07-04-2011, 01:13 AM
Gary - thanks for chiming in. You keep using that word - accomplished. Perhaps something akin to 'seasoned veteran' as you say may be a helpful way to frame it. I think there are some naturally talented folks who dive right in and are able to build complete model railroads within a short span of time that rival the most seasoned veterans. Malcolm Furlow comes to mind, (and he's a Texan too...what is it about you folks... 
).
After rereading several replies, I think Brer Shaygetz may have hit on something with the scoreless T-ball, but maybe not what he was aiming at (please set me straight if I'm reading this wrongly). Somehow we have to hold to a standard - starting, as Gary is saying, with a standard we set for ourselves. But on what do we base that standard? To whom are we looking to base our progress? Ourselves? Other modelers? The folks who win contests or write articles in the hobby rags?
You can say that you'll know it when you get there, but how are you able to make that assessment? You can't say 'that model looks like a boxcar' without comparing it to another boxcar, prototype or model. You CAN say purely on your own merit, 'that model boxcar looks good enough for me'. One is objective, the other subjective. For someone else to assess your work, as in a contest, or for you to assess someone else's work, you have to have a starting reference, right?
I think we all have an idea of what 'good enough' looks like, and from that you can see we naturally have an idea of what 'not good enough' or 'wow that's awesome' looks like. So with that in mind, if we're going to talk 'accomplished model railroaders' we can NOT simply say, "It's all good."
Galen
).After rereading several replies, I think Brer Shaygetz may have hit on something with the scoreless T-ball, but maybe not what he was aiming at (please set me straight if I'm reading this wrongly). Somehow we have to hold to a standard - starting, as Gary is saying, with a standard we set for ourselves. But on what do we base that standard? To whom are we looking to base our progress? Ourselves? Other modelers? The folks who win contests or write articles in the hobby rags?
You can say that you'll know it when you get there, but how are you able to make that assessment? You can't say 'that model looks like a boxcar' without comparing it to another boxcar, prototype or model. You CAN say purely on your own merit, 'that model boxcar looks good enough for me'. One is objective, the other subjective. For someone else to assess your work, as in a contest, or for you to assess someone else's work, you have to have a starting reference, right?
I think we all have an idea of what 'good enough' looks like, and from that you can see we naturally have an idea of what 'not good enough' or 'wow that's awesome' looks like. So with that in mind, if we're going to talk 'accomplished model railroaders' we can NOT simply say, "It's all good."
Galen
I may not be a rivet counter, but I sure do like rivets!