Thought I'd do the annual fishing gear tidy up. Fresh lines and leaders, clean and service some reels, sort the tackle boxes, chuck out all the crap, 2 days in I'm about 1/3 of the way through. Enthusiasm is running out...
I loved my model trains. Got one at about 4 yo and the old man got interested. As a teen it circumnavigated my bedroom in the attic. Got maybe 20 locos, 100 + bits of rolling stock, track etc all stored away ATM. Used to get old PMG relays to build logic circuits for point, power and signal switching and even designed a thyristor controller when I was about 14. Haven't touched it for years, but its there for the day if I get keen again. Needs a proper dedicated big space, ie new shed. It did create family grief at times, the old man would schedule operating/work sessions when I wanted to go the beach or play sport or whatever. And I left him behind with the tech, so he needed me to make it all work. Faster, better, more automated, smoother etc.
Had to go get a stat dec witnessed by a JP recently, just looked one up on the Justice Vic website page. This retired solicitor lives locally, saw him in his garage below his house... about 4 car size, a HUGE model railway filling the space. Couldn't count all the rolling stock, maybe over a hundred metres of track in multiple layers going everywhere, through rural and alpine settings, stations, villages, even a harbor. Thousands of hours work, he'd done it all himself since retiring. Pretty amazing.......Thing is, once its done, then what? Watch it go round and round? Remove buildings and bits of track and rebuild? Clearly, would've been better with a bike.... :)
There's always something to do, upgrade, clean/maintain etc. Nevertheless some people prefer the scenery build, or the track laying, some like the electrics, some like making houses and on it goes. Lots of sub disciplines within the hobby. Clubs then leverage people's preferred skill sets and so on. Then some just like to operate it, making timetables etc, lots in it when you get into it, and apart from electric shock, injury risk is generally lower than motorcycling.
Our's is in the daughters old bedroom which is now the toy room .Single track would be boring.the grand children likes it. The cost is over the top.Second hand engines = crap cheap new ones = second hand.Home made engines will be next.folds up when they get sick of it,
Mine needs space, or I do, I like longer trains meandering through scenery. When I designed and built our house, the back room was always going to be the train room, a long, 18m x 2.7m room along the back of the house, the insulation barrier against the cold on the south side. It wasn't lined or anything when we moved in, and it filled with odds and ends. I set up a circle of track and pulled out all the locos and serviced them, + acquired heaps of Kadee couplings to fit to all the rolling stock for standardisation which started. Then as things evolved, the room got fitted out and became our 4th bedroom, games room and guest hideaway. So I need another shed, a fold away table won't do it for me, and grandkids don't seem to be on the horizon. There was an ad in the local paper last week asking for old model railway stuff, I'm still trying to decide if I want to sell it off or not. Probably got a bike's worth of $s in it all.
Generous offer. Ive thought about stuff like that, had a mate who was into slot car racing for a long time. Some skill (in just keeping up with the speed of the damned things, wow) but at the end of the day, if I'm not doing something physical myself I get bored quickly. Like why I can't play online gaming etc, bores me to tears.
No actual photos of lengths but just off cuts of pine and a few different hard woods I had on the shelf.
Thanks Beet for showing us the above. You have more patience and skills than I working with wood. Looks good.
Hey Beet, if you're making lots of toys for the grandkids (or markets) check out these: https://mcjing.com.au/toy-wheel-cutter.html If you haven't previously known about McJing they are a good source for cheap hobbyist tools. Also check out Carbatec and Timbecon. Mick
Thanks for that. I know of Carbatec and Timbecon. Not seen Mcjing. I’m actually going have a go at making my own woodturning chisels. All the best and thanks again.
I'm sure you know what you're doing Beet but I heard a story once that made me think twice about the hand tools I use. Apparently a guy was using inferior turning tools one day and the steel broke and got stuck in the ceiling - could have ended so much worse had it hit him.
No argument here. But on the other side you should see and use the shit chisels I bought over the net, and they where not the cheapest. Thanks. I understand.
I turned a 2*6 plank of Douglas Fir into a mast, a boom and yard blanks. Lots of finishing to do with the No.7 Stanley plane. I clamped guide pieces each side of the saw, measured thrice and cut once. The stock was about 14 ft long, l just picked up the end and pushed it it through, worked a treat. The little ozito saw bench with a 60 tooth blade made a fine cut. The mast boom and yard are for a balanced lug rig on a 15ft plywood dinghy l am building from scratch. Shown in the picture with a sprit sail.