With a respectful nod and a tug of my forelock to Mike, I am again reminded that if you scratch almost any model railroader or railroad enthusiast, you will find closet ship, military, fire engine, ai

Well, a lot of information has come forth about the construction of large naval guns at Watervliet and Washington Navy Yard, which would at least majorly explain the projected need and use of the PRR

Bruce's Train Shop is a fine hobby shop in Sacramento. The exquisite (to me) resin hopper cars are produced by a private person who I am told firmly wishes to remain private, selling his cars only thr

Andy Miller feels that all coupler boxes should be made to fit Kadee couplers (and clones). As a general statement for Kadee-size couplers, and as a practical matter, Andy is exactly right. However, A

I love the appearance of my freight cars when equipped with scale-sized couplers without magnetic glad hands. I have so converted about 100 steam era freight cars, both new or recent, and "historic".

Don Valentine writes- Of course, in absolute terms, you are correct, Don, but only when one refers to the "original" mechanical Kadee couplers of the 1950s (c. 1951?) (:-) The slotted coupler shanks w

#58s

What successful methods have the list members used to pull the "rods" really tight with monofilament? I agree with Al Westerfield that wire rods simply do will not last straight, despite the best of i

The Taylor Globe kits were very high quality, and they are still fun to build. A cautionary note: they used the same box car "core" for their reefers. As a result, the reefers all are much too tall, w

Rob Adams writes- Rob indulges in what some others of us have been indulging in for some time: the immensely pleasant and profoundly peaceful pastime of assembling resin kits on the porches of our var

Jack Burgess writes- next to What Jack suggests has more sense to it than most other desperate alternatives. No single small part that I know of will follow a logical trajectory and bounce path that i

Hmmm...(redux), wouldn't this now depend upon the charge of the item dropped? If it was the wrong charge, wouldn't it be drawn into the carpet never to be seen again? Of course, is not the very next l

A quick question directed to Ed Hawkins (and anyone else who might know)- Main Line models produced for many years a Milwaukee Road URTX General American Express refrigerator car #48330 that was decor

There are few things in railroad preservation that can bring tears faster than a wood car sitting out unprotected through countless sun and rain cycles. It is the bane of both the observer and the own

Piece of cake, Schuyler ("pshaw!") Neat car, alright. Denny

The recent post re: colors of the Unicel box caught my interest. Unfortunately I know nothing more than what is already in the directions in the kit. However, I too have a problem with this car: I inh

For me,one of the most difficult and intimidating parts of a lifetime of freight car modeling are the ends. Every other part of the car can be positioned easily so that one is working on a horizontal

Thank you all for the plethora of good ideas and workarounds on this common problem. Although I am vowing to actually make a clamp much as Jon Miller describes, the china mug idea is so dirt simple ob

SGL inquires whether or not I ever found the retainer valve- No. I ended up stealing one from another kit. Kindred to Bill Darnaby's annual summer porch resin kit construction program, I too reserve m

I interpret this comment to be that any wood repair to a foreign line car by the Monon would not be reimbursed by the owner unless painted. As a general rule, this sounds actually pretty reasonable, r

Wow! Deja Vu! The point of view that a "modeler" is not a modeler unless he or she does "just what I do" brings back clear memories of the wailing lamentations and tearing-of-hair that filled the mode