Neil wrote:It looks like you've built far more than my three, are there any techniques/dodges that take some of the sting out of the process?
Hi Neil,
We've built a rake of 14 Dogfish/Catfish for Mostyn.
As regards techniques and dodges, I'm afraid there's nothing revolutionary to report. Often it's not much more than a bloody-minded determination not to be beaten by a collection of moulded parts and other added components. Add to this a willingness to tolerate some tedious but vital modelling processes and finish off with a desire to get on with the next modelling project down the line.
Amongst the conditions that make my modelling more productive and enjoyable are:-
1. Having other people around (either working on whatever I'm doing or working on something completely different.
2. Having a deadline to meet (i.e. i want this running at xxxxx exhibition)
3. Believing that I'll only ever work on the current project once and need to get the most out of it (in other words I'm only going to be making 21T minerals once and will never make them again).
4. Not having more than a couple of projects on the go at any one time.
5. Devising and building jigs to make components very quickly (not a big deal if you're making one or two wagons but a huge time and effort saver when you start building rakes).
6. Getting all the research marshalled - I dont build things very well if I dont understand them.
7. Making sure I get the chassis/underframe running smoothly at a very early stage in the project.
The other thing, I suppose, is that having built some hundreds of vehicles, I've 'got my eye in' and will tend to solve problems quite quickly.
Hope this helps (but I accept it might not

)
Cheers,
Richard