What does she/he think of your hobby?

This is a topic that was run a while ago on another forum that I belong to. I thought it might be interesting to find out what attitude our wives/husbands/partners have to our hobby, in terms of the time and money spent on it, and anything else that might come to mind.

I know that there are at least a few Z scale partnerships here already and I don't want to exclude them.

In my own case my lady and I don't live together (we're part of a new demographic - LATS - living apart together). She regards my involvement in the hobby with a mixture of tolerance for an eccentric and a sort of pride that I'm creating something. I've never let it come between us and I intend to keep it that way. She has no real idea of how much I spend on it While I told her that I spent $330 AUD on my Krokodil she has no idea of how many trains I actually have

Over to you....

It depends which hobby we are talking about-- Dragonlady, in all honesty, is a wonderful lady or I would not have survived to the present day. She is tolerant of my Z, even though it's spread all thru the house. My work area seems to be wherever she wants to walk. I feel that cleaning up my work area is time better spent making something-- and those times that I absoposalutely have to pick things up so she can entertain without being too embarrassed, I spend hours and days looking for stuff when I could be creating... a mess! She is totally unaware the cost of Z- Brass or otherwize.
And Z is a lot easier to hide than a 6 foot model of a 44 gun frigate.
She would rather I go back to carving eagles in coffee tables, whales, ducks, geese, but is relieved I no longer carve ship's figureheads.
Yup, tolerant is a good word.
Fred

These aren't Z.
Fred

Gary, My wife is fully behind my Z scale endeavors.....I think. Yes. No really, yes she is. Really. You must believe me. Really. Cheers, Jim CCRR:woohoo:

Me thinkst he thinkst she's a good Z partner. But like Fred he tolerates her messes to a point. We will be "re-designing" her work space to keep him happy with her
All in all I must say that in a marriage it helps when both Z together, makes it just that much more fun when both model trains. Course, I was never good at modeling clothes so modeling trains was a nice together hobby:silly:
Karin

Good subject. When I first brought up the idea of a Z scale train layout, Dear Husband Chris said he wasn't at all interested in it, but told me he would be my helper when it came to the electrical stuff.

Time has passed since the first discussion. An itty bitty locomotive and caboose arrived in the mail and guess who was all over the locomotive. Within a few days, he had taken it partially apart to see if there was room inside to put a sound encoder. Cars started arriving and he began to be a bit eager to see them. During this time, I was asking if he could do this and that with automated sound and motion for the 10" diameter first layout. I'm torn between thinking that he can't say no to me, that he tolerates my hobbies, and that he secretly likes the technical challenges I bring to him. It's probably a mix of all three.

When I began working on the first BAZ half timbered house, he had to pick up some of the pieces even though I told him not to touch ANYTHING - not unlike my three year old granddaughter. When the house was almost finished, I put it in his hand so he could feel the lightness of it. He was quite taken with the fact that someone could produce something so small and not actually be small themselves. He even asked me if I wanted him to make a laser cutter for me so I could make my own buildings. What a sweetheart! I had to say no, telling him that if he did that I would never get back to the other hobby that's been on hold since winter arrived.

These past few days, he's been looking for European train sounds so he can put together a convincing sound montage for the micro layout. I could call it "my" layout, but really, by now, it's for both of us. I'm doing some parts and he's doing other parts.

Chris also knows how much I spend on this and other hobbies because the eBay account is in his name and all the receipts pass through him to get to me. I also like to show him what's going on financially because honesty is a really important factor to me in our relationship. We both consider all the money that comes and goes through our household as "our" money, so talking about it is a good thing so there are no unpleasant surprises for anyone.

As far as my hobby is concern, she doesnt ask, and I dont tell. My biggest fear is one of this days she will find how much a brass engine cost. She knows my hobby is expensive, but not how expensive.

Like politics and religion - better half is not the subject for discussion, even with people sharing the same hobby
It must be something to do with cultural differences - on your side of the pond it is perfectly normal to discuss your most intimate secrets with Oprah . . .
Something I never understood

Once the initial shock of the original purchase was absorbed, she has been encouraging me to bet more, I think she actually loves the little buggers. Our gran daughter thinks they are super and that pleases her to no end. This is the first time I have evr spent money on myself and being aware of my past, she is happy to allow it.

I feel blessed to have a second shot at life with a wonderful woman. She drives a hard bargain. She allotted a $2,000.00 train budget in exchange for new hardwood flooring throughout the house, new doors and frames, new closet doors, new baseboards, new crown molding, new paint job, not to mention a new kitchen.

I figure I'm still ahead of the game as I would have done all this anyhow. What comes around in our marriage, goes around as well. I sent her on a $2,000.00 shopping spree for new clothes for her new job.

The best part of the entire process is when she sits down and reviews my efforts, no price can be placed on that. Happy Z-ing.

in my case she was the starting factor to get me into here. I've never had a model railroad except those first old LEGO tracks. Yes, those blue rails that you had to connect with those white 2x8 studs ties/sleppers and then you could run a train powered either by hand or later with a motor that was as big as a house and a 4.5V battery in the following car with a switch that either let the train run forward, backward or just stop...
...hey, that's just how those controller in those funsets from Maerklin works... you see LEGO seems to be a perfect training device for Z-scale trains...


After that about 40 years no trains...

Then all of a sudden my wife said: "We want a model railroad!", and I as a nice husband started to look out for the necessary basics. Since we don't have a basement with place aplenty we decided on Z-scale for us, and went to our local hobby shop where we found a starter set from Maerklin...

Well the rest is history as is often said. In our case it did lead to special areas for each of us. She will do a lot of landscaping including diciding about the what and how, and I had to do the basic framework, tracklaying and to fight with all those wires. She said she's figthing with wire and threads all the time when she's sewing our clothes...
About the layouts track plan we worked together. Unfortunately she hates to sit at a computer while off from work, and therefore I only can show her the pictures on the net, and I have to be the voice of our family because:

The main and most important point is that in all areas we work together with our son, who has his 11th birthday next sunday.

Frustratedly encouraging. I had been collecting cars, engines, track and pieces for years with the intention of building a layout. There always seemed to be one more house project to complete before I would start. Then my wife 'discovered' my collection. She knew all the pieces I had purchased but didn't realize (nor did I for that matter) how much I had amassed. The frustration came in that I had not done anything with them yet but she encouraged me to finally put something together so I could display and run my collection. (Also put a halt on purchasing anything else new.)

She has been wonderful and supportive and even let me carve out a corner of the basement for myself. She also helped paint it sky blue