Do Model Railroaders Have Other Hobbies?

My wife and I and another couple that model the Western Maryland in HO scale are tech and track officials for a production company that promotes truck and tractor pulling.

Starting Memorial Day weekend it is Pulling Season, end of September it is Train Layout season.

My wife and I make hand turned pens from wood and acrylics.

With all the previous posts about Corvettes, I'd like to hear some commentary about that 10-Piston Dodge Viper, renowned for its frightening speed and power!

BAD ORDER

Im not much of a vette fan,only the 63 split  window i like..the rest are rolling bath tubs..that what all of US autobody men call them..I love my 68 charger.the rear quarters and tail light design was from the marko shark vette..

I play jazz and big band trumpet

My current stable of Bb trumpets top to bottom:

1953 Olds Super (great horn for big band lead trumpet playing0

1978 Benge 3X+ (the best commercial/recording trumpets ever. Period. Just ask Earth Wind & Fire, Tower of Power, Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears etc. )

1971 Schilke B1 (my primary horn, all around player)

Not pictured are my flugelhorns, cornets, C and piccolo trumpets etc.

My Hobbies/Toys

Cars

Boating

Trains

Music

Movies

My other "major" hobby is cartooning. This is a character I created back in 1986-ish that I still draw today, along with about ten others I dreamed up between '83 and today. I drew up this particular pic for a similar OGR thread four years ago:



I've dabbled in R/C when a local R/C shop sponsored weekly races at a local park, but I drifted away after the shop closed. Races are still held there, organized by some other entity, but my trucks (a Tamiya ClodBuster and an Isuzu MU (Amigo)) became "show" vehicles rather than competition ones. Lately I've been dabbling with some unusual toy-grade R/C--a pair of buses: I'm collecting parts to upgrade these to digital proportional steering and throttle. Mostly by yanking the guts out of RadioShack XMods cars, since they're the about the cheapest way to acquire the requisite radio-receiver/speed-controller combo that doesn't also require replacing the motor with a brushless one (and having to piece together a whole new gear train in the process). The current crop of Xmods aren't based upon any real-life vehicles (an attraction of the previous series) so I have no qualms about buying one just to scrap the body/chassis.

---PCJ

(5/1/14: edited to place image sources on the forum instead of services that may be blocked by some webfilters)

RobRoy and BadOrder:  I reached my cousin and found that her uncle with all the Studes (House in Kentucky was built to accomodate them) had passed away, but

the remainder were divided up among three girls.  One got two Avantis and there

were seven others, but she, my cousin, didn't know what they were.  I never met

the man, unfortunately.  Too bad...I can relate to pack rats.  ((I knew the grandson

of the last president of St. Louis's Moon Motor Company (built Moon, Diana, Windsor,

and was involved with the Ruxton debacle) and he spent years collecting ever piece of

a Moon product he could find...at least one of them is displayed at the St. Louis

Transportation Museum, which is known for trains))  He did not have them all, though,

for I stood in a Pennsylvania garage sheltering a beautifully restored 1928 Moon 8

roadster, a Diana (unrestored) and a super rare Windsor coupe that I drooled all over,

unrestored, but not for sale.  Even before Corvettes were made there, (before Bowling Green) they made good cars in St. Louis.

HEY COLORADO HIRAILER, 

The following makes were still being manufactured in my lifetime:

Studebaker 

Nash

Packard

Hudson

De Soto

La Salle

Kaiser

Fraser

Terraplane

Cord

Duesenberg  (it's true!)

Lincoln Zephyr

Austin

Willys

Tucker

(There may be a few more.....)

BAD ORDER HAL, the most SENIOR MAN on the FORUM

In this order

Girls

Making money

Hunting

Dogs

Trains

Slot cars

taken

Problem was the early "vettes" had a suspension design taken from a pickup truck

Oh my goodness.....

The 53-54 models are an extremely acquired taste. Otherwise they were terribly under-powered and odd looking. The convertible top especially piled on the homely look. Hardly a sports car, it wouldn't be until the late 50s that they really figured out a winning design and earned that title. And if you want sports cars in the European tradition, then get European sports cars. Corvette is the quintessential AMERICAN sports car 

As for all of them looking like rolling bathtubs. Just...no 

Since the first of the year, I've taken up a new "Hobby".....Snow Removal!  I bought a new snow blower after Christmas and have almost worn it out already.  Woke up to 4" of snow this morning.  Were only supposed to get 1".  Oh well!!!

Can't wait until I can mow the yard again!

Tom

Haven't we all

Trains,model planes,or is planes & model trains and crabbing falls in there somewhere

at 82 I enjoy it all---fun is the name of the game

We saw the new 2014 Viper on the highway yesterday. Needless to say he wasn't too enthused about a Mazda minivan staying on his tail and eventually skipping in front of him 

Looks like Tom Densel lives in Atlanta!

My other hobbies:  hikinh, '68 e-Type Jag Roadster - came back home in mid December after full restoration was completed.  Looks and runs better than when new.  Almost all the Lucas junk has been replaced.

Published author on paranormal subjects, magazine articles, our horses, my Jeep Wrangler ( currently being rehabbed) gardening and pen and ink drawing, water colors. 

I wish I lived in Atlanta! At least there the snow goes away after a few days.  In Northwest Ohio it just keeps piling up.  We are running out of places to put it.  I wonder if we could ship it to Russia so they could use it for the Olympics.

Tom

HEY TOM,

Our High Desert country didn't get any snow this winter.

Some times we'll get a 2" or 3" snowfall which will stay around for a few days .  

BAD ORDER

Ooooh, what motor?...and there goes all your non-runablility-I mean authenticity!{lucas junk}

I'm happy to send you some of ours!{snow and cold}

Hmmmhmm, and while I do like vettes as much as the next guy, we both know he wasn't trying{unless he had a blueflame 6 in it- which he didn't}

Since many auto letters have been posted, let me include a list of all the cars I've owned since 1952, when I turned sixteen and got my license:

1934 Plymouth six  (First Car, paid $35. Ran great!)

1941 Dodge six

1936 Ford V8  (Only car that was the same age as me)

1942 Chevrolet six

!946 Pontiac straignt eight

1942 Mercury V8 Club Coupe  (My favorite car on the entire list!)

1940 Chevrolet six pickup truck

1949 Oldsmobile OHV V8  (First car with automatic transmision)

1941 Chevrolet six

1946 Plymouth six

1952 Oldsmobile OHV V8

1952 Ford V8

1957 Plymouth OHV V8

1963 Chevrolet OHV V8  (My first new car, $2388)

1968 Pontiac Firebird OHV V8  (My most powerful car. Bought new)

1978 Toyota Four  (My first foreign car, bought new. Drove over $112,000 miles, trouble-free.)

1985 Mitsubishi Starion Turbo four  (Fast!)

1991 Honda Accord Four  (Bought new)

1994 Dodge Minivan V6

1997 GMC Pickup Truck V6

1997 Plymouth Minivan V6

2005 Mazda Four  (Bought new)

2005 Mercury SUV V6

2008 Toyota Four  (Bought New)

2010 Hyundai SUV V6  (Bought new)

2005 Mercury SUV Four

2012 MAZDA 3 Four  (Bought new) 

27 cars since 1952.

Thanks for your attention,

BAD ORDER HAL

VIDEOGAMES AND RUNNING!!!!!!

Let me try again.

I have been playing these things since I was in High School. I actually make a few bucks doing it so technically it is not a hobby, but who cares!!

J

HEY JOHN,

I'm Impressed!

That's a 4-manual draw-stop Pipe Organ. (Not a Theatre Organ), and it looks like someone can read the Grand Staff!  (Treble Clef, Bass Clef, and Pedal Clef)

I don't see how anyone can be that coordinated!

I once built a single manual one-rank (61 pipes, 4' flute) pipe organ, blown by a vacuum cleaner into a home-made regulator chest.  It sounded "different", sort of like a "refined" Calliope. 

My favorite Theatre Organist was George Wright, and my favorite Classical Organist is E. Power Biggs. (Bach Tocatta & Fugue in D Minor)

BAD ORDER

Tom,

I live in Watertown, New York. Two days ago we had 22" of snow in 24 hours. Snow fall for just January was 112". Two weeks ago we set the nations coldest temp.at 37 below zero. 

John,

I've been working on those things since high school.  Nice looking E.M. Skinner.  How many ranks?

Tom

Bob,

With snow like that, snow removal is not a "hobby" but a full time job.  I can't imagine -37.  We've had some -20 with a -45 windchill, but -37 is just plain COLD.  Lets hope this winter ends soon.

Tom

==================================

It actually is an early hybrid: ~30 ranks of Moller +60 pseudo-ranks of electronic (soft stuff plus pedal) with a Harris Console. It looks like a Skinner though. I don't want to reveal its location.

J

Trains are top of the list.

I belong to a Drum and Bugel Corp and March during the summer.

I play on the snare line.

I like to fish.

I like to do car repairs.

This is mine......a little on the costly side.

Besides scratchbuilding model trains and structures, my primary hobbies tend to center on poking authority figures in the eye with a pointed stick, breeding fruit bats and slugs for fun and profit, and other activities that totally appall the authorities here,

The occasional scale model airplane

54mm figures

Reading history

well, um... I don't usually like... to talk about... my other interests. You see, they're always watching... what I do, and if I say something, this post... may get... picked up by... the NSA, or those other guys... who say they're not, but I know they are... the voice inside... my head... says so.

but I always... carry a shovel.

Yes, and while friends help you move, good friends will help you move the body,

I get free items, mostly antique, from Craigslist, fix them up (or restore), and then resell.  Helps fund my main hobby...lol.

Guns & shooting and NHRA Nitro Fueled professional racing.