Tim O'Connor wrote: <snip> I have a couple dozen opened bottles of Scalecoat and I routinely put thinned paint back in the bottle. They only gel when the cap is not airtight. Floquil bottles seem to

At one time small cans of nitrogen (or other inert gas) were sold to shoot a little in before the lid was closed. This was supposed to eliminate the oxygen but not sure this stuff is still

But Dennis, you make polystyrene coupler box covers for most of your kits, and nearly every other manufacturer does the same thing. If the hobby isn't up in arms about the boxes falling apart, don't

Just to give credit where credit is due, the idea if modeling the coupler yoke and draft stops in relief IS directly copied from Byron's part, with his permission. Someone showed me his resin boxes

Jim, The old Front Range 6' door PS-1 is the closest to the P&WV cars, despite the casting's many shortcomings. It's major plus is the roof, which lacks the stiffening wales in the panels closest to

I began using Scalecoat since about 1968 when several of my friends switched from floquil as their paint of choice. The only time that I saw a bottle of Scalecoat solidify in the bottle was about 5

Jack, Oops <G> You're right of course. I was looking at the wrong measurements! The car was rebuilt post WWII, as seen by the "rivet plates" on the side sill, but it looks like it kept its original

Car restorers use a product called POR-15 which seems to be a full size version of Scalecoat (or at least reacts the same way when it is exposed to air). Once a can of POR-15 is opened you have to

Are you sure? Bill Welch's monograph and ORER entries indicate that the rebuilt cars were renumbered into the 57000-59999 series. The drawings are based on 50220, still bearing its original number.

Many thanks to Bill Keene, Jared Harper, Jon Miller, octoraro1948 (do not know your name. Sorry.), Tim O'Connor, Dennis Storzek, Denny Anspach, Schuyler Larrabee, Tony Thompson and Clark Propst for

Denny,That pretty well covers all the bases.That said,I try to continually change cars between operating sessions so the crews do not see the same cars session after session.Having a rather large

Other source of poor running is the axle ends. If the axle is plastic, even the slippery kind, the ends can also get coated with the same gunk that accumulates on plastic wheels. Kadee wheel sets have

Jim Yes, but they were the 1948 version of the PS-1. Different underframe, roof, doors, and ends. Intermountain's model is the post-1953 version. Greg Martin wrote a kitbash article in Mainline

One thing I've done to try to extend the life of Scalecoat 1 in the past is, when I'm ready to close up the bottle, dropper some fresh thinner on top of the paint, and then store it without shaking

The following freight car maintenance issues I believe to underly predictable, reliable operations of how a freight car actually will play its part in a functioning TRAIN on the layout, while

Many lacquers are formulated with what are called 'drying oils.' These are oils that polymerize on exposure to oxygen. Linseed oil is the most well known, but there are several others. Every time

Disagree all you like, I was sharing my experiences. Now there is also the possibility that humidity levels could be factor in this as well. I do know that Scalecoat strongly recommends not to return

Tim, thanks for the reply. Right, I know that. Actually, the "vehicle," not the thinner. When it evaporates, the The top was tight, I'm fairly obsessive about that. A nice pair of crescent pliers

Pierre, I agree with Tim's response on this. SGL

I was looking at the Intermountain web site, and saw a P&WV PS-1 boxcar product offering in boxcar red paint with the "Symbol of Service" slogan. How accurate is this Intermountain car for the