I must admit that soldering is not my strongest suite. I marvel when I see people like Rick McClellan, Bob Wintle, and Keith Robinson make it look second nature. I finally decided that once and for all that I was going to learn how. I conned Rick into teaching me how to do over the phone long distance. After several sessions and about 50 connections I can say that I think I am close to actually trying it on the layout (I glued a section of flex track on a board to practice on). Now for the funny part. Model Railroader magazine is building the Bay Junction RR as both a magazine and a video presentation. Last week the video installment was #10 and David Popp showed how he soldered feeders. It was exactly like Rick had taught me with one minor exception. I called Rick immediately and asked him why he hadn't just told me to wait a week and watch him (Rick) do it on the video. Bottom line, the moral of this story if there is one, is that (A) this forum is full of helpful people, and (B) the Internet is loaded with teaching videos to help us learn the things that we are most challenged with.
This is one of the things that I have been meaning to do; post a how-to on soldering feeders. I now have the impetus. In the interim, take a look at this link: http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread.php?3520-Soldering-Feeder-Wires
Bob did the smart thing by taking a little know-how and practiced before trying it on his layout. As with all things, we don't do a good job at first but build skill with repetition, like playing a musical instrument (iPods not included).
