Getting other people to pay for you to build for your dream model layout

[Boris]

A number of the Facebook groups I am on lately are seeing people setting up crowdfunding pages and asking other people to donate towards the cost of building their layouts. 

 

What are members thoughts on this?  I personally find it extremely cheeky asking for others to pay for you to indulge your hobby for your own enjoyment.  Don't get me wrong I donated to the page to replace the layouts destroyed by those yobs at the exhibition a few years ago, I have no problem but that kind of thing but to me asking people to donate hard earned cash for your indulgence is wrong!

[AY Mod]

Do you need a link for my justblagging page?

[Stubby47]

Why are you on those Facebook groups ?  They've obviously seen you coming...

[Boris]

3 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

Do you need a link for my justblagging page?

You'll have to subscribe to my Only Fans page first!

Edited May 14, 2021 by Boris

[Clive Mortimore]

I see nothing wrong with it....please PM me for details of how to build Clive a better train set.

[Flying Pig]

42 minutes ago, Boris said:

You'll have to subscribe to my Only Fans page first!

 

I have no idea what you mean. Please explain in words (no pictures).

[The Johnster]

I'd say it's cheeky, and I wouldn't do it myself, but if people are daft enough to cough up, then good luck to the layout builders.  I am wondering who would be daft enough to cough up, though, since there is no benefit to them in return whatever, not even the dubious gamble that most crowdfunding provides.  There must be some pretty clever dressing up of the schemes to present them to potential funders as anything but a begging request to fund a hobby for personal gratification. 

 

I would probably not go out of my way to be mates with any of the beggars.  They are not the type of person I would like to spend time with, but they are SFAICS not doing anything illegal, or dishonest beyond the mendacity of the dressing up.  They are certainly not getting any of my beer vouchers!  I have no objection to a straightforward begging request, though of course such a thing would be doomed to failure!

 

How do I start a crowdfunding drive in aid of going up the pub later?

[HonestTom]

I guess if people want to donate, then that's up to them. I think that a more effective way to do it would be to give something in return - for instance, start a blog or a YouTube channel about the layout with a donation link. If other people can get some sort of enjoyment out of it, then they'll feel more inclined to stump up a few quid.

[LaGrange]

See it a lot with Motorsport, people looking for 'support/sponsorship' 

 

They should just put 'Please help me pay for my hobby which I can ill-afford'

[Phil Parker]

I suspect the donors (if there are any) are expecting some sort of vicarious layout building experience. They get to watch the model being built and think it gives them some part of the project. Far easier than getting your hands dirty and trying yourself. There's also a bit of being chummy with the "big boys".

 

People I know who have tried Patreon or other similar systems raise little or no money, and don't talk about the laughable amounts you raise through advertising. Setting up the page is easy. Persuading anyone to put up some cash is a lot harder.

[Steven B]

Surely setting up a GoFundMe type page to ask for donations to help you build your layout is little different to going to your Club's committee asking for funds to build a new club layout, but with the cash coming from friends, family and well wishers rather than other club members.

 

Some folk on here may find it surprising that some members of society do hand over money to people asking for donations for various personal project. Whether or not you think its philanthropic or a fool and his money being easily parted is open to debate but there's no doubting it's helped people complete projects they otherwise wouldn't have done.

 

Steven B.

[newbryford]

25 minutes ago, LaGrange said:

See it a lot with Motorsport, people looking for 'support/sponsorship' 

 

They should just put 'Please help me pay for my hobby which I can ill-afford'

 

Substitute "model railways" for motorsport in this classic statement.

 

"How do you make a small fortune from motorsport?

 

"Start with a large one"

[woodenhead]

There was an individual, a member of this site as well, who was building layouts in first 00, then N and 00 and finally N, 00 and 0 - all at the same time.

 

All on YouTube, and I did wonder how they could afford to build three large layouts at the same time, and these would regularly appear in live streams with lots of please subscribes/like etc.

 

Sometimes boxes would appear with gifts from donors, locos, scenics, rolling stock etc.

 

I'm not saying that all the stock came from donations, there were shops mentioned where items had been purchased from as well, but then suddenly all modelling ceased and the lot was put up for sale, live streams are just the real railway now.

 

Why you'd want to gift expensive model railway items to someone you don't really know just to watch it go around on their railway which is then sold on I don't know.

[Nearholmer]

I learn something every day!

 

This actually happens? People give other people money to spend on their hobby, simply for the asking?

 

Why?

 

(If it was a kid starting out, and they hadn't been so cheeky as to ask, yes, I would, but ........)

[Nearholmer]

42 minutes ago, Steven B said:

Surely setting up a GoFundMe type page to ask for donations to help you build your layout is little different to going to your Club's committee asking for funds to build a new club layout, but with the cash coming from friends, family and well wishers rather than other club members.

 

To me, setting-up a club is all about people with a shared interest pooling their time, money and skills to create something collectively.

 

Rattling a tin on line doesn't involve sharing in any meaningful way, it involves asking and giving, which are unidirectional.

[2mmMark]

There's this chap on email in Nigeria with a bob or two going spare...

[APOLLO]

Once I built a railroad, I made it run
Made it race against time
Once I built a railroad, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?

 

Brit15

[Georgeconna]

2 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

Why are you on those Facebook groups ?  They've obviously seen you coming...

No,  thats the Clairvoyance group

 

[Steamport Southport]

9 minutes ago, Georgeconna said:

No,  thats the Clairvoyance group

 

 

Derek Acorah was good at seeing into the future. But he didn't see the other car....

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-26543089

 

 

Not related to his subsequent death.

[AY Mod]

1 minute ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Derek Acorah was good at seeing into the future. But he didn't see the other car....

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-26543089

 

 

Not related to his subsequent death.

 

Allegedly spirits may have been involved.

[spamcan61]

1 hour ago, Steven B said:

Surely setting up a GoFundMe type page to ask for donations to help you build your layout is little different to going to your Club's committee asking for funds to build a new club layout, but with the cash coming from friends, family and well wishers rather than other club members.

 

Steven B.

I'd say it's very different, as a club member one would presumably be paying membership fees, so funding a layout would be 'payback' in a sense.

[Phil Parker]

1 hour ago, Steven B said:

Surely setting up a GoFundMe type page to ask for donations to help you build your layout is little different to going to your Club's committee asking for funds to build a new club layout, but with the cash coming from friends, family and well wishers rather than other club members.

 

Except that you would be going as a team of other members planning to work on the project together rather than a personal project. Clubs don't fund those. At the end of the build, the layout will normally belong to the club too.

[boxbrownie]

Crowd funding....hmmm.....I still haven’t recovered from when I was about eight and Blue Peter (the programme) asked for donations for the rebuilding of the Blue Peter locomotive, I saved and sent off my £5 for the restoration and received a certificate saying I had a “piece of it”.......now what’s happened? Nothing, nada....

 

Grumpy and sulking...who me?

 

[The Johnster]

8 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

I suspect the donors (if there are any) are expecting some sort of vicarious layout building experience. They get to watch the model being built and think it gives them some part of the project. Far easier than getting your hands dirty and trying yourself. There's also a bit of being chummy with the "big boys".

 

People I know who have tried Patreon or other similar systems raise little or no money, and don't talk about the laughable amounts you raise through advertising. Setting up the page is easy. Persuading anyone to put up some cash is a lot harder.

This is an interesting point and one that had not occurred to me, Phil.  I sort of get it; a layout gets built by someone else but with your money (along with the other participants) and has a life, in blogs, at shows, on online forums like this, and in magazines, and you, as a participant, get to feel as if you are a part of it.  This at least mean that you consider it worth parting with your beer vouchers as you are getting something in return, even if it isn't anything tangible or anything I'd spend my money on!

 

But it is an 'in' to the social and forum world of model railways as well, which is a part of the hobby I greatly enjoy and appreciate, even if it is also not tangible.  As well as the advice, approbation, and increased knowledge I enjoy the banter and humour, the cameraderie, and the in jokes.  This does not mean I am willing to pay for the privilege...

[kevinlms]

11 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

 

To me, setting-up a club is all about people with a shared interest pooling their time, money and skills to create something collectively.

 

Rattling a tin on line doesn't involve sharing in any meaningful way, it involves asking and giving, which are unidirectional.

You missed out the bit where usually, it's a case of building something that as individuals, you can't.

Lack of suitable space, cash or skills, are reasons for joining a group at a club.

 

Not always true, as often someone with all the resources, still joins and contributes in a significant way to a group project.