John-NYBWI save every miscellaneous part, working materials, scraps of styrene, etc. because I know if I throw them out, within a week something will come up for which the item would have been perfect for.
Hi John,
I used to have a couple of Athearn BB boxes half full of bits of styrene or brass. They weren't taking up too much space, but I realized that I was spending too much time sifting through the boxes to find a suitable piece, and too often the pieces I found weren't quite right for the job.
About a year ago I took a deep breath and tossed all the bits in the garbage. I don't miss them one little bit. Now I just make what parts I need out of my inventory of sheets and strips. I get exactly what I need, and it probably takes less time than searching through the junk boxes did.
I do have a lot of stuff on hand which I might never use, like motors for example. I have 20 or so spare electrical can motors which have been stitting there for a few years. I bought them on eBay for peanuts so I'm not out much. Recently my hoard of motors bore fruit. I needed a motor for my attempt at building an oddball operating rotary snow plough and I found exactly what I needed in my stash. As a bonus, it is a Sagami coreless motor with output shafts on both ends so, not only will it run smoothly, but I can mount a flywheel on it as well.
I guess that means that I am a hoarder of sorts too.
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
There's a difference between hoarding and being frugal.
Hoarders keep everything, needed and useful or not. (Even broken.)
Frugal people hang onto useful items, for if and when they are needed. (Hence not broken.)
Model railroaders are somewhere in between usually. It's useful, or could be. (The gears inside that broken DVD player might make some interesting freight car loads.... Save the gears, the rest of it get's tossed.)
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.
Tin Can, it's the opposite at our house. My wife can't stand to throw anything away, while if something hasn't been used in the past two days, I'm ready to toss it out.
I got that way by being unorganized. I used to keep everything, but I couldn't find it when I needed it. Even if I knew I had it, I ended up going to the store anyway. Now I skip the step of keeping it and putting it where I won't find it.
York1 John
I have enough stuff saved to build and operate several layouts.
My wife thinks it is a disease. She may be right.
I save every miscellaneous part, working materials, scraps of styrene, etc. because I know if I throw them out, within a week something will come up for which the item would have been perfect for. Of course this requires storing and organizing all this junk so I can find what I need when I need it. I'm pretty good at the storing part. Not so much on the organizing part. I have things packed away in drawers and storage boxes all over the layout room and I have no idea where to start looking when I have a need. Sometimes I think it would be better just to toss everything and pay a few bucks when the need for an item arises.
I am not a hoarder.
I just buy everything in "lifetime supply" quantities.
There is a difference, no?
gmpullmanIf someone were to look into my stash of model railroad glues, paints, styrene, X-acto blades, Kadee wheels and couplers of all types, etc. they might think I robbed a hobby shop.
Same here, same here.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
hon30critterKeeping a few spares hardly qualifies you as being a hoarder!
So true.
I wonder why my nickname isn't "Mr. Hainey" from the Green Acres TV show. He always happened to have whatever Mr. Douglas needed on his truck.
A while back my wife's nephew called . He didn't have any water and with three daughters and a wife in the house he desperately needed water! Would I know how to fix or bypass the well pump pressure switch.
Why not just replace it, I ask? At 10 o'clock on a Saturday night, where am I going to find a well pump pressure switch? You guessed it. Got one on the shelf. With a new gauge and check valve if needed, too.
Likewise a few years ago on a bitter cold Christmas Holiday weekend my nephew calls. "Help! I don't have any heat! Furnace quit... I think it's the 24V. transformer."
Sure enough, got one on the shelf (and I don't even have a furnace) You bet he was over within 20 minutes. Come to think of it, he never bought me a spare to replace it.
If someone were to look into my stash of model railroad glues, paints, styrene, X-acto blades, Kadee wheels and couplers of all types, etc. they might think I robbed a hobby shop. In fact just last night I squeezed the last drop out of a tube of Walther's Goo. I checked my adhesives bin and found I was down to three tubes! Time to reorder!
When I get on a modeling project binge, which might be at 2 AM, I want to be sure I have everything at hand.
Regards, Ed
Hi PC101,
Keeping a few spares hardly qualifies you as being a hoarder! It makes you sound smart!
Maybe somewhere around the end of 2014 the black top/cap cracked, the one with the dropper tube of my bottle of MTH proto smoke fluid (coal). Well I found a cap with a dropper tube that fit. I just needed to swap the dropper tubes around, it's a long one in the MTH bottle.
Now up pops the next trouble.
Stopped at my LHS and picked up some Labelle #107 oil among other items. When I got home and opened the package of oil my fingers got oily. That is when I noticed the black cap was cracked around the top. So dig and hunt for an old Lebelle cap with the metal needle. There, now that is all taken care of now.
So why did the new cap split around the top?
1) Was it tighten too much from the factory.
2) Is the black plastic cap not "oil compatible".
So the next day I go back to my LHS, I really should have my mail sent there, no just kidding. I look with my tiny flash light and I see other caps that are cracked around the top.
So I guess I'm just saying, look close if you are in the market to replenish your Lebelle oils, check those caps close.