As always I will defer to Tony's expertise on anything freight car related. I believe that many railroads built their own cars from the USRA design. Certainly the cars went through a number of

With some talk about scrapers I thought I would photograph a few of my collection. I think most are out of this time period. You can judge. The manufacturer is marked on the photo, except the one

Due to the tiny size of the rivets used in HO valve-gear, the tools needed to set them are mostly available only from the suppliers of such rivets. That’s Bowser (ex Kemtron), maybe PSC, and someone

The latest Resin Car Works blog post discusses accessing the extra prototype details to help you build RCW kits and what happens to the details when a kit is

The WC cars, 1500-1652 (even) were identical. All 250 cars were done as one batch during the winter of 1950-1951, and then proportionally assigned to the two corporate entities. While these look like

Hi Bryian, Years ago, well decades really, I had zero problems using the tool provided with the Penn Line kit I was building at the time. Some time later I had a much beefier tool custom machined

Sean, The Soo magazine from the SLHTS, Winter 2014 Volume 36 Number 1 has an article on kitbashing these cars. Tom Christensen

Tim O’Conner writes: “Aren't discussions critical of vendors' business practices (or consequences of their alleged negligence) prohibited from the STMFC list?” Yes. However, note the rule:

Dan, With all that said. I assume there might be better tools available than others. Do you have any suggestion on where to get the best tool for this and which to buy? Also, thank you to everyone

Detail Associates ad from the March 1989 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. Ben Hom

Personally I am not very good at reading drawings plus over the years with the stories of inaccuracies of drawings in the hobby press, I only use photos to guide my modeling. Bill Welch

Thanks Andy, Any chance you have the book? I don't and was wondering if I could get an image posted or scanned from the source. The WC cars were nearly identical from my understanding.

Aren't discussions critical of vendors' business practices (or consequences of their alleged negligence) prohibited from the STMFC list? We know Branchline followed an incorrect drawing...

We're going in circles here, Fenton. The Mainline Modeler drawings have been mentioned. While Hundman attempted to correct most the features that were included in the pre-production drawings widely

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is, when rolling the bead on the tubular end, it is possible to draw the parts together too tightly. Way in the past I remember a tip; poke a hole in a small piece

You are correct Fenton, in the January/February 1980 issue and the following issue featured a scratch built GN version. Gary Laakso Northwest of Mike Brock

Fenton Wells wrote: "Not bad for an old guy, at least the info was in Mainline Modeler at some time, right wrong or indifferent." Tell that to the manufacturers who got burned. I'll bet Branchline

Not bad for an old guy, at least the info was in Mainline Modeler at some time, right wrong or indifferent. Fenton -- Fenton Wells 250 Frye Rd Pinehurst NC 28374 910-420-8106 srrfan1401@...

Good advice. When setting such a rivet one wants to roll the hollow end over into a bead rather like a doubled-over sock. You do not want to just squash it flat. Flattening it may work, but will

Fenton Wells wrote: "Didn't Mainline Modeler did an extensive series on these boxcars in the late 1970's I seem to remember." Can't be the late 1970s, as Mainline Modeler wasn't in print until