That seat (throne?) was taken by my elder brother - the ole MÄRKLIN diehard. He has never finished* one of those many train dioramas - to this day (he turned 68 this year)! I went for AIRFIX instead.
*I understand from other victims afflicted with the disease that "not finishing it is exactly the point".
Interestingly, my local hobby shop took in an O Scale (1/48th) Marklin set that dates to 1935, labeled for the Deutsche Reichsbahn, complete with swastikas, it is of amazing quality considering when it was produced, it's almost scale with very few toyish elements - unlike the US made Lionel trains. Really quite a find.
For me, the modeling is indeed a wonderful part of the hobby, but so is actually running the trains and to that end I get visit with my best buddy on a weekly basis to do that, also I'm working away on track and bench work in half of the garage.
Sorry for the OT
Hope this helps