My first thought...many years ago...was to build THE RV to take to shows. Then Common Sense set in... 1) My modeling skills are no where near good enough to be "show material". 2) With the narrow aisleway in THE RV there would be no way to protect the layout from either kid's or adult's hands !! 3) People climbing in and out of the motorhome and falling off the steps would make it way to easy for me to be sued for everything I DONT have !!! I decided it is just for my personal enjoyment. Being a 'renter'...if I have to move again...I'll just drive THE RV over to the new place...plug it in...and run trains while THE Wife unloads all the other stuff out of the rental truck !!! LOL Like Ken said.... I will just be "...among the mass of bores who go to shows and keep my mouth shut and admire those who have the thick skin to take all of the smudge." :teeth:
I've been married well into 42 years now. If I tried the above described method, well, you can guess how smoothly that would not progress... :closedmouth:
A number of people whose layouts have featured in RAILWAY MODELLER over here have made similar comments. Some of the operators prefer it, too! Regards, Pete Davies
Lou D at post 31 said "people like this need to be stopped". Yes, indeed. They need to be stopped from breeding! Regards, Pete Davies
I still get kidded for the yell of "Don't Touch" when a 5 yr old started dragging my parked GS4 with Daylight down the tracks. Parents were standing right there, too. Kid started crying and parents looked confused. I told them the cost of the GS4, and they turned pale. They kept the kid away from all the other layouts of the show, though.
Right there is the problem..They don't understand the cost of what they're looking at..At my sons Graduation party,my friend showed up with his brand new Titan motorcycle..Over $50,000.00!!! I turned around,loked at the bike,my uncle is SITTING ON IT!!! "Hey Moose,how do I look??" "Ted,that bike costs more than your house.The paint alone is probably $18.000.00.." He turned pale as the blood rushed from his face..I think the secret is,put a price tag beneath every piece on the railroad,with a sign,:"you break it,you bought it,cost plus my labor to replace it.." And,oh yeah,that custom locomotive pulling the train you see took me 100 hours to build..
As I noted back in post #29, possibly worth repeating here: "I believe a lot of people are foolish enough to equate the little 99 cent bags of variety store toys with what they see on display layouts. They have no clue the actual cost or value of that work in view."
I also went to different Shows here in Europe. Best solution is to raise the level of the layout so the kids have to stand on a chair. The kids are not the problem! Almost the fathers are the one who like to look wit their fingers!
Maybe print up a bunch of these... http://uturncrossfit.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/go-ahead-make-my-day-quote-1.jpg And tape em to the fascia every 3 feet ... LOL
That is exactly what I said several pages ago. The best part about it is that it works too. But, hey, what do I know, eh?
Our FreeMoN modules have a rail height of 50 inches. The parent was holding the kid who started dragging my train. No single measure always works
Nothing can be made foolproof because fools are so ingenious..I'd bet he actually held the kid up so he COULD play with it..
Hey Johnny,look at the Choo Choo..Hurry up and wreck it so you get me and your mom thrown out so I can go home and watch the game..
Years ago I had a booth set up at the Milwaukee Trainfest doing airbrush seminars. A younger dad and his son (probably 7 or 8 years old) came up to my booth. The dad was very interested in painting and had plenty of questions. While the dad and I were talking, his now bored son kept touching some of my N scale displays. I would stop talking, address the young man with a soft yet firm "Don't touch please." This went on for a total of three times. After the third time, I excused myself from the conversation with the dad with an "Excuse me. Son?" "yes" He replied. "How many fingers do you have?" "5!" He replied, thrusting his right hand in the air for me to see. The whole time I had a hobby knife in my hand and I replied, lifting the the knife up to eye level, "Touch those locomotives one more time, and you'll have four." The dad looked dumbstruck and the kid quickly withdrew his hands to behind his back. For the next 20 minutes, the dad talked about he and his sons HO scale layout. When they were done, I asked the son if he had any passenger service on his layout. He replied he did so since he had learned his lesson, I gave him a new Walthers HO passenger car. Both dad and son were very happy and hopefully something was learned that day. Now before anyone gets their panties in a bunch, I knew I could go this route with this pair. I've learned to read people and know one can't do what I did in every situation, but for this one it worked and makes for a great story!
I got lambasted on here a few years ago about Modutrak's repsonse to the "why is the layout so high" question (answer: we built it for our enjoyment, not necessarily kids enjoyment). I can't imagine the response we'd get if we put up those signs too........ Again, we have more trouble with adults (usually males), with touching more than the kids. Really no common sense most times.
They're all,terrible.My neighbor and her daughter were at my house.Two HUGE women.They ask what it's made of,I say:"the whole thing is carved out of styrofoam"..Imagine my horror,as BOTH of them,like synchronized Olympic swimmers,jammed a finger into the foam up to the second knuckle,and ripped out a piece..That was the official last time the general public was invited into my domain. My cousin's daughter was at my house,my son's 17th birthday.I had just finished scratchbuilding an SD60M from a pile of Model Power GP40's and an extended TRIX U30C chassis.[Now on a Bachmann -8 chassis..So long ago,it didn't exist yet when I built it..] The SD is leading an auto rack train around the layout.I just finish describing to her how it took me 50 hours to build this locomotive from junk.She asks what the trees are made of.I say:"ground foam rubber"..She reaches down,and tears three or four of them off the mountain.I look at her in amazement,she realizes what she did,she sticks them back where they were..Almost..The bunch rolls right down the mountain,right in front of the SD,it derails,and the locomotive,followed by the entire train,plummets into the garbage can. "I bet you can be in your car and half way home before I dig that engine out.." Before I even finished talking,I heard a door slam outside..Luckily,I had thrown out a few rags earlier,and it was fine,only lost a few couplers out of the whole mess..I still have it,was CR,when I got the real Atlas SD60M's,I repainted it NS..
No, there is no panacea, no silver bullet, no universal fix but raising the layout is the cheapest and most effective method.
