Planning With Purpose part 1                    

by Tileguy

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Last year we discussed 15 minutes and how you can see progress daily by finding just 15 minutes at a time every day. Planning that 15 minutes helps us to use it wisely.

 

How many times have you had 15 minutes planned and the workbench was so cluttered it took 15 minutes just to clear it? Does it take 15 more minutes to put your hands on your project plans, tools and miscellaneous other items? Have you ever gone to the railroad room and noticed that the bench work had become a large shelving unit and wasted more time clearing an area to work? Where did you put everything? On a different Area of the Bench work so that you would be playing ping pong with your items each time you had a moment to spend on the railroad?

 

What do you say to us taking the time to develop a plan of attack, a method to our madness so to speak. And how about we actually write down an order in which to do things to streamline our modeling time. A list or an Outline, An order of attack, call it what ever you like, but know that this is your blueprint and as much a part of your track plan as the plan itself. So, you have your track plan and you are ready to build bench work right?? Wrong!! Remember, we want to streamline so without curbing our excitement lets make sure of several things and this is where our list comes in.

 

#1- Do we have our electrical needs in our train room covered. If not, lets add outlets, better overhead lighting and perhaps, run some wiring for additional lighting that we will install above the layout.

 

#2- OK, lets finish those walls and paint a basic sky backdrop at the very least. (Wow, now we are getting somewhere)

 

#3- Time to get to the Bench work and get out all the tools lumber and fasteners we’ve collected up.

 

#4- OK, we have our bench work framed, our upper soffit in (or our second level) and our roadbed in place. Now we can start to lay track right? No, not yet. Our next step is critical and one that it seems 99 percent of the folks in our hobby forget to do before putting away those carpentry tools.

 

#5- It is time to build Shelving, as much shelving as you can afford, have room for etc. Mobil shelves that can be rolled out from underneath the layout are a nice feature but more importantly they will eliminate a huge time gobbler, No place to put things except that big flat spot called bench work.

 

#6- next lets organize our workbench and our tools, our paints and our supplies. A place for everything and everything in its place all save many wasted hours. Don’t forget to include a place for scraps, odds and ends and of course your magazine collection.

 

In the construction industry we deal with blueprints, but a blueprint is just so much paper without the details, addendums and architectural notes. Your track plan is your blueprint, your outline or list is your detail packet.

 

OK folks, there it is, the secret to saving perhaps hundreds of hours of wasted modeling time. Don’t believe me? Ask any old model railroader and he’ll likely just nod his head as he recalls his own wasted time clearing bench work and looking for that wire cutter. Doing this while the room is still relatively clear and the tools from building the bench work are already at hand only makes sense. If you don’t do it now, believe me the more time that goes by, the less likely it is to ever happen. Do yourself a favor; make a plan that makes sense and then stick to that plan. It will pay off dramatically in the end!!