Last night I went sledding with a few friends. These are friends who I know from high school and don't have much contact with now. But we managed to get together for awhile, and when we were leaving, somehow it came up in conversation that I had a "trainset" I was making. A little background- I am 25 and I skateboard. Most of my friends do too, and none of the people I know are into model railroading, or any hobby of the sort. I'm kinda on my own there. So when my friends heard that I had a "trainset", they thought it was cool and wanted to see it. It was out of the way, but we stopped by my place and everyone loved it, even though my railroad is more undone than done. I was surprised to see how much these guys (ages 22-25) really enjoyed the railroad. I guess I'm most surprised at how many times they referred to it as "cool". I mean, railroading is fun, but has it really gotten to the stage where people think it's cool? I guess it is to these guys. One of them even asked if he could come back sometime and play with the trains some more, and he said he might like to build his own little layout at home. Anyway, just thought I'd share my surprise. Here's a few pictures of things I've been working on lately. Here's a corner of my layout that I am getting closer to finishing. I still have to plant weeds, trees, and pour some water resin into the creek. I'm going to make a little skatepark on another park of the layout. Here's a mini-halfpipe that I am almost done with. I even made an HO scale skateboard to go with the park. It's so small I can't pick it up with my fingers- I have to use tweezers! Well have a good weekend everybody. Talk to you later- Dave
That's really... "cool"! I think more people would get into model railroading if they just were introduced to it. Most people think of a "trainset" as a bunch of "toys". When they see it is a scale model, it's a totally different world. Glag to here of your story!
Hey Dave, the picture of your corner looks real good except I don't think I would let those guy's play in the culvert (insurance reasons) keep up the good work!!
Amazing when u show people your layout what they think Don't worry about those 2 LPPs playing by the culvert, just don't drown them when u add the water Nice pix of the layout Dave. It will be neat to see the pixs of the skate board park.
I'm 19 myself, alot of my friends arent into modeling, but alot of my friends in high school were untill about the 10th grade, but they all modeled planes and military thigns, i was the only one who was into trains. Im the only one who's stayed more or less into modeling. Now when people come into my bedroom they get to see my layout, and people always tell me its cool and ask if they can drive the train. hehe, the girls think its cute apparently too. Luckily even at top speed my locos dont seem to ever fly off the corners when other people run them The only thing im really worried about is if we are drinking, i dont want my friend to touch my layout if hes had a bit too much to drink, but i havent had a problem yet But apparently its abnormal for a young person to have a hobby like model railroading, i dont care, i love it I think if more people were into a hobby like this the world might be a better place.
That what counts, the fact that it is YOUR hobby. Something that you like to do. And I don't mean sitting on your ass, watching the boob tube, and drinking beer! Too many people think that they always have to impress somebody else or run around goofing off all the time. It's your life, I don't really care what you do with your spare time, I hope that you get a good hobby, but some people never get that far. They are too worried that other people might think they aren't "COOL" I guess that I must be getting older now, I'm getting real aware of my spare time, what it means to me, and what I am going to do with it. Like I tell my wife "I don't have time for dumbbells anymore, if somebody wants to be a dumbass, fine with me. Let 'em do it on THEIR time not mine! Just don't expect me to put up with them anymore. I have too many other things to do!" 'Nuff said MARK
Nice pic that you posted there. I am also young(20) and I think that is good that you are introducing your friends to he hobby. I also have a friend who has expressed intrest in the hobby unfortunatly my layout is still in the planning stages but I am hoping that I can get him hooked on trains by getting him to help me build and operate the layout. Good luck with you layout.
What would you guys think about using "Red Alert" or Command & Conquer as the Theme/ scenery for a layout. Back drops from screen shots/graphics of the games. Or "another planet" where they mine colorful minerals My wife has these minerals she collects., in all colors and sizes. gives me crazy ideas when I look at them. Also, MotocrossTracks come to mind for a scenery item.
bspeed- those are some neat ideas for layouts. A guy I know was talking about making a layout of a railroad on the moon or some other planet. That would be pretty sweet. I'm not sure you'd find too many off-the-shelf kits that would fit in, but it would be unique. A motorcross track would be fun to make. It would be pretty easy to do that with sculptamold. You could even make a little guy on a bike and suspend him in the air with a thin, clear post of some sort. You could even use some small stained and stretched pieces of cotton to simulate the dirt cloud kicking up behind his bike, maybe.
Dave, the half pipe & skateboard are great, I love the modelling work on them. Can you add a couple more pics when it's installed on the layout? I'd love to see what you make if the finished scene.
don't forget railings and other skateboarding "modules".... hehehe. This is nice, keep up the good work
