I've used them under the Central Vermont milk cars offered by F&C. At least judging from photos in various sources and the drawing in F&Cs instructions, they were about right. (If anyone knows where t

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Proto:87 stores' washers. I've used them and they do seem better than the "one screw tight one looser" method. (Admittedly not answering Rob's direct question, but a

Door looks funny. Reefer rather than Boxcar? Anyone got an ORER handy? Steve

Thanks Bruce! Much appreciated.

Bruce, can you offer a little more on the details added ? Like Tim I'm very impressed and you've done a great job turning that older Roundhouse kit into something really nice. I'm thinking about a Soo

Yes, thank you. I've never noticed the taper at the top of those doors on the M-53 before. If i recall, my f&c wagon top's doors do not have that, I may need to consider surgery. Steve

For staining real wood, Tools for Working Wood, Lee Valley, and others offer a multitude of products, using a variety of solvents. Steve

Understood Paul, on both - I was referring to coil springs and your comment " get replacement springs from these days fortunately I have some in stock from Greenway Products I am not sure if they are

I was unaware of that Charlie. There are any number of Brits discussing how to size continuous springs, usually under the term CSB (continuous springy beam) http://www.clag.org.uk/beam-annex3.html Spr

Speaking as a mechanical engineer who hasn't gotten round to sorting his handful of brass closet queens yet - properly balancing the loco will go a long way towards boosting tractive effort. It's not

Consider obtaining a copy of Martin Welch's Art of Weathering and Ian Rathbones handbook of painting and lining, both published by Wild Swan in the UK. (Titfield Thunderbolt is one book shop that carr

I used inkscape for one project, and if i recall correctly i did exactly that - imported DXF files from CAD and exported Corel Draw Files, after I'd finished my edits inside inkscape. It was quite goo

Fantastic look there Charlie. I like the color variation on the boards, subtle. Can I ask - what decal setting solution did you use? Steve

Oughta be able to scale off of that photo if you know the door height. To my surprise that looks very wide, 10 inches maybe? I'm seeing 9 boards and not all the same width but if you have a higher qua

I'm pretty sure my wife would say the root cause of most of my troubled is either the opening of the box, or the purchasing in the first place.... Steve

Steve

Nice models Ed!

There's a number of good techniques listed here, giving me some ideas. (I may need to break out the mill, Dennis.) I'd add that where possible, I drill right through the body, leave the grab long, and

Nice work Bill!

Branchlines' trucks for their heavyweight passenger cars also used slippery plastic bearing in a styrene truck side frame. Those may be a bit smaller if the Tichy ones don't fit ... But I don't recall