Good, Good

Am_Fet throws caution to the wind and creates:

With advancing years comes wisdom (or so they say) and one of the things I've noticed about myself is that I'm loathe to start a project as I'm scared to muck it up.  And I think thats why noted modeller Grant Morrell gets so much done, he has no fear of failure and just rips in where us mere mortals are studiously drawing up plans, taking measurements and talking ourselves out of making the first cut until its time for a cup of tea.

Tony Koester of MR once made a similar observation.  He had a bridge to build and ended up doing a year of research with the main output being a pile of paper about as high as one of the bridge piers.  However, in the end he ignored it all and just gave it his best shot.

So.....Waihao Forks needs a Goods Shed, and while we build up the courage to fix the set of points I gloriously screwed up on my last visit to Oamaru it seemed like a good project to attempt.  Bullied by Mr Bond, I turned up with some Evergreen Clapboard and Metal Siding and had a ponder.

And this is where things went west reasonably quickly.  Now I know the shed is 60' x 30' (Its in the WTT) but DB said "That looks too long, just make it look right".....and suddenly we were off to the races.  Using the lines on the baseboard showing the building footprint, DB's Goods Shed for Moana and a KP wagon we hoped wasn't overheight, the first cuts in styrene were made.

Now this is where the purists clutch their pearls, snort into their brandies and fall off their chairs......a helluva lot of "Looks Good, Is Good" went on here.  I don't think I referred to a scaled drawing for the entire build.  With eyesight officially deemed "Not too Flash", it was a revelation to ignore that a piece was 77.4mm long and just round it up (or down) to where the markings on the ruler were bigger and easier to see.

I put off cutting the holes for the loading doors until I realised....I'll just model them closed!  The doors should be scribed wood....But the metal siding looks just as good.  DB did the only bit of work that looks like we cared when he did the internal framing visible inside, but thats all we did.  Some stolen "H" girder for the door tracks and it was pretty much done in under 90 mins.

There is still some titivation to do (barge boards etc, and I'm still not happy with the roof at one end), but I've built a goods shed.  The takeaways are that clapboard and metal siding styrene are god-sends, as is having someone to stand behind you to deliver a slap to the head when you start overthinking things.