Yet another Woodland Scenics Scenic Ridge layout… ^_^;;

[qwertyaardvark]

Better watch out, some dude just copied your layout design...

 

Hehehe... Lurking in the forum shadows, I have taken note of his layout... and looks like he's caught up to me... ^^;;

 

Unfortunately, progress is minimal on Ougakemachi.　At best, I have assembled the prepainted Tomytec buildings, and taken out the pre-assembled Kato buildings to place on the layout. Plastic kit and Sankei buildings have yet to be touched. For now, don't hold your breath for updates, as Life is keeping me busy at the moment.

 

CAUTION: RANT AHEAD

 

For those wondering why so little progress has been made: My current job involves a lot of physical labor at wee hours in the morning leaving me pretty much sleeping/dead in the daytime. Ashamedly, I admit i find it hard to find enthusiasm to buy paint/assemble/spray paint/city plan in what few waking hours I have. Also, as one imagines, the wage sucks. And then my student loans come in.  Me having a job related to my degree/level or not, I must pay them. The last few months have been a lot of living paycheck to paycheck and relying heavily on parents. Add to that, too-depressing-to-count job applications that have gone unanswered or rejected. As much as it hurts to see my layout collect dust and cobwebs, the layout will be the least of my worries for at least the next few months, maybe year to come.

 

END RANT

[Bernard]

Aardvark - Any updates on your layout?

[CaptOblivious]

qwerty, I understand your frustrations! My modeling has had to take a backseat to other priorities, too, one of which involved reading rejection letters from employers. But it'll come around, it almost always does.

[Mudkip Orange]

<rant>

 

This seems to be the defining experience of our graduating class.

 

I was able to negotiate >$900 in student loan payments down to about $400, so you might try calling those people if you haven't already. Of course the interest is unchanged so I'm just treading water.

 

One thing is for sure, the entire world can't stay in a slump forever. The US might sputter for awhile longer, given the tea-partying proclivities of our current politicians and the general idiocy of the American electorate. But there will eventually be jobs, good jobs, worst case scenario you'll just have to move to another state... or another continent.

[Martijn Meerts]

I actually managed to not build up a student loan, I paid for everything when I needed it. Of course, I didn't actually finish the study ;)

 

I do wonder what'll happen though. The world population is ever increasing, and the amount of available jobs is ever decreasing due to automation of many tasks...

[Mudkip Orange]

I actually managed to not build up a student loan, I paid for everything when I needed it. Of course, I didn't actually finish the study ;)

...which is what you can do when you live in a country where education is at least somewhat affordable and HR doesn't use a bachelor's degree as a pre-screening criteria for clerical positions.

 

qwerty and I are 'murricans which means we have to play by the rules of the American economic system, for worser or for poorer.

[Martijn Meerts]

It also helps that I didn't go to university, because university is expensive here as well.

 

I studies mid-level car mechanics (had I finished it, I could've gone on to university level), and yearly cost were about 2500 euro plus an additional 1000-1500 for required books and other materials. The first year was somewhat more expensive.

[keiichi77]

Excellent Layout qwertyaardvark. I am also going to use the Scenic Ridge track plan modified to include an outer loop and a few other changes. I am going to extend mine to 3' X 7' if I can get a 3' X 8' up my narrow basement curved stairwell I will go that way but I doubt it would fit once the elevation is added. I am not worried about transportation to train shows or events as my club has large vehicles to transport our HO modules with plenty of room to spare. Instead of a mountain I am going to go with a plateau on a third of the layout with the rest being 0 elevation. Its hard to explain what I am going to do so I will start a new thread an post pictures once I start. I am going to go with unitrack and currently working on finalizing the track plan with XTrkCad before I buy the pieces I need.

[Mudkip Orange]

Yeah sometimes I look at the student loans and the time I've spent not earning money and I wonder why I didn't just become a truck driver.

 

Of course, it's a moot point now. No one's gonna hire a trucker with an MBA...

[qwertyaardvark]

UPDATE: Baby Steps Towards Completing Buildings

 

In an effort to jump-start my work on the layout again, I will work on my available sankei kits so that I can get some momentum before I start to tackle my plastic kit phobia. My goal is to build one per day or two, so that I finish all my sankei kits by Friday (or at least by the weekend) and have 5 more buildings to place on Ougakemachi. After that, I'll look into buying paint for the tunnel openings, rail crossings, and smaller buildings and work my way on up to the larger station and school house.

 

I just finished my first Saneki kit, the police station. I must say I do like how it turned out; it looks like it will blend in well with the rest of the painted buildings, thanks to the matte look of the card stock. I did though have a few reservations. Maybe having not worked on modeling in a while, but WOW hobbylink's guide on sankei kits was pretty dead on. Patience, Steady hands, Good eyes, and Tweezers (which i need to buy either tonight or tomorrow...) are a MUST. The "large" pieces like the walls weren't a problem... It was the 3-piece chair and 5-piece desk that drove me insane! x_x;; You know you are up for some serious business when you apply glue with sharpened toothpicks and, in lieu of real tweezers, you use toothpicks like chopsticks trying to arrange the desk and chair in the tiny room. Looking through the rest of kits, it doesn't look like I'll be doing any such madness again, though I must admit it is a nice touch to the building overall, being able to see such detail through the clear doors. Oh the things we do for model railroading... 

 

Oh yeah, pro tip for the sankei police station building instructions: the red line means to line up the edges!

 

I'll post pictures of the completed kits sometime during the weekend~

[Mudkip Orange]

boosh!

[qwertyaardvark]

Update: Finished 3 kits, working on one, and one more to go...

 

Good news: I finished the Police box, Fire department building, and Storage/warehouse kits. Plus the INSANE tiny things that came with each: Sign, Bicycle, Cart, Rickshaw, and Water bucket.

 

Slightly tired from working+OT, but still managing to glue a few things here and there before going to sleep/work and I hope the two unfinished kits will be finished by Wednesday... ^^;; So far, my ability to keep my layout with a schedule is going about as well as an American construction project! :P Delays and cost overruns galore~

 

The more I work on these kits, the more I realize how truly small N scale is... I don't think I could handle T or Z gauge objects without breaking or smashing flat something... x_x;;

 

One thing that worried me at first was how small the buildings looked compared to my Tomytec and Kato buildings but soon realized that, yes, a police box and one-truck fire house will most certainly be dwarfed when compared to any building that's two stories, has a foundation, and has a fence. And upon building the larger warehouse, and working on the soba shop, the senkei buildings certainly are designed smaller, but are reassuringly to scale. I am definitely liking how the Sankei kits are coming out and certainly will be looking into buying more sankei kits in the future.

 

And without further ado, my progress thus far~

[qwertyaardvark]

and a little bit more photo spam~ :)