F scale is where the Rivet Counters go, if you have never heard of a Rivet Counter, it's a modeler that does his modeling to scale and copies his models to the real thing. I'm somewhere between a Rivet Counter and the model airplane "Standoff Scale", my models look pretty good from 10' away.
Since I model in LGB (American Diesel only) I was wishing that Marklin would offer more then the F7A and F7B units, but to date I have not seen another American diesel offered by them. I was hoping they would upgrade the LGB engines like the White Pass, Rio Grande, Santa FE 6 wheel models like the F units were upgraded. I guess the 1/29 scale models are where all the sales have gone to, so for Marklin to make 122.5 models would just not be to there advantage, money wise.
Nice Job, living in Ft. Worth, Texas and the Frisco being one of the old original railroads in town, I like it. being a modeler my self and enjoy painting, good job as you don't see much Frisco in G Scale. Here is a pic of a Frisco Stock Car, repainted from an LGB Stock Car, my RR is modeled in the 1940's in the Ft. Worth Stockyard area.
Like other Large Scale Forums, I do find this one probably one of the least used by it's members, it does not change too much day to day. All being said, I will still give it a look now and them, I do realize we all have our favorites. As far a Rail Pro goes it works for me and many others, but not to say others don't work well either. I will say, I'm a modeler first and a train runner second, so just running trains outside just doesn't do too much for me, but what you enjoy is all that counts.
USA trains has hundreds of reefers with just about every billboard you could want, in fact many you wouldn't want. All being said being a modeler I do buy the reefers/boxcars, etc. that don't sell well on eBay at good prices and repaint them to railroads that I like. I can usually get them for around $25-$30 dollars new in the box, the ones like you have are just about the lowers price, as most want a specific railway car of something that ran in the past, or today. I will say that the USA products are done very well and are my brand of choice over many of the others. I will say that USA Trains does, or did do special runs for customers, but these were done in large quantiles, I would say by the hundreds, low production numbers would cost too much to produce. I have redone many G scale cars, here is a pick of a USA reefer I redid for our club, it is from a actual car that the Crazy Water Company owned back in the day, Crazy Water is in Mineral Wells, Texas and was popular back in the day for its mineral baths and healing power of its waters. The decals were specially made for our club which is the most expensive part of repainting the cars, the painting part is just what I enjoy. Also is a pic of my Ft. Worth & South-Western LGB engine, it's a former W P & Y LGB #2055 blue and white engine from the factory.
I'm new to this forum and didn't see much on Rail Pro, so just wondering if any formers are using it. I now have it in three engines, all battery power with Rail Pro and no track power. I will say there system works very well and have had no problems, just put the trains on the track, or floor wherever they will run and be done with it. It takes all the fun out of cleaning track, your lights have no flickering, and I find my run times are way longer then I need for my running times. Everything is in one board, engine control, lights, sound, etc., pretty much takes the fun out of using several different systems when you get it all in one. If interested just go to YouTube and type in Rail Pro and you will find all the info you need.
I would say stick to one coupler manufacture and don't mix them just for the reason you are having. I only run LGB and use the LGB knuckle couplers, true they are oversized, but that what started out with some 30 years ago and all work as they should and don't uncouple. If I was starting over today I would go with the Kadee couplers, yes they are more expensive, but what in model railroading isn't.
I made a drawbar from a strip of brass sold a hobby shops in there brass/aluminum displays. They are sold in 12" lengths and different withs, I used the 3/8's, or somewhere close to that size. Now, not knowing how your engine heights are between the engine and tender you may have to put a small kink in the drawbar so each end will be level and your units will pull straight and go around curves and not bind up. You will have to drill a hole in each end of the drawbar for the screw to go through to hook the two units together, not hard to do with a drill and a sharp bit. Enclosed are some pics of the drawbar, sorry I don't have better pics of it. I rebuilt two LGB Moguls for my railroad and installed Rail Pro battery power for my operating system. The tender pics are from when I converted the tenders from coal to oil.
I've been in G Scale for some 40 plus years with LGB equipment all U.S. Narrow Gauge. Yes, it is a scale that is hard to use other manufactures equipment, as LGB is 122.5 Scale, or as I call it, a questionable scale to model in. All my LGB is repainted and rebuilt as I'm more of a modeler then a runner. I model like it's Standoff Scale (RC airplane scale), looks really good, but don't use a scale for every rivet on the model. Here are a few pics of just a few LGB and USA Trains models that I have redone. All my engines are Rail Pro equipped and all Cabooses and Passenger cars have LED's and battery power, no track power. trainman
I took an LGB 2055 White Pass and re-did it to my railroad, the Ft. Worth & South-Western. It will have the RailPro system and be battery powered as my layout is all dead rail. I do all my own painting, both with spray cans and airbrush. Here are a few pics of the transformation, trainman605
This is my first post on this site, I signed on today. Here is a pic of my re-done LGB Moguls, I re-did and customized just about everything on them, including changing from coal fired to oil fired, on one oil bunker I make the oil filler from a plastic top and the cap came from some LGB parts I had. trainman605
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Indoor F scale layout finally started
in Indoor Layouts
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F scale is where the Rivet Counters go, if you have never heard of a Rivet Counter, it's a modeler that does his modeling to scale and copies his models to the real thing. I'm somewhere between a Rivet Counter and the model airplane "Standoff Scale", my models look pretty good from 10' away.