Yep. I was at the local computer superstore a couple weeks ago, and they had a bunch of 3d printers for sale, from $500 on up to $3500. None of them anywhere near fine enough for HO scale modeling, bu

Ouch. I've been buying and seeking a lot of those indie decal sheets lately, particularly Mark Vaughn and another guy who was selling a lot of different sets at St. Louis last year. If they're using R

I was involved in a modular group for some years off and on. It had fairly loose standards and virtually no standards in terms of continuity or any minimum level of detail. That was ok with me, the cl

I am missing quite a few RPCycs and unfortunately I never remember which ones when I come across some for sale. Kind of surprising that #1 is now considered valuable. Seems like more of #1 were printe

I recently found my name via search, intentional mis-spelling, and burning ears on a forum that I no longer participate in. The poster said my article (from 1999) was now "just a footnote in history"

Well he made his call, as I would have. The whole concept of "service" is slippery to begin with. Most of us do what we want and need, to our own standards. If we document and submit it, maybe it beco

When I submitting my article to RMC, it was rather naively with no expectation of payment - at least not with any number in mind. I had no idea whether to expect 5 bucks, 500 bucks, or 5000 bucks. I w

Watching the lines in and around Pullman Standard's Hammond plant, it was fairly common to see a cut of shiny brand new freight cars. But like a lot of things, shine doesn't scale down well. It's diff

It's hard to believe but I think it has been a decade and a half since I read the first rant from a magazine editor warning of the evils of "the internet". IRRC that was the first magazine to pull the

This is a car I must model someday: http://www.gp30.com/osborn/eastbound.jpg Never found decals for this scheme though. Andy

Gene Fusco set the standard for instructions. No, I don't expect every manufacturer to do as well - but he proved it can be done. Tangent is a close second. Andy

I was riding a Southern steam special in the early 80s, and there in the chase line was a full size van with the side door wide open. On the roof was a guy with a video camera sitting in a lounge chai

I am the opposite of Tom when it comes to hand fabrication... when I've made a "master", I've made my part usually and have all I need. I last tried resin casting 40 years ago with that stuff you used

The Yardmaster tooling is now part of the Atlas Trainman line. Sent from my overpriced graham cracker

Another story - I remember Richard telling the story of a rental car being stolen, in the trunk of which were a bunch of his freight car models - never recovered. While I'm sure he was more than a lit

To add to all that has been said... though Richard's passion was steam era freight cars, he saw the bigger picture of prototype modeling and the importance and value of people getting together for a m

Asking isn't getting. A lot of ebay sellers will see an item get bid up to X dollars, think they have a gold mine, and list theirs for X + 50% buy-it-now. They usually end up disappointed. Not to say

My favorite quote from Richard, in response to a manufacturer saying "The rivet counting must stop": "The rivet counting will continue!" May it continue, unabated. Andy

Richard was a larger than life figure in prototype modeling, not just in his modeling, articles, books, and clinics but in his passion for the prototype modeling concept and spreading the gospel to th

If you have 8 ways of doing things, and the 8 entities get together to form a standard how many ways do you now have of doing things? Answer: 17. Think about it. Andy BTDT