Model making and Model Railroading

[The_Animal]

As have I, rm. I realized that when the scale modelers were relegated to going down to the basement of the store to locate our model kits, and the scale train buffs got to hobnob at streetlevel with the store clerks.

There was also a dedicated model-railroader's place in New Westminster as well...that I experienced the same response as Rider-Fan. I couldn't get out of that heretofore un-mentionable place fast enough.

And the other reason why there will be NO Scale Modeler's Alliance.

We think they're:

...

And we think we're cooler than they are. :P

For that reason, I tend to be somewhat hesitant about promoting the hobby. Of course, that may also be some of my own baggage..I got into modeling heavily back in my teens, and was one of those nerdy socially inept outcasts throughout high school. Even though those days are ancient history, I still tend to see myself that way, and fear that others will too.

SN

And you also went into photography. :P That probably did wonders for your social status as well as for your pocket book. :P Yeah, don't worry, mine's hurting too.

thoughts of picking up Nikon 600mm f/4 VRII --->panicked scream from wallet.

Edited October 23, 2010 by The_Animal

[Steve N]

I had a similar "get thee behind me Satan" momant in a hobby shop two or three years ago, but it wasn't a train place. As a last ditch effort to survive, one of my favorite old hobby haunts dumped almost all the plastic model stuff and switched over to gaming. They literally shoved all the shelves over to one side of the small storefront, and set up several big wargaming "terrain" tables. I took advantage of their close-out sale, buying up a bunch of Gunze acrylics they were dumping for a buck a jar. When I dumped a couple dozen on the counter, the slightly bemused college kid clerk asked what I used them for. I said "model airplanes," and he just gave me an "oh.." You would have thought I was the serial killer mentioned in the earlier thread. In any case, the shop closed up just a few months later.

I get what you mean by being consigned to the basement, Animal. I've got my workshop in an upstairs bedroom, even though there's more room in the basement and it would be much cooler in the summer. It's just another holdover from when I was a kid, and my mom made me move all that "mess" into the basement. Ever since I've been on my own, I've had a bit of a complex about it, and refused to "hide" my hobbies in the cellar.

SN