What other hobbies do we enjoy

[JeremyB]

Hi Guys

Every now and then I like to start one of these topics in case some guys didnt see it before or we have new members.

For me aside from Model Railroading and Railfanning I enjoy Military modeling and Military history. And target shooting with my air rifles. Also Im a huge sports fan with my favorite teams being the Toronto Blue Jays, Green Bay Packers and the Vancouver Canucks as well as being a lifelong fan of F1 and Nascar.

Also playing any sports game on my ps3, Madden football series being one of my favorites,

so guys what else competes for your time( and money,lol )

Jeremy

[P&Slocal]

I enjoy historical reenactment. I am a member of  French French and Indian/ 7 Years War group based out of western PA and portray a Canadien habitant (milicien) with them. I am also a member of the Knox County Regiment of the Tennessee militia which focuses on the American Revolutionary period through 1810. I addition to this I enjoy shooting traditional muzzleloading blackpowder weapons, hunting and ice hockey.

[IRONROOSTER]

Woodworking, computer games, and reading.  I also watch lots of football during the season.

Now that I'm retired, I'm adding photography as well.

Enjoy

Paul

[Jacktal]

I've been in R/C flying for about fifteen years when my son was my test pilot.I never flew myself but enjoyed building.Now that my son has steered his life towards other priorities,I miss this a lot.

Sport fan,I also like the Blue Jays a lot although I'd prefer having the Expos,them I miss too.The Jays are on TV only occasionally out here.Hockey,well I'm not so hot about the Canadiens so I don't watch hockey much.

Right now (and from now on I'd say)my layout gets all my attention.

[blownout cylinder]

I still am a member of the Society of Creative Anachronism up here..we do Medieval REALLY well. 

I lso have an interest in these things..50% ownership that is...

[selector]

I enjoy reading the classics.  Currently wading through The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. 

I also enjoy Astronomy, stellar physics, and using a telescope, although not in recent years...not since getting into MRR.

I enjoy personal fitness and racing in footraces, something I have been doing for 33 years.  I only came to road cycling on racing bicycles later, and found that I enjoyed commuting year-round on a mountain bike with a front studded tire for safety.  Couldn't beat that, and I miss it a great deal.  I still use a road bike a couple of times a week seasonally.

I have come to enjoy photography a lot, particularly since purchasing a first digital camera a few years back.  Between its form/function and Jarrell's patient help, I have come a long way.

Social psychology, philosophy, logic, and ethics & morality have long been a part of my interests, much of it rooted in the Christian faith.  I teach a course in leadership and ethics on line at the 400 level for part-time work and because I always learn something as I go along, whether reading professionally or learning something from my students who occasionally come up with really good observations.

Lastly, music has always been at my core.  I don't sing especially well, but I still enjoy participating in a local mixed choir that puts on two major concerts a year.  Recently agreed to serve as VP pending full presidency next cycle.  I feel I have to contribute to things from which I get a benefit, and after moderating here, it seemed like something I could do.

Crandell

[twhite]

I'm a big Classic Movie fan--films from the '30's, '40's and '50's, along with classic foreign films, mainly French and Russian.  So far I've got about 600 classic films on DVD and Video.   My favorite genre are classic westerns, historical dramas and 'thirties and 'forties "screwball" comedies.  I'll watch almost anything that John Ford, Howard Hawks, Anthony Mann or Preston Sturges ever directed.  

I'm also a big fan of historical non-fiction, particularly anything that has to do with ancient Rome.  What a BLOODTHIRSTY batch those people were, LOL!

Tom

[Goodness181]

I'm Volunteer Fire fighter for my town that i live in.  Besides doing it full time i also volunteer when my time permits.  Also love Riding my harley.  I'm also huge into modeling scale models mostlly modern day US Military aircraft in 1:48 scale.  Which that hobby let me into this hobby.  So right now one of my hobbys is researching model railroading were i havnt actually started building anything yet.  Also I camp and do a lot of hiking and back packing with the wife and dog.

[retsignalmtr]

Working on and driving my 1973 Toyota Landcruiser, carpentry projects, working on my home, collecting firewood for the winters and gardening

[ClinchValleySD40]

1.  Detroit Tigers baseball

2.  Fishing

3.  Gardening

4.  Model Railroading

As long as I'm spending time with the wife and family, I'm happy.

[CP5415]

Annoying the wife!

Board games - usually Avalon Hill ones

Cycling

Tinkering - stuff around the house, car(s) etc

[engineAL]

I like programing the computer, flying real airplanes (don't have my private piolet's lisense yet), I have a few animals (chickens, rabbits, turkey, geese, sheep), and of couse my model (or yet to become)railroad.

[river_eagle]

[JeremyB]

Cool looking model jet. 

I enjoy reading all your guys interest's from Classic movies to Classic novels. From Baseball to Gardening from Biking to Board games ( which I agree about the avalon hill games, I have every axis and allies made )  I very much enjoy model railroading but also like taking a break and stepping away for time. I guess its like that with anything in life though right? Imagine being the guy that gets to test drive ferrari's as they leave the shops in maranello Italy, he must think from time to time this is boring well maybe thats not the best example of something that can de done all the time and not get boring,lol

[markpierce]

Boating!  My Carquinez Coot, sail-assisted cruiser:

Ocean cruising on a cruise ship:

Visiting interesting places:

 

 

 

[leighant]

Making movies.

But I managed to get my movie booked in my N scale movie house...

[BRAKIE]

I love a good western novel by Terry C.Johnson,Ralph Compton,Ralph Cotton,Max Brand ,William Johnstone and several others..

I like reading about the great plain Indian war chiefs and the fierce battles they fought..

[UncBob]

Cabinet Making

Customizing my truck

Biking

Jogging

Weight Training

Watching the Phillies and Eagles

[TomR]

Ham radio

Muscle Cars

Astronomy

 

[CTValleyRR]

Some general outdoors stuff:  Camping / Hiking, Golf.

Some general construction / bulding stuff:  Woodworking and volunteering my time to restore old trains

Some "brain power" stuff:  mostly strategy games, everything from chess, through cardboard war games (Avalon Hill and similar), and good computer simulations.

Now ask me what I actually have TIME for....

[cmrproducts]

Besides building my current Home layout

I am a member of an Operations Group that visit other Model Railroads and have an Operations Session monthly.

Collecting & Rebuilding 1960's era Cub Cadet Tractors

Collecting M&M candy dispensers

Spending time with my 2 Sons and all my Grandchildren!

Practicing my Retirement EVERYDAY ! (IF I fail at this - I will have to go back to WORK)! ;-(

BOB H - Clarion, PA

[twhite]

markpierce

Boating!  My Carquinez Coot, sail-assisted cruiser:

Ocean cruising on a cruise ship:

Visiting interesting places:

 

 

 

Mark:

You DO know that the Swiss created the Alps just so they'd have a place to run their trains, don't you, LOL?

Tom

[luvadj]

When I'm not modeling, I enjoy camping, computer building and programing and cruzin' in my '84 Corvette

[Eric97123]

i am a big time sailor.  Thankfully the season is short here in Oregon so I have time to play with my trains

[chatanuga]

A year ago, after going through a major loss, I started going through what can only be described as a mid-life crisis.  Don't worry, I didn't start doing anything radical like changing my looks or buying a sports car or motorcycle that I can't afford.  I just came to the conclusion that I needed to do something different with my life, and doing over-the-phone tech support wasn't cutting it anymore.

I was trying to figure out what to do one evening when I was watching a rerun of The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross on our local PBS station.  That's when it hit me.  All my life, I've loved art, and people have said that my work in the past had been comparable with the paintings that Bob Ross did, even though I had never worked with oil paints before.  In the past, I'd thought about taking up painting and selling my work, but I never got around to it.  So, I made up a spreadsheet of the pros and cons of both staying with my current career as well as starting a career in painting.

Needless to say, my current career failed miserably, and I made a deadline of this coming Labor Day to have things started in the right direction for getting my new career started.

So, I started doing pricing of supplies, bought a digital camera (which is already saving me a ton in film processing and film costs), and began a major cleanup of my basement to not only clean up the layout from all of the work over the past few years but to clear an area of the basement for my new studio.  Initially I'd started planning a website for my new career, but I then decided that it would be best to get started with the painting so that when the website is launched, I'll have something to show for it.

I then began getting painting supplies, including an easel like Bob Ross used on his show.  I also got some instructional DVDs that he made to study his techniques.

When the canvases came in back in April, I was really psyched up to do my first painting, even though I had to get up at 8AM the following morning to make an hour drive up to my parents' house.  By the time dinner was over and dishes were washed, it was 10PM.  Even though I needed to begin getting around for bed, I decided to paint, thinking that I could whip up a quick painting and take pictures of it for my parents to see the next day.

I wish I could say that my first attempt was a success.  It wasn't.  On the show, Bob Ross always said to use a thin even coat of the Liquid White as a basecoat.  In my rush to do my first painting, I coated the canvas with it like I was painting a wall.  The mountain highlights wanted to smear instead of stick and break.  When attempting the shadow color on the mountain, it began to stick and break, and then the whole patches of paint began to slide.

I ended up giving up for the night rather than get frustrated with it.  I cleaned things up and chalked it up as a learning experience.  It ended up taking about seven weeks for that first attempt to dry.

My second attempt went much better, although I still had problems on the mountain.  I later realized that I was leaving too much of the basecolor on the canvas, which was causing the highlights to not want to stick.  After fighting with the mountain for so long, I ended up rushing the rest of the painting, which left room for needed improvement, but it wasn't too bad for my first full landscape painting.

My next painting was done with a certified Bob Ross instructor who came out to my home.  While we were following the instructions for a painting from one of the shows ("Distant Mountains"), I only took one glance at the painting before doing mine as I wanted to follow the instructor's instructions and go with what was in my mind and not copy Bob Ross' painting.

While there was still room for improvement, this one went much smoother than the last one I'd done.  The trees and brush were more well formed, and the mountain turned out better too.

The latest painting I did was based on the show "Golden Rays of Sunlight" that Bob Ross did with the three colors of gessos and then colored it with oil colors.  While I went through a little of a learning curve since I hadn't used the gessos before, I thought this one turned out really well, especially the effect of the sun coming through the trees.

While I've got a ways to go yet before I actually start selling paintings, it's a fun hobby for now.  I'm hoping that in time it will bring in some extra cash and then hopefully allow me to go to part time at my job and then eventually quit my job.  A couple friends have already expressed interest in getting paintings from me as well as my optometrist.  Several coworkers have been quite encouraging of my work as well.  In July, I took my paintings with me to our family's annual reunion to show, and everybody was amazed that I've only been painting since April.  The husband of one of my many cousins is an art teacher and said that I have a gift.  Everybody there agrees with me that I need to do what is right for me and what makes me happy.

Kevin

[shayfan84325]

It's interesting how many of us train guys also work on cars and/or trucks, and do woodworking.  I'm one of those, too:

Furniture:

Car (I sold it last year) and no, the grass isn't that tall; the car is that low:

And trains:

I've also built a couple of 1/12 scale doll houses, and boats (R/C live steam and wind powered).

[R. T. POTEET]

Although having an interest in woodworking and photography most of my recent activity has been in procrastination and playing Hearts on the computer! 

[blownout cylinder]

 

TA462 wrote: The Chevy II looks familiar.   Do you ever drag it at St. Thomas?  

Here is mine, well at least the one that's complete, lol.  It's got a 1970 Ram Air 4 455 bored 30 over in it right now.   I'm working on a 65 Tempest and a 70 GTO that I hope to have together in a couple years. 

We did a few times..it is quite quick!!  

I'd like to see how those two you are fixing up will turn out....

 

[georgev]

For me: Fishing (bass, pike  and panfish).  Oh, and always taking the long way to the next fishing spot because, well, if you don't run the boat a lot the engine will get gummed, up, right?  While I do use a fly rod sometimes for bass and bluegill,  I am hoping to learn trout fishing in some of the great trout waters in northern Michigan next year.  

Bicyling.  My wife and I ride in the area and like to take trips where there are good biking trails.  Part of the enjoyment for me on the rail trails is spotting the remains of  the railroads - old spurs and sidings, stations and freight houses, as well as being in the backwoods where the rails ran and the automobiles don't.   My model railroad's name, the Rochester and Richmond, is actually inspired by one of our local rail trails here in southeast Michigan.   

Sailing (small boat) I have a 1968 Pintail, which is a 14' fiberglass sloop rig.    

Skiing (downhill)  - this is the only competition for the trains in winter.   

I also like to travel to where the steam trains still run.  I've ridden and chased Pere Marquette 1225 a few times (and chased SP 4449 during Train Festival a couple of years ago when it was in Michigan).   The wife and I have only made one out of town trip (to Cass and the Western Maryland) but  I have list that's this long of places yet to visit, from Steamtown to the Cumbres and Toltec.

George V.  

[Ray Dunakin]

My other hobby is rocket aerial photography. I build and fly custom rockets of various sizes, which carry 35mm film cameras:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Rocket_Aerial_Photos.html

I also like camping and exploring old mines, mining camps and ghost towns. I'm trying to photographically document as many of these historic sites as possible before they're gone forever.

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Ghost_Towns_and_Mines.html