Recent content by mattm

Hakko FX888D. Just got mine and so far its amazing. Reviews are excellent long term. http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ANZRT4M/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Space is definitely a thing. We only have one kid and have been lucky enough to be able to buy nice size (not huge, but not tiny) houses. We still need an extra room because I work out of the house and need a dedicated office space. When we were house hunting last summer I was a bit...

Sorry if it came across as something against "old farts", not what I meant. Definitely a different experience. I flew my first time when I was less than a year old and I couldn't even begin to count how many times since. I bet I could count train rides, excluding subways and other light...

Been to a couple train shows this past winter just getting started in the hobby and in my early 40's I figure I was one of the youngest there who wasn't with grandpa (meaning I pretty much saw people my parents age and older, and young kids.) Just wondering what that means for the hobby over...

When I was in college a guy in a class before one of mine fell asleep in a large lecture hall. The prof for that fairly small class asked everyone to quietly leave at the end of class and posted people at each door asking us to quietly come in. The guy woke up a good 15-20 minutes into our...

I figured the realty company, like a couple around here, has been through so many mergers and acquisitions over the last few years that they have to keep putting up new signs! Seriously I did plan to weather it a just a little.

I found this unassembled, factory sealed Walthers United Trucking kit at an antique store for $5 and figured it would make a good first project. Pretty happy with how it came out. Since I plan to model modern times and this isn't really a trackside industry, I figured a building like this...

I finally got some time to set up a little junky sectional track, the Powercab, and try out my locomotives. The Bachman seems like it could use a little work, but man that Kato runs sweet and the sounds are really cool.

I think I'm going to go with Peco due to the availability and more importantly half-the-price flex track. Sounds like the Shinohara and Peco are relatively interchangeable based on Motley's post so if I end up needing something Peco doesn't make, sounds like I can get by. I'm reading some...

Whoa, that Walthers/Shinohara flex track is pricey! And not super easy to find in stock.

I'd like to order some track to play around with. Not wanting to buy something I'll end up replacing later I've been looking at the options and I'm not real sure what I want to go with. I'm thinking along the lines of Code 83 track. Peco and Altlas seem to have very limited options for...

Yes, around the room of some sort.

We're down to 4 boxes sitting in "my" area. We got all the shelving and work areas set up on the other side. There's a proposal being floated to actually wall off "my" area for a couple different reasons, one of which is to create more wall space. That would give me an 11' 2" x 21' 2" room...

I requested ours. Like I said, here the listing gets changed to continent whether that's etiquette, custom, rules, whatever but that's how it works here. I learned there are some other customs here people in other parts of the country think are odd too. Anyway, our Realtor hadn't put up the...

I wouldn't copy it verbatim, but rather copy the track plan and make changes to suit my interests. Mine would probably be based more in the Midwest for one. Well, that, for me, tells me its not a terrible idea either since I think that's more what I'm interested in.