ssculptor

This has been a real problem with old wood models of shops, often found in museums. It is the lead that rots and since there is lead in zinc, in some mixtures it gets the zinc also. What happens is that the castings are OK but as soon as one painted them trouble starts. Over time, with temperature changes, vibration, and changes in ambient temperatures over time the paint starts to crack. It is hardly noticeable but the cracks let in moisture, The moisture enhances the lead rot and eventually it is only the paint that is present, Th lead alloy is just powder. There are museum directors the world around who are tearing their hair out as they see their 6 to 12 foot long sailing ship models fall apart as the cast pulley blocks fall off and the rigging falls onto the floor. It is no joke. There has been a lot of research done over the years and one sure fire solution is to use fittings that are case in brass or copper when making or repairing the models. I do not know ;what can be done for your locomotive. Do you really think that USA Trains will really have new parts cast in Brass or bronze,or even aluminum? Anything but lead or zinc. Yes they should, but I wouldn't hold my breath until they do. If I owned your rotting locomotive I would fabricate the rotting parts out of brass copper, bronze, steel or aluminum. It may cost more to have this done than you paid for the model in the first place. Good luck to us all. ssculptor

http://www.aberfoylesecurity.com/?p=3873 I do like armoured trains. I have for many years. These days there are numerous kits available for both armoured trains and railroad guns. There many available in G scale or G gauge. They come from the static model companies. like Trumpeter. However, not only are they non-running but they are 1/35 scale, which is a bit smaller than 1/32 or #1 scale..In any event you will have to figure out how to make or modify trucks so it will run on G gauge tracks Combat Models (combatmodels.us/) has the U.S. Naval 14" railroad gun that were used in W.W.1 to good effect. It is a vacuform model in 1/32 scale. It is not listed but he has the parts and can whip up a kit for you upon request. I buy most of my military RR kits in 1/35 off of eBay. Search for Armored trains, railroad guns, You will find a number in HO gauge and more in roughly OO gauge. Since I limit my RR modeling to a minimum of 1/35 scale and go up from there these smaller trains do not interest me; but some of you may like them. On the other hand, There are kits in 1/25 scale. But these are paper card models. This is really a form of scratch building for if you want a more permanent model you can use these kits simply as patterns. You can then cut the parts out of wood, metal or plastic sheet. But they are very accurate. An excellent dealer in paper card models is http://papermodelstore.com Books, there are a number of good books on railroad guns and armored trains. Search on eBay under those headings,and a number will appear for sale. Remember the movie, Dr. Zhivago? There were scenes in a Russian Armored train it the movie. Aside from the good music and the train, the rest of the movie was kind of mushy, The good doctor sleeping with his girl friend who looked like she was eternally sucking on a rancid pickle. I like his faithful wife better. The fun thing about armored trains is that one can really invent his own armored train. Many were created ad hoc in railyards byrailroad mechanics. It is a fascinating history. Enjoy, Stephen

Explaining the scale issue is sooooo much fun! Because we also have modelers who insist that everything they make must be "to scale". They try to made exact replicas of the trains they model. They try to get every last detail in the models with exact sale distances between rivets, etc. One takes a vernier calipers to a real locomotive and measures the width of the rivet heads. then the do some math and arrive at the exact diameter of the rivet head in their scale. Next they try to find existing rivets that are commercially available that match the diameter of the rivet head they seek. Once they find it they can happily rivet the model to their hearts content. Guys like this are called "Fine Scale Modelers". One finds many of them making static plastic model airplanes, tanks and ships happily measuring and doing math and arguing with other FSModelers. Years ago in the USA, starting in the 1930's I believe, we had them in "O" gauge. You see 1.25 inch is not the exact gauge in 1/48 scale of US railroad track. Nosireebob! The gauge of track in the USA is 4 feet 8 1/2 inches. That in 1/48 scale is exactly, (convert that to inches by multiplying 4 feet by 12 = 48 plus 8.5 inches gives you 56.5 inches. Then divide that by 12 =) 1.17708 inches as the true gauge of O scale track. Is your brain starting to hurt yet? What to do?, what to do? We cannot change the O track from 1.25 to 1.17708 inches because then we would have to change all the wheel sets and that would be expensive as all get out especially in the locomotives. Remember this was during the economic depression of the 1930's and people did not have that much money to waste, or any money at that. Comes logic to the rescue. If you cannot raise the bridge, lower the river. So the size of all the train cars and locomotives were changed to match the increase in track gauge. This is 17/64 scale instead of 1/48 scale and was called "Q" scale. So the fine scale modelers of yesteryear scaled up all their model trains or took up golf. Golf was quite satisfying as one could swing one's club at a tree while screaming, wrapping it around the unoffensive large plant and relieving the tension. Or just throw one's clubs in the pond. Now we know why the American male loves to drink hard liquor of 70 to 90 proof. I had some of these Q scale models years ago. but I got rid of all of it when I switched to G gauge or G scale, or... Gee whiz I'm confused. By the way, O scale came from England where it was 7mm to the foot and used a track gauge of 1.25 inches. In the U.S. it was 1/4" to the foot or 1:48, but the track gauge was not changed. In England they have OO gauge which is 4mm to the foot and in the USA we have HO which is Half O (3.5mm). But G is much easier to live with. "G" scales range from 1/35 (well, at least in my world) up through 1/32, 1/29, 1/25, 1/24, 1/22.5, 1/20.32 (also called F gauge) and now some larger ones, even. So how does one reconcile running all these different sizes on one model railroad layout?. Simple. We apply the Three Foot Rule. If the train in question looks good from three feet away then it is in scale. I shall now partake of some brandy and go to bed, My brain hurts. I