bulkhead flat and wanted it at NMRA weight, I threw in a piece of sheet metal and glued the bottom half of the brake reservoir onto it. Since you could see it from the side. And those other bits, too.
Turning the original premise right over on its head:
I deliberately leave off details, even some that are obvious by their absence, because absence of same doesn't bother me.
Biggest, most glaring example? The long footbrake handle that extends along the right end of the car side, well below the frame, on the prototypes of my JNR goods wagons. It's VERY visible on prototype photos - and very vulnerable to damage, So, I've left them off.
OTOH, cars with vertical brake staffs have them, and the associated wheels. No under-the-floor rigging, though.
I go to the other extreme when detailing kitbashed or semi-scratchbuilt locomotives. I want the finished model to look as if it could function as designed, from stack to sander nozzles, even though there is not, and has never been, anything like it in the 1:1 scale world.
Mostly it's a matter of priorities. I'm building a rather large empire, there's only one of me and deteriorating health has put a considerable hitch in my get-up-and-go. I don't like to admit it, but the following is an all-too-frequent conversation:
Body usually loses the first round, but always wins the contest...
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - at a snail's pace)
I do any of the model railroad stuff to take my mind off of work, grad school, and other important life happenings. It occupies my mind, lets me relax, and provides me with an opportunity to develop skills and showcase a passion of mine. I think with any hobby, it's something to relax the mind and provide an outlet for our interests and skills.
My wife doesn't see the whole train obsession that way, but I also don't see her need to decorate for every holiday the same way she does. They're our hobbies for a reason. If it keeps me calm and at peace, I'm happy.
Hello all,
To be honest, on my scratch-built rolling stock, I don't.
The umbrella corporation of the BS&P R.R. is the Consolidated Materials Group. A name I came up with to represent that most of this pike is built out of found materials.
To this end I build my rolling stock out of hobby sticks; popcicle & tongue depressor types and coffee stirrers.
For tanker bodies I use various sizes of PVC pipe with styrene or capped ends.
The domes of the tankers are valve stem caps.
All of these don't have what you would consider "find details."
I do however weight them to NMRA specs.
The box cars haven't been fitted with doors; open or closed.
If I were to submit any of these scratch-built cars to contests I would definitely add the fine details.
For now, just good enough is OK with me.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
I admire the work of detail-conscious modelers and on occasion have tried to emulate them, but with the number of projects yet to do, there isn't time in my remaining life (age 74) to dwell on the minutia of details. I sometimes think most model railroaders are afflicted with some obsessive compulsive disorder that screams for perfection and order in what we do. I know, I'm guilty, but at least recognize the fact.