Good to see you again Boomer.
Good luck and fun for those entering the Miks 2016 build.
Vic Smith said:
But they make it a job and an unplesant job that’s like being an IRS tax accountant when you want to be doing plein air painting on a beach.
It all just sounds, so extremely… un-fun… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
or
not me btw (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Vic…here’s a picture of one of my plein air set-ups in the mountains nearby…no beaches for me (I can’t swim).
It’s all relative…I’d rather be model railroading than painting outside!
There was a lifetime Union Pacific engineer in my gallery last month and he told me his dream was to retire from UP and spend his days painting. That was funny. I told him my dream was to retire from painting and go to work for Union Pacific! (He told me I wouldn’t last the morning because the jobs are so repetitive and physically demanding; probably true!)
John I wouldn’t even need the paints, I’d sit there and enjoy the view.
.meh, big deal. I’m having fun, and instead a pile of blueprints and a 1/10 finished 15 year old model of K-36 483 as on the morning of Dec 12, 1947, I have a display shelf full of zany expression of my own creativity. Does my work give these guys conniptions? I certainly hope so, because they need to relax and lighten up, this is a hobby that’s supposed to be about fun and enjoying yourself, and expressing yourself. But they make it a job and an unplesant job that’s like being an IRS tax accountant when you want to be doing plein air painting on a beach.
It all just sounds, so extremely… un-fun… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Yes, I had a similar conversation with a member of the NMRA, who was displeased with my lack of progress on my HO/HOn30 module. He subsequently quit the FreMo group. Hey, this is my hobby, and I am here to have fun. If a person’s idea of fun is counting rivets, so be it. Me, I just want my stuff to look right (to me) and I don’t care if its got the proper number of rivets. Indecently, I model narrow gauge, with mostly wooden rolling stock. I know I built them with the proper number of rivets, cause there aint any. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
Bob McCown said:
Sean McGillicuddy said:
Maybe he collects blue prints like some collect trains ( never run them " collectors").
Probably true, but he insulted everyone that doesnt build using blueprints, implying that he does, and he’s better than us.
Wait ?
You can get blueprints for stuff you want to build?
Edit: Because if this is the “truth” it pisses me off!
Rooster, you can, or you can “roll your own”.
Welcome back Boomer, great to have you back. Nice site you have there and interesting history on the napkin drawing. Guess I need to start sketching up some ideas, wifes going to wonder where the heck all her napkins keep going.
David Maynard said:
Rooster, you can, or you can “roll your own”.
you’re
No, you’re is you are. Your is belonging to you.
David Maynard said:
No, you’re is you are. Your is belonging to you.
Yes but I don’t,do not and it all belongs to you when DEA shows up . Cause REA isn’t going to,too,two as they went bankrupt.
I was bumping around the forum and came across the original thread, the ones with more pages catch my eye and I think helps with some insight to everyone and their thoughts… uh oh … umm should I pay Bob for reading such an old thread?, and as I was reading with almost tears from laughing at the comments I was really wondering if he was the one that started the Napkin Builder , wow if he had only known he could have copyrighted the term and made even more money. Anyway this for being a really pull my hair out at work day has had me laughing out loud for a good part of the day. Thanks Bob, Locoblueprint guy, and everyone on that thread
Sometimes my old website will produce a ghost of the content. This morning I was able to grab the full story of the napkin drawing. Here it is in it’s entirety.
The story of how the Napkin Drawing became part of Mik’s Annual Build Challenge:
It was way back in the fall of 2013. A bunch of the regulars were enjoying the chat room on LSC when Bob “Benevolent Dictator” (BD) McCown arrived in a surly mood. Bob had been contacted by a guy looking to recruit him and a few others for membership in a private forum. Incredulous at the arrogance BD described, the members took the story with a grain of salt. As evidence Bob opted to share the e-mails he had received. So we read it for ourselves. Amazing! The man extolled his expertise in all things model railroad and raved about the high quality of his work, and that because of it, was the self appointed anointed one, going about the task of selecting the chosen few.
To be honest some of the gang recognized his name but I did not and do not now remember it. Suffice to say that his self opinion was in the neighborhood of Smithsonian Museum skill level. As far as I know none of his work resides in that institution or any museum or has even been displayed at so much as a weekend craft show.
His main focus was on the acquisition of plans, drawings and reference material for any railroad related subject. He commented several times on how he and his friends traded and sold these items among themselves, then offered to let Bob join their vaunted circle. The reference to buying and selling plans was stated repeatedly. All of us soon realized that the man’s intention was actually owning and controlling access to as much information as possible, most likely for personal profit with no real interest in furthering the hobby.
Finally the man made an appeal to Bob’s ego, not realizing of course that Bob does not have one, he stated that BD was not like the rest of us, which he offhandedly dismissed as being so crude as to make a few notes on a napkin and then start construction. He and his cronies used the term “Napkin Builder”. Well that did not sit well with the natives, I for one had never used a napkin for planning…I always chose a paper towel.
Incensed by the slight, the word spread, the story running like wildfire through the forums of LSC. Members immediately added the Pseudonym to their signature blocks and screen names. Some even went so far as to change their avatars to a crude drawing of themselves. “Napkin Builder” had become a badge of honor and symbol of resistance against the rivet counters! Bards composed epic ballads about the movement and there was talk of a made for TV movie on the History channel.
Over the next couple of month’s a few members of LSC began including a napkin drawing in various project threads, but come January 2014 the river overflowed its banks as entrants in the Annual Build Challenge included one in their build logs. It quickly became a part of the tradition. I can’t really explain why it caught on, maybe it just suited the counter-culture mentality of LSC or maybe it was because Mik had passed away the previous fall and he was certainly the biggest napkin builder of us all.
Whatever the reason by 2015 the idea was well entrenched. Napkin drawings morphed into cartoons incorporating a large number of inside jokes and good natured kidding. Many were now drawn in multi-colored marker or pencils on a wide variety of materials from cardboard to scraps of wrapping paper. The more childlike and expedient the better! Silliness ran rampant through the build challenge.
The napkin drawing is not a required part of the build challenge and not all entrants include one. They are seen mostly among those who were around that first year but they add to the fun and first timers are encouraged to join in. To be certain the drawings are not meant to be a high quality plan, but simply a reflection of the unique nature of the contest and a visual expression of rule #1. I am sure that Mik would have given them his mark of approval…probably with his favorite crayon.
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Thanks for the excellent backstory Boomer. I’ve been here quite a while, but this is the first I’ve heard the tale. But that’s probably, in part, just my not paying attention better. Regardless, thanks.
The stuff legends are made of 
Thanks Boomer for the full story. I’m absolutely certain my stuff was giving this guy an aneurism. That’s why I keep building. 
Send him to view the Triple O! Napkin drawings AND craftsticks!
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Well I spent some time doing a search for “LOCO112”… It seems that his last public listing was 2017… he had posted on a number of sites regularly, but dropped way off in 2015-16, and I could find nothing newer than 2017…
Maybe he has counted his last rivet…
And don’t forget the post here that started it all…
and then the goodies.
I remember that rivet counting guy that came in here and caused all sorts of grief. I have personally known a few guys like that. One flipped out on me because my rude and crude scratch built passenger cars didn’t have roof vents. Another was so into operations on his little roundy RR that nothing moved until it had the proper orders.
Oh well to each their own. As for me and so many here, we are proud to be Napkin sketch artists.
Trains are supposed to be fun and for most they are.