On Apr 29, 2011, at 7:30 PM, cepropst@q.com wrote:

I just dug out a Red Caboose box car kit L&N 90145 I bought cheap
awhile back.
I can't decide whether to keep the paint job or repaint it.

So far my research has found:
There was a car from this series on my railroad with a load of oats +
This cars had Miner hand brake and Apex running board +
The model has a 1953 reweigh date, I model 54 +
- I don't know what style truck was under this cars.

Does anyone know? Will they share their information with me? Not to
sound ungrateful, but I need to know a model truck not the name of
the prototype.
Thanks,
Clark Propst

I can tell you both. The trucks on all the cars in this series were
AAR cast steel with spring planks. The best HO replica is Accurail's
so-called (but mis-named) "Bettendorf" truck.

Richard Hendrickson

At 08:15 AM 4/29/2011 -0500, you wrote:

It's too bad Micro Mark doesn't sell anything of their own that they didn't
steal the idea from someone else.

Sometimes ideas just aren't worth what people want to charge for them. For instance a piece of warped fiberboard with a flimsy aluminum arm that holds a razor blade at a non-square angle.

Andy

At 04:12 PM 4/28/2011 -0400, you wrote:

So.... for $200 I save the trouble of going to the local Radio Shack
every other year to buy a $6 battery??? I know folks pay a premium for
alleged convenience (e.g. fast food, bottled water) but that's getting
kinda ridiculous.

You guys make me glad I have a dial caliper. It's stainless, made in China, and I doubt if it cost more than $30 although I don't really remember. I can't really think why I'd want a digital - solar, battery or otherwise.

I bought a digital stop watch at Walmart a couple weeks ago. It's absolutely worthless. I can't even begin to go into how useless it is. A good analog stop watch will cost me $60 to $75 but worth it.

Andy

I just dug out a Red Caboose box car kit L&N 90145 I bought cheap awhile back.
I can't decide whether to keep the paint job or repaint it.

So far my research has found:
There was a car from this series on my railroad with a load of oats +
This cars had Miner hand brake and Apex running board +
The model has a 1953 reweigh date, I model 54 +
- I don't know what style truck was under this cars.

Does anyone know? Will they share their information with me? Not to sound ungrateful, but I need to know a model truck not the name of the prototype.
Thanks,
Clark Propst

Well, we have just about discussed about every aspect of calipers that we possibly can...except, I suppose, measuring bananas [ don't even think about it ] even bringing quilting into the discussion. Sooo, I think it's time to move on, hopefully about frt cars....which, by the way, does NOT include SD-9 issues. So, the caliper thread is now officially terminated and SD-9 threads are not even permitted. I do hope I don't have to go back down to Moderate Jail...cold and damp down there...sigh..

Mike Brock
STMFC Owner and keeper of the keys to Moderate Jail

Hello,

Hear, hear.

Somebody who thinks the same as me.

My Mitutoyo vernier caliper is over forty years old and I have no intention
of using anything other than a vernier that measures in imperial (English)
and metric. The Mitutoyo was purchased because at that time it was
two-thirds the price of the PFM which I think had HO scale on it. I am
afraid that I prefer to measure in real measurement then convert to scale or
vice versa.

Also, I had had contacts with a machine workshop and the foreman recommended
a vernier as better/more versatile that a micrometer.

I tried a dial caliper once and could not handle the twice around dial. And
as far as batteries are concerned, they are more useless than items that are
only good for breeding fish.

Regards,

Glen Mills
__________________________

Re: Digital Calipers
Posted by: "dennyanspach" danspach@macnexus.org docdenny34
Thu Apr 28, 2011 8:48 pm (PDT)


This thread has been very interesting. My modeling lives and dies by my
calipers, and it has been so ever since my good wife presented me with a set
of Mitotoyo PFM vernier calipers with an HO scale in about 1959. What an
instrument! 50 years later, it remains a total pleasure to use, and its
measurements can be taken to the bank.

Well, eyes being what they are I looked around for good more easy-to-read
dial calipers, being super-suspicious of the plethora of cheap stuff hitting
the market. I purchased a fine German-made dial caliper whose dial read in
both English and metric. It complemented my PFM stalwart perfectly, and I
admired the fine finish, accuracy, and craftsmanship of this fine
instrument. Then came the day that it fell on the floor (rug), which jarred
the dial so that it would no longer read accurately (by a steady error). I
attempted everything known to man to figure out to get it serviced, but the
cost to do so was prohibitive in extreme. I did visit a fine instrument
repairman in the Bay Area, and I made contact with others as far away as
Long Island by phone. The universal messaqe from all to me was:

1) Presume that all calipers but the verniers will be eventual throw-aways,
the digital calipers more so than the dials (regardless of expense).

2) If you want a fine instrument that will be accurate and will last, stick
with the best verniers that you an afford. They are bullet proof and will
only fail from the heaviest use and/or poor maintenance. Your grandchildren
stand a good chance of greatly prizing them.

3) With that, I gave up on calipers with readouts -dial or digital- ,
purchased on eBay a gorgeous new/old stock Helios (German) vernier caliper
that measures dual-ly in both metric and English, and I am now back to
verniers only (with an Optivisor to read them glued to my forehead).

Denny

Denny S. Anspach MD
Sacramento

Fellow precision measurers,

Thanks for considerable response to my squib yesterday. If I were a better
communicator, I would have gone on to suggest that there's a market out
there for solar powered digital calipers under $100 in price, let's say in
the $50-100 range. That's the price range in which I bought mine a few years
ago when these were in surplus. I don't know specifically which other
vocations or avocations might be better accomplished (read aggravation
escaped in changing out dead batteries or chasing new ones, and the
additional cost of new batteries, not cheap any more) Maybe in businesses,
costs could be lowered, and therefore prices, too. Everyone knows, we need
lower costs in this country in order to compete these days in international
markets.

Anyhow, several of you have said that in this hobby $200 is a stiff and
unreasonable price to pay for the 'look ma, no battery' feature. You are, of
course, right. But at $50, I'd think that maybe as many as 50 of us might be
interested. If anyone on this list has a connection to the Mitutoyo company,
or to their competitors making digital calipers, you might mention this
submarket. There are by now in use in the world perhaps more than a million
of these calipers. Perhaps some normal, non model train-building folks would
like to stop chasing batteries, too. Who knows?

I would also be in the market for one or more USED solar-powered digitals in
the 50 dollar range, if anyone sees any going by your window. Provided they
are in 'as new' or 'slightly used' condition.

Keep smiling while making precision measurements, JP

I have a Mitutoyo (which thank you for this thread as I found that I had left it on for weeks when I looked for it to get the spelling) and a Harbor Freight Inchman.
While the Inchman currently has a dead battery, I don't recall it being subject to battery drain whilst turned "off".... unless I forgot to turn it off, it has given me as
about as good service as the much more expensive Mitutoyo. I haven't tried to benchmark the accuracy of either but they both seem to meet my needs.

I was just thinking about the subject this Monday while I was poking around in the Notions section of a Quilt Store.... sometimes there are tools there that can be used for modeling.
I was surprised to see a handheld digital calculator custom designed for quilters.... with buttons and functions to calculate yardage yields for standard width fabrics and other calcualtions that I did not note. Now, Quilting is probably a couple of orders of magnitude larger than Model Railroading, but it seems to me that it wouldn't take anything beyond changing the software a digital caliper to get 1/48, 1/64, 1/87.1, 1/160, or 1/220 readouts.... possibly the English/Metric button could be used to double up so that at least O/S and HO/N versions could be made economically. With Harbor Freight selling them for under $10 at retail it would probably be realistic to be able to buy one for less than $40..... depending on the markup the importer would need. I have no idea if any of the OEM factories in China would consider doing such units but it certainly would be a handy tool.... perhaps not for precision pattern making, but good enough for general modeling and use on the layout....

Charlie Vlk

I have a variety of HO scale freight car parts and kits which I am offering for
sale. I

have them listed by manufacturer. Some items are limited to only a few pieces.
Please reply off-list only.
I can be reached at <midcentury@sbcglobal.net>

I have the following parts:

Intermountain
Code 88 semi-scale 33" wheelsets ..........................$7.00/12axle pack
40' Diagonal panel roof ..........................................$1.50/each
40' Viking roof ......................................................$2.00/each
Bracket grabs,ajax brake & wheel, brake step and brake rods $0.85/sprue
1937 AAR 4/5 early Dreadnaught W-corner ends .............$1.50/pair
Thin"R"+3/4 IDE ....................................................$1.00/pair
5/5 early Dreadnaught ends .......................................$1.00/pair
PS-1 ends
................................................................$1.50/pair
ACF type 27 8K; 10K gallon tank body w/dome .............$3.50/ set
RS-40-10 detail sprue Ends brake detail ladders sill steps hatch covers
$0.50/sprue
Universal power brake & wheel plus reefer details from ART reefer $1.50/sprue
Pre-war 5/6/5 early Youngstown doors for 10'6" IH .....$1.00/pair
5/6/6 Improved Youngstown 6' doors for 10'6" IH .......$1.00/pair
70-Ton truck sideframes, less wheelsets .....................$1.00/pair

Red Caboose
Decals for SP F-70-7 flat cars ..............................$1.75
each
40' '37 AAR boxcar roof-rectangular panel ...................$2.00/each
'37 AAR boxcar bracket grab sprue ...............................$1.50/sprue
5/6/6 8' Late Youngstown door ...................................$1.00/pair
5/6/6 6' Late Youngstown door ....................................$1.50/pair
8' 6 panel Superior door
..............................................$1.00/pair

Terry Wegmann Parts
Bettendorf PFE replacement underframe cross-bearers for RC reefer
.................................$1.00/ sprue

Detail parts 2 ladders hatch covers rb end support brackets ajax brake + Wheel
brake rod and bellcrank, power brake mounting bracket for Dreadnaught End
$1.50/sprue

Branchline

36" blackened brass semi-scale width wheelsets ............$6.00/12 axles
40' AAR boxcar bare body 7' door opening $2.50/each

SouthwestScale Models
4/6/6 Improved Youngstown doors for 10'0" IH ..................$2.50/pair
Superior 7' 7 panel even spacing for 10'6" IH .......................$2.50/pair
Superior 7' 5 panel
...........................................................$2.50/pair
Superior 6' 5 panel for 10' 6" IH
.........................................$2.50/pair
Superior 6' 7 panel (3rd
wide)............................................$2.50/pair
Superior 6' 7 panel (2nd wide)
...........................................$2.50/pair

Tahoe Model Works trucks w/ brakes, w/o wheelsets $3.75/pair
001 Dalman 2-level
002 Dalman 2-level w/ lateral motion device
003 Archbar
004 Bettendorf Swing Motion Caboose
005 Barber-Bettendorf swing Motion Caboose
006 Buckeye
007 Double truss, spring-plankless 50-ton
008 coil elliptic
009 Barber lateral motion spring plank 50-ton

011 5' wheelbase old-time Arch Bar (also av. w/ RP25 fat wheels)

I also have the above trucks available in full factory pack at $6.25/pair which
have code 88 "semi-scale" wheelsets.

LifeLike Proto 2000
National B-1 trucks w/ ribbed back wheels
..............................$3.50/pair


***********************KITS*****************
Branchline undec 40' boxcar kit w/ 8' door opening ...........$13.00
Centralia Car Shops/Intermountain

Early version Santa Fe steel caboose undec. kit .............$25.00


Intermountain
40495 40' PS-1 7' door ..............................................$10.00
40899 40' 10'6" AAR boxcar ......................................$9.50
40799 40' 10'6" AAR boxcar .......................................$9.50
41050 40' GN Plywood sided boxcar ............................$16.00
41099 40' 12 panel riveted boxcar 6' door .....................$10.00
40999 50' PS-1 SD boxcar .........................................$10.00
41071 40' WWll emergency boxcar Viking roof ...........$16.00
42750 Santa Fe Caswell Gondola kit K brake .................$15.00
42999 Santa Fe Stock car kit ......................................$15.00
41199 Santa Fe undec Reefer kit .................................$10.00
43499 ART Steel reefer undec .....................................$15.00
42700 FGE/WFE 40' wood-sided reefer .......................$15.00
41799-P PFE R-40-10 steel undec reefer .......................$12.00
43698 1958 cu ft 2 bay covered hopper closed side ............$16.00
43699 1958 cu ft 2 bay covered hopper open side ..............$16.00
43799 70-Ton Bulkhead Flatcar ....................................$16.00
41299 riveted type 27 8K tank car kit ............................$10.00
41399 riveted type 27 10K tank car kit ..........................$10.00
43599 Milwaukee undec 40' rib-side boxcar .................$15.00

Red Caboose
8500 '37 AAR double door W corner boxcar ....................$17.00
8001 '37 AAR single door Sq corner boxcar .....................$16.00
8748 ACF 3+R/4 IDE riveted 40' 8' door tab side sill boxcar....$16.00
8700 ACF 3+R/4 IDE riveted 40' 8' door ...........................$16.00
5000 Steel side Drop Bottom Gondola w/ SP ends .............$16.00
7001 PRR X29 '28 body dreadnaught ends .........................$16.00
7002 PRR X29 '24 body plate ends ...................................$16.00
7003 ARA body "X29 style" plate ends ..............................$16.00





Shipping charges are calculated on weight/distance

I accept checks, money orders. I also accept PayPal payments with a 4%
surcharge.
*********Please make all responses off-list. <midcentury@sbcglobal.net>*******
Thanks,
-Andy Carlson
Ojai CA

For those who may be interested, there's an original 1906 Car Builders' Dictionary up for auction on ebay. The auction ends tomorrow.

http://cgi.ebay.com/CAR-BUILDERS-DICTIONARY-1906-700-PP-PUB-RR-GAZETTE-/190526127503?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c5c3dfd8f

Bob Karig

It's too bad Micro Mark doesn't sell anything of their own that they didn't
steal the idea from someone else.



Pat Wilkinson

Thanks for the tip, Rick.
I uninstalled Java and re-installed it and can get straight to the TKM now.
Thanks and regards,
Martin

The cheap calipers pull more power from the battery, even when turned off, than the expensive ones do. Pulling the battery out is the only way to truly turn off most all digital calipers. I do like how the zero function allows me to measure the center to center distance between two same size holes. But mostly I still use my old vernier calipers.

Steve Shaffer

This thread has been very interesting. My modeling lives and dies by my calipers, and it has been so ever since my good wife presented me with a set of Mitotoyo PFM vernier calipers with an HO scale in about 1959. What an instrument! 50 years later, it remains a total pleasure to use, and its measurements can be taken to the bank.

Well, eyes being what they are I looked around for good more easy-to-read dial calipers, being super-suspicious of the plethora of cheap stuff hitting the market. I purchased a fine German-made dial caliper whose dial read in both English and metric. It complemented my PFM stalwart perfectly, and I admired the fine finish, accuracy, and craftsmanship of this fine instrument. Then came the day that it fell on the floor (rug), which jarred the dial so that it would no longer read accurately (by a steady error). I attempted everything known to man to figure out to get it serviced, but the cost to do so was prohibitive in extreme. I did visit a fine instrument repairman in the Bay Area, and I made contact with others as far away as Long Island by phone. The universal messaqe from all to me was:

1) Presume that all calipers but the verniers will be eventual throw-aways, the digital calipers more so than the dials (regardless of expense).

2) If you want a fine instrument that will be accurate and will last, stick with the best verniers that you an afford. They are bullet proof and will only fail from the heaviest use and/or poor maintenance. Your grandchildren stand a good chance of greatly prizing them.

3) With that, I gave up on calipers with readouts -dial or digital- , purchased on eBay a gorgeous new/old stock Helios (German) vernier caliper that measures dual-ly in both metric and English, and I am now back to verniers only (with an Optivisor to read them glued to my forehead).

Denny

Denny S. Anspach MD
Sacramento

On 4/28/2011 2:47 PM, cvlk wrote:

Is there something going on with the PRRHTS website? Internet Explorer shuts down as soon as the red background of the home page starts to appear....there was some message about it wanting to use a forbidden area of memory on my computer... I think this is a MicroSoft issue and not related to my AVG anti-virus protection...
Trying to view the new Keystone Modeler. Have had no problem viewing other sites on the internet today.
Charlie Vlk

Loading fine here in IE 7 and Firefox 4 under Windows XP. I'll try in the AM on my laptop (Win 7 and I think IE8).

Tim Barney

When I got my 1st dial caliper, the improvement in usability over my vernier
caliper was remarkable. My dial caliper remains my favorite, and most used tool.
I have had occasions to use digital calipers, and I don't think the usefulness
increase was significant enough to warrant me ever considering it as a
replacement for my dial caliper. I don't have to worry about battery issues,
either.

-Andy Carlson
Ojai CA

I get about 60% of the way to completion and it just stops. Refresh, get to
60%, stops. Occasionally it gets a bug in its and's and it jumps to the
finish line, but that's very seldom.

Dave Nelson

All this bad talk about battery operated Calipers.
Take a look at Micro Mark no.82556 6" long Digital
Caliper that measures .0005 or .01mm for $19.95.

Mirco Mark No. 83762 6" long D.C. that measures
.0005 or .01mm and factional inches in 1/64th also
has a 2 step funtion.

Both of these have ON/OFF switchs that allows
longer battery life. Micro Mark advises that
replacement battiers are same as hearing air
battiers. Theae are available at all Drug Stores.

Micro Mark did offer a 14" Digital Caliper with
all the above funtions, but have SOLD OUT. Like
a dummy I put off buying one. They SOLD for
$59.95.

Ed Ursem

Dave,

Try saving it to your documents in Windows and open it from there.

Greg Martin

The site has an expired digital certificate. So depending on how your firewall is set and your antivirus, it will abort or ask if you want to run the program pr just run it anyway. The certificate is from an approved site but expired. Not sure if that is a problem with the web host or the Society's page.

Rich Orr