Newbie: Misc.Thoughts

Cheetah20

Member
Had to start another thread before other info gets buried and mixed up :confused:

1) how do I put PHOTOS on this site to show you my progress..?? (I hope)
2) I am handy and patient enough with detail. Can I paint locos & cars?
3) I scrapped my idea of REAL water (pump) What material is good to use?
4) Is EBAY good to BUY stuff on? (worried if something goes wrong)

Thanx :mrgreen:
 

Jim Krause

Active Member
(1) I'm photo illiterate too.

(2) Sure, no reason why you can't. Like everything else in model railroading, you need to do some research, try your new found skill on something not too expensive.

(3) The general concensus here and about everywhere else is that real water doesn't look like real water on a small scale layout. Then there is the evaporation and leakage issue. Garden railroaders can get away with using it. I tried Woodland Scenics Realistic Water but found that it never gets really hard and collects dust. My recent project was done with Envirotex clear resin and it worked really well. I have yet to try a product to make rapids or waterfalls but they are available.

(4)Ebay? I've seen some positive and some negative comments here on the gauge. My wife buys a lot of books on Ebay and I've bought parts for my project car without any negatives.
 

RailRon

Active Member
Cheetah, some answers:

Use the 'Search' function of the Gauge!

1. The instruction to post pictures are here.

2. Sure you can paint your rolling stock - but you'll have to decide what and how you paint your models - spray painting, brush painting, what type of colors, weathering yes or no, lettering by applying decals...
There are lots of threads on the Gauge dealing with this part of the hobby. Take a cheap peace of rolling stock and give it a try... :thumb:

3. IMO a good idea NOT to use real water. On a layout it just doesn't look natural. Again, there are lots of threads dealing with modeling (dry) water.

4. EBay buys always can be top or flop - be it a model locomotive or a used dishwasher... :mrgreen:

Do some research on the Gauge - this is already part of the fun...
We are looking forward to see some pictures of your work!

Ron

PS: I would place a thread of so many aspects into the 'General Talk' section of the Gauge. There are many more readers over there than in the specialized N/Z forum. Just a thought...
 

Cannonball

More Trains Than Brains
1) If you scroll down about two inches below the "Submit Reply" button, there is another button that is called, "Manage Attachments" It's pretty self explainitory from there. You click browse then find the file where your pics are stored. There is a 620 wide by 280 high pixel max however. Plus a 19.5 kb file size limit.

An alternate method is to set up an account at a free photo storage place such as Photobucket. Once you load a picture, it will give you different options to post pics. Either just posting the link to your pics in Photobucket, using HTML tags to load the pic onto a website or using the IMG tags to post the pics on forums such as "The Gauge"

2) If you are crafty and good with your hands, probably with a little practice. However, buy some cheapies to work on your skill before painting the good stuff.

3) A lot of people swear by Woodland Scenics synthetic water stuff. (Jim being an exception here. :D ) Some have used clear silicone caulking. I saw a trick a guy did once using a mirror. This is where experimentation comes in handy. It's whatever suits you the best.

4) eBay is a great place to buy and sell if you use a little bit of caution. Check a seller's feedback to see what other buyers have said about them. If they've got a lot of negative complaints, it's probably best to avoid them. If they only have one or two negatives, check out the people that left those and see if they are only overly picky or have a ligitimate complaint. eBay has also started a new rating service for buyers to rate a seller on several areas of a deal rather than just the overall experience. You rate them on the accuracy of their description, their communication, their shipping time and the fairness of their shipping charges. A lot of people put eBay down but I've found some great stuff with a little bit of patience.

And I'm going to add a #5. And please do not take this badly because I mean no offense. You don't need to tell us you're a newbie in every thread title. We're all here learning together after all. ;)
 

Cheetah20

Member
No offense......at all
No More Newbies !!....sounds contagious!! lol
I was just giving you guys a headsup and for me......
an excuse for sounding so dumb!!!!! lol
Thanx Ball' :)
 
C

Catt

One word of caution on Ebay (or as it is known in my house Trainbay).Watch out for the shipping charges,some of the people selling there want you to pay for everything including breakfast.

For instance one person has a 50' N scale boxcar.He wanted $9.00 for shipping.:eek: Needless to say as much as I wanted the car I wasn't going to pay THAT much to get it.Other than the shipping charges beware of fuzzy out of focus photos sometimes they hide a lot of sin.
 

Cannonball

More Trains Than Brains
One word of caution on Ebay (or as it is known in my house Trainbay).Watch out for the shipping charges,some of the people selling there want you to pay for everything including breakfast.

For instance one person has a 50' N scale boxcar.He wanted $9.00 for shipping.:eek: Needless to say as much as I wanted the car I wasn't going to pay THAT much to get it.Other than the shipping charges beware of fuzzy out of focus photos sometimes they hide a lot of sin.

With the recent potal increases, $9.00 might not be too far off if they are shipping priority. I just got done selling a bunch of plasticville stuff and I charged a $5.00 flat fee because the stuff just doesn't weigh that much. The least I paid for shipping was $6.20 to an address across the state. The post office is becoming more like UPS. They are charging by size and shape of the box as well as weight. I sent a box awhile back that cost me $71.00 to ship by parcel post. Even though it only weighed 12 pounds, the box was oversized and cost more to ship. I not only undercharged the buyer, I lost every dime I made on the sale.
 
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