whoa my jaw hurts from laughing so hard. As to combat modelling I have several scars from hobbiy knives and fingers that have slipped over the straight edge. I had one where I was using the chisel blade to remove the floor detail from a micro-trains 89' so to steady the model where do I put my hand.....in the direction of travel....I slip and take a slice of my finger. wanting to finish the model I wrap the finger in tissue and continue of course not learning from the recent past my hand ends up in the same place and sure enough slip.....this time I was lucky as the only victim was the tissue
All of my injuries have been with hand tools of the cutting persuasion. What could have been the exception occurred when I almost cut off my thumb whilst using a shaper bit in a large drill press. The tool grabbed the work, pulling my hand within a quarter of an inch of the blade. I shut off the drill press, removed the bit, and tossed it as far into the woods as I could. To this day, I wouldn't think of bringing a tool like that into the shop. I am not as dumb as I look . Len
In highschool inspired by the Diesel Spotters Guide I I wanted BIG motive power. Using a straight section of track on my work bench, (upstairs in my room), I cut the last 1/4 inche off of two "F or E" units Using a part of mid sechtion from another unit I built a fairly sturdy shell that fit with both units back to back. Nice, It looked great! (well in my eyes), Anybody know where this is going? Yep that's right. I showed my pride and joy to my folks and we all went down to the basement. I don't remember how long this rigid body was but needless to say it could not navagate my 9" radius curves! Oh well, Live and Learn and Pass it on. A Grynning Gryphin
Page 3 . . . My second layout in Boston was about 4 x 6, and was extensively detailed. It was in the basement wreck room. I enjoyed running one train around the loop while another threaded up the switchbacks to the mine and back down. The mountain was one of my better efforts, with loads of carefully detailed trees, underbrush, and a fine covering of foresty floor. But I'd cantilevered it out from the cabinet that held the gas meter. As a young man in my first gas-supplied house, I didn't know gas meters were swapped out every seven years. Imagine my surprise when two beefy men from the gas company showed up to swap out the meter. I tried to convince them to come back tomorrow. They shook their heads. There was no way to disassemble the railroad quickly without destroying it. So I built a third layout, using the space underneath the stairway and, very cleverly I thought, the 18-inch space on the other side of the wall, between the wall and the furnace, for a staging yard. It was a great road, a twice-around perhaps 10 feet by 5 feet. It ran flawlessly--as access was very limited between the wall and the furnace, I took great pains to make sure the trackwork was flawless. The "table" was supported by 1 x 3s that extended through the wall, screwed to the studs. A few months later, our 1968-vintage natural gas air conditioner failed. The new electrical unit had a component (exchanger? condenser?) that had to be installed in the furnace. Of course they needed access. Scratch that railroad.
Pete, I have seen a lot of those John Armstrong layout plans where similar obstacles are concealed within the layout. I always wondered how well that would really work, and your post gives me the answer.
Yeah, Jeff, you're right on. I had a chance to extend that fourth layout around the 20-year-old water heater, via a duckunder. Glad I didn't, 'cause that went a few months later.
When I started my layout, I went to Home Depot to buy several sheets of 2" extruded foam board. It was a very windy day so I brought bricks with me to the store so that after I purchased the foam board, the bricks could hold down the foam board in the back of my pickup truck. Before I got out of the Home Depot parking lot, a gust of wind quickly lifted the foam board in the back of the truck, which catapulted all 5 of the bricks about 30 feet through the parking lot and onto an oncoming SUV filled with a family of 5. The flying bricks did a number on the SUV's hood, front right quarter panel, and windshield. To add insult to injury, all my sheets of extruded foam continued to fly through the parking lot, busting up into several pieces. One piece that did not break got stuck about 25 feet up in a tree top and I could not get it down so I had to leave it up there.
Jason! That was an ugly day! I hope all was resolved OK with the other party. Am glad I've got a beat up old van to haul my sheets inside. Boxcab E50
Jason, been there and worse. At least this Darwinian moment was not my fault. I went with my neighbor in his hopped-up 1972 Dodge Charger to a specialty store about 25 miles away to buy a sheet of black walnut-faced plywood. He had installed stout roof racks which tied into the rain gutters. We wrapped the precious black walnut between two sheets of cheap 1/4-inch luann, and strapped it securely to the roof racks. Then we took off down the highway home. I did suggest he might want to take the back way home. We were just up to speed when BAM! we had a convertible with no windshield, and a faceful of pebbled glass. We were sitting in a pile of crumbled glass. Luckily, the sheet of plywood, still with car roof attached, landed off the highway, though a trucker stopped a good half mile down to check on us, and then curse us (him) mightily for our stupidity. Even the State Trooper, once he stopped laughing, cursed us for our stupidity. In the end, insurance covered the car, and my friend was able to use the sheet of plywood for his dining room table.
Pete,have you ever considered using proffessionals.You know, there are all kinds of them Plumbers,flooring guys,carpenters,Painters,THERAPISTS !!!LOL Keep it up and 1 of 3 things is in your future. Death Destruction Cancellation by Insurance company. Wouldnt you prefer a nice hobby like fingerpainting ;o)
Tileguy, Most of these happened when I was a much younger man, inexperienced in the way of plumbers, etc. OK, the nailgun incident happened only a few years ago. As many people my age, I now use my checkbook as my toolbox. Most of my goofs were not safety related. For the sake of brevity, I didn't relate some of the safety measures Jeanne and I took. We have fun doing these things together. LOL
