Re: Our stashes of obsolete models (Was: ATSF class Bx-49)
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Paul Hillman
It just takes all kinds Tom, I myself am a scratch-building, kit-bashing fool. I love the personal skill and effort that it takes me to build something out of "nothing" or some raw starting point.
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I also have many R-T-R Kadee's, built several Tichy kits, resin kits, ad infinitum. Modern, current models ARE pretty great, and I intend to buy many of them as finance & time permit. But, when I was a kid growing up in the '50's, my parents were of that time where "nothing-was-wasted". My mother saved buttons, scraps of material, patched my jeans, and (you know,.....the story of those times?). She used to say, "You eat everything on your plate. Think of all those starving children in China!" My model-railroading practices followed those same principles. Model Railroader used to have a column called, "Kinks", back then, where they'd pay you a dollar for ideas on how to use an old ball-point-pen, brass cartridge for tubing and all that kind of stuff. I have stashes of all kinds of screws and parts like that. I can't help it. That tendency will be with me until I go to that great RIP-track in the sky. To me, it comes from just a strong sense of conservatism. Tom Mix just posted a picture of a really fine, labor-intensive, scratch-built car in the photo-section. Boy, am I further inspired!! Paul Hillman
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From: pullmanboss<mailto:tgmadden@...> To: STMFC@...<mailto:STMFC@...> Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 1:41 PM Subject: [STMFC] Our stashes of obsolete models (Was: ATSF class Bx-49) Why? What is it that keeps us from throwing bad/obsolete models away?? I suffer from this same affliction and have large stashes of old models, detail parts, decals and half-finished projects that have long since been eclipsed by better offerings. Yet I can't bring myself to toss them, even though their aggregate cost was small compared to the value of the extra time it would take me to build them into models comparable to Branchline, Red Caboose or InterMountain. It's one thing to cherish an old Ambroid kit for its collectibility, even to build it just for the experience. But it's quite another to hang on to all those old plastic freight car kits, body shells and detritus of past kitbashing projects. The C&BT kits were the only game in town for a while, but they were not good kits. The FRP kits were better but, as the late Terry Metcalfe once told me, "Fred [Becker, owner of FRP] always does 90% of a good job." My wife is no help. Last time I tried to dumpster a cubic foot or two of Life-Like (toy), Bachmann, Tyco and T-M shells and hulks she allowed as how the grandsons might like to have them. What for? The 4-year old is into Thomas the Tank Engine, and the 8-year old prefers scale rolling stock that actually runs. When and if he's ready to enter the craft side of the hobby, I'd prefer he start with something other than my old junk. Or your old junk. My name is Tom, and I have a junk retention problem......... Tom Madden Yahoo! Groups Links
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