Seems to me that the parts for the four course tank, which was Bill Gould's original reason for doing this car to the exclusion of all others, are pretty much integrated into the parts sprues for the

I agree 100% with Chuck's well stated complaints with the pre order process. Add to this the risk of losing you money completely if the manufacturer, distributor or LHS goes out of business.

You know, this Tichy tank car question has been around for almost 20 years now, and the usable parts are always in demand. Why hasn't Tichy just bitten the bullet and produced the correct tank,

This isn't a new concept. Remember the brass market of the 1970s and 80s. Most of the manufacturers have product out there that you are familiar with. If you don't like their product to begin

As in the Tony Thompson article in the January 2012 Railroad Model Craftsman, for example?? :-) - - Mark Rossiter

Hi Group I am looking to find any of the following intermountain cars; if have some you would like to get rid of at a reasonable price please get in touch with me. 1937 AAR Boxcars 45703 Norther

Jim - The explosives placards that I have seen from the World War II era had the name of the railroad, but no logo, printed on them. Best wishes, Stuart Stuart A. Forsyth forsyth@...

I no longer have the source material in my possession, but as I recall, at least for explosives, the pertinent Interstate Commerce Commission regulations during World War II (Par. 909) specified both

Any N scalers who may know of a commercially available freight car which would have a nicely detailed KC brake are encouraged to share that insight with me. I have a project which needs a good

Paul Deis wrote: Very interesting stuff, Paul! I will look forward to seeing those placards and regulations. Maybe you know, regarding the pre-1960 placards: were they always printed the same

Jim Beetzwrote: You are right that their web image of this set is terrible, but in fact the second row of placards at the top of the decal are pretty nice "half black" empty placards. I could

Paul, Thanks for the folder. Empty. Waiting for approval? Probably. I look forward to the results of your 'archaeology'. And keep us posted on when and where the clinic will be presented.

Hi guys, I checked The Train Shop for the 87-975 decals. No joy. (They did put them on their order list however.) Due to Tony's comments about MicroScale not having them right now I

Some additional information on Placards. I have been doing research for an article on placards. My former career was teaching Hazmat so I had an interest. The earliest placards I could find were from

Chuck,  Good point they come in different types and sizes that can be used for modeling,plain wire and either flatwound or round wire wrapped strings to choose from,flat and wound can be used for

Elden, I can't remember where I just read this, but a significant amount of US to Russia "lend-lease" was shipped out of Oregon ports on Russian flagged merchant ships - remember that Japan and

Jim Betz wrote: Yes, that was very common. I have seen them with and without railroad emblems. I suspect there were commercial producers of placards, just as there are today, and many

Ashley Pollard wrote: Absolutely. The underframe is the USRA design, but closely follows AC&F practice and is similar to AC&F underframes of much of the 1920s. I used it for my tank cars with

I agree with you. Recent events have disappointed me and I will no longer pre order. If I miss out, so be it. My life well go on. Jan

Folks, it appears that the concept of pre-ordering models months before they are manufactured is becoming standard in some areas of our hobby. I understand that this is a safety feature for