I've been using Paasche for 40 years - the last 16 or so almost 100% VL and H before that. The only thing I'd consider changing to would be Iwata. I haven't been to their clinics but I did talk to the

I thought only my listserver did that... Andy

And if you're building a layout you're screwed. I must admit that of all the things I could have predicted for the hobby, a track shortage wasn't one of them. Hopefully it will be over with by the tim

As you know I was unable to make it this year. I had some medical "fun" back in Jan-Feb that some of you are aware of that burned both dollars and vacation days to where I've got two months to go and

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261012077998 I picked up one of these at a show last weekend. It was real cheap and I had never seen anything like it before - and I've pretty much seen about every plastic fre

This car is dead on *if* you get a couple of Kadee 9' thin-frame doors to replace the thick frame doors that come with the kit. Andy

What's your time worth? I am not familiar with this particular kit, but I've built a few resin kits that easily took 20, 30 hours. At minimum wage of $7.50 that's $225 plus the cost of the kit and any

I happened upon a Kadee Monon PS-1 at a show, price too good to pass up. Of course I didn't remember the number of the one I already had, but I would have bought it anyway. I rarely renumber rolling s

I've been wondering the same thing. It's probably safe to say there won't be any more undecorated kits. I managed to build a small stash of undec and deco kits - they are very easy to strip if need be

Actually I was going to suggest the Original Whistle Stop in Pasadena, as that was the last place I remember seeing any on a peg but that was 2 years ago. I think I had whatever came with their H2 hop

I would love to go on a parts shopping spree at Kadee. They have so many things no in their catalog - pretty much any part from anything they have, but only a portion of them are cataloged for retail

After talking with Mike Hopkin at length about this, I'm convinced that a phone call to the parts lady (Mike's wife) is far, far more effective than anything in email. She knows what they really have,

They're EXAMPLES of industry use of the term, I thought I was pretty clear about that. The term OEM has been used, inconsistently, across many industries, and as you're proving, inconsistently in the

Ah but... Jon who IS an OEM in the literal definition, does not call himself one. That is in a nutshell the problem with the term. It's not used as a self-description by entities that actually fit, an

Added to the list... I can give one really glaring counter-example. In the mid 90s I bought wholesale computer components from an importer/warehouse operation to build PCs for my customers. Much of th

As I said, I know what the acronym stands for. That's your definition. I'll add it to the list :-) Andy

My pet peeve is the term OEM. My eyes glaze over when I hear it. I know what the acronym stands for, but the term OEM is used to mean actual manufacturer (as in, factory), the brand who rebadges it, t

Excellent... the best run company in the MR business strikes again. Thanks Sam :-) Andy

The only issue I see here is that the bronze spring provides some thickness and in some manufacturer's draft gear a whisker coupler may droop a little. But that's easily fixed with a shim, which is a

Cool. So I just need to find 78s for my ~~10 unbuilt RYM kits. Andy