Group, I have not used many Tichy decals but those that I have used were fine. I recently used Don Tichy’s C&EI decals on a Sunshine Mather boxcar. I think factual information about various products i

Thanks to all who have contributed to this inquiry. The consensus is that it is a Silver Streak model that has been modified. Chuck Cover Santa Fe, NM

RE: . Are they wood, resin or plastic? Hi Ralph, That is one of my problems, I cannot tell whether the model is wood or not. The entire model is very smooth which makes me think that it not a wood bas

Group, I purchased several of these beautifully built reefer cars many years ago at a train show back east. I was hoping that someone could identify the manufacturer of these cars. Thanks Chuck Cover

RE: what did you use for hopper doors on your models? Don, I used Bowser H21 Wine door locks and the hopper door angles were 3/64” styrene. These two details are the most visible from the sides of the

Scott, As Ben indicated the Hobbyline model is the best starting point. There was an article in Railroad Model Craftsman, May 2011, pp83-86, “Detailing a Lehigh Valley Hopper Car” and also an article

Sorry Lester. FCC does mean Freight Car Color. I model 1955-57 and was using Floquil Zinc Chromate primer for 1950s FCC. Since Floquil is unavailable, unless you have a stash, I am now using ACE (ACE

Lester, I either give some containers a different FCC or at least weather some differently than others. They were moved around and did not always stay in a group. I’ll let others comment on the “corre

RE: . I am considering Walthers ore car trucks. Andy and Elden, I also used those Walthers ore car trucks on my kitbashed F34. They look good and equally important to me is that they operate extremely

Paolo, One thing that I would add is to completely read the instructions and try to identify all the parts before starting. I leave the small parts together as they are easier to identify that way and

Mike and Group, Here are a couple of photos, before dullcote and weathering, of my version of Bob Chapman’s B&O M27F kitbash article in RMC. Sorry for no finished photos. It builds into a great model.

Hi Bob, Thanks for the comments. The Cannonball Car shops kits were flat styrene kits. For their time, they had pretty good detail. The trucks that I used were Kadee’s version of the PRR 2DF8 trucks.

This as a kitbash of a PRR NX23 cabin car that I completed in the late 90s. It started as a Cannonball Car Shops PRR X23 boxcar kit. The kit's ends were too high and had to be cut down to match the si

To the group, thanks for all the tips on how to cut the Plano metal roof walks. Chuck Cover Santa Fe, NM

I am upgrading a few models by adding Plano metal roof walks and need to shorten a few of them to fit the cars. Has anyone had experience in cutting these metal roof walks? What is the best way, witho

I have been using Solvaset and a toothpick for as long as I can remember. Put a puddle of Solvaset onto the lettering that you want removed, let it sit for a few minutes and then start scratching it o

If you carefully examine the photo you will see that the verticals (both on the sides and ends) are all Z-brace supports which gives the car a unique look. (in an earlier response I mistakenly noted t

The Proto models do not have the Z-braces for the diagonals and I am not sure that they accurately model the correct height. Buyer beware. Chuck Cover Santa Fe, NM

Bruce, RE: As soon as you did this, Steve Funaro came out with a beautiful resin kit. That was not the first time that F&C has come out with a new kit at the same time that I had done a kitbash. 😊 Loo

Bill, You can kit-bash the PRR F34. See the Keystone Modeler #104, Spring 2018. Chuck Cover Santa Fe, NM