Kevin Strong

Chuck, was that perhaps a new formulation with the new owners? I've used Scalecoat II both spray and out of the bottle with great results. (Their "GN Green" is spot on for the green the East Broad Top uses on their coaches.) I've used TruColor as well, and really didn't notice any difference between the two in terms of how they covered or dried. I didn't know Scalecoat was in danger of going away, but I'm glad to see them continue. I've still got more passenger cars that are going to need paint... Later, K

Free locos for the attendees??? I'm in!!!!!! In all seriousness, we touched on some of this with the discussion of MTH being among the prominent no-shows. I agree--it would make sense certainly for the big model manufacturers to be there displaying, but they're the ones looking at the books, so they've apparently got their reasons. Don't know that it's a choice I would make, especially since you can write off the cost of the trip, but it's not me making the decisions. I'll just scratch my head and say "missed opportunity." Bridgewerks (and add Train-Li to that list) do strike me as a bit curious not to see them, but the rest don't surprise me. Dealers pick and choose the shows they go to. The on-line forums (particularly free ones) gain nothing from being there. I'd love to see QSI display. I'd love to see QSI answer their phones and respond to e-mails regarding their product first. But then there are no other DCC vendors on the list, either (nor have they traditionally displayed in the past), so it's nothing unusual. Here again, though, I have to think that large scale is an emerging market for DCC, and the manufacturers who show up with their products could generate a whole lot of excitement for them and have a definite leg up on those manufacturers who do not. The decoders are out there and being used by folks. Later, K

As of 4-05-15, MTH is not displaying at the NGRC. I can't speak to how MTH decides which shows it does and does not attend. I can say that I've seen them at the Denver TCA show for the past few years, and in looking at their displays, you'd never know they did 1:32. Read into that what you will. I tend to think that if you've got product to sell, you at least take it to the shows you're going to--especially when you're set up within eyesight of LGB, Bachmann, and Piko's displays. Like Jerry (and probably all here), I'd love to see MTH succeed with 1:32. I think with Aristo's stuff in limbo, MTH could nose into that market fairly easily--especially with their DCS v.3 now being DCC-compatible. The ball's in their court. Later, K

Chuck, that looks to be some pretty serious axle wear on that lower one as well. How many hours did he have on that thing? Later, K

Found one, so I'm good. K

I'm in search of a USA Trains NW-2 for a kitbashing project. Cow or calf, doesn't matter. If you've got one sitting derelict, let me know. Later, K

I can't say I've shopped for them recently to know of a specific store. I do see them at train shows on the odd occasion, and shops that do repairs may have some in stock or might have a butchered loco lying around for parts. I frequently see Aristo locos at train shows, and ebay will have listings for parts locos that go pretty inexpensively. $200 for a mikado frame gets me 4 replacement gearboxes. Aristo's gone, sure. But that doesn't mean you can't get parts. You might have to be patient, but you can get the parts. If you're in the market for one, call around or post on the various forums' "for sale" threads that you're looking for one. If nothing else, it will demonstrate that there may be a need that someone with a 3D printer might be able to meet. Later, K

There's not (yet) the demand. Aristo parts can still be found from various sources, to say nothing of butchering basket-case 2nd-hand locos as needed. When that supply dries up, I think that's when you'll see things tick up a bit from enterprising folks with 3D printers. The other consideration is that so long as Aristo exists in one form or another with the capacity to produce parts, they also have the capacity to defend their patent on their drive. You may find someone making replacement gears, but copying their motor block is a little shadier. Later, K

Long-term care is always a consideration, but it shouldn't keep one from buying a locomotive they want. Consider the vast majority of live steam locomotives--very small production runs with few (if any) spare parts. Even with proper care and feeding, the bearings and crank pins are eventually going to wear. When that happens, there's nowhere to turn, except your lathe (if you have one). Our electric mice are really no different. Gears are going to fail. But even if the company is long out of business, if there's a demand, there's bound to be a supply. When you factor in the explosion of 3D printing technology, we'll be able to print gears on our desktops as we need them. It's not going to take much for someone to scan in or draw an Aristo replacement gear. We're already seeing folks make Aristo and other replacement parts for things like handrail stanchions, etc. I think we'll find it a lot easier to keep our electric mice running far into the future than some of our fire-breathing dragons. Later, K

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about the gears on the Aristo mallet. There's not much talk on the forums with regard to gear problems with the Aristo stuff. (Other issues, perhaps.) All the axles have gears, so if one fails, just bypass it. You've got three other gears on each powered chassis, and the siderods will transfer power to the "ungeared" axle, so you've still got power to all 4 axles. That, and Aristo's gearbox is modular; used in a number of locos. It shouldn't be too difficult to locate spares in the off chance one dies completely. That, and even with other manufactures' locos, who's to say they'll be around in 5, 10, 15 years to get parts? Heck, folks have trouble getting parts from manufacturers who are actively in business! As for other suggestions--if you're looking for big standard gauge power, you've pretty much exhausted it with the Aristo mallet, MTH Triples, and the challengers and big boys from various manufacturers. Aster makes an Allegheny, if you've got a spare $15K+ lying around. Later, K

No, that's 3/32" by 5/16" I think. (Close to a scale rough-cut 2 x 6, whatever that works out to in 1:20.3 to the nearest size I can get at the hobby shop.) Later, K

Not balsa, but Midwest Products sells sheets of basswood that are scribed. The thickest I've seen them is 1/16", which might be too thin for prototypical flat car decking, but if it's just the look you're going after, it will work. Most folks just use appropriately-scaled sticks, and glue them down. Coffee stir sticks are a popular low-cost (free?) option. So are popsicle sticks. It sounds tedious laying a bunch of planks across a flat car, but it actually goes very quickly. Later, K

With this loco and the trains you want to pull, I'd not go any greater than 4%. That's "typically" the maximum grade recommended for the garden. If you're into longer trains, you'd want to go less than that. Grade is simply rise over run, so a 4% grade is a 4" change in elevation over 100" (roughly 8'). Later, K

Which 2-8-0? Bachmann made two versions. The early version that I think most folks are talking about is the "outside frame" version, also called the "Connie" in large scale circles. Here's mine (albeit slightly modified): I've seen them go anywhere from $250 - $500 depending on the demand at the time. They've been out of production for at least 10 years, but you can still find new-in-box versions that have been sitting idle. As was mentioned, the "weak link" in this loco is the main drive gear on the axle. It's prone to cracking. Bachmann offers a brass replacement gear and axle combination for $10, which is a worthwhile investment. You needn't replace the axle until the gear breaks, but know that there's a high likelihood that the gear will break and this way you have a good replacement ready to go. Mine is a workhorse, and runs very smoothly. The newer 2-8-0 came out around 2 years ago, and is a model of a D&RGW C-19, an "inside frame" 2-8-0. Here's a photo of mine (again, with minor cosmetic changes): This one goes for $750 - $900. It's easily in the top 10% of locomotives on the market. Good, strong motor and gears (all metal gearbox), and detailed to the hilt. You'll not go wrong with either one. Later, K

Mark, wire two 12 volt bulbs in series. Put the second one in the cab or in the firebox. Glad to hear your other locos are running well (especially the 2-8-0s.) Later, K

That plow is overkill. A locomotive as small as that mogul wouldn't have a prayer of moving snow deep enough to warrant a plow that large. If you like it, keep it, but from a prototypical standpoint, I'd lose it. Looks like you've found some good photos to provide inspiration. I'd probably rely heaviest on the first and second one. Later, K

I agree with Jim--they are great runners. I got one for my dad's railroad, and it's a very solid performer--far superior than all the previous versions he's owned (which have all gone to the scrap heap.) I did have to fix one for a friend of his. The drive rods were binding a bit. I solved that by removing them and drilling out the recess in the back that the kingpin goes into. It didn't take much, and I forget the size drill I used. (I just kept going up in number until it ran smoothly.) With all axles powered, the drive rods are purely cosmetic anyway. Once that binding was cleared, the loco ran every bit as smoothly as dad's. I'm glad to see GeneratioNext has more of these coming. I've got a soft spot for them, even if they're too small for my railroad. (I placated myself by scratchbuilding one in 1:20, and acquiring a Bachmann C-19 as well.) Later, K

Unfortunately, the reflective qualities of Russian iron (or generically, any plannished iron) are difficult to achieve with paint, particularly difficult in a mass-produced environment. It is possible on the workbench with a few different techniques. The jacket on my C-19 is "painted" to represent a plannished iron jacket. You can see how it picks up the blue from the sky that's being reflected on the jacket. Taken at a different angle, the boiler looks black: It's really cool to see this running around the railroad, and watch the jacket "turn colors" as the reflections change. I did this jacket by coating the boiler with graphite powder, then sealing it with gloss acrylic. This is a bugger of a technique depending on how much "tooth" the boiler jacket has to hold the graphite, but the result is worth the effort. I rub the graphite onto the boiler jacket with my finger and/or a Q-tip. Corners and sharply-defined edges can be--literally--drawn in with a soft pencil. Once I've got everything evenly coated, I wash the jacket with a diluted clear gloss acrylic. (Future floor wax.) The trick here is to use a wide brush (1" artist's brush), brush it on near the top and let gravity do the work of carrying it down the sides. If you start to "paint" this too much, you run the risk of brushing off the graphite in the process. This technique works great on boilers that you don't want to disassemble to paint. You can apply this around domes, boiler bands, piping, etc. fairly easily. The process holds up well to heat, also, as I've done two live steamers with this. Probably the closest to a "commercially viable" means of replicating a proper plannished iron jacket is to use Testor's "Gunmetal" buffable paint. It comes in a spray can. This paint is regarded as the closest you're going to get to "Russian iron" in a can. It's a three-step process: first, you spray the boiler with the paint and let that cure overnight. The second step is to put a soft cotton buffing wheel into a Dremel tool and buff the paint to a shine. The key here is "buff", not "grind." Keep things light. Otherwise you run the risk of generating a bit too much heat and melting the plastic. (Just trust me on that one.) The third step is to overspray with a gloss coat to seal everything. (This third step is optional. I've done it on some, not on others. By the time I get done with the weathering, it's hard to tell which is which. If you're going for "spit and polish," definitely use the clear spray. Inside, in neutral light, the boiler is a nice dark grey. (Pretty much what you'd expect from "gunmetal." Outside, like the graphite process above, it picks up reflections from all around and takes on a life of its own. I use this process on boilers where I can disassemble the locomotive prior to painting, but whose boilers don't lend themselves to this next process: It looks like treated metal because it is treated metal. For this technique, I use .005" brass sheet that's been chemically blackened. I use Birchwood Casey brass black, but there are others. This surface isn't quite as "reflective" as the other two processes, but being unpainted metal, it has a quality to it that can't be achieved any other way. The other cool thing about this method is that I "ding" the boiler jacket before I install it on the locomotive to give it some character. If you look at a prototype boiler jacket, it's seldom (if ever) free from dents and creases. I've used this technique on locomotives with straight boilers that I can strip down to just the boiler. You could do this on a wagontop or tapered boiler, but you'd have to cut the brass sheets to fit. Being outdoors, we have an advantage indoor modelers do not; we run our locomotives out in nature where the boiler jacket reflects the world around us pretty much exactly as the prototype would. Alas, indoor modelers don't have that luxury, which is why I think manufacturers have been prone to use a bit more "blue" in their boiler colors than what would otherwise be correct. The blue reflections do add a very nice contrast to the other colors on the locomotive, and I can't fault the manufacturers for wanting to give the indoor modelers that sense of contrast with a little help from Sherwin-Williams. I am, however, quite thankful they're not reaching for the cans of "baby blue" any more. Later, K

I asked Bachmann if we were going to see more 1:29 stuff from them down the line. They told me the trolley was a litmus test of sorts on that. If it did well, they'd do more. I'd like to see them do more with that line, but I hope they break it out as its own "brand" to keep the scales separate and easier to understand for the modeler. Later, K

Nothing specific. I was told by Bachmann at a show back in March that they expected to have new 1:20 stuff to announce, but that's as much as they were willing to divulge. Later, K

If I recall from discussions long ago, the "scatter shields" are those rounded parts on the ends of the cars that stick up over the side of the car, ostensibly to keep the coal from spilling over the ends of the car when being loaded. I've seen hoppers with rounded ends like the C&O cars shown, angled ones (though not symmetrical for reasons unknown to me), and cars without. It'll be interesting to see how these look next to the MDC/Piko 2-bay hoppers. By the numbers, they should be pretty good together (one being a 2-bay, one being a 3-bay). Later, K

Code 125??? As in 1/8" tall rail? Not much out there (even finescale) is gonna run on that without hitting the spikes. In terms of NEM/MOROP, we looked at those standards just as a frame of reference, but always thought them to be too loose for what we were trying to do. G1MRA provided a much better (and proven) template to work from. Aristo used NEM/MOROP moreso than G1MRA (as does LGB and Piko, but they're European so that's to be expected). Of course, Aristo isn't exactly the poster child for "adherance to standards," so... Later, K

Bachmann has stated they'll be announcing whatever new large scale products they have at this show as well. Later, K

Those are sealed lead acid batteries, aka "gel-cells." In terms of battery technology, it's pretty outdated. They're 4 amp-hour batteries--which is a decent capacity, but how old are those batteries? Gel-cell longevity falls off as the batteries get old. You can use the automotive battery charger set to 6 volts and charge one at a time easy enough. You'll spend a whole lot of time waiting... and waiting... and waiting... for the batteries to charge. I've never seen a fast charger for gel-cells. (Granted, I stopped looking 25 years ago when we switched to NiCads.) Frankly, I'd ditch 'em for running locomotives. You can get 18-volt Li-Ion packs with the same capacity that take up the same space, and likely weigh less than one of those packs. They'll also charge a whole lot faster. Use the Gel-cells for building lights or something like that. Later, K

A$ter make$ one! Aster Allegheny It'd be great to see that back in action. I'm hoping to hit the Western Maryland Scenic on my trip back east this August. Somehow I don't think the big beast be running just yet. Later, K