Return of Lionel Strang

So what have you contributed to the Model Railroading world today Mid-Railroader ?
All I see is a stirred up behive that serves no goodwill in the hobby, and raises the ire of my fellow TB members.

 

Friends, As a website moderator myself I must admit that these occasional moral sidetracks are kind of humorous. I don't know any of the principals involved and I wish them all well. Once again we've learned a small lesson on being good to our neighbor so our neighbors will be good to us. Peace out. Cheers, Jim CCRR/Socalz44

 

I agree with Midnight and on both counts.

Yes, this is a ridiculous tip - unless it comes with a number of other tips, or if it is part of a laundry list of "Good Habits You Should Consider Adopting." then I would expect it to be one in maybe 100 items to check off.

But if this is the single item of offering...What????

P.S. You don't have to be either a tailor or a nudist to know when the Emporer is wearing no clothes; You don't have to be either a manufacturer nor a mechanic to know the car don't run right.

Catch my drift?

You don't have to be a writer nor an entertainer to know when the show S***S!

It may indeed be easier to criticize then it is to create, but in the end, a mediocre creation is STILL a mediocre creation, no matter how much heart the owner has put into it. If there is enough heart in it, the piece MAY survive as "modern art" - but nothing more.

 

Unfortunately, this is the sort of misunderstanding one gets from folks outside the publishing industry and who don't have a clue as to how various facets work.

The team of Hediger and Strang have a monthly assignment to do the Workshop column. As someone who wrote for a magazine for 20 years I can tell you that they are probably allotted so many column inches to fill and that the expectations are for a lead topic of moderate interest/value, plus either some filler, or the answering of a few readers' questions, nothing more. The brief bit on nail in the tube is a filler item.

Such columns do not have the expectation of proving earth shaking material to the readers, more often just some common sense ideas. The team of Hediger and Strang are accomplishing this in a reasonable manner, at least in my book.

Those that don't know should not be quite so quick to condemn.

NYW&B

 

John, the premise is: I know this, so everyone should know this. I have seen this tip before, so everyone has seen this tip before. And from that comes the logic: "Tips should not be repeated once they are first published." I guess they must automatically become part of Humanity's general Gestalt once uttered or published.

This would come as disappointing and worrying news for me because I would have to conclude that I have missed the download on a lot of information....somehow. So much for automatic processes.

 

NYW&B and COverton have made some very astute observations. I started publishing at 19 and never stopped. When I was writing for early computer magazines, I often stopped to think: did readers really know what the acronyms BASIC, FORTRAN or COBOL actually stood for, and did I need to to spell them out? Or I'd get a frantic call from a publisher on Friday night asking for a 1000-word feature on Command Line Interpreters because he had just sold an advertising package to CLI Software. And, oh, could I have it by Monday? Or I'd publish War With the Wabbits in the Sunday paper, and have bunny lovers excoriating me in Letters to the Editor, even though I had never harmed a rabbit. Why? Well, my fence was starving the poor little varmints.

Let's all take a step back, and realize that publishing a trade magazine is not a fun business in these days of the Internet. With reduced editorial staffs, filling holes is harder than in the heyday.

And what's really wrong with recommending drywall screws? Consider the following filler:

I recommend deck screws for sealing caulking guns. I use deck screws because I had some left over from a deck project. Previously I used nails. Deck screws are superior because they really fill the hole, whereas nails can leave you with a smaller opening unless I have some 16p nails around. Now, deck screws are more expensive, but no one uses 16p nails for decking projects any longer because they pop as the decking expands and contracts. I certainly would not make a run to the hardware store to buy deck screws for the sole purpose of sealing caulking guns, but most of us have a few lying around.

Now, that's a silly paragraph on a pretty inconsequential subject. If I had to I could write another paragraph or two about deck screws, or even compare them to drywall screws, or extoll the physics of screws versus nails, e.g: Sometimes smooth objects can be harder to pull out than screwy objects because the surface tension of a smooth object can be greater than that of a screwy object. . .

That's even sillier. I'm having a bit of fun thinking about fillers. And on Coverton's premise.

 

Well spoken, Pete, NYW&B, and Crandell.

Model Railroader caters not just to experienced modelers but to beginners. I don't know what is going on in their editorial room, but it could be that Lionel Strang was assigned the topic of tips for those fairly new to the hobby. I hardly think that makes him a laughingstock.

Yes, screws in the end of a tube of sealant seems obvious to me, too, but I've been using tubes of caulking and adhesive and sealant for decades. Someone new to the hobby might not have thought of that, and for a magazine author to mention it is not out of place.

I have made plenty of posts in response to questions posted by new people that, taken out of context, would probably seem really basic, but they serve a purpose. I would hope that nobody would ridicule me for answering new members' "obvious" questions, but the fear of that is pretty small compared to what I perceive as the value of helping new people.

 

I'll beat this gasping horse one last time and then call it a job...

SD, I, too, would hope not to be ridiculed by anyone for answering a basic question so that the person asking the basic question would not feel as ridiculous for having asked in the first place. I would have wanted to welcome and acknowledge the newcomer by directly, and respectfully, answering his obvious need for information.

And this is what irritates me about the OP's position. The periodical exists for his purposes to the exclusion of the needs of others...or its own needs as an enterprise. So I must concede if I am to agree with him.

 

Well, I for one, am glad that the people who run this board, have taken a stand.

What I saw was a person attacked on a professional (if that's the right term) and then on a personal level. And, I don't know Mr. Strang. I've read a lot of his articles, and after 50 years in the hobby, I never personally found anything really out of line in any of them.

There was another forum (which will remain nameless), that was not quite as well directed as 'Trainboard.' It was an interesting forum, I really enjoyed except for 2 or 3 individuals who (to me at least), went a bit out of their way to attack certain manufacturers new products or the postings of others that did not reach their level of "expertise".

My final straw was a posting on how dumb a certain manufacturer was because their F unit was 1-1/2" (in scale - or some such dimension) versus the other manufacturers which "this time" was "right on." Well, I just happen to have some of both units, and, try as I might - I just couldn't see it.

Needless to say, I dropped out.

I have enjoyed 'Trainboard', the people who post herein, and would like to think I've made a few friends here. That said, I really don't want to see 'Trainboard' become like that other forum.

 

Well, I've just read that tip and found it useful. I've avoided using (wood) screws for that purpose before because the thread does not seal the hole. But the shape of the drywall screw plus LS advice about getting the plain part of the shank and head to seal the hole makes good sense. It's not as obvious as some might think.


Mind you, I don't actually have any drywall screws

 

And, having never read that particular MR article, am glad about that tip, even this late in life. I use silicone adhesive a lot on installs and have never heard about that.

 

I was not aware that it was my job to contribute anything to the hobby, today or any other day.

But, all right, folks, from this point, I will refrain from posting any comments which could be interpreted as negative, bashing, or will raise the ire of TB members.

Seems a bit odd that the only acceptable opinion to express is a positive one, but as long as everyone else is held to the same standard--no negative comments, bashing, or raising members' ire--I guess I can do it as well.

 

I don't think you understand, Midnight. It isn't that a person's "negative" feedback is unwelcome here....it is how it is rendered that may be unwelcome. All of us can take constructive criticism. What we can't take, to use your own words, is "bashing"...particularly when we aren't present to respond or to at least explain ourselves.

There is a big difference between saying, "I wish Lionel Strang would have included a couple more less-well-known tips in his article instead of just the one to do with deck screws," and saying, as you did, "...his genius contribution is...

You can plug up tubes of caulk and Liquid Nails-type stuff with a drywall screw so it won't dry out!

Ta-da!

Honestly, this guy has been a laugingstock for years. Everything he writes about (breathlessly, I might add, as if he's discovered something incredible) is a simple concept that's been around for years."

You didn't mean he was a genius, so you were using sarcasm. I can't speak for others looking on, but I could picture your sneer as you typed. Then, when he wasn't looking, you called him a laughingstock. Who's laughing? Can you hear laughter?

The simple concepts that have been around for years are not known by many people who come to this hobby, and to this forum, seeking answers to thorny questions that vexed even you a few years back. You are exhibiting what psychologists call a "hindsight" bias where things you now know seem so patently obvious that you feel they were always known and obvious....and by everyone!

It is one thing to say you don't like what someone says or does, but quite another to assert that the person saying it is stupid, dull, braindead, and other pejorative terms that amount to an ad hominem attack. An ad hominem is a fallacy of relevance in the study of formal logic. Literally, it means taking the argument to the man. Rather than argue the merits of that person's assertions, their rightness or wrongness, you infer that the person uttering them is a dolt. You have not proven the rightness or wrongness, but you have called the person a dolt. In other words, you have not won the argument. Some would say you have no argument and must resort to attacking the person since you can't easily refute what he maintains to be the truth.

So, I would ask you....does a deck screw do a decent job in the nib of a tube of caulking of keeping the contents of the tube moist, soft, and usable for a time? There is only one answer....yes...or, no. And if no, why it is no...not that the person claiming it is a good method must have been dropped on his head when he was born.

 

All right.

 

I won't speak to the "genius" of Lionel or the political correctness of the responses posted here.

What I WILL speak to is the fact that I've used tubes of caulk for nearly 50 YEARS. It's only been the last FIVE years of so that I've sealed the tube opening with a drywall screw. Prior to that, I've used almost anything imaginable, from nails to tape and even the 'caps' included with some tubes for the sole purpose of sealing the tube opening. Why, I've even used a bent screwdriver! (Performed double duty: closed the tube opening AND provided a long enough reach to stir the contents of the tube when re-opened! How's THAT for ingenuity?? Huh? Huh? ROFLMAO!)

So maybe Lionel's "tip" isn't all that bad. After all, it took ME 45 years to learn it! LOL

Darrell, quiet...for now

 

The staff has closed this thread. It was getting rather pointless, and has run its course.