What project have you given up on?

[Roger Holmes]

My latest failure was an office building kit from Imagine That Laser that I bought in November at Trainfest--these are the folks that sell the lacy elevated train structures.  Upon removing the very thin plywood parts from their shrinkwrap they immediately curled up into contorted shapes that would make a big box store 2 X 4 look straight.  I hoped that in building the structure they would pull themselves into alignment. Noooooooooo!  I did something that I rarely do and did a "downward demolition" with my fist.

I did salvage the facade which has been sitting under a piece of 1:1 rail and will be attached to the new structure which I created from Evergreen sheet.  Net result $40.00 for a laser cut wooden office facade and a pile of kindling.  On second thought maybe I should save the warped parts and model that big box store lumber department. ;D  Imagine that!

[FloridaBoy]

First, I am an old guy age 63 but the determination and enthusiasm of a 18 year old.   One of those enthusiasms over the past few years are the IM Pacific Fruit Express and other yellow/orange 40' reefer kits which are a little more taxing than let's say the older MicroTrains kits from the mid-eighties.

"Build it Yourself" kits are not quite popular down here in South Florida, as we are not homebound by weather conditions, so "ready to roll" is immensely popular and increasing every day. 

So, I managed over the past few years to accumulate a few IM kits, which we all know are exquisitely detailed and quite impressive on any Steam-Diesel era layout. While I was recovering from a hospital stay, I was sort of homebound, but spent some time in my spare bedroom work area to build 10 of the 15 kits I have purloined.  The by-product of cutting, gluing, and assembling these kits caused my eyeballs to fall out of my head.  I still look at the remaining unbuilts and think "Someday......." but in reality, until my eyeballs get white again, and if I ever develop a kindred liking for pain, these kits will sit.

Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman   

[tehachapifan]

2 standard-cab GP60's, one SP and one SSW, that I started shortly before the LL release along with A Griwold, rotating stop sign crossing signal that I seriously started about 2 days before the NJI announcement.

These projects are somewhat significant because all my other projects made it all the way to completion before the same (often exact) item became available in RTR form. I've even modeled the same road number that was then released commercially on more than one occasion! This was an HO scale SP SD45T-2 kitbash (#9224) that appeared in MR a few times and an N scale SP (ex DRGW) SD40T-2 kitbash (#5351). :

Russ

[DrifterNL]

Kaslo Shops 62' Skeleton Log Car.........

[pnolan48]

I'm presuming I must have made some real effort before giving up. I've abandoned hundreds of projects in the early stages, without too much time, money or effort. Just throw the bits back in the parts box. And I've abandoned a dozen projects, sometimes for years, only to pick them back up and try again, discarding the first effort but succeeding with the second.

I tried to build a motorized transfer table for the back shops out of styrene. Probably needed a precision milling machine for that one.

Then I tried a Baldwin Centipede out of trucks from a UP DD40X. Correct wheel size, correct spacing, workable scratchbuilt frame, modifiable side frames, looking good--but for the infamous Bachmann cracked axles. The NWSL replacements would cost an N-scale fortune. Ah--maybe in a few years.

Remotoring old sAtlas 0-8-0 with ZAMAC frames. TMI? I have one out of four tries that will run--on C80 track. I have C55 track. I have four that have been set aside because they actually showed some signs of life--about ten years ago.

Building a Triplex out of old Atlas 0-8-0s. Yeah, that was a keen idea.

I used to call these Stupid Mistakes. But that title just doesn't seem to sit well these days.

[Nato]

                "Projects! Projects!" "Gentelmen we don't gotta show you no Stinkin Stupid Projects!" I have projects going back to the late 1980's that have never even been started, a nice black resin cast boiler shell for theTrix PRR 2-10-0 that is correct size and the steam chests allign with the cylinders. Several resin lightweight baggage car shells I was going to build as NP two tone green cars,but now we have them from Walley (Walthers) ,NSN Retro Frame kits for the wrong leingth Atlas GP-9 diesels,bought a grundle of the correct leingth ones when Atlas corrected their mistake,many vehicle kits to build to list a couple of examples kits from Ultimate N Scale a 52 Chevy Fast Back Automobile,buy one finished from Classic Metal Works,a Gasoline tank truck kit almost matches the Classic Metal Works one execpt cab is a Studibaker, not a Ford. In closing let me say if you put off doing that project long enough, either  build a kit, or make it from scratch, some manufacturer will provide it for you and save you the work. Nate Goodman (Nato).

[SkipGear]

I had given up on this....



.... until this thread popped up.

After all the work on the body and tender, I couldn't get the mechanism to run worth a poop at low speed. I had been working with NWSL to make a regear kit to lower the gearing and communications came to a screeching halt over the summer last year. It has been setting in pieces in a box ever since.

 I just ordered some Spectrum 2-8-0 gears from Bachmann that may be what I need to fix the gearing and get this thing back on track. Kato motor may be really smooth but they don't make any torque and with the factory gearing, it struggled to move at low throttle. A BEMF decoder just made it worse.

The only other one I gave up on completely was a brass car side kit for the B&O domes. Once I got them and started comparing to the Rowa Dome car that they were intended to go on, there wasn't enough difference to justify all the work.

[delamaize]

This one I haven't really given up on, but put on perminate hold pending some diffrent tools.

Deep river No 7, AKA, the Skookum. I am still going to finish this one of these days, but I don't have the tools I need to mill the frame. the enitre thing is going to be tender drive, loco pickup, like a fleischmann steamer.

[Mr. G]

Republic Locomotive Works shay kit.  Several parts were missing.  Requested replacements through the shop where I had ordered the kit. Started the kit after reading the directions so many times they almost made sense.  The frame castings are warped and badly miscast.  Nearly finished model (sans missing parts) doesn't function.  Weeks of trouble-shooting result in a model that buzzes and jerks, but does nothing else.  Put kit away in a box for two years.

After two years, received a call from the train shop that my replacement parts for the shay had arrived at some point in the past, but now that they're cleaning out the back room, they found them.  Yay, the project can recommence. 

Ordered Tom Knapp's revised instructions, which turn out to simply be 2 photocopied pages.  Have several "ah-ha" moments.  Start ground up rebuild of the model.  In the process, I ham-fistedly maul the phosphor bronze wipers.  Purchase new wipers.  Install wipers and notice that one frame half has developed a crack.  Locomotive sputters but electrical pick up seems spotty at best Put the whole mess in a box and hope I someday have the skill and patience to make it work.

Kit: $109
MT F7 donor: $99
Revised Instructions: $2
Replacement wipers: $4

Knowing to avoid things marked "Nn3 locomotive kit": Priceless

That last one may be going by the wayside soon, as I've been looking at a lot of Maerklin steam engines here and thinking again about RLWs other kits.  It might be best if I left Germany altogether.

[Packer]

1. Repairing the radiator grill on one of my U33Cs. There is a good sized-chunk of the side radiator on it missing. Already tried everything I could think of to fix it. If I ever find an undec U23B hood, this U33C will become a U23C.


2. Fixing up my Rivarossi U25C. Kaslo shops makes a power chassis, detail set, and walkway tread set for the unit. The biggest problem is actually finding the parts, and the price is a bit expensive (probably around $200 for all the parts) for a kid going through college.

There was something posted on the Atlas board about using the Atlas trainmaster chassis and modifying the original trucks for re-powering but I can't find the gears for said trucks, and modifying the frame to increase the wheelbase is a bit beyond my range of skills at the moment.

I have though about using the Bachmann E33C chassis since it has the right trucks. I'm not sure if the wheelbase is right but I know I would have to modify the frame since they are too long. If I went this route it'd probably be cheaper to buy an entire loco than just parts from bachmann

[m301]

Due to lack of funds,  I have stopped

A: Putting DCC decoders in my loco's,
B: Finishing a Unitrack layout, even though I purchased the wood for the layout,
I can't afford the not too cheap Unitrack.

Also, I need a motor and its retainer for an Atlas SD-60.

I'd love to creat more SD-60M's that Conrail had, but don't have funds for the parts.
(Or the bodies from Atlas)

I hope to hit lotto soon, and have some help building a full layout in my basement.
I know that probably won't happen, but I can wish it does.
Hopefully our economy will improve and I'll get back to work.
THAT would change my attitude towards everything.
I'd love to go to Springfield, but unless Amtrak takes Metro Cards, I'm not getting close to the place.

Have to take the bad with the good.
Oh and someday it'll stop snowing.