Joe,

It is nice to see one of the biggies in the hobby still makes mistakes and misses the occasional ground... some times, we newbies get discouraged that we'll never get to your level of modeling.  With a good lessons learned Editorial, we see that we're in the same boat as you... thanks for sharing!

Norm

I agree.  Nice to hear about how things can still go wrong if you skip steps, even after decades in the hobby.  I really enjoyed hearing about the trouble you had and the way you tackled it.  Looking forward to the rest of the story still to come.

This is the most impressive idea yet to come out in the development of the MRH eZine. 

Does this mean that potentially the idea of static monthly issues could become obsolete and the MRH "widget" could pull in content real time as it's produced?  To me, MRH could move from what is essentially a traditional hobby magazine (in structure, not in content) to an online portal where the division between the staff produced content and user contributions begins to blur.  In essence, the Assistant would be a constantly growing database of specialized model railroad information.

Very impressive indeed.  You make this marketing guy drool!

Well, maybe not, but it sure makes me feel better. After losing the air reservoir off an Intermountain kit in a cluttered (very) workshop, I was kicking myself for trying to use a pair of those self closing tweezers to hold the thing while trying to insert it into the mounting holes. Damn, those things can fly! Hope I find it eventually.

If nothing else, I don't quite feel like such a complete schmuck. Thanks, Joe, for making us all feel just a bit better about ourselves.

Mike

Joe it is great to know that our heroes can confess to human frailties and still come out shining. Kudos on a great issue and start for your second year. All the best, John Colley, Port Townsend, WA.