Level 2...
Well, it looks like I'm a level 2. Most of my track is ballasted, and though I don't go for strictly prototype, I do pay attention to the movie sets I've been to, or worked at, and try to model close to that (I model a movie studio, because I wasn't satisfied with the historical "Old West", plus, I now have my first two diesels that sometimes run on the layout... well... one of them does)
I still don't like to show my work though... to a point at any rate. I have found that when i show a finished product, fellow modelers seem to like it, and tell me it's good... however, when i show HOW I do something, those same people will tell me I'm doing ot all completely wrong. That part makes me feel a bit embarrassed. I know I'm new, and have a lot of questions, but over this past eleven months, I've learned a lot, and have even had ideas of my own that folks have embraced, but getting there involves a lot of trial and error (so far more trial, than error, but that's because I religiously read MRH, the forums, ask questions, and get Model Railroader as well, and anything else that's helpful... plus, I dug out all of my old magazines, and "how-to" books I bought back in the 80s that had a lot of cool ideas in them)
Part of my modeling depends on creativity, as my funds are limited. "Don't buy "brand x" cars, but this other brand!" Well, I already have several "brand x" cars... they were in bad shape... I constructed a good one from the bad, added details, better wheels, and couplers, and now they run, and sometimes even look better than that high end I couldn't afford!
I recently learned how to stick a sewing needle into a power drill, and use it to bore a rather smart hole in metal and wood parts for grab irons to be placed... but if a fellow modeler, who complimented the grab irons watched me do that, their heads would explode, and tell me all about the products i should be buying, because they aren't that expensive.
Patience is my other problem... I have the patience to put together a kit... or even to scratch build something... but, if I start a kit, and I don't have something I need for that kit, i do NOT have the patience to wait until i can get that "something" I need for the kit, or build (thus learning the needle trick) and find it frustrating when I ask "has anyone tried this?" and the answer I get is "You're doing it wrong, put everything on hold, and buy these supplies instead!"
That probably makes me a bad modeler, but fortunately, I end up with something I like anyway.
Nothing is truly broken in model railroading, is it? I mean, I've fixed, or built too much stuff out of "junk" or "broken" to believe that. I have a beautiful engine house that when I got it (it was wood and card stock) UPS had done a tap dance on it, and it was crushed flat, and looked like something scraped out of the garbage. But those basic shapes were still there... and the windows I loved were intact. I had no scale lumber, but I had wood coffee stirrers that were the same size and shapes, and a bottle of wood glue. I now have a lit engine house, that I have been asked if it was a craftsman kit... yet, I doubt I would have the patience to build a craftsman kit. (not to my satisfaction at any rate)
I feel from the description that I am a level 2, however. But regardless of what level I'm at, I'm having fun with it, and that's really what counts, isn't it?
Don't look at me! Look at my trains instead!