Tonight, I sat down to finish forming the end roof profiles and begin the final assembly of the roof framing. The wife asked me when I'd be heading to bed, I shook my head and said...10?
I decided to assemble the end framing to the clerestory windows before attaching the car lines. Ugh. Because I calculated the spacing separately from the sides (the spacers in between the windows are different between the two), there was nearly a 0.008" error in the width of each window. That probably doesn't seem like much, but it results in a scale 2"~2.5" difference in the location of the last window in the clerestory and the last window in the car side. It might be acceptable if they both had this same error (certainly within the tolerances of the drawing), but unacceptable in this case. If I didn't fuss about 5", I might be in On30 ;-)
Of course, the wifey was a little upset at 10 when I wasn't ready for bed. In my hurry, I managed to fix one of the clerestory window sets...but then decided to trim it (the overall length was off too). Big mistake. I measured once and spent quite a bit of time finding the small pieces and fixing it. If there are any visible scars tomorrow, I'll just throw it out and visit my local hobby shop for more material. Sigh. This will be a gorgeous kit when completed.
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What is it with clubs/organizations? Most wonder why they can't attract young members, and then turn around and make the dues even worse.
A week ago, I was talking with a former member of an O-scale club. I told him that I'd previously thought of joining, but that the cost ($20-$30 per month) were out of my league. He tried to tell me that it was chunk change. Clearly, this 60ish gentleman with disposable income doesn't understand the economics of being in your 20s. It is especially bad when you are unemployed, your wife is partially employed, and you have both a 1yr old and a mortgage to pay. Yeah...the club fees are nothing! Especially when I only had $40 a month of discretionary money when we both had income.
In other news, the DSP&P historical society is now $35 per year (Edited: I accidentally put month here instead of year) . I don't have any clue why. I was a member for one year, a couple years ago. It is a fine organization that I'd love to be a part of...but it is a bridge too far financially. Back in November, I met one of its board members. He asked me if I was a member and I explained that I couldn't afford to both be a member and build trains. He didn't seem to like that and didn't say much else to me the rest of the time (keep in mind, I am very passionate about the South Park). Perhaps, they pay authors or something. $10 is for restoration work. So what about the rest? $5 for the newsletter printing/mail...and $20 for ??? How about a bare bones $5-$10 membership or something with an electronic version of the newsletter for people under 30? It wouldn't increase their costs...and it would help support the mission in the long run. Of course, if you check out the convention photos, those under-30s are conspicuously absent. Perhaps they aren't interested in trains.
I'm not certain how I'll pay for my bare-bones NMRA membership once my $10 trial runs out. It is clearly a powerful tool...especially since I actually get to meet dozens of people. Hopefully I'll have both a job as an engineer and have kit sales to fund the cheapest renewal option with the NMRA. Similarly, I've got to figure out what to do to cover my Cincinnati Railroad Club renewal. I have a war chest from Christmas...but I have no other money for discretionary spending and it is needed for starting up my resin car business. For now, I can only dream about joining other societies: SPng, HRyS, CRRM, etc. For now, I will be content to learn what I can through the internet and by devouring books through inter-library loans/borrowing from my dad.
To any leaders of organizations out there: you must compete with the free forum of the internet. They do not need you to network with other people. They do not need you to learn more than most of your members know (by actually reading books rather than just collecting). Still, they might want to join you if your cost is within their budget. Eventually, they will be paying full dues and actively supporting your organizations. Pass on your passion and your knowledge...it is vital to the future of your groups.
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