Notes on Designing, Building, and Operating Model Railroads
A hobby adventure
I picked up a drill press stand for my vintage 1970s era Dremel Moto-Tool a couple of months ago. I found one at a decent price on EBay and bought it to do a better job on the bolster holes. I had used the Dremel for this task previously in a free-hand mode, but some holes were drilled at a slight angle introducing a slight lean to completed models. I needed to do better.
Westerfield Models is holding a National Train Day Sale through to midnight on Monday, May 21, 2018. There are a few purchase options and codes to save some hobby dollars when you stock up on a few kits. Westerfield honcho Andrew Dahm sent an announcement to his email newsletter list last week. If you have not received the info, or if you have misplaced the newsletter email, I recommend dropping an inquiry to westerfieldmodels@gmail.com for the sale details and codes. You will need the purchase codes to save some cash.
Check over your freight car kit stash and drop a note to Andrew at westerfieldmodels@gmail.com for more details on the National Train Day sale. Then review their website for what you need. It’s always a good time to pick up a few new resin freight car kits.
Last week I shared disappointment after completing an underframe and realizing a major error. The image is above and the KC brake system is on the wrong side of the centersill. It is pointed in the proper direction, jut not in the proper location.
Late in 2015 I realized I had several HO scale resin freight car kits that were proper for my 1926 modeling era, but the kits lacked decals that reflected the lettering in use then. This realization downgraded quite a few freight cars on the kit build list. Sometime in the summer of 2016, I stumbled onto a company that produced decals for the Southern Pacific A-50-5 automobile box car that included the as-built lettering. The discovery prompted moving a Funaro & Camerlengo kit into the top of my to-build list.
Continue reading “Southern Pacific A-50-5 automobile box car”
The weather warmed up a bit here in the Chihuahuan Desert and the winds calmed down. Clouds dispersed and we had a few quiet, sunny days, which are perfect to paint models. I have a few resin freight car kits that are ready for the paint booth so a few were carefully washed. I prefer to paint a few models at a time to make efficient use of time and materials.