04-01-2011, 06:59 AM
Brakie Wrote:P5se Camelback Wrote:Agreed, Brakie ... but you are not 16 and just getting started! As a youngun' he has much to learn and do over the next fifty years, but the best learning, especially at the beginning, is by doing, learning what works and what doesn't and then doing over!
Ask Green Elite Cab if that is not TRUTH. He' still young, still learning from redoing his first layout, and still redoing parts of it. But he has learned a lot of lessons.
When you get to be "our age," Brakie, we've made mistakes and we've rethought things and we realize that "this" layout will, in all likelyhood, be our last and we want it to be as "right" as possible right out of the box, so that we can ejoy operating it. A few changes on later will be acceptable, but we've already learned a lot of the "this is not gonna work" situations and we've designed around them.
Justin's still gotta learn ... and Gary S. will tell you that self-discovered principles stick with you better than spoon-fed ones do!
My biggest thing is I hate rework and waste and always did since its counter productive and we know what happens to a worker with lots of waste and rework-they're sent down the road swinging their lunch bucket and whistling Dixie as the old saying goes.
I would rather study,plan and rework the plan instead of rushing things and end up frustrated with wasted time,money and material.
In the the school of hard knocks and lessons learn I was the valedictorian but,not from rushing full throttle into projects-I usually lack the needed skills or some other foolheaded thing..
I have to agree with Reinhard, in this hobby, having the ability to make changes in direction anytime you feel the need can be fun and educational, but expensive. It's too easy to get caught up in engineering and planning of every detail. At some point that you need to throw caution to the wind and dive in, making changes on the run. Very often, you see 20 pages of a layout plan critiqued to death. Everyone wants it to be right the first time, but it rarely happens this way.
Unfortunately for me, I basically stop work on the layout in the spring and then revist my layout in late fall. What seemed really enjoyable when I left, seems boring when revisited. As a result, I have been redoing the same 20' of shelf every year. Costly, yes. However, a perfect plan is only as good as the interest it holds.