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.
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 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
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.
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!
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."
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.
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
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.
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!)
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!!
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 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.
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.
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...
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.
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!
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.
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
There have been so many it is hard to choose. Just yesterday I was doing some switching using a bamboo skewer as an uncoupling tool. I was holding the pointed end in the palm of my hand when I leaned forward to switch a ground throw. The butt end of the skewer hit the fascia driving the pointed end fairly deep into the heel of my hand. I didn't cry. OK, maybe a little.
Note to self: hold the skewer by the butt end.
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.
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
As to the grumble about the biggest mistakes vs most annoying mistakes, sometimes they are the same thing. Of course, then there are those mistakes that lead to permanent reminders of them. Of course that references my original post again.
Biggest has got to be stapling my hand to the underside of the layout (yeah, it HURTS).
Most annoying is probablya tie between gluing something on your layout and either clamping, bracing, or holding it for what you think is long enough for the adhesive to cure, only to watch it slowly topple over as soon as the restraint is removed; and damaging your own layout thru sheer klutziness -- and double points if youdo it within 30 minutes of cautioning someone else.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
FRRYKid... What are some of the most annoying things you've ever had happen to you when model railroading?
Neglecting to change into a ragged shirt before I do any type of painting, especially touch-up/detail painting. I think "This will only take a minute or two", then get distracted and reach for something on the back of the workbench. Then I acquire a nice little ring of Roof Brown on the sleeve of a brand-new shirt, from that open jar of Polly Scale that was close to the front edge...
-Ken in Maryland (B&O modeler, former CSX modeler)
The topic isn't BIGGEST mistakes made while model railroading, but MOST ANNOYING. Those are not necessarily the same thing.
Buying the same thing three times because you knew you needed it but forgot you already bought it is something I have done more than once, I am ashamed to say, and it is very annoying. I have done this with more than one expensive Walthers kit.
Mistaking a kit part for a sprue, and thus destroying it, is annoying.
I know I have done some annoying things during operating sessions, but mostly they annoy others.
Leaving the cap off a brand new bottle of solvent based plastic cement, and thus having it virtually all be evaporated by the time I noticed, is annoying.
Seeing something rare and affordable at a train show that I really really want, and deciding it is so rare that surely nobody else on earth will want it so I can come back later for it -- with predictable consequences -- is annoying.
Dave Nelson
WHen I started rebuilding the Greenvale section of my layout, I had to do a partial rebuild of the downgrade track. I thought I had a good transition from level to grade, but when I did a test run, the locomotive high centered on the transition. Naturally, this was after I had ballasted the track. I had to pull up a couple of sections of flex, and get out the Surform file to file a more gentle transition (I could not access the track supports under the layout because of the way teh old layout section met up with the new). I relaid the track, and the transition ran OK, but now I had a kink in the curve when the old and new flex meet. So then I had to remove more ballast, push the kink back in line, pin it down, solder the joint, and re-ballast the track. All this work messed up some of the scenery, so that had to be fixed as well.
Like everyone else that uses CA, I do not know how many times I have glued my fingers together or glued my fingers to something else. I keep a can of acetone in my spray booth because it is the solvent for the bottles of Accupaint that I have left. Soemtimes even that does not work, then it is a question of which finger is going to lose a layer of skin when I pull things apart.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch