Trains.com

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Hobby no-nos

13942 views
147 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    April 2007
  • From: Redneck Land(Little Rock), Arkansas
  • 919 posts
Posted by arkansasrailfan on Monday, January 14, 2008 5:20 PM
another one. don't leave sharp objects on the floor. still have that graphite mark from kicking a pencil(twice) into my foot.
-Michael It's baaaacccckkkk!!!!!! www.youtube.com/user/wyomingrailfan
  • Member since
    April 2007
  • From: Redneck Land(Little Rock), Arkansas
  • 919 posts
Posted by arkansasrailfan on Sunday, January 13, 2008 1:21 PM
Never wonder and go super glue your left hand together, and your fingers(whoops, I "didn't" mean to do "that")
-Michael It's baaaacccckkkk!!!!!! www.youtube.com/user/wyomingrailfan
  • Member since
    November 2003
  • From: Colorado Springs, CO
  • 2,742 posts
Posted by Dave Vollmer on Saturday, January 12, 2008 8:29 AM

"There's got ... to ... be ... one ... more ... joke ... in there. ...!"

Modeling the Rio Grande Southern First District circa 1938-1946 in HOn3.

  • Member since
    November 2007
  • From: south central PA
  • 580 posts
Posted by concretelackey on Friday, January 11, 2008 8:46 PM

OK, I'll fess up....

When I was about 9 or so I bought a model kit of a Huey helocopter. Being the "mature" modeler I was I decided to paint everything before assembly. So I set up 3 or 4 of those little tables you use to eat while watching tv, covered them with newspaper and went to town with 3 or 4 shades of green (i was looking for the full camo look). I just finished the last tray full and stood up a bit to quickly, bump one of the trays...............ever see the movie scene where the library bookcases fall like dominoes????? Trade the bookcases for 3 or 4 trays with about 80 plastic parts LOADED with wet paint scattered to the 4 points of the compass.........in the living room...........on the carpet which just celebrated its 2 month birthday................and the carpet WAS NOT remotely green beforehand.

I vaguely recall my dad saying something like ........."we leave you alone for an hour........."

I DISTINCTLY recall running for my life....

The good news is that most of the sharp contrast lines between the different shades of green ended up getting blended pretty well........

Ken aka "CL" "TIS QUITE EASY TO SCREW CONCRETE UP BUT TIS DARN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO UNSCREW IT"
  • Member since
    November 2007
  • 60 posts
Posted by avenger on Friday, January 11, 2008 8:31 PM

 Artur wrote:
Don't let the cat walk on your unfinished layout, ever. Even if he is gingerly and innocently investigating and smelling everything especially the powered track with his wet nose, now thats not a problem the problem is him rampaging from one end of the layout to the other after getting a shock of his life. 

Never let your not-even 1 year od puppy investigate the Lionel Warbonnet and it's track. A yellow  stain on the floor and a derailed excpress train.

The World is Always Changing, and YOU Need to Adapt to It.
  • Member since
    October 2007
  • From: Foster, RI
  • 111 posts
Posted by mammay76 on Thursday, January 10, 2008 2:10 PM

at your first attendance of a large model railroads operating session with 13 other regular operators, try not to scream over the radio to the dispatcher (when everyone else can hear you)....."DISPATCH THIS IS FPWX I JUST WENT THROUGH A SIGNAL THAT WAS GREEN AND IT JUST TURNED RED AFTER MY ENGINE WENT THROUGH IT....IM STOPPING AND BACKING UP"....everyone found that quite humerous...i was embarrassed to say the least!!! but i now know how block signals work!!!! Pirate [oX)]  

 

Joe

Joe

Modeling:

Providence & Worcester Railroad

"East Providence Secondary"

HO scale

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 2,299 posts
Posted by Dave-the-Train on Thursday, January 10, 2008 1:14 PM
 SpaceMouse wrote:

Never build a craftsman kit naked at the kitchen table during a tupperware party.

Would Athearn Blue Box be okay?

 Never drill any hole up through a baseboard without having drilled a pilot hole down first... thus establishing that the upward hole will emerge clear of things you do not want holes in.  (Boring but practical).

Cool [8D]

  • Member since
    December 2006
  • From: Piedmont, VA USA
  • 706 posts
Posted by shawnee on Thursday, January 10, 2008 12:23 PM
Don't go down there are redesign your track plan after, um, several glasses of wine.  Whistling [:-^]
Shawnee
  • Member since
    November 2007
  • From: Utah
  • 1,315 posts
Posted by shayfan84325 on Thursday, January 10, 2008 10:39 AM

I've got to be serious for a second.  A lot of you tell about x-acto knife injuries; I urge you to consider the number 16 blade instead of the number 11.

Click here to see the number 16:  http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=50279

It has a shorter sharp edge so your mistakes may require a band-aid instead of stitches.  I use both 11s and 16s and I find that the #16 stays sharp longer because the tip is less fragile and I cut myself less frequently and less seriously.

OK, back to the fun!

Happy model railroading,

Phil

Phil,
I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.

  • Member since
    November 2007
  • From: Utah
  • 1,315 posts
Posted by shayfan84325 on Thursday, January 10, 2008 10:28 AM

For heavens' sake, Chuck, be careful.  This hobby is not supposed to be painful.

-Phil

Phil,
I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.

  • Member since
    January 2004
  • From: Crosby, Texas
  • 3,660 posts
Posted by cwclark on Thursday, January 10, 2008 10:20 AM

  Never use Gorilla Glue on anything model railroad related. (I'm still trying to chisel off those big foaming blobs of rock hard glue between the flatcar floor and the load.)

  Never lay across the rails reaching for something on the other side of the layout when you're hot ,sweaty, and shirtless.  (I guarantee you'll beam brightly like an SP SD9 running mars lights.)

Never grab hold of a hot glue gun by the wrong end. (Ever smell burning flesh? Indeed it's not a pleasant smell after you are able to gather your other 4 senses from the excrusiating pain.)

Never try and hold tiny parts in one hand and drill a hole in them with a 3/8" electric drill with the other.  (I still have a scar where the bit went through my finger.)

And finally, Never give up on the hobby. (Eventually you'll get it right if enough time and money is spent on model railroading.)....Sign - Oops [#oops]   chuck

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: ZA
  • 11 posts
Posted by rainierj on Thursday, January 10, 2008 10:06 AM

This is a great thread, here's mine

 Never clean the tip of the CA bottle with an Xacto knife.

5 stiches later and a newly shaped finger!Tongue [:P]

  • Member since
    November 2007
  • 1,089 posts
Posted by BlueHillsCPR on Thursday, January 10, 2008 9:27 AM
Under no circumstances should you ever admit what REALLY happened to the cat you used to own.  You know.  The one that liked to hang out in the layout room...Big Smile [:D]
  • Member since
    May 2004
  • From: central Indiana
  • 775 posts
Posted by philnrunt on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 11:07 PM

   And yet, if you break your false teeth the morning of starting your vacation, super glue will do you absolutely no good at all! Even if you glue them over and over and....well, you get the idea.

   And the wife's hysterical laughter does nothing for helping the exact alighnment needed to not fix them right!  

  Just the memory still leaves a bad taste in my mouth!

  • Member since
    November 2007
  • From: Utah
  • 1,315 posts
Posted by shayfan84325 on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 10:30 PM

Speaking of teeth, don't apply CA glue to a part and then hold it in your teeth while you find the other pieces of the assembly.  I assure you, CA sticks to tooth enamel, very well!

-Phil

Phil,
I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.

  • Member since
    May 2004
  • From: central Indiana
  • 775 posts
Posted by philnrunt on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 10:15 PM

   Don't invite a bunch of crazy friends over for a party and leave black N scale ballast sitting out in a bowl with a spoon in it.

   They think it's some kind of special pepper.

   Cleaned their teeth pretty well, OTOH!

   Don't wonder just how hot the hot glue is, and don't get mad and throw it across the room when you discover the answer.

   Don't use 2 pair of channel locks to grip and open that Floquil Safety Yellow that you bought back in the late '70's. Amazing how well that paint covers things when applied in spewing blobs.

   And don't store all of your N Scale engines and rolling stock on top of the refrigerator in the workshop, turn the heat on very high, as in salamander high, and forget that it's supposed to get up in the high 60's in an "unseasonable warming trend".

   Oh no, don't do that.

   They all bend up on the ends.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: New Joizey
  • 1,983 posts
Posted by SteamFreak on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 9:50 PM

 reklein wrote:
Buy belt sanders with dead man switches only,that way it won't sand all your scenery flat, in its rush to the end of the cord.

Laugh [(-D]Laugh [(-D]Laugh [(-D]

Is that a good method for turning code 100 rail into 70? 

  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: CN Seymour Industrial spur
  • 262 posts
Posted by Dayliner on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 7:44 PM

When you are vacuuming up your work area after a ballasting session, do not, under any circumstances, succumb to the temptation to see if you can use the suction of the vacuum cleaner to move those detailed and weathered freight cars along the track.

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Lewiston ID
  • 1,710 posts
Posted by reklein on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 4:32 PM

Buy belt sanders with dead man switches only,that way it won't sand all your scenery flat,in its rush to the end of the cord.

In Lewiston Idaho,where they filmed Breakheart pass.
  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Wayne County Michigan
  • 678 posts
Posted by dale8chevyss on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 3:52 PM

Do not use a motor tool without safety glasses on.

 

Thankfully I don't know of this problem the hard way.   

Modeling the N&W freelanced at the height of their steam era in HO.

 Daniel G.

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Wayne County Michigan
  • 678 posts
Posted by dale8chevyss on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 8:49 PM

Kudos to whomever started this post: it's funny! 

 

Here's another one-

 

Don't have your powerpack/throttle on full speed with a loco on the track then plug said powerpack in just to see your loco go full speed into a bunch of cars and projects so you have to do the projects again...  

Modeling the N&W freelanced at the height of their steam era in HO.

 Daniel G.

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Wayne County Michigan
  • 678 posts
Posted by dale8chevyss on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 8:37 PM
Keep the grape juice (and any other beverages for that matter) away from the layout because you WILL knock them over and you WILL have to clean your locomotive out afterwards.  (Don't ask how I know...)

Modeling the N&W freelanced at the height of their steam era in HO.

 Daniel G.

  • Member since
    August 2004
  • From: Amish country Tenn.
  • 10,027 posts
Posted by loathar on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 2:27 PM
 SteamFreak wrote:

Never spray out a motor with contact cleaner next to your gas stove. Vapor trail + pilot light = flash fire and flaming towel, motor, and hands, and a crash course in fire dancing. 

Laugh [(-D]Laugh [(-D]Laugh [(-D] So...Do you do the Safety Dance instead now?

  • Member since
    November 2007
  • From: Utah
  • 1,315 posts
Posted by shayfan84325 on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 1:00 PM

My dog and I are really enjoying the way cat stories keep showing up in this thread.

My own no-no is this:  Never watch the game, movie, etc. on your shop TV while running the table saw (band saw, scroll saw, etc.).  I caught myself doing this so I relocated the TV out of sight of the "heavy equipment" in the interest of keeping my digits.

Here's to counting to ten on your fingers.

-Phil

Phil,
I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Carmichael, CA
  • 8,055 posts
Posted by twhite on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 12:15 PM
 Medina1128 wrote:
 twhite wrote:

And especially with a 35 pound Maine Coon cat! You'd be amazed how quickly he can abscond with something and make it through the cat-door.

Whoa!  THIRTY FIVE?  I must have gotten the 'runt' of the litter, LOL!

TomBig Smile [:D]

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: Clinton, MO, US
  • 4,261 posts
Posted by Medina1128 on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 12:10 PM
 twhite wrote:

If you MUST build that laser-cut craftsman Caboose kit at the kitchen table, do NOT get up to answer the phone, especially if you happen to own an 18-pound Maine Coon cat. 

TomShock [:O]

And especially with a 35 pound Maine Coon cat! You'd be amazed how quickly he can abscond with something and make it through the cat-door.

  • Member since
    August 2001
  • From: US
  • 791 posts
Posted by steamage on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 12:08 PM
Always bake the dirt you plan to spread on the scenery, if not, new life forms will emerge.

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Carmichael, CA
  • 8,055 posts
Posted by twhite on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 10:57 AM

If you MUST build that laser-cut craftsman Caboose kit at the kitchen table, do NOT get up to answer the phone, especially if you happen to own an 18-pound Maine Coon cat. 

TomShock [:O]

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Lewiston ID
  • 1,710 posts
Posted by reklein on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 9:39 AM
Never use a hammer and center punch on your glass topped workbench.
In Lewiston Idaho,where they filmed Breakheart pass.
  • Member since
    March 2001
  • From: Mishawaka, IN
  • 243 posts
Posted by jjbmish on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 8:48 AM
Never let a cat in the layout room if you have used kitty litter for any part of your scenery.

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Users Online

There are no community member online

Search the Community

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!