Evaluation and conclusion

NS 7005 siting in it's 2008 display cabinet.

It is done! My novice model has been completed. And I am proud of it. No regrets. Entirely happy? Wel, yes. Of course I would do things differently now, but that is not the point. I have learned a lot, that's the point. It took me four years to complete. I could do it a lot faster today. This model can be built within all reason in say three months. What took me so long then? Four things

• I needed to acquire the necessary skills. So I practised a lot.
• I completed other three projects (flat cars, E41 body shell and the Shay) between getting the NS 7000 for my birthday and its completion. Also practise, but also more work and more leadtime.
• I needed to get the right tools. I bought the drill stand, files, drill of all sorts etc. and I made my own spray booth, all costing time to figure out and select.
• I was simply slow, family life went on while I was working in the living room. I did not have a real work space of my own so I had to unpack everything at the start of a session and all pack it up again after being done. That wasn't very inviting so I often kept it in the drawer.

I kept a time record in the first two years: 81 hours in total. I did not record the last two years though. A quick look on the time records of the Shay tell me I spent 30% of the total project hours on painting and lining. Taking that into account my estimate for the total time spent on the NS 7000 is around 100-110 hours. I must be cautious about that because exactly painting and lining proved to be very troublesome.

An overview of the time spent on the NS 7000. Click the image to enlarge

Epilogue

Time to say goodbye. A very symbolic photo: an unknown 7000 waiting for departure into history.

Station Mijdrecht of the Haarlemmermeer lines, 22 February 1950. ©CC BY 4.0, Dutch Railways D.C. Gerdessen, Catalogue number 160516, Het Utrechts Archief