Hi - thought I'd chime in ... I have been using solvent based paints since the mid-80's. I still have a small supply of both Diosol and Scalecoat thinner and use them for air brushing ... but use lacq

Thanks all, I'm netting out the answers as "any product that needed to be kept cool" - as in you didn't want it to be inside a normal box car where the sun could heat up the car. So "cool" was a relat

Hi, What was shipped in "Ventilated Box Cars" - the ones with open/slotted doors and ventilators on the ends of the cars? Most of the pics of them I've seen have been pre-WWII ... when did they stop b

Guys, Watch this space in about 2 to 3 weeks time. I'm working with a supplier to get some wood strips in 1"x6"x16 foot lengths that I intend to work thru how to 'pre-color' them before assembly and i

Bruce and Schuyler (and any one else that wants to join in), I also have been studying the roof walks in that photo. The first thing that jumps out at me is that almost every single car has "variation

Resending - forgot to strip off the "notify ..." junk

Hi, So I'm sitting here staring - again - at the following image ... https://donstrack.smugmug.com/UtahRails/Roger-Kingsford-Photos/i-k8WX95c and (this time) I was focusing (again) on weathering on th

Hi, I started to count RR personnel and quickly got up to 20 ... before I got into trying to separate the RR people from the crush of war time passengers. Caption says "5 minutes" for this stop. I sus

Tony (and all), I know of one layout that has modeled one of the permanent (fold up) blue flags ... in the laying down position between the rails. (I don't believe it can be raised but at least it is

"VERTICAL distance" not just "distance"

Jack, When you are sitting at your workbench what is the distance between your elbow and the work surface for both positions? (When you are just sitting, not necessarily when your arms are in the actu

Hi, What products would have been shipped in an SHPX 2-bay covered hopper? I typically associate such cars as "cement hoppers" which were usually relatively short haul products (200 miles - or less) a

Hi, I'm going to move/rebuild/redefine my workbench. Is there some kind of 'standard' for how high a workbench surface should be relative to either the height of the chair you are sitting on or the he

Tony, Good catch - although in the pictures I've just checked it looks like there might have been a sort of "double end sill" ... there is a lighter structure but definitely something I'd call a "sill

Dennis Storzek, Thanks for that post with the link! All, If you didn't take the time to scan and read some of that GREAT Chicago Tribune you missed some "good stuff". A very interesting "slice of hist

Jeff and all, When I use "The Tool" I hold the truck with the bearing boxes of the axle I'm reaming between my fingers and squeeze them - hard - as I turn the tool. If I put the same wheelset back int

Hi all, This group seems to be the best that I'm a member of that can answer this question - although it isn't directly related to steam era freight cars it is related to using models of same. Moderat

Michael, Thanks for the pics. I ended up making mine out of the AZ Rock "Sand House/Beach Sand". It looks very much like yours. I like my cars fairly heavy so I just built the entire load out of the A

Tim, Thanks for your description of your techniques. I use similar methods sometimes - but I also often just accept the added cost and weight and the fact that the car is permanently loaded - which is

Hi, I'm definitely not a Rio Grande modeler. But since one of the layouts I go to often is placed "some where in the West" I need some of these cars. I'm guessing that the gon in the picture was eithe