I am quite new to the hobby and became really interested in model railroading. I know an old teacher of mine is retiring next year, we have similar interests and I'm pretty sure that he would like this hobby. Problem is, he's a nice guy but is very hard to persuade. I plan on getting him into the hobby because I know he will enjoy it, but he doesn't really taken seriously sometimes.
What are some reasons to advertise the hobby more?
Edit: sorry, my point was very badly phrased. I am not trying to force him into the hobby, I am just trying to expose him to something new that I think he might like. I've seen his aircraft models and I know that he likes to handcraft his own models, which is why I thought he might be interested.
There is hardly any other hobby in which you acquire so many different skills than model railroading. From carpentry to basic electric and advanced electronics, from metalwork to painting. You need the eye of an artist and the creativity of a celebrated chef de cuisine. You also have to be a historian and finally, an engineer, a fireman, a conductor, a dispatcher.
Enough reasons?
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
countryman I am quite new to the hobby and became really interested in model railroading. I know an old teacher of mine is retiring next year, we have similar interests and I'm pretty sure that he would like this hobby. Problem is, he's a nice guy but is very hard to persuade. I plan on getting him into the hobby because I know he will enjoy it, but he doesn't really taken seriously sometimes. What are some reasons to advertise the hobby more?
Not meaning to sound negitive here, but I have never been much for trying to tell others what they should be interested in, or what they should like, or dislike, or do with their spare time.
I love this hobby, for lots of reasons, and I have been at it since age 10, I'm 61 now.
But I have never concerned myself much with trying to recruit people. Help guide new people who ask for help, sure - try to convience people to get into this hobby? Never.
Sheldon
I think the best advertisement for him would be seeing you making progress on your own layout and enjoying the hobby. Is there a part of your layout he could help you with?
On the negative side, I have a hard time imagining alot of things on my layout that I'd want someone with no experience to be doing unless under direct supervision from me. I share the sentiment that trying to convince someone to get into a hobby might not bear fruit.
Still, there is some hope. Does he like making models? Maybe he'd like to build a building or some rolling stock to put on the layout?
Visit the Chicago Valley Railroad for Chicago Trainspotting and Budget Model Railroading.
It is very hard to put together anything that explains why people should get interested in model railroading. After all, if you get involved, it will devour time, money, and space.
.
Also, everybody gets something different out of it. I am modeling a world of nonsense that I made up myself how I want it to look. That makes me in a small minority today, but 60 years ago that was normal.
Some people want to model scenes from their youth, some people just want to build train models, we are all chasing different goals.
How can you explain any of that?
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Eilif I think the best advertisement for him would be seeing you making progress on your own layout and enjoying the hobby. Is there a part of your layout he could help you with? Still, there is some hope. Does he like making models? Maybe he'd like to build a building or some rolling stock to put on the layout?
That is a good idea, I have known him for some time and I think that showing him pictures would be a good idea. He likes making models of cars and aircrafts, and talks about trains he saw as a little kid. He could possibly make some models for the layout
In my opinion, the best way is to show him a finished layout. Is there a club in the vicinity?
Simon
Actually there is. I could try that, there is a local club layout above a hobby shop.
It's fun.
If hes interested, it will stick, if he isn't, it won't.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
i think you also need to be prepared to explain various aspects of the hobby that many modelers find either frustrating or interesting, and how he can get more info or help with them.
i think having him operate and help build your layout -- the end goals of all that planning and work -- would be helpful for him to decide if MRing is something he wants to dedicate significant time on.
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
Lots of good comments and advice. Showing off ones layout to a non-MR is an excellent way to find out if he/she is really interested in getting involved.
On the other hand, I find it difficult to comprehend someone saying "I think I'll go find me a hobby". The urge and interest comes about naturally and is not generated. In example, as a youngster in Chicago ('50s) I was attracted to trains - both real and model. The interest was just "there", and it stayed with me all these years.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
mobilman44The urge and interest comes about naturally and is not generated.
That is my thought unless someone is actively looking for a hobby.
I met a guy who was a Civil War collector. He decided to switch hobbies and in a just couple years amassed an example of every BMW motocycle made after WW1. I don't think of him as an average guy.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
mobilman44I find it difficult to comprehend someone saying "I think I'll go find me a hobby"
These folks usually end up doing something utterly boring, like playing golf.
A person who is diffuclt to persuade, whose mind tends to be rigid, is not going to take to heart much of what he doesn't discover about, and for, himself. And even that's not a sure bet.
When I was coaching large auditoriums full of people who wanted to plan their retirements, I gave generic advice. If there's one thing you want to avoid in retirement, it's getting into your wife's hair. How you do that is up to you, but do it you must. No lurking, no insisting you accompany her everywhere she goes, or she wherever you go. You still need to craft your own space, and space and time go together. Meaning, you must also fill your own days...somehow.
I would explain that put-off house projects are great for the first couple of years, or months. Eventually you will need something that is pleasant and fun if just for a diversion. This is where fly-tying comes in. Or making fastballs. Whatever it is, get the right materials and tools, and then try to build it into a real craft or art. If you've always wanted to build kitchen cabinets, then learn how to do it well, practice on someone's house, and then ask the missus if she'd like new ones.
It's okay to introduce concepts, but unsoliticed advice is rarely welcomed by those who prefer to make their own way.
I am old and retired, and the last thing I needed was someone deciding my life must be empty and taking it upon themselves to decide I needed something to fill my day.
Expose him to the hobby, not as hey I bet you want to get into this, but more as I like this, what do you think? He is interested or he is not. No brow beating. Is he interested in real trains? or other large power equipment? (I am fascinated by giant farm combines and such) Does he find dioramas in museums of interest? And I mean the diorama itself, not just the story it tells. I used to visit the SMithsonian in Washington, and loved the visible E-unit, the cutaway models of ships, and such.
I agree, he may like it or he may not.
Enzoamps I am old and retired, and the last thing I needed was someone deciding my life must be empty and taking it upon themselves to decide I needed something to fill my day. Expose him to the hobby, not as hey I bet you want to get into this, but more as I like this, what do you think? He is interested or he is not. No brow beating. Is he interested in real trains? or other large power equipment? (I am fascinated by giant farm combines and such) Does he find dioramas in museums of interest? And I mean the diorama itself, not just the story it tells. I used to visit the SMithsonian in Washington, and loved the visible E-unit, the cutaway models of ships, and such.
I agree, I don't think he wants people telling him how to live his life. I am just exposing him to the hobby. The reason why I think he will like model railroading is because he loves making scale models of aircrafts and cars, and he likes to see the real world in a smaller scale.
ricktrains4824 It's fun. If hes interested, it will stick, if he isn't, it won't.
Basically.
And we see so many fathers and grandfathers who are train enthusiasts who badly want their offsping or grandchildren to love model trains too. Often we see them with photo's of little bobby have fun with trains, but little boys (and girls) have fun with all kinds of toys, and it's easy to get false hopes built up at stages like that. Then they become teenagers and older and it's later on you see if they have a life-long interest in the hobby. Most drift off to other things and fathers or grandfathers are disappointed.
It's best to keep expectations realistic. Offer and if it sticks to the wall, great, if not move on.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
riogrande5761 ricktrains4824 It's fun. If hes interested, it will stick, if he isn't, it won't. Basically. And we see so many fathers and grandfathers who are train enthusiasts who badly want their offsping or grandchildren to love model trains too. Often we see them with photo's of little bobby have fun with trains, but little boys (and girls) have fun with all kinds of toys, and it's easy to get false hopes built up at stages like that. Then they become teenagers and older and it's later on you see if they have a life-long interest in the hobby. Most drift off to other things and fathers or grandfathers are disappointed. It's best to keep expectations realistic. Offer and if it sticks to the wall, great, if not move on.
I'm so happy that I never felt any need to live vicariously thru my children or grand children. Love them dearly, but don't need to try and control who they are.
riogrande5761Most drift off to other things and fathers or grandfathers are disappointed.
So true. I tried like no tomorrow to get my girls interested in things I wanted them to do, not trains, but piano, karate, soccer, etc.
They all drifted into Anime, Manga, and CosPlay, but we all still had fun with those hobbies.
At least they stayed nerdy.
Give him a subscription to Model Railroader .
You could also give him old issues of Model Railroader to see if he's got what it takes. This isn't a hobby for people who have no desire to be in it.
It is a serious hobby that one undertakes. You have to be able to master many skills. In my experience. Nothing came easy.
Yeah, leave him a couple of MR magazines.
Patrick
Fear an Ignorant Man more than a Lion- Turkish proverb
Modeling an ficticious HO scale intergrated Scrap Yard & Steel Mill Melt Shop.
Southland Industrial Railway or S.I.R for short. Enterchanging with Norfolk Southern.
I see people who ride recumbent bikes trying to evangelize the type, all the time. I own and ride recumbents, and prefer them for many rides, but I don't try to convince the world to do it my way. There are probably parallels in many pastimes.
Genesee Terminal, freelanced HO in Upstate NY ...hosting Loon Bay Transit Authority and CSX Intermodal. Interchange with CSX (CR)(NYC).
CP/D&H, N scale, somewhere on the Canadian Shield
Let me throw this out there, my dad is a sports fanatic, but he has never pressured me to play sports, I'm a model railroader but I don't force him to do MRRing stuff. Also everyone thinks I play sports because of my height (6' 3") and weight (230), despite my athletic build I'm not into sports, my point is that just because you think he will like it he might not, so my advice would be do your thing and perhaps do a little "showing off" of your progress to your friend, perhaps it'll pique his interest, perhaps not.
Also join a club wait for an open house, invite him, see what happens.
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
I think taking him to a really good train show - the kind that has not just vendors but operating layouts and perhaps even on-going clinics -- is a great way to interest someone in the hobby because they cannot only see good modeling that intrigues them, but talk to that modeler, and see the models in an actual operating context, with the ready availability of something they can buy and try out, whether it be a good train set or a structure or rolling stock kit. Plus good train shows tend to have an energy in the room that is contagious - the feeling of being part of a larger group with a shared interest.
Dave Nelson
Why not give/get him a copy of MR and have him flip through it (shameless plug!)?
NWP SWP Let me throw this out there, my dad is a sports fanatic, but he has never pressured me to play sports, I'm a model railroader but I don't force him to do MRRing stuff.
Let me throw this out there, my dad is a sports fanatic, but he has never pressured me to play sports, I'm a model railroader but I don't force him to do MRRing stuff.
I don't think most parents would take kindly to their kids forcing them to do a hobby or sport. Funny way of wording it.
Maybe you are the exception as I have noted over many years that sports fanatic fathers tend to force it on their sons. My dad wasn't a sports freak, but an average sports fan and yes, he tried to make me into a sports person as a kid, made me do little league and played ball etc. I did what I was told for a few years but didn't get into it, at least team sports. I prefered snow skiing and a few other things.
I did word it funny, my point was for countryman to suggest the hobby to his friend and just plant the seed, being pushy will just loose him a friend.