As promised, here's the sequel. There was an issue with shipping, so I just received these today. All Classic Metal Works this time. While in some cases CMW models aren't as nice most of Oxford's they do offer some interesting items. At first inspection, the 74 Buick wagon at top left is a good looking model, as is the 53 Ford Country Sedan in sungate ivory. The 54 Ford pickup comes with a coat of dust that definitely gives it a "down on the farm" look, but I have to wonder what happened to the running boards. All ford pickups of that vintage had them, so I guess this truck will get a pair of 3D printed ones. The Ford exchange engines truck is cool and CMW saved me having to make a set of decals. However, the White tractor is incorrect (a lot of people probably wouldn't care too much, but I've kinda got a problem with it. It could be put to better use elsewhere.) See link: http://theoldmotor.com/?p=169546 I've got a used Imex Ford kicking around that I found at a train show, so I'll solve that problem the same way I built a couple of my Roadway tractors posted in the "Show Us Your Custom HO Vehicles" thread. Eventually, the trailer frame should also be swapped for the single axle version to be correct, but it's a unique truck I've wanted for quite a while. It will look good at my Ford dealer during late 40s to mid 50s operating sessions.
When I graduated from high school in 1975, my gift to myself was a Tyco Pacific kit. I paid $14.99 for it, through "Standard Hobby Supply"; they used to run a 2-page add in Railroad Model Craftsman...I think. That model is long gone. This arrived yesterday: I figured for 22 bucks I couldn't go wrong. The instruction sheets are dated "1970", but the date in the box lining is...1975. Makes a nice companion to this: ...dated 1965, this still had the brass axle bearings, like my older still (1950) example...which runs really well. Plenty to play with... Mark in Oregon
Athearn did a decent job with the RTR D&RGW SD45's and even put the correct trucks on them based on the road numbers. I bought all 9 road numbers back when they came out.
I found an Sd40T as well as a couple more SD45’s, and GP units I’m interested in. I need to stay away from the LHS before it gets too expensive.
Today at Lombard Hobbies here in Chicagoland, Arrowhead Models (of Committee Design fame) launched their second model. Their new offering is the Railgon 53’ gondola. These are a bit of a pre-production run of special road numbers exclusive to Lombard Hobbies. The model will be available to the rest of the nation’s hobby retailers when their container arrives from China. They had two CSX patch units as well as a CSX repaint. The as-built GONX units will arrive with the regular-production models. The model is a brass-hybrid with most of the body being brass. Certain underbody components as well as the ribs and stiffener around the top edge of the sidewalls are plastic. It features scale-width draft gear and .088” nickel-silver wheels. All the grabs, piping, tow loops, and more are separate parts. There was a bit of yellow overspray around the corner stirrups and some CA glue frosting inside, which rubbed off with a cotton swab, so no issue there. There were some issues with styrene mold gates not being trimmed flush, so I VERY carefully sanded them with a sanding stick. They were located on the bottom edge of the side sill, so they could be left alone if you wanted. While there are a few minor cosmetic issues, keep in mind this model has 199 parts, more than Rapido’s latest passenger cars. All the stringers and cross-braces on the underside feature a full profile and are all separately molded and applied. A person in China had to build this, so of course I have to cut them some slack. For a new company’s second release this is groundbreaking. Every detail on the prototype is here on the model, including some brake details around the trucks we usually don’t see. The attention to underbody detail is a sign of a high-quality and well-researches model. I met with Blaine Hadfield today at the shop and he was a really cool guy. We talked about the production process and the research that went into this model and I was impressed. Here are some photos I took while unboxing and cleaning up the model. I tested it on 22” radius with some other cars that had semi-scale draft gear and it worked fine.
The first of several turnouts arrived today. So been doing more tub sorting so I can get my layout up and running. Enjoy
I just got this Westside Brass C&O T-1 2-10-4 recently. I don't think it was ever run since it was made in the 70's. I did a quick test run and the noise was horrendus, I took it all apart and lubed and oiled all the pertinet parts have been taking it to the club to break it in. The first brass dealer I ever bought from always suggested breaking in a steam loco by running it 1 hour for each powered axle, I have been doing that and those engines run great. By the way 1/2 hour forward and 1/2 hour backwards (you do run in reverse!). Rick Jesionowski
That's a beauty, Rick. Are you going to leave it brass or paint it? BTW, what is the minimum radius for that beast?
I have been working on expanding my BNSF Ice Cold Express set. I had gotten two trailers a few years ago, but just recently picked up four more. Bowser produces more numbers in the ‘mountain’ scheme, but all the videos and photos I have seen just show the basic white with the polar bear logo. The mountain range is seen in some early promotional material and I saw one in a Roadrailer informational video too, so while it seemed to exist, it is much rarer. It seems weird that Bowser would produce more road numbers in this scheme than the plain scheme. BNSF allied with Alliance and Clipper to build a fleet of refrigerated Roadrailers. They operated together in trains, along with a select few dry van trailers. The Roadrailers can also be seen on spine cars operating as regular trailers. The models come with some optional parts to convert them to a road-going vehicle. You can remove the articulated truck and switch out the rear bumper to load them on a flat car. Bowser produced the Alliance scheme in a recent run, but the Clipper was only available as an unnumbered kit from back before they were RTR. I have yet to see one on eBay or anything. Some of these trailers are Executive Line and some are just regular green-box models. The regular models do not have a fuel tank for the reefer unit, and the ‘bolsters’ on mine were all backwards. The truck is mounted off center on the bolster, so instead of the truck being offset toward the rear of the trailer, the piece was flipped around and made the truck too far forward. I disassembled the model to fix it. All the models that the hobby shop had in stock were like that, so it may affect the entire run of cars. It is an easy fix, but definitely a strange issue.
Yes, it will end up in C&O paint, want to use it for the mine run on the club layout in the future. I am not sure what the minimum radius is but suspect it is 24", I ran it around the 22" radius wye track on the club layout, it made it but was not happy about it! Rick Jesionowski
And so here's the 2nd turnout to arrive looking forward to more hehehehehehe. Hoping to get going on the layout soon as still need to sort out tubs before I start rebuilding the modules. After messing 2 sections up.
Was in the city the other day and dropped into the hobby shop that was my regular Friday night stop when I worked down there. I've been looking for this for a while and found it there at a better price than I've seen it anywhere. The pickup truck is incorrectly assembled like all of them I've seen, but that's not hard to fix.
Two of three Twin Cities Western Locos I picked up in April or May for the future layout in Georgia (based on a Minnesota Short Line) I packed up the remains of my former collection plus my few new additions today for Georgia. May start new layout in 2021 or 2022
