OK...Steve brought up a point when he says "I copy everybody"...So, I'm thinking maybe we all do, in greater or lesser degree, and would like to know how much you've "picked up" through participating in the forum. Pick the option which comes closest to what your level of "copying" has been.....

I debated between #4 and #5. I have learned so much from this forum (and others). On the other hand, I have had a few ideas (not too many, that could be dangerous) of my own that have actually worked, much to my surprise.

Thank you to all who contribute to this forum. I really appreciate the time you spend sharing what you have learned.

Tom

Those were my thoughts exactly when I voted.

I take a lot from the people who post here. There are always some great ideas that pop up and I know for sure that eventually I'm going to steal...I mean borrow the ideas.

That said, I also take a lot of ideas and info from just about anything I stumble across when surfing on line or strolling through the LHS and the magazines I get in the mail. My bookmarks for my train folder in FireFox is getting to be quite extensive. What I try to do is pick my favorites and go with them. Craig Bisgeier's Housatonic RR site and Tim Warris' CNJ both convinced me I wanted to have a harbour scene with piers and float bridges on my layout.

If it wasn't for the wealth of information that people have so graciously shared here and on line else where, I'd be no where near the level of modeling that I'm at today...and there's still a ton more for me to learn and do!

As the saying goes..."Mimicry is the highest form of flattery".

While not above "stealing" modeling or scenery ideas I am fairly set in my ways...That is to say by today's modeling "standards" I am a dinosaur. :o

How's that?

I still use modeling and track laying methods I was taught years ago since they still work quite well today.. hock:

I proudly steal fair and square....

Richard...If you're gonna do it...That's the only way to do it..!!

"Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy"

- Fight Club

Of course I copy because there are some amazing modellers on this (and other forums), not that I will reach their level...and isn't being copied the biggest flattery with these things?

I missed the original comment about copying but as has been said above in many ways "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". I think one can "copy" ideas but still put enough individual flavor into it to make a scene uniquely ours.
Ralph
PS...if anyone said they copied something I did I'd be really flattered!

I voted for the 10' pole because there wasn't a 20' one available!

I have photos saved to my hard drive for inspiration from this site.

Good work fellas. Keep it coming.

Mark

I never steal!!
Just borrow on a permanent basis.

Brakie Wrote:While not above "stealing" modeling or scenery ideas I am fairly set in my ways...That is to say by today's modeling "standards" I am a dinosaur. :o
How's that?
I still use modeling and track laying methods I was taught years ago since they still work quite well today.. hock:

Yeah, but look at it this way, Larry, The great John Allen used a dinosaur to great advantage on his Gorre and Gaphetid RR!

Plagiarism, is the sincerest form of flattery. There's nothing wrong in copying. That said, however, we never really grow by just copying. We need to look at the idea, and then adapt it to our own skills, and desires, and produce a "copy" that includes our own perception of what it should look like, hence, the practice of kitbashing*. By the same....we copy, and then adapt techniques. This is how we learn, and this is how we become the one who is copied.






* kitbashing: v. to modify the look or function of a model kit, to justify an alternate use for it.
* Kit Bashing: v. to reduce a model kit to styrene dust by repeated high speed impact with a sledge hammer.
Simply put, do we feel "constructive", or do we feel "destructive"?

i think Pete hit the nail on the head the copying of others idea and then adapting them to our own needs is the way most modelers grow i still get new ways to do things and i'v been at this since the 60's , idea's don't nessarly come from experienced modelers .
jim