Most annoying thing I've ever done, was also, the most painful. I was using a battery operated drill to drill a hole into the layout, but to make sure I didn't damage anything underneath, like wiring, I held that out of the way with my other hand.
I drilled the hole, then felt sharp pain in the hand under the layout. I had succeeded in drilling a hole thru the center of my hand as well. The annoying part was trying to flip the reverse on the drill to get the drill to back out, without damaging my hand any further. That really hurt and after a trip to the ER, my modeling was suspended for several weeks while my hand healed. I was really lucky, no nerve or tendon damage, although I was on antibiotics for several weeks.
Carey
Keep it between the Rails
Alabama Central Homepage
Nara member #128
NMRA &SER Life member
bruce22Not attaching track feeders every six to eight feet and / or at turnouts.Retrofitting is, as usual, more onerous than installing when track is being laid.
Good one.
Been there.
Done that.
How about glueing the scenery on my portable modules while they are all bolted together. Two days later they were still glued together and not so portable. You would not believe the amount of force it took to separate them again.
Spreading ballast with a head cold. One good sneeze and ballast everywhere.
Setting my coffee cup next to the brush cleaning cup. I think you can picture what happened next and what cup got the brush with the paint on it.
One of the requirements of model railroading is to be able to do bonehead things unsupervised and without provocation.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
Since posting here a few days ago another thought came to mind. Very recently I ordered two remotor kits from Micromark to power a pair of Athearn GP7/9's. I got the motors and went to get a pair of frames. I found two frames in a box containing many different Athearn frames. I proceeded to glue in the motor mounts. A few days later I went on to install the motors, build up trucks, drive lines, and wired it all up. Then did a test run. All was good. When I went to put the bodies on...no go. I ended up mounting the motors in a set of old F7 frames instead of GP7/9 frames.
Now I have a set of rejuvenated F7's and still need drive chassis for the GP7/9's.
So not a total bust.
Mark H
Modeling in HO...Reading and Conrail together in an alternate history.
Looking for a box of parts I KNOW I have, cuz I just saw it recently. How many places in the train room can there be to hide something that size?
Or, as has been covered in a recent thread, dropping something on the floor, to have it disappear forever, or until you don't need it anymore...
Most annoying thing? A definit tie between dropping a small part on my evil part-eating carpet and the tool I need vanishing off into another demension only to re emerge after I've found some way to work around it.
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
My most recent annoying one:
After spending hours converting an Athearn RTR engine to LEDs and installing a decoder, I stuck the loco on the track. No lights, but it ran. Reversed the leads on the LEDs then went to eat. Cam back and put it back on the track. Now nothing works. Take the loco apart, change the decoder, check wiring and put it back on the track. Still nothing... I go get a drink, come back and realize that the one of switches to go between DCC/DC and Program/Main were set wrong. Flipped it to Main. It runs, but no headlights but the beacon worked; hit 0 repeatedly, still nothing. I tested the LED with a tester I made. It worked. I solder it back on correctly (Like I had it the first time) and put it on the track. Nothing. Take it apart again, find out the harness actually came unsoldered. Solder it back on and put it on the track. Success after about 4 or 5 hours.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
Having 2 projects on the workbench at the same time. I was working on a plastic car kit and accidentally knocked over a jar of solvent (MEK equivalent). Some of the solvent ran on the workbench surface and got on a steam engine tender that was lying on its side. Fortunately, the tender was brass, not plastic. Unfortunately it was painted before the spill, but partially painted after. Then I remembered a tip from MR, or maybe Model Trains, many years ago: Get a block of wood and drill a hole large enough to hold your paint (or solvent) bottle. If the block is big enough, you can't tip it over.
For all those accidental skin-to-model joints, GET A BOTTLE OF DEBONDER AT YOUR HOBBY SHOP AND ALWAYS KNOW WHERE IT IS! The stuff works. Don't ask how I know.
Tom
My general advice to customers on tool safety also applies here: If it's sparking or spinning, don't lick it.
Stu
Streamlined steam, oh, what a dream!!
The post about the tool vanishing reminded me about yet another one. Putting the object you have in your hand down when you need to empty your hand for another object and then when you need the first object again, you forget where you put it and have to spend 5-10 minutes retracing your steps as to where you put that object. (And this doesn't just apply to model railroad items, either!)
FRRYKid ... What are some of the most annoying things you've ever had happen to you when model railroading?...
... What are some of the most annoying things you've ever had happen to you when model railroading?...
I had the fan running blowing on me circulating. I opened a container of weathering powders....and of course as the fan blew past me, I got a face, nose and eys automatically weathered!!!
Ditto later withe Window A/C blowing, I opened the weathering powders, and same thing happened! One would have thought I'd have learned my lesson...
SO never, i mean never, out weathering powders in between you and a "blowing wind" source!
There were others, but I haven't got them in my head now to relate....
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
One really annoying thing I'm running into right now is having to bring home 4x8 sheets of pink styrofoam and playwood and I drive a Corolla.
Procrastinating because I don't want to make a mistake, and because of that, getting annoyed with myself because I've actually achieved nothing.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
FRRYKid Here's one for you to think about: What are some of the most annoying things you've ever had happen to you when model railroading?
Here's one for you to think about: What are some of the most annoying things you've ever had happen to you when model railroading?
A few things I have learned....
Do not solder wearing shorts
Do wear old clotches and latex gloves when painting (thanks for the reminder Ken)
Do not underestimate the power of capillary action with CA unless you like wearing parts of a model
Do outfit your Exacto knives with pencil grips,,stops knives from rolling off the workbench and aiming at your toes.
Karl
NCE über alles!
kbkchoochDo outfit your Exacto knives with pencil grips,,stops knives from rolling off the workbench and aiming at your toes
When I traveled and did model work at the motel room desks, rolling knives aiming for my toes was the least of my worries.
I see that a lot of us end up with unwelcome piercings caused by one accident or another. This might be a good time for all of us to verify the dates of our last tetanus vaccination.
The shots are only good for about ten (10) years, at which you really ought not to put off getting another booster.
Mine is due this year.
-Crandell
lol, the best is when your vacuumng your layout and you suck up about 30 dollars worth of little plastic scenery. Then the search for the needle in the haystack begins.
I did something like that here recently. I like to have flat black around for replicating asphalt roofs on my structures and for painting Athearn BB exposed weights (boxcars, gondolas, etc.) when the underframe stays black. Unfortunately, the bottle of PS Engine Black I had disappeared and I had ordered a similar paint. However, I discovered that the bottle had rolled under the couch! (Of course, that happened when I was trying to look for another item that I had lost. For reference, I couch model most of the time as my layout and I are not in the same location.) Paint that I didn't need to purchase.
I know I'm late to the party with this thread, but my train time and consequently my forum time has been non existant since last winter. My "oops" has to do with dismantling my sectional layout in preparation to move to a new house.
When I ballasted my track years ago, I did a VERY good job of scraping the stray ballast that was in the web of the rail. While cutting the track at the section breaks of the layout to move everything, I noticed a strange thing happening. Where the track was cut in corners the rails sprang loose from the ties and ballast! I realized that the GREAT JOB of scraping the rails after ballasting was in fact scraping the "spikes" off of the Peco flex track! Now I'm preparing to reassemble the layout and have to not only solder the rails together, put also need to glue or spike the dang rails down to the ties.
For ballast cleanup you want a soft brush, those disposable foam paintbrushes work quite well and since they are cheap, you can even cut the to fit between the rails. There's no need to ever scrape with something solid like a screwdriver or putty knife. The idea is to have the ballast at or below tie level BEFORE you apply glue.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
FRRYKidWhat are some of the most annoying things you've ever had happen to you when model railroading?
Oh, I know! I just had a few sections where the ballast was right at tie level. When I soaked it and drizzled the glue down, some stray pieces of ballast got in the web. I use arizona mineral rock instead of WS so it didn't float or anything, just a few strays. Rather than just correct those few sections, I gave the whole layout a good scrape with a screw driver! Oops.
BRAKIE Several over the years but,one does stick out. Dumping a full bottle of Polly S grimy black on my work desk,work mat,model and of course me.
Several over the years but,one does stick out.
Dumping a full bottle of Polly S grimy black on my work desk,work mat,model and of course me.
That's exactly why I made a couple of fixtures to hold paint, glues, etc.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
While 'building' ( I use the term loosely) the only hydrocal kit I have ever attempted to assemble, I applied a little to much pressure to it as the glue was setting - it literally exploded in my hands. I can still see pieces of it flying through the air.
Like I say, there's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over.....
There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over.....
Things that annoy me....
1) When installing Kadee couplers, and some cars are diffuclut due to screw locations, etc. And you finish, only to realize the little microscopic spring came out of the knuckle. I just throw the coupler away, I can never replace those tiny things, good god.
2.) When laying ballast, you spend all that time making it look perfect, and brush off pieces from the ties. Next day I'll glue it down, but you forget and then you lay your hands on that section and screw it all up.
3.) Having friends over, excited to show them what you've done so far, run a train and it prompltly derails. Whoooops, what happened to my bullet proof trackwork?
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
Michael .... I bet everybody can relate to your Number 3. .... Murphy's Law dictates our derailments must occur while we are showing our layouts to visitors. .... Worse of all, we have no clue where the little gremlins will next appear, and we therefore can not prevent the problems. .... Regarding the Kadee, springs, I suggest practicing, and you will develop the technique to replace them. It can be done with the coupler still installed.
As for my annoyance, I forget to re-align the turnouts especially at crossovers between my two mainline tracks. I have had several collisions because of my negligence. My latest victims were a freight train with CB&Q FT ABBA changing tracks and hitting a passenger train with NP F9 ABA head-on last night. You'd think by now I would know what I am doing.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU