Modeling Trains O Scale Craftsman - O Scale Trains ...oscalemag.com/docs/ost_9.pdf · The lowest layout height is 36" at Dayton and continually climbs to 56" at Union City. The design

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OSca leTrainsOSca leTrainsOSca leTrainsSca l eTrains

Modelingfor the O ScaleCraftsman

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July/Aug 2003 • Issue #9 • US $8.00July/Aug 2003 • Issue #9 • US $8.00

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Precisely Handcrafted Brass Models!

O Scale CB&Q M-4a 2-10-4s

Prototype photo courtesy of W. Raia Collection. Similar to PSC #17403-1

#17403 CB&Q M-4a 2-10-4 as rebuilt with square cab, Elesco FWH, Mars light, disc main drivers and roller bearings. No paint. (Separate standard smoke box without Mars light supplied.)

#17403-1 Same, painted black and graphite #6310 and #6315.#17405 CB&Q M-4a 2-10-4 as rebuilt with sport cab,Worthington FWH, Mars light, disc main drivers and

roller bearings. No paint. (Separate standard smoke box without Mars light supplied.)#17405-1 Same, painted black and graphite #6323 and #6327.#17407 CB&Q M-4a 2-10-4 as rebuilt with square cab,Worthington FWH, disc main driver and roller

bearings. No paint.#17407-1 Same, painted black and graphite #6318.

Do not hesitate to reserve . Our last O scale project was a sel l out!A result of PSC high standards and specif icat ions!

O Scale CB&Q BE-1 Express Boxcars

Prototype photo courtesy of Colorado Historical Society. Similar to PSC #17373-1.

#17373 CB&Q BE-1 Express car, (ex-troop kitchen car) with Allied trucks, open windows, diaphragms,late 1940s. No paint.

#17373-1 Same, painted Pullman green with bronze gold lettering (railroad roman).#17375 CB&Q BE-1 Express car, (ex-troop kitchen car) with A-3 ride control trucks, plated over side

windows, no diaphragms. No paint.#17375-1 Same, painted Pullman green, modern lettering in Dulux gold.#17377 CB&Q BE-1 Express car, converted for freight service, with roof walk and end ladders. No paint.#17377-1 Same, painted Pullman green, modern lettering in Dulux gold.

See Your Local Hobby Shop and Reserve Yours Today!

O Scale Trains • 3

Features4 Design-A-Layout Contest Winners

Ron Gribler’s and Steve Sansome’s winning entries.

11 Scratch Build A Pickle CarTom Houle resurrects an oldie, but a goodie. You gotta have one.

23 The Secrets of Lost Wax CastingsRoland Marx covers the process in broad strokes but with enoughdetail that you’d be tempted to try it yourself.

34 Scale Command – Part 2Can TMCC™ handle reverse loops? DC power? Don Woodwell hasthe answers in Part 2 of this 3 part series.

38 Casting Your Own PartsA perfect companion piece to the Lost Wax article, Gary Woodardshows us how he makes “cold cast” parts in polyurethane.

52 Converting An MTH Schnabel CarThey said it couldn’t be done, but Norman Hills shows how he converted this massive car from 3 rail to 2 rail.

55 Modeler’s TricksBill Becker shows us how to divide any line into any number of equal parts and Stuart Ramsey makes a simple deck plate to go between a steam loco and tender.

Departments8 Easements for the Learning Curve – Brian Scace

18 Narrow Minded – Bobber Gibbs20 Traction Action – Roger Jenkins49 The Workshop – Neville Rossiter26 Product News & Reviews 43 Crapola From The Cupola – John C. Smith44 Proto48 – Gene Deimling46 Reader Feedback – Letters to the Editor48 O Scale DCC – Ted Byrne59 Buy, Sell,Trade Ads60 Events Listing60 Ad index61 OST Dealers List62 Observations – Joe Giannovario

Modeler's Shelf – pages 36, 37, 50, 56, 57, 58 & 59

ScaleTrainsO

Modeling for the O Scale

CraftsmanIssue #9

July/Aug 2003Vol. 2, No. 4

Editor/PublisherJoe Giannovario

Art DirectorJaini Simon

Contributing EditorsTed Byrne

Gene DeimlingBobber GibbsRoger Jenkins

Jeb KriigelNeville Rossiter

Brian ScaceJohn C. SmithDon Woodwell

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O Scale Trains ISSN 1536-9528www.oscalemag.comPublished bimonthly (6 times a year) by O Scale Trains Magazine,PO Box 238, Lionville PA 19353-0238© 2003 OST All Rights ReservedPrinted in the U.S.A.

Contributors: O Scale Trains welcomes your feature articles, photos, and drawings.Such material should be sent to the above address forpossible publication. If we accept, you will be notifiedimmediately. For more information concerning articlepreparation guidelines, please send an SASE to theabove address and request our “Guide For Authors” or visit our website.

Cover: From O Scale West: First place winner in the Steam cat-egory was Ken Bellaver from San Jose, Calif. with this SP AC-5 Cab Forward. Photo by Jim & Leonard Ferreira

Centerspread: Another Harry Hieke masterpiece, this time aPrecision Scale PRR K4. Harry rebuilt the boiler and made anew smokebox and front, plus it’s superdetailed. The engine isowned by John Sczybanski. Photo by Jeb Kriigel.

OScaleTrains

OST is a proud Member of the Model Railroad Industry Association

4 • O Scale Trains

sOScaleTrainsOScaleTrainsOScaleTrains

Design-A-Layout ContestAnd The Winner Is...

The Dayton & Union Branchof the Baltimore & Ohio

as submitted by

Ron Gribler of Lebanon, OhioUnion City-North Staging-(56")

Union CityBodyWorks

Drop-Down(Duck-under)

ColetownDepot

Wayne Feeds Buchy Meat Packing

Greenville Creek

West SideGrain Elevator

Sunoco BulkOil Depot

D and UDepot

MartinStreet Plum

Street

GreenvilleLumber

Yard

3rdStreet

Treaty City Coal Company

Downtown Bldgs.on View Block

The Dayton and Union Branchof the Baltimore and Ohio RR

Greenville, OhioUpper Level


The Dayton and Union Branchof the Baltimore and Ohio RR

Greenville, OhioLower Level

12" grid

Workbench(30")

Dodson Depot

StorageCabinets

StorageCabinetsStorage

Cabinets

Bookshelves

Bookshelves

Rolling Stock StorageCubicles

East Dayton - South Staging-Fiddle Yard-

(36")

Union City

WorkbenchDrop-Down

SectionStorage Area


And the winner is...Well, it wasn't easy picking the win-

ner of our first layout contest. Wereceived many fine layout designs.Every person who sent a design isreceiving an OST tee-shirt as a thankyou for participating. But, I digress.Let's talk about the winners.

The Category 1 WinnerEach Category 1 entry was submitted

to three judges. We looked at each entryand took into account practicality ofconstruction, operation (i.e., play value)and best use of space. We had naileddown a winner when we realized thedesign had a major problem, a customturnout. The rules state all switches mustbe AtlasO #5 or #71⁄2. So, our firstchoice was disqualified and the GrandPrize was awarded to Ron Gribler ofLebanon, Ohio, for his Dayton & UnionBranch of the Baltimore & Ohio, loose-ly based on the Dayton & Union branchof the B&O between Dayton, Ohio, andUnion City, Indiana. The D & U’slargest source of traffic, Greenville,Ohio, is the area being modeled.

In the early 1950’s, the prototype hadweed-covered light rail, some street run-ning, and enough business to keep itsonly daily train busy all day setting outloads and picking up empties. The

Dayton

Rolling StockCubicles

Bookshelves

Bookshelves

assigned 2-8-0 would leave Dayton inthe morning and eventually arrive inUnion City. It would usually return byrunning tender-first back to Dayton inlate afternoon.

The layout is a point-to-point design.East Dayton yard is a hidden stagingyard/fiddle yard built over a set ofshelves with cubicles to store rollingstock. The line runs around the roombehind a built-in 30" high workbenchand emerges from the lower level acrossa drop-down/duck-under. There are sixcustomers on the line at Greenville thatrequire boxcars, covered and open hop-per cars, tank cars, reefers and stockcars. The facing siding and switch-backsoffer a lot of operating interest. The linewinds northward to the visual stagingyard at Union City. The Union CityBody Works (a truck body manufactur-er) generates both inbound and out-bound loads for flats and boxcars. Theyard has a crossover that allows the locoto run around the train for its return trip.

The lowest layout height is 36" atDayton and continually climbs to 56" atUnion City.

The design assumes this room is theonly area available for the O Scaler. Thelayout is built above shelves, drawerunits and cabinets allowing plenty of

storage for rolling stock, books & maga-zines, materials, tools and the typicalpile of unfinished 0 scale kits.

The layout was designed using AtlasRight Track Freeware version 5.0.

Autocad was used to draw the roomelevations.

The Category 2 WinnerThis was much easier to pick as we

had only 3 submissions. The OST staffchoose Stephen Sansome’s Birch FallsOn3 layout. It was simple, offered con-tinuous operation as well as switching,and fit the space perfectly.

The layout features a continuous runby using a lift out section. The aislewaypermits access to the only window in theroom (something other designs neglect-ed). There are many scenic possibilitiesusing a small branchline theme. Thelong parallel trackage allows for multi-ple train exchanges or meets. A peddlerfreight could work the S-curve sidingswhile an express rolls by on the main-line. Industries could be anything froman ice house with platform to a producepacking plant.


Next time...Over time we will share with you

some of the other designs submitted.However, one thing is clear. You do notneed a huge space to build a first class Oscale layout if you scale down yourexpectations. Thanks to everyone whoparticipated. Next time, we'll give you alarger space to work in. Keep your eyesand ears tuned for the next contestannouncement. ◆

The Category 2 WinnerThe Birch Falls Railway

as submitted by

Stephen Sansome of Ontario, Canada

+1"

9' 6

"

Lift-outsection

+1"

+1"

+1" +1"

+1"

+1" -1"

45

+1" +1"

+1"

-1.5"

0"

0"36" radius

36" radius

87" r

36"

30" a

isle

12' 6"

14'

Mine

Benchwork4'9"

2'6"Aisleway

11" RoomWidth

48"to

Rai

lhea

d

8'


Easements for theLearning Curve

Easements for theLearning Curve Brian Scace

As he ascends the pulpit this day, theclamor of the congregation is heard:“Oh Withered One, how high shouldbenchwork be?” With a smile (no doubtthe influence of strong drink) and nod…Behold! Scace the Oracle Speaks!

I like high benchwork in O for sever-al reasons, but we’ll look at severaladvantages of both high and low con-struction. You get to choose what worksbest for you, so I’m only going to pro-voke thought before you jump into thatpile of lumber.

O scale is massive, so the best van-tage point for my money is the same onethat I have while watching the real thing.You don’t have to close one eye andsquint with this stuff, so take advantageof it! It’s hard to beat the view of a Berkmajestically going by with the wheelsand rods at eye level. If you build at eyelevel, this is already done for you. If youchoose lower benchwork, allow roomfor a good comfortable chair in the aislefor hormone enhancing viewing.

Let’s assume we don’t have enoughroom for our tastes (and who does?).You can get away with multitudes ofsinful curvatures in your trackage if youalways see it from the side. Don’tbelieve me? Just grab one of those oldAtlas switches from your junk box andlook at it. It’s hideously sharp from thetop. The side view isn’t all that bad,though, is it? The overhang of equip-ment is also not nearly as apparent whenviewed from the side as it is from above.That means you can build a nice indus-trial switching area using small Dieselsand 40 foot cars at eye level withoutoffending your sensibilities nearly somuch as when you are looking down on

the same design. Not only that, now youcan see all that brake detail you paid for!Buildings look bigger viewed fromstreet level, because you have to look upand down as well as from side to side.You have to move your eyes around a lotto take in a scene. Besides, whose firstview of a building is the roof (No lettersfrom all you helicopter pilots!)? Scenerylooks better from the O Scale figure’s per-spective, too. In real life, you look up to seethose purple mountain’s majesty, not down.

Wives like all the storage space youcan build under your railroad, so doeverything you can to exploit this. It’sjust good politics, especially when itcomes time to negotiate a new “landgrab”! You’ll need some storage spacefor yourself, too. In O Scale, it’simmoral to build a car kit just after youbuy it, so plenty of room under the rail-road allows you to store the requiredquantity (the law says at least fifty!)while they season for, say, twenty years.

When choosing an average height,think about your audience a bit. If youor some of your friends are of an agewhen the elasticity of youth has fled,consider any “duck-unders” you mayhave. Remember Scace’s Third Law ofModel Railroading, the pain inducedequals the age of the person over theheight of the “duck-under” (P=A/H).Plan your “duck-unders” high, or designthem to be hinged or liftable.

On the opposite side of the spectrumare those inscrutable creatures known as“children”. If your offspring are to beparticipants in your basement world, setyour average height lower so they cansee and appreciate the trains. If, howev-er, you live in mortal fear of a pair of lit-

tle lunch-hooks snagging the Century(accompanied by that evil gigglingnoise), then height is your friend! I wasimpressed by the genius of one gentle-man whose empire I visited, recently.The benchwork height was quite high,maybe 60”. Underneath, at kid-level,was a repeat of the same benchworkdesign. At 60” we had the roar of theBroadway, and at 30” we had the samequality railroad, but with the familiarsnap and burrrr of Lionel. What a greatway to interest them when they’reyoung without incurring gastric hyper-peristalsis, and rubis of the gastric mucosa!

If you like pulling wire lying on yourback, build low and buy a garage creep-er. Build it higher and you can use astool with wheels or crawl around with-out bashing your skull or doing yourback a mischief (Anyone have a goodhospital gurney so I can still wire on myback with high benchwork?). Access towiring, switch motors, and all that othermysterious stuff under the layout is amajor reason for reflection when choos-ing height, or you’ll never wire it. By theway, get some safety glasses or gogglesbefore trying to solder wire feedersunder the railroad. Do it now, then comeback and finish reading this. Yes, you!

You’re back? Good. Now consider, ifyou’re my age, getting a pair of glassesmade only with your reading prescrip-tion. Nothing looks sillier than someonewearing bi-focals and standing on theirhead under the railroad trying to hookup a switch motor. My wife thought itwas hilarious.

Let’s get back on track, here. You stillhave to reach across the benchwork toget that pesky brass car that shorted out


in the back forty. Scace’s Fifth Law ofModel Railroading states that the likeli-hood of derailments/shorts/anti-socialbehavior of any component increasesexponentially with the distance from thefront of the benchwork. Higher bench-work will reduce your reach, unless agood stool or stepladder is handy. Youmay also want to rethink putting thatscratchbuilt curved double-slip switchwith the closing frogs to the rear of thebenchwork, by the way.

Although not really a height issue,width of aisles is an important consider-ation, both for the laterally enhancedamong us as well as for high-densityareas such as at yards, engine facilities,and wherever the “supervisory” typeslike to congregate. Plan for people pass-ing each other in the aisles, especially ifyou want to show your railroad to themasses at the next O Scale Convention,which is in Washington, DC in 2004(Ha! You didn’t think I could slip thatone in, did you!).Conclusion:

Height is a personal and somewhatimperfect choice. I still like my bench-work higher than lower, especially withsmall railroads. The bit about the comfychair in the aisle from which trains areobserved sounds strangely appealing,though. Maybe with a little table uponwhich to set my lunch without knockingthe bottle over …or better yet, one ofthose little refrigerators to keep moretonic water in…Ah, Civility!

Let’s go Exploring! ◆

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541-942-5237Send SASE for information

Realistic Weathered Structures in O Scale Scratchbuilt From Your

Photos, Plans or Ideas!(Will also build & weather your kits)

Reed Artim973-472-7456 • [email protected]

75 Woodridge Rd, Clifton NJ 07012

O Scale Realty

Stevenson Preservation LinesO Gauge Kits and Parts from past

Master ModelersCatalog 2002-1 Price: $1.00

Baldwin Model Locomotive WorksLobaughAdams & SonsLenoirKansas City KitHines LinesAlexanderPearce Tool Co.

Bob Stevenson, 2326 230th St. Boone, IA 50036

Look at what's up in afuture issue of

magazine...- Superdetailed Track - Funaro & Carmalingo Buildup

- Scale Command III- 3 rail conversions... and lots more, Plus all our regular features. Issue #10 onsale at newsstands,bookstores and hobbyshops August 2003.

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BackgroundFirst, I have to admit an affinity for

kosher dills. Perhaps that was the sub-liminal motivation that drove me toresearch and construct such a uniquecar. I also have to admit that in all myyears of rail-fanning I’ve never seen areal pickle car. Nonetheless, ever since Ifirst read Eric Steven’s Dollar SeriesHO pickle car article in the November1956 issue of Model Railroader, I knewthat someday I’d build this car. Inciden-tally, that same article also ran someyears ago in Kalmbach’s Easy-To-BuildModel Railroad Freight Cars book.Copies of the article should still be avail-able from Kalmbach. See a current issueof Model Railroader magazine or visitKalmbach’s www.Trains.com websitefor ordering information.

Considering the popularity and distri-bution by rail of pickles from farms toprocessing plants to wholesale grocerfirms, pickle cars must have roamed thecountry at one time. In a model railroadcontext, the low profile of the car dis-tinctly contrasts with the usual assem-blage of boxes, hoppers, gons, and tankswe tend to run in our freight consists.Pickle cars had varying capacities. Thisarticle (as does the Stevens article) cov-ers the construction of 900 and 1300-bushel cars.

According to Stevens, these woodenopen-framed cars used either wood(early) or steel (later) pickle tubs. Theoriginal diagonal truss rod side-braceseventually gave way to right-angle steeldiagonal bracing. Steel bracing and steeltubs will simplify the construction ofthis car, but at the same time take awayfrom some of the original’s rugged tim-ber charm. Eventually, these cars were

Scratch Build A Pickle Carby Tom Houle

built completely in steel. Even then,some of these cars had exposed tubs. Ihad always thought the H. J. HeinzCompany used all-wood pickle cars totransport their famous product. Alas, thisis not the case. In spite of Athearn’s bestintentions, the NEB&W Guide toAthearn Tank Cars quotes ByronRose—reportedly an expert on proto-type pickle cars—as saying the H. J.Heinz Company never used open framewood pickle cars

I have it first hand from Jerry Roy,my good friend and O scale mentor, thatpickle cars were typically unloaded withnetted scoops. The unloading crewdropped the scoops through hatches inthe car roof. The nets allowed the brineto strain back into the tubs. Jerry recallsseeing these cars in northern Michiganbeing unloaded into wheelbarrows. Thewheelbarrows were trundled to storagetanks and dumped. Eric Steven’s articleshows a worker dumping a wheelbarrowload through a roof hatch. The shallowroof pitch and recessed roof walk arethere for a reason. They allowed theworker to easily wheel a load across theroof without running into a roof walk.

It seems likely that pickle plantswould have used elevated platforms toallow direct access to the car roofs.What plants did to handle the varyingcar roof heights, I don’t know. (Can any-one shed some light on pickle car load-ing/unloading practices? It’d sure helpme, because my next project is going tobe a small pickle processing and can-ning plant.)Some Planning

I was drawn to this project because ofits all-wood construction. I like buildingwith basswood. I cut my scratch build-

ing teeth on basswood and have beenusing it ever since. If you cut your ownlumber, you can use clear pine, red-wood, or cedar. Northeastern ScaleLumber has an incredible array of bass-wood strips, milled sidings, and plainsheets. All items should be availablethrough Walthers and your local hobbyshop. I think it would be an excellentstarter project for someone who wants totry scratch building their first car. For thesame reason, it would also make a greatfirst car in styrene. styrene might be abetter medium for this car than bass-wood because there won’t be any of thebasswood fuzzies that show up after thewood has been painted. Eric Stevensmeasured an actual wood pickle car andused the prototype dimensions to buildhis two cars. All lumber dimensions inthis article are to scale, which unfortu-nately are not available in standard bass-wood or styrene sizes. I cut my lumberto the required dimensions on myDremel table saw. All lumber dimen-sions are given on the drawings. Its notdifficult to saw the lumber on a minia-ture table saw. It took me an hour ortwo—sorta like rollin’ yer own. Gaveme the feel of working in a car shop.Let’s get started.Erecting the Underframe

Ever built a stick and tissue modelairplane? That’s how this project feels asit goes together. The car is nothing morethan a pile of lumber, a bit of styrene,and four wooden tubs. Do take yourtime. Expect to spend a week or twobuilding this car. It won’t fall togetherbut it will offer you a lot of old fash-ioned scratch building fun that you can’tget from a plastic “shake the box” kit.

The underframe is shown in Figure 1.

The frame is erected upside down on a 6" x 12" piece of ceiling tile. Before actualconstruction began, I cut the basswood fish belly, side sills and all the frame cross-members on my Dremel table saw. See the Bill of Materials for a cutting list.

A Dremel saw or similar miniature table saw is very handy if you do muchscratch building. It is inexpensive, only a foot square, and is easily stored when notin use. I installed a new fine-tooth blade to cut my wood. Even so, my lumbertended to come off the saw table with a case of the fuzzies. I cut extra lengths ofeach lumber size and threw the extra scale timbers into my wood box. You neverknow when you’ll need a few more 4x7s.

Note the frame crossmembers in Figure 1 are lettered A through E to designatethe five different lumber sizes. All five can be ripped from 3/32", 1/8", and 5/32" thickbasswood sheet. You only have to rip each lumber size once instead of having togo back and cut the other two faces. When you’re finished ripping your lumber,crosscut everything but the side sills into 21⁄4" lengths. As they came off the saw Idumped the crossmembers by size into five plastic cups lettered A – E. Believe me,the crossmembers are hard to tell apart once they are ripped. Got that lumber sawnand sorted? Good. Let your sawyer out of the woodshed for a while. Buy him acouple of cold ones before moving on to the underframe construction.

You’ll need a copy of Figure 1 - top view of the frame - to begin assembly.Make sure your frame outline is 21⁄4" by 95⁄8". Photocopiers can be off. Pin Figure1 to a nice flat ceiling tile remnant. Cover the drawing with clear kitchenshrinkwrap. Cyanoacrylate, yellow, and white glues will not stick to this wrap. Itprevents the wood frame from getting glued to the plan (just like we used to dowhen we built those stick and tissue Comet airplane kits). Pin down the A and Bcrossmembers only. C - E will be added after the frame is removed from the plan.When you have the A and B crossmembers pinned in place, add the 1/8" x 3/16" sidesills. I used gap-filling cyanoacrylate glue to attach the sills. A tiny dab at eachcrossmember should do it.

Using a narrow steel rule, I lightly drew a centerline the length of the car on theunder side of the frame. The line spots the fish belly center sill (Figure 2) and coupler

locations. I skinned the fish belly with .015" styrene. The bottom styrene skinextends 1/32" on both sides of the sill to represent a flange. I didn’t rivet the styrene asit is nearly hidden when the car is on the tracks. The fish belly length shown is forKadee 804 or 805 couplers. These coupler boxes attach with no shimming required.The truck bolster heights are for Athearn, Intermountain, and Weaver trucks.

When the cyanoacrylate had cured, I removed the car from the plan and addedthe centersill. In the area of the coupler mounting screws, I filled in the crossmem-ber gaps with 3/32" sheet basswood. I also spotted the truck locations on the centersills. On such a light frame, the fish belly is truly functional. It adds strength andrigidity to the open frame. At this time, I added crossmembers C, D, and E. Asshown in Figure 3, crossmembers E do not rest on the side sills. These are locatedflush with the top of D. Crossmembers C, D, and E steady and retain the tubs dur-ing switching moves and transit. Crossmembers C and D are cut away later toclear the tub outlines. Hold off on this step until the tubs are finished, painted, andready to install.

fig 2

Scratch Build A Pickle Car

fig 1


Full size for O scale

Building the Tubs As shown in Figure 4,

the scale outside diame-ter of each tub on theEric Stevens car is 8' 6"(21⁄8" in O scale). Theclosest tubing I couldfind was a 2" diameter

PVC pipe coupling available at The Home Depot. These cou-plings are dirt-cheap, have 3/16" walls and add a lot of weight tothe underframe. I purchased several. I cut the tubs to roughlength on my band saw. The tub height for a 900-bushel capac-ity car is 3' 10" (29⁄32" in O scale). For a 1300 bushel car, theheight is 5' 6" (13⁄8" in O scale). Feed your work slowly. This isvery dense plastic. If you don’t have a band saw, a hacksawwould work if you have some way to hold the coupling whileyou cut. When I had all of my tubs rough cut, I squared themup on a belt sander.

To simulate the wooden tub staves of the prototype, I cutfour strips of #2067 Evergreen 020" styrene (1/16" verticallyscribed car siding) to match the tub height. I then wrappedeach tub with a single layer of the siding. To attach the styreneto the PVC tube, I used Plastruct Plastic Bond, a relativelyslow-setting liquid plastic glue. This glue gave me plenty oftime to position the styrene to ensure the stave lines were verti-cal. It seemed to work well with both plastics. I held thestyrene skins in place with rubber bands while the welds hard-ened. The .020" styrene wrapper yields a finished diameterclose to 21⁄16". If you want a scale diameter, wrap two layers ofthe .020" styrene around each tub. You could also try wrappingthe tubs with water-softened 1/32" thick 1⁄16" scribed basswoodcar siding. The tub tops and bottoms are left open. They areconveniently hidden by the underframe and roof.

To simulate the prototype tub’s 1⁄4" iron wire banding, I used30-gauge soft brass wire (available at most hardware stores). Iwrapped three bands around each tub and twisted the wiretight. The bands should run straight and be correctly spacedbefore you glue the bands. On the 900-bushel car, there arethree tub bands spaced 3⁄16" apart. On the 1300 bushel car,There are four bands with just under 1⁄4" spacing. To secure thewire bands, I applied minute amounts of cyanoacrylate gluewith the point of a pin at the wire ties and then 180 degreesopposite. Don’t worry about the glue dots and wire ends show-ing. Both will be completely hidden by the supporting timbersyet to be installed.

Return To The Underframe With the tubs done and ready for paint, I

turned my attention back to the unfinishedunderframes. I laid the tubs into the under-frame and marked the outlines of the tubbases where they interfered with crossmem-

bers C and D. I carefully cut arcs into these beams until thetubs rested directly on crossmembers A and B. Don’t glue thetubs in place just yet. The tubs are the last items to installbefore the roof goes on. Its time to assemble and attach thevertical timbers located between the tubs.

These bracing timber assemblies are shown in Figure 5.

Two sets are required, end and middle. Cut and assemble thetimbers, then attach them to the car as shown in Figure 2.Ensure the your timbers are vertical and centered when youattach them to the car. With the timbers in place, I check fortub clearance. There may be a bit of trimming required to fityour tubs onto the deck.

The car ends come next. Figure 6, an isometric view of theend, will help to visualize the construction.

I cut two scribed end panels from 1/16" thick 1/8" scribedbasswood. Next, I cut two sets of three 1/8" x 3/16" upper cross-members. Arrange these members into a pair of U-shapes and


fig 3

fig 4

fig 5

fig 6

Scratch Build A Pickle Car


cyanoacrylate glue them together, checking that they aresquare. Notch out the two longest crossmembers 1/16" deep toaccept the end panels and then glue the end panels flush intothe notched out crossmembers. Carefully glue the bottomedges of the end panels to crossmember C at each end of theframe. Make sure the end panels are recessed 1/32" from theouter edges of beam C and centered as shown in Figure 6.Gap-filling cyanoacrylate glue makes this job go easier.

The 1/16" square upright corner posts are added next. Andthen it's on to the poling pockets. I cut four plates from .015"styrene to the dimensions shown in Figure 6. The poling pock-ets themselves were cut from 1/8" styrene tubeand liquid plastic glued to the plates. To simu-late the rounded contours of a stamped steelshape, I loaded a sable brush with plastic glueand gently brushed the pockets until the com-bination of brushing and liquid glue had soft-ened and rounded the edges of the tubing.When painted, these faux poling pockets really look like thereal thing. Repeat at the opposite end of the car and then let’smove on to the roof.Building a Roof To Protect Those Pickles

I built my roof just like Eric Stevens built his 45 years ago.As shown in Figure 7, I began by cutting a sub-roof from 1/16"

thick sheet basswood. I glued a 1/16" x 7/16" basswood strip roofsupport down the centerline of the sub-roof. The three 1/16" x3/32" basswood roof walk boards were glued to the 7/16" centerstrip. I used a 10" strip of .015" styrene placed between adja-cent roof walk boards to ensure consistent roof walk spacingthe length of the car. The roof itself is made up of edge-glued1/16" thick 1/16" scribed basswood panels. The edge-glued pan-els were cut a bit over-width to allow final trimming of the roofover-hang. To glue the roof pieces together, align the roofpieces edge-to-edge with the scribed sides up. Hold two

adjoining pieces tightly together while you apply a strip ofmasking tape to the scribed side seam. Repeat until your roofpanel is the required length. Open the seams on the smoothside and apply gap-filling cyanoacrylate glue into the V. Laythe panel scribed side down and weight the panel until the gluehas cured. Repeat for the opposite roof panel.

I block sanded both long edges of the assembled roof panelsto align snugly with the roof walk and extend 1/32" beyond thesub-roof edges. Do not glue the roof to the sub-roof yet. Thathappens after we add the loading hatches. The hatch layout isshown in Figure 8.

I cut my hatch openings with a fresh #11 X-Acto blade. Toensure straight cuts, I use a cork-backed steel straight edge andmake repeated light cuts. When the hatch openings were cutaway for both roof halves, I cut matching 1/16" thick x 1/16"scribed hatch covers to fit snugly into the hatch openings. Ilightly glued the hatch covers in place from the smooth under-side of the roof, being careful no glue seeped through onto theroof. The hatch cover scribing runs at right angles to the roofboards—a nice wood car detail we don’t often see today. Toreinforce the hatches, I added an .020" x 1/2" styrene backingstrip to the undersides of the roof halves. Its time to glue theroof halves to the sub-roof. When you do, make sure youmaintain a 1/32" overhang along the sides of the car and a 1/16"overhang at the sub-roof ends.

I used Keil-Line’s #397 reefer door hinges for the cars I wasbuilding. According to Eric Stevens, you could also use simpleleather or strap iron hinges. I liked the look of the reeferhinges. Eric didn’t mention lifting handles for the hatches so Ididn’t add any. Perhaps the loaders used crowbars to pop openthe hatches. I also added right angle grabs to the four cornersof the roof. These grabs came from an Intermountain#ODBRO100 Body Details kit. Sand the ends of your roof sothey are squared up and ready to receive the roof ends shownin Figure 7. I cut my roof ends from 1/32" basswood sheet, butyou could also use styrene. Before you attach the roof ends,dry fit the roof to the car. The sub-roof ends should be flushwith the 1/8" x 3/16" top crossmembers. The roof ends shoulddrop snugly over the top crossmembers after being attached tothe roof. Glue on the roof ends, but don’t glue on that roof yet.We still have to add the truss rods, hardware, and paint theentire underframe and roof.

fig 7

fig 8


The truss rods add a lot of character to this car. I made mineby cutting 16 21/2" lengths of .015" brass wire. The wirelengths are paired and slipped into the ends of eight GrandtLine # 54 turnbuckles. The truss rods are retained in the turn-buckles with cyanoacrylate glue. The eight angle iron bracketsthat retain the lower ends of the truss rods are cut from Ever-green #268 U-channel. Lay out four bracket lengths on thechannel. Split the channel web in two and then cut the eight3/16" x 3/16" right angle brackets from the channel. The anglebracket locations and truss rod connection points are shownback in Figure 2. I drilled a .020" hole through each of thebrackets to accept the truss rods. I also drilled angular .020"holes through the outer ends of the upper crossmembers abovecrossmember E and at the ends of the car. This done, I slippedthe .015" wire truss rod ends through the upper beams and thecorresponding brackets below. Drops of cyanoacrylate glue atthe attach points secured the truss rods.

I added Intermountain stirrup steps at the corners of the caralong with under body brake components. Due to the deep sidesills, the brake components are barely visible. For that reason Ileft off brake rigging and piping. I also added Intermountaingrabs and a brake wheel platform at the B end of the car. Cutdown Intermountain ladders were attached to the corners. Thebrake wheel and staff were added after the car was painted andthe roof installed. At this point, the frame and roof were readyfor the paint shop.Painting and Final Assembly

Jerry Roy and I got together one rainy Saturday afternoonfor the painting session. While we waited for a fresh-brewedpot of rich Columbian, we kicked around car colors and letter-ing schemes. By the time we’d finished our second cup, we’dagreed to paint both pickle cars in the same color scheme - a"might have been" H. J. Heinz color scheme. The colors wouldbe a golden yellow for the tubs and one of the many boxcar redhues for the rest of the car. We studied a bunch of brush paint-ed samples of Floquil yellows, golds, red, and browns.We finally settled on Floquil ATSF Yellow and FloquilDT110 Caboose Red.

Jerry did the airbrush work. He began by sprayingthe styrene clad tubs and the basswood underframesand roofs with two light coats of Floquil gray primer.I’d never tried applying a prime coat to basswoodbefore the color coat. I like the effect. It gave the bass-wood the crisp look of styrene. Jerry then shot the tubswith the ATSF Yellow. It took two coats of the yellowto adequately cover the primer. After that he shot theunderframes and roofs with Floquil Caboose Red. Thisturned out to be a tedious task, steering the paint into allthose nooks and crannies without getting runs. Patienceis a must here.

A couple of days later when the paint had cured, I loadedthe tubs into the cars. I didn’t glue them in place, fearing gluemight seep out onto the painted underframes. Glue isn’t neces-sary, anyway, as the roof and frame hold the tubs in place. Iattached the roofs with 30-minute epoxy sparingly applied tothe tops of the crossbeams and car ends. A .015" brake staff,Grandt Line brake wheel, Kadee 804 couplers, and Athearnarch bar trucks completed the car.

While Jerry is going to decorate his car with an H. J. Heinzcould-have-been lettering scheme, I decided to decorate mycar as a privately owned could-have-been Vlasic’s Pickle Com-pany car. Using Microsoft Word, I made up a pair of Vlasic’sPickles signs on my computer. My ink-jet printer printed thetwo-color signs onto glossy paper. The paper signs were gluedto .015" styrene backing, cut out, and applied to the corners ofthe car. They’re credible looking signs but a laser printer mighthave done a better job. Car data decals from an old ChampDecals boxcar set rounded out the markings. Eric Stevens pro-vided no information about the car’s empty or loaded weight. Ichecked in at the Yahoo’s O trains website where I was advisedthat the car lading info would typically have read as follows.

CAPY 80000 LD LMT 92000 LT WT. 44000That’s how I lettered my car and I added a 1927 build date

as well.Conclusion

Now that my car is ready for service, its bright colors andlow profile are sure to become a real eye catcher. If you’relooking for an easy-to-build scratch building project, then thiscar could be just be the ticket. Reminds me of what Jerry Roysaid when he first saw his finished car, “Now that’s a real dill-ey, Tom.” (All together now, one big collective groan.) I doagree it really was a neat project and is a great looking vintagecar. So, what are you waiting for? Go build one for yourself. ◆


Photo 1: Copy Figure 1 and build the frame of the carright over the plan. Figure 1 is full size for O scale.

Photo 2: Frame looking from the top side.The fishbelly has already been added.

Photo 3: Frame looking from the bottom side.

Photo 4: Pickle tubs are made fromstyrene pipe purchased at a homeimprovement store.

Photo 5: styrene pickle tubs wrapped with scribed siding andsimulated iron strapping.

Photo 6 (right): Tubs installed in frame to mark off the tub reliefin upper crossmembers.

2

1

34

5

6


Photos 7 & 8: Tubs installed in nearly completed frame to check fitbefore final detailing.

Photo 9: The sub-roof assemblyPhoto 10: The finished roof

Photo 11: Finished car frame withouttrucks or couplers. Completed roof lies atthe back. All the car needs now is paintand lettering.

Photo 12: Finished car. Very nice.

7

8

9

10

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Drawings by Fred Karl of KOR Conceptswww.korconcepts.com

from sketches by Tom Houle.


NarrowMindedBobber Gibbs

On30 and why....Many readers of O Scale Trains have

visited at least a few narrow gauge lay-outs that, until recently, were probablyeither three foot gauge like one of theColorado mountain railroads or two footgauge like one of several prominenttwo-footers that operated in Maine.

It is very impressive to watch a K28Mikado haul a string of 30-foot longboxcars around a tight mountain curveand across a trestle, especially if thatMike is equipped with sound. O scalelocomotives usually have sufficient sizeto accommodate large speakers that pro-vide great sound quality and an operatorwho can make a sound system functionproperly becomes no less than an artistat the controls. A steam whistle rever-berating through a valley still bringsshivers to my spine, even in 1:48 scale.On the east coast, a Forney on the frontof a freight or passenger train is equallyimpressive. I am very fortunate that oneof my best friends owns one of the finestOn3 layouts in the world and for manyyears I enjoyed On3 modeling with myfriends in the Maple Leaf Mafia.

Like most O scale standard gaugers,most narrow gaugers dream about theultimate layout with miles of track andgorgeous floor-to-ceiling scenery,sweeping curves and long freight trainsor speeding passenger trains. However,most model railroaders will finallyaccept the fact that they are going tohave to settle for something that takes upa lot less space. So, here comes On30and here comes a different attitude and alot more fun.

Those who model Colorado or Mainenarrow gauge trains are pretty muchrestricted to trying to duplicate certain

well-known features, scenery or loca-tions and the locomotives and rollingstock for On3 and On2 can be as expen-sive as the same equipment in standardgauge. That Mikado in On3 could costyou $2,000 and a brass coach can cost$300-400. Many of us who own someexpensive On3 or On2 equipment havetraded or sold one brass locomotive andfinanced our complete On30 railroads.Along the way, we threw off the burdenof adherence to common practice andrediscovered the joy and fun of runningtiny O scale trains on the uncommongauge of 30 inches. There were a num-ber of railroads in North America thatran on 30" gauge. In Cuba, Mexico andmany other countries, 30" is still the rulerather than the exception. For many oldHO modelers and new narrow gaugers,the simple concept of On30 modeling isoverwhelming.

On the Internet a few years ago, I cre-ated the popular “Otrains” mailing listand we currently have 628 memberswho share information about standardgauge modeling in 1:48 scale, includingmany readers of this magazine. A shortwhile later, I created “The On30 Con-spiracy” to promote model railroadingin On30 scale. We now have 1,143members who are mostly recent con-verts to O scale and narrow gauge. At“The Conspiracy,” the emphasis is noton rivet counting and precise modelingso much as it is on creating equipmentthat looks good and operates perfectlyfor a tiny fraction of the cost of On3 orOn2 and provides the same satisfaction.

On30 modelers shamelessly pursuethe freelance railroad theme and theirmotto seems to be “It’s my railroad andwhatever I do is prototypical.” So, they

are not restricted by convention or com-mon practice and the need to get it “justright.” If they feel like running steam,diesel, electrics, old equipment and newequipment together, they don’t evenbother to explain it. “It’s my railroad...”and they buy, invent, modify or kitbashwhatever suits their fancy and enjoy thesheer joy of running trains. The enthusi-asm that exudes when a few “conspira-tors” get together is infectious and quiteuplifting and the term “standards” isavoided except for scale, track gaugeand coupler compatibility. At the lastNational Narrow Gauge Convention,when the On3 fans were studying Col-orado history in one room and the On2fans were discussing coastal railways inanother, the largest group of On30 fansstarted and ended their session by stand-ing and howling at the moon which isconsidered a (round) symbol for Oscale. Imagine 50 grown men at a con-vention howling to the sky in joyful exu-berance and you might start to get a feelfor On30.

So, what is the great attraction ofOn30? The scenery, structures, vehiclesand figures are the same for all Oscalers, but the biggest feature might bethe simple satisfaction of creatingunique and credible narrow gauge rail-road equipment with your bare handsand sharing the results and informationwith other kindred spirits who are notabout to point out your deficiencies orinaccuracies. As you might imagine, nit-pickers are not welcome or tolerated onthe “Conspiracy list.” The level of mod-eling is as good as any other scale andphotos of great modeling are shared viathe Internet, raising the level of expecta-tion for every member. Anyone canspend money for expensive models butthe member who builds a simple, inex-pensive model in On30 and explainshow he did it is praised and appreciatedby his contemporaries.

A few pictures of excellent On30models can express the feeling betterthan I can.

For more information about Otrainsgo to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Otrains/

For information about the On30 Conspiracy, go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/on30conspiracy

◆


lar board with soft texture to make3 foot long sections of girder railas the San Diego Model RRMuseum layout was constructedwith a plywood top. This is hardstuff to spike into. Pine might beeasier but is still hard to construct

girder track on it. The 3 ft sections thenwere screwed down after using rail join-ers to join the sections together. This isthe time to determine where you wantthe control sections to be. Leaving gapsbetween sections now is easier than cut-ting them later, especially after the plas-ter is laid for the streets. Be sure to putjumper wires in between sections too,using the brass strips to solder these to.

Girder track is very hard to make forcurves as the rail on its side does notwant to be bent against the base of theup-right rail. I just use parallel up-rightrail as a guard rail on both sides.Switches made by Right-Of-Way havethe single point trolley type switch cast-ing as well as themate casting that isused on the otherside. You have tomake the frog, asimple process. Allthese switches are made to match upwith the code 125 rail. I cheated andraised the switches up on brass strips to

make it even with the 148 rail head.(Photo #2 is an example) After pavingis applied, you don't see any difference.On private right of way you can use OldPullman double point switches as theyare made in code 100 and code 125 .

I used patching plaster as a pavingmaterial, painted with Floquil paint in a

This month I will cover the trackyour trolleys will run on. Most trolleyoperations used light weight rails in 50lb. to 85 lb. per yard. This would be onprivate right-of-way, however withincities or towns, girder rail with a cast inflangeway would sometimes be man-dated. If freight was carried or standardsteam road boxcars were pulled, the railweights would necessarily be heavier,from 85 lb. to 95 lb. Most of the timegirder rail was not used when this wasdone due to the larger flange on thesefreight cars. T-rail was common on Illi-nois Terminal RR and others.

In O scale model use, this light railwould be code 100 to code 125 and theheavier rail would be code 148. In citystreets I have fabricated girder rail fromcode 125 up-right and code 100 on itsside, soldered to the base of the up-rightrail. Later I went to code 148 up-rightrail and code 125 on its side. The wheeltreads on most trolley power trucks justfit on this rail whereas the 125 rail headis somewhat narrower so the truck over-hangs onto the paving material. Thissometimes causes a dirt build-up andthe cars don't run as well. Brass stripslaid across the base of this is used as astrengthener every 1" and 1/2". Theseare long enough to extend beyond thebase of the up-right rail so it can be sol-dered along the outside edges. (A sam-ple is seen in photo #1)

I used a piece of Homosote or simi-

TractionAction

TractionAction

Roger Jenkins

sort of medium grey to match wornmacadam paving, or use engine black toduplicate new paving. You can get stonepaving material from B J Traction, P OBOX 56 Thornton IL 60476 or ScenicExpress, 1001 Lowry Ave, Jeanette PA15644. Both make stone paving that canbe cut up and fit around the rails. Oryou can scribe your own pavers into theplaster, a tedious job at best, but I haveseen some layouts with nice brick workdone this way.

Of course when making streets, thesidewalk has to be considered (trolleymodelers have to do it all) and I use 1⁄8"wood strips painted concrete color, withsections scribed into it with a knife. Thewood comes in all kinds of widths atyour local hobby store so you have todetermine which is best for you.

The overhead is next and the poles toattach it to. I make my poles along thestreet with 3 sections of brass tubingsoldered together with a torch. Each

section is telescoped into the next one ina smaller receding size as you goupward (Photo 3). Start with a brass rod5⁄32" in diameter and 3 1⁄2" long. Threadthe bottom inch of the rod and run a nutonto the rod to the end of the threads.Slip a 3 inch section of 3⁄16" tube overthe rod. Now slide a 3 inch section of5⁄32" tube about 1 inch into the first tube.Do the same for a 3 inch section of 7⁄32"tube into the second. (I find that drillinga hole into a board and starting with therod sticking out horizontally helps.) Thelength of the pole should now be 7 inch-es, 28 scale feet. Now solder the poletogether using soldering paste and a torch(or your favorite soldering tool). Make surethe poles are washed in soap and water toget rid of the flux before you proceed.

The next step is to drill a hole wherethe pole is located in the sidewalk and

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sub-roadbed. Then countersink the hole to clear the nut. Theninstall the poles and slide the sidewalk on top of the pole so it

covers the nut. Runa nut up from thebottom to snug itdown. (Photo 4)

You can drill asmall size hole nearthe top before youinstall the pole toput the span wire in.Wire height isapproximately 20

feet for most companies, some higher, some lower by maybe afoot. Make sure you measure the placement of this so all thepoles are the same height from the bottom. Otherwise the run-ning wire will look like a roller coaster.

A round head screw with the slot filled in will duplicateyour usual pole top on most street railways. Q Car Companyused to make these but I'm not sure they still do.

We will cover the job of stringing wire next time. RiversTraction and Trolleys, 540 County Line Rd., Gates Mills, Ohio44040 has a catalog with overhead parts listed and a sectionon stringing overhead wire for $2.00 (specify O scale or HO).

◆

4

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Every model railroader has read the words “lost wax cast-ings.”You can find these on any well detailed brass locomotiveand in countless numbers in the super detailing catalogs fromdifferent manufacturers. This article will try to explain theprocess of making these magic parts. But, I’m sorry to say,after reading this article you will not to be able to make partsin your wife’s baking oven. The expensive machines which arenecessary and the high melting temperatures will prevent this.

The advantage of the lost wax castings are:✓ Precise copy of the pattern✓Any size and shape is possible ✓Countless copies are possible✓ Durable and solderableThe disadvantages are:✖ Extensive technical equipment necessary✖ Expensive, because many working steps are requiredThese are the main working steps to get a finished casting:

pattern-rubber mold-wax casting-plaster mold-brass castingNow I will describe the single steps, starting with the pat-

tern. The pattern can be made from wood, plastic or metal(photo 1). If you want a part with exact dimensions you haveto calculate the shrinkage, which means that the pattern has to

be 2 to 2.5% oversized depending on the metal alloy used.Why? Because hot material needs more space than a coldmetal. My experience is that for most O scale parts like plows,coupler pockets and other “add on” parts you can ignore theshrinkage, but if you need large and⁄or long parts, like siderods or a smoke box front for a steam engine, you must con-sider shrinkage. The pattern has to be built precisely becauseany error will be transferred later to the brass casting. Manyfoundries calculate the price of the casting by its weight, sowhen building the pattern it is important to save material andthat means thin walls or a hollow hidden on the back side.

Photo 2 shows a “tree” of patterns sitting in a box on a waxstand which becomes a part of the pouring channel. The next

R Roland Marx

7 Secret w Lost Wax Castings step is pouring the box with clear RTV (room temperature vul-canizing) silicone rubber. The silicone is a two part high

quality rubber withshrinkage less than0.1% which allowsmaking many waxcopies. Before pour-ing, the rubber isdeaerated under a vac-uum jar to eliminateall the little air bubblesthat get trapped duringthe mixing process.This is necessary forhigh quality castingswith a perfect surface.This step takes lot ofpractical experienceand practice with aparticular manufactur-

er’s product. (Photo 3 shows a locomotive driver center patternready for RTV.

After curing (Photo4) the RTV is splitwith a scalpel, the finecut makes it possibleto get a seamless waxcasting. The patterncan now be removedand the rubber mold isprepared for its firstwax shot.

With the help of amachine the hot liquidwax (167°F) is forcedwith pressure into themold cavities. (Photo 5)The wax is usually col-ored, in this case blue.The shot in Photo 6was successful and is just cooling in the rubber mold. Photo 7shows the complex and fragile parts possible, in this case an Oscale German freight car ladder, and is also evidence of the excel-lent craftsmanship of the pattern builder and of the foundry. Bythe way, if you are thinking this wax is comparable to candle waxyou would be wrong. The wax for these castings is durable likethe soft plastic from which cheap plastic figures are made.

7 Secret w Lost Wax Castings R Roland Marx

Pattern, truck side frame of the Dash 8 (OST#2), and steps for the MP15 (OST#6).

Pattern (O scale driver center) sitting inthe box on a wax stand

The RTV block, cured, with smoke boxdoor latches (O scale)

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The canister just before evacuatingthe poured plaster (simulated)

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Wax shot, just cooling

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Injection of the wax

5

Finished castings: Truck side frame and steps of the Dash 8, a KCSstyle plow, coupler box with ditch lights, an EMD SW1500 front, the

master (Arttista figure) is checking the quality

14


7 Secret w Lost Wax Castings

Slicing the block

4

Melting the brass pellets

12

The tree now made of brass(HO scale bridge girders)

13

Canister prepared for heating

10

Setting the hot canister into thevacuum chamber

11

The “tree” (German O scalecoupler parts)

8

Fragile and complex wax part (freight car ladder)

7


After all the needed parts are cast from wax, the parts areassembled into a “tree” sitting on the rubber base of a castingcanister. (Photo 8) The size of the tree is limited by the capaci-ty of the melting oven. A canister is now placed over the tree;the canister is wrapped with a plastic foil to close the holes,and poured with a special plaster. During the next few minutesthe plaster gets deaerated with a vacuum jar (Photo 9) remov-ing all the air bubbles. (All the following steps with the canis-ter are simulated because of the lack of finished parts duringmy visit to the manufacturer and for safety reasons. The hottemperatures and the narrow work space made it dangerous towork with a camera.)

Now the hot phase starts. The canister with all the wax cast-ings is placed in a heating oven (Photo 10) and during the next6 hours it becomes heated up to 1100°F. In the first step, heat-ing to 167°F, the wax melts and is “steamed” out, rememberthe name “lost wax castings.” This leaves cavities in the plas-ter. In the second step the plaster mold is heated to the finaltemperature. Preheating the canister to a high temperatureallows a better flow of the molten brass later.

After reaching the final temperature, the canister is carriedwith the help of a tong (Photo 11), and set into the vacuumchamber. This is a special oven which is micro-porous, justenough that the air can pass but holding the plaster in place.The vacuum removes the air when the cavities are filled withthe molten brass. Larger manufacturers often use a centrifugalmachine for this work. Little pellets (Photo 12) of a brass alloyare melted and it is impressive to see how the red glowing, liq-uid metal flows into the canister⁄mold.

After cooling, the plaster can be removed with somewhacks with a hammer and the last remnants of plaster whichmay be stuck between fine structures can be washed awaywith a jet of water, a characteristic of the special plaster. If allthe previous steps are successful the result is a perfect treewith all the fine structures visible (Photo 13).

Cutting the parts from the tree and sometimes a cleaning bysandblasting is necessary. This was the final step from the foundryand the parts are now ready for the modelers (Photo 14).

If someone needs a few small parts, visit your local dentaltechnician. They have all the machines and are familiar withlost wax castings. False Teeth and gold tooth fittings are madeby the lost wax technique. Or contact a manufacturer like Pre-cision Scale Co., K&D Casting, or Stevenson PreservationLines and tell them what you want.

My special thanks to Michael Schnellenkamp of “Schnellenkamp

Modellbau” Germany (www.Schnellenkamp.com) for his support

and advice for this article.Precision Scale Co., PO Box 278, Stevensville, MT 59870K&D casting, 3849 Westchester Dr, Abilene TX 79606Stevenson Preservation Lines, 2326 230th St, Boone IA 50036

◆

Tips from Neville Rossiter Perth, Australia

THE WORKSHOP[]\

Using Tamiya military miniatures 1⁄35 scale brick wall set.This idea first came to light when I was reading Frary and Hay-

den's book 303 Tips for Detailing Scenery and Structures. Theydescribed Tamiya 1:35 scale interlocking brick wall sections formilitary modelers. Their friend Pete Laier was using them for con-crete block foundations for buildings in HO.

I have found them ideal to use in O scale. In addition to makingfoundations for buildings, I use them for a number of other things.

1. Retaining walls. Join a number of the B sections together.2. Using the C sections, combine two of them with some nar-

row styrene and you have a neat set of steps.3. Obtain a piece of balsa about 1 inch square. Glue the B pieces

on one edge and the ends, cover the top with some Evergreenboard pattern and you have a nice looking platform for a factory orfreight shed.

The photos show you how I have used these parts on my layout.◆


Product News & ReviewsProduct News & ReviewsNEWS: Lionel New ReleasesLionel LLC50625 Richard W BlvdChesterfield MI 48051 www.lionel.com 586-949-4100contributed by Mike Culham

I thought I would pass on some infoon new releases of Lionel O scale cars.Lionel is coming out with two moregreat cars, a 52 foot flat and a steelreefer, both in their latest catalogue, plussecond releases on the milk car and PS-2 hopper. Lionel also showed a two bayhopper in their previous catalogue and ifthey do the gondola again it is a must asyou will see in the shots that areattached of my layout.

New releases of scale cars fromLionel

Lionel # RR Name

PS-5 Gondola 52' 6" $44.996-17439 Union Pacific6-17440 Algoma Central6-17457 Great Northern6-17458 Reading

PS-4 Flatcar 52' 6" $44.996-17574 Western Maryland6-17574 Sante Fe6-17575 New York Central6-17576 Ontario NorthlandThese cars will have real wood decks.

Steel Sided Refrigerator Car $54.996-17336 Pacific Fruit Express6-17337 Canadian National6-17338 Merchants Despatch Transit6-17339 Burlington Refrigerator Express

General American Milk Car $59.996-17340 White Brothers6-17341 Dairymen's League6-17349 New York Central6-17350 Hood'sPS-CD 4427 Hoppers $59.996-17191 Burlington Northern6-17192 Lehigh Valley6-17193 Chessie System6-17194 Missouri - Kansas- Texas

All info came from the Lionel Vol-ume 1, 2003 Catalogue.

These cars will be released betweenmid Summer and late Fall.

With about half an hour’s work thesecars can be changed over to two railwith new trucks and couplers. A littleweathering and little paint touch ups, topaint out the “Built by Lionel” andpainting the brake chains you will havea great looking car. I recommend thatmy fellow O scalers get their reserva-tions in early for these cars, becausethey sell out fast. I have eight of thesecars on my layout now and have put inreserves for six more of them.

NEWS: 1:48 scale automobilesHerb Deeks Models1516 E Santa Ana StAnaheim CA 92805714-774-7326, fx 714-774-9631

Herb Deeks is well know in the SciFifield for his resin models of 50's stylespaceships. But, few know that MrDeeks also makes resin automobiles andtrans-kits in O scale. A recent listingincluded a lakester speeder, a ’56 Ford 2

ton cabin and chassis, a ’56 Chevy 2 toncabin and chassis, a small fuel deliverybarrel with step platform for the abovechassis or a fire pumper body. Also list-ed was a White 300 two-axle tankertruck. One of his trans-kits is a Servi-car

3 wheel conversion for the motorcyclethat came with Revell's ’55 Ford pickup.Deeks also sent along a photo of aModel T pickup he is working on andhis catalog says more stuff is coming,like a 50’s era ice cream truck. Pricesrange from $5 for the lakester to $35 forthe White tanker.

NEWS: BTSPO Box 561Seffner FL 33583www.btsrr.com 813-643-1105

Bill Wade says that several peoplehave asked that he make the SlatyforkSawmill in O scale. It's a large structureat almost 29 x 16 inches and the costwould be close to $1000 with basic inte-rior machinery. Because of these factorsBill had not planned to offer the mill inO scale. But he says that if you reallywant one, send a $200 deposit (refund-able). If he gets 35 people with deposits,he'll do the kit. Bill says his next kits inO scale will be the McCabe Tranway &Storage Yard followed by the McCabePlaning Shed. Get your orders in now.The McCabe Company Office is stillavailable at $129.95.

NEWS: Accurate O ScaleO scale trucks38623 Orchard StCherry Valley CA [email protected]

Jerry Snow of Accurate O Scale sentalong samples of his superb O scaletrucks. Several varieties are available:friction bearing caboose 33" wheels($19.95), roller bearing caboose 33" or36" wheels ($19.95), 70 ton roller bear-ing 33" or 36" wheels ($15.95), 100 tonroller bearing 33" or 36" wheels


($15.95), 5 foot archbar with 33" wheels($14.95), and a 5'6" Bettendorf with 33"wheels ($14.95). All trucks have plasticsideframes and bolsters. Wheels andaxles are steel. All roller bearing trucksfeature rotating bearing caps.

NEWS: Canter Rail Service1203 Rotherham LaneBeech Grove IN 46107317-782-3322 [email protected]

Jim Canter is offering Proto48 tiestrips. These are black plastic tie stripsthat are a scale 4' 83⁄4" between railheads. Each tie also has a detailed tieplate. The strip will accept code 125 or138 rail. Each strip is nine inches longand strips come 12 to a pack for a total ofnine feet. A package of track is $29.95plus $5 shipping. (Indiana residents mustadd 6% tax). Jim is also producing rightand left #8 turnouts at $28.95 each.

70-inch drivered 4-8-4 whipping by at100 mph. So much for the rule of thumbabout top speed (1.1 x driver diameter).

But the A, J, and Y6b (N&W’s tri-umvirate of steam) didn’t spring fullyformed from the Engineering Depart-ment so much as they were grown fromsound engineering principles and hardearned experience. Much of that experi-ence was earned at the throttle of theN&W’s 2-8-8-2s.

It’s always good to start at the begin-ning and that’s where the N&W start-ed—with five 2-8-8-2s designated classY1 built by Baldwin in 1910. Thesewere troublesome locomotives butN&W felt the wheel arrangement hadmerit and tried again with a betterdesign. These were the Y2s and the roadliked them.

Because of World War I restrictions,the next 2-8-8-2s to arrive on the proper-ty were 45 engines of USRA design.These were classed Y3 and numberedfrom 2000 to 2044. These Y3s were builtby both Alco and Baldwin in 1919. Inactuality, the USRA 2-8-8-2 was nothingmore than an improved N&W Y2. TheY3 design was so successful that theN&W kept refining it over the years until

they produced the pocket battleship ofarticulateds, the awesome Y6b.

In 1923 Alco delivered another thir-ty 2-8-8-2s to the N&W but with largersix wheel tenders (the original batchhad heavy USRA tenders) holding 16tons of coal and 15,000 gal. of water.These were classed Y3a and numbered2050 to 2079.

Eventually all Y3 and Y3a classeswere modernized in the 1930’s and itbecame impossible to tell them apartexcept by road number. The moderniza-tion program involved moving the twinair pumps from the smokebox to theengineer’s side of the locomotive to bal-ance the Worthington BL feedwaterheater on the fireman’s side and manyother not so obvious upgrades. Evenlarger tenders were added to boost watercapacity to 22,000 gallon and coal to 30tons.The Model

Sunset⁄3rd Rail has produced theAlco version of the Y3 as modernized.The model matches the drawing in theClassic Power book USRA 2-8-8-2. Themodels dimensions coincide nearly per-fectly with prototype dimensions (seetable) allowing for the fact the modelneeds to be wider due to O scale trackgauge and the need to traverse curvesmuch sharper than the real locomotive.

The drive mechanism is the standardwe’ve come to expect from Sunset⁄3rdRail, a Pittman 9000 series motor with atiming belt down to the gearboxes. Thisis a single motor driving both gearboxes.I tested the locomotive on Gordon Whit-

lock’s C&O pike featured in OST#6.The Y3 ran smoothly around the layoutpulling a string of about 30 hoppers.There was the slightest bit of drive trainnoise but both Gordon and I feel it’s thetiming belt and once it’s worn in thenoise will cease.

The model has a few operating fea-tures. The cab hatches slide and the cab

REVIEW: N&W Y3 2-8-8-2Sunset⁄3rd Rail37 S. Fourth StCampbell CA 95008800-373-7245 www.3rdrail.comreviewed by Joe GiannovarioCost: $1600 list price

A Little HistoryOnce I discovered the Norfolk &

Western Railway, I immediately fell inlove with its steam engines. The N&W,it seemed, knew how to squeeze everylast bit of horsepower out of steam anddo it in style. Their home-grown superpower could run with the best the majormanufacturers had to offer. Imagine a


roof ventilator pops up. The tender water hatch opens, but inone piece rather than three as in the prototype. Both headlightswork directionally on the loco and tender and the class lampslight up, too, but they don’t come on until there is at least 5volts across the track. The loco was moving well before thatvoltage was reached.

The model is finished in a flawless satin black withgraphite smokebox. I prefer the satin finish over too glossy.My loco is numbered 2008. Road number 2034 is also avail-able in N&W livery.

One reason for producing this particular locomotive is theclass was sold to other railroads during World War II.Engines went to the UP (5), PRR (6), and AT&SF (8). Later,seven of the AT&SF engines found their way back East to

the Virginian. Sunset⁄3rd Rail has available two road num-bers for each of these roads and each model is detailed tomatch “in service” condition.

How does this model compare to other similar models?Well, it’s not in the same league, in detail, as a Kohs & Co.Y6b, but then it’s one-third the cost. It is a far superior modelto a Max Gray Y6b which still commands prices in the$2000 range. I used to own an Overland Y3a (imported about10 years ago) which I sold to purchase this model and I’d saythe Sunset model isn’t as detailed. But it also isn’t as fussymechanically which is why I made the switch. Overall, thisis a fine piece of motive power at a reasonable price. ManyHO scale models cost more than this.

I could only find one really major flaw in the model. Thebuilder drilled a hole in the front center steam pipe for thepivot screw... from the top, rather from below as is typical inmodel articulateds. D’oh! But it’s really not that noticeableuntil someone points it out.

The locomotive used for this review is my personal prop-erty. However, I ordered it blind through a dealer so I trustthat its operation, detailing and finish are typical of the entirerun.

References:• Classic Power 3A, USRA 2-8-8-2, 2nd Edition, Dressler

and King, published by NJ International (no date).• Norfolk & Western Steam (the Last 25 Years), Rosenberg

and Archer, Quadrant Press, 1973.• Norfolk & Western Railway, R Prince, published by R E

Prince 1980.

N&W Y3 2-8-8-2Prototype Sunset Model

Driver Dia.. 57" 56.9"Stack Height 15' 9" 16'Wheelbase overall 58' 58'Driver wheelbase 5' 9" 5'9"Lead⁄trailing wheel dia.. 30" 28"Smokebox dia.. 99.4" 101"Boiler Dia.. @ 2nd sand box 118 112"Cab width 123" 122.5"Tender truck whlbase 9' 9'Truck centers 26' 9" 26' 6"Tender length 47' 46'Tender width 11" 10' 9"

Product News & ReviewsProduct News & Reviews


REVIEW:Sunset NP Z5 2-8-8-4Sunset⁄3rd Rail37 S. Fourth StCampbell CA 95008800-373-7245 www.3rdrail.comReviewed by Jon HellerCost: $1700 list price.The prototype

In 1928, Superpower was the termi-nology that applied to new steam loco-motive designs. It was also the year the

Northern Pacific ordered a singleexpansion 2-8-8-4 locomotive fromAlco. The goal was to have a singlelocomotive capable of pulling 4000tons on the Mandan-Glendive run ofsome 216 miles. It was also designed torun on the NP's own Rosebud coal,which required a larger firebox thenother types of coal. It was to be calledthe Yellowstone type, after the divisionit was designed to work.

The locomotive was completed inDecember of 1929 and was at the timeand for some years to come, along withits sisters, the world's largest steamlocomotive. Numbered 5000 this origi-nal locomotive proved somewhat of achallenge and was not immediatelyliked by the people that had to operateit. It was, after all, a monster. The fire-box was some 266 inches long and 114inches wide at the bottom with a totalgrate area of 182 square feet. This iswhat drove the wheel arrangement.That firebox required the large fourwheel trailing truck.

A single expansion articulated withfour cylinders 26" x 32" in diameter wasa design departure on the NP, but itallowed a higher average speed than the

traditional Mallets. The Z5 was deliv-ered with 63" drivers and operated at250 pounds of steam pressure. It stood16' 41⁄2" from railhead to smokestacktop. The engine and tender weighed1,118,000 pounds. It also came with aAlco type G reverse gear, Nicholsonthermic siphons, a Franklin type C2booster, a Simplex stoker, two Coffinfeedwater heaters, an Elesco type E

superheater and Walschaerts valve gear.On paper it had 140,000 pounds of trac-tive effort with an extra 13,400 poundsfrom the booster.

The locomotive alone was 80' 5 5⁄8"long. The tender 44' 6" long and wasdesigned for 21,200 gallons of waterand 27 tons of coal. It was equippedwith a mechanical coal pusher. Imaginetrying to hand fire this guy. Not possible!

The NP and Alco once even staged a

banquet for 12 people in the firebox topublicize the size. In 1930, after numer-ous shake down rides and engineeringchanges to improve the firebox perform-ance the NP put out a bid for 11 moreZ5's. Baldwin came in at $7,000 less foreach copy. They also stood taller at thestack top at 17' 2"

The Z5's were designed to produce ahorsepower rating of 6,079. In reality,

with that extremely large firebox, itmeasured out at 4,922 horses at 27 MPHat the drawbar. Eventually they deter-mined that the firebox was too large.

This was the ultimate design for NPSteam for freight. After these, the onlynew designs NP took delivery of werediesel units dedicated to freight.

As a comparison, the UP did not puttheir first Big Boy into service until1941. It was a more modern design, andhad a higher speed capability, but other-

NP Z5 Yellowstone 2-8-8-4Prototype Sunset model

Drivers 63" 63" Rail to Stack top 17' 2" 18' For the Baldwin version Wheelbase (each) 16' 9" 17' 2" Overall engine length 80' 5 5⁄8" 81' 6" Cab roof height 15' 6" 15' 6" Trailing Truck wheel centers 68" 68" Grate length 229 1⁄4 " Interior 235" Exterior Tender width 10' 10" Interior 11' Exterior Rear deck height 12' 10" 12' 9" Front tender height 14 13' 10" Tender Length Overall from Plate to coupler 44' 6" 44'Plate to rear wheel journal 37' 5 1⁄2" 37' 3" Rail to center of the coupler 33" 33"


wise compared nicely. The Big Boy,came in at 1,208,000 pounds, and had atractive effort rating of 135,375 poundswith 69" drivers. It also sustained 300pounds of boiler pressure.The Model

The Sunset Z5 is a terrific model. Itis an accurate representation of theBaldwin versions, down to the correctbuilders plates, and runs like a Swisswatch! I have had mine runningaround a friends layout for hours, qui-etly pulling a nice string of cars. Thelayout has 96" curves, so I cannot saywhat the model is limited to. Thebooklet that came with the model saysit needs just 60" radius, although Ihave not tested this.

A non-scientific judgment tells methat it has a scale top speed of about 45MPH, and it seems to roll along at about35 MPH effortlessly and quietly. This,by the way was the recommended speedlimit for this engine. It pulls only oneamp at about 12 volts.

I did take a ruler and caliper out, and

Product News & ReviewsProduct News & Reviews

here are the results I have found. I usedan NP erection card found in the bookNorthern Pacific Railway Super steamEra 1925 to 1945, by Robert L Frey andLorenz P. Schrenk

As you can see from the table, it is avery accurate representation of the pro-totype. I would also like to make note ofthe following observations.

I had to really nit pick to find anyreal problems. The builder photos showwhite tires, and a gray boiler. The backhead, while the most complete, andvery close to accurate I have seen ismissing some gauges. The overly largefirebox had a clean out grate on the sidefor the front of the box, as does themodel. The only difference here is thatthe step is in the wrong place. Theplumbing looks to be very accurate onthe engineer's side, but the fireman'sside seems to be missing some of thepipes under the walkway.

The most telling issue is a big plusfor Sunset. They employ a style of pack-aging for these heavy models that

secures the individual engine and tenderupright to a board that is sandwiched byfoam so that it effectively keeps themodel from moving during shipping andas such avoiding shipping damage. Thepainting is terrific quality. The letteringis superb, down to including the classifi-cation numbers on the side of the tender,as does the prototype.

I did have a problem with the deliv-ered model that was unrelated to thepackaging design. The lead weight wasinstalled, as it should be in a model likethis because of the complicated assem-bly of the steam chest, and steam lines.Unfortunately the weight came loose intransit, and the design has the circuitboard for the directional lighting mount-ed directly to the weight. So when theweight moved, it tore up the wiring.

Sunset stands by their advertising andtheir products. They took the model inand corrected the problem with a smileand attention to detail that is second tonone. It is through such actions that thetrue worth of a product shines. ◆


Buy⁄Sell⁄Trade Consignments

Jim Hackworth

MODEL TRAINS(and Subsidiary JH Consulting)

2631 Edgevale Road, Columbus OH 43221-1113Phone:614-4514517 Fax:6144514557

Email: [email protected] • Web: www.jhmtrains.com

Layaway AvailableEstates⁄Liquidations

Collection Reductions

LSASE for Complete ListShipping 6% - $6.00 Min., $12.00 MaxOhio Residents Add 5.75% Sales Tax

SS ATSF 2-10-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,295.00MG PRR 2-10-2,L⁄N, N⁄P, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,875.00 USH C&O 2-8-4, C⁄P, Runs good, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,450.00MG NYC J1e, 4-6-4, Nice, N⁄P, NOB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,475.00MG NYC J3a, 4-6-4, Nice, N⁄P, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,475.00 MG N&W Y6b, 2-8-8-2,Can Motor, N⁄P, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2,475, .00USH PRR M1a, 4-8-2,C⁄P, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,375.00USH NYC L4b, Klienschmidt Drive, C⁄P, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2,195.00 MG B&O 2-8-8-4, C⁄P, NOB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2,450.00USH PRR L1,2-8-2,C⁄P w⁄Sound, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,200.00SS N&W J 4-8-4, Rebuilt w⁄sound, C⁄P, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,700.00USH PRR K4 4-6-2, Late Run, C⁄P, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,250.00MG PRR E6 4-4-2, C⁄P, NOB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,275.00MG SP MT4 w⁄Icken Gears, C⁄P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,895.00USH NYC H10, 2-8-2, Mint, N⁄P, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,575.00 OM NP A5 4-8-4, C⁄P, Mint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3,895.00OM #0166 NP Z Class 4-6-6-4, C⁄P, Mint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3,995.00USH AC12 4-8-8-2, C⁄P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3,595.00USH UP 4-6-6-4, Can Motor, C⁄P, NOB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2,395.00PSC PRR K4, 4-6-2, Slat Pilot, N⁄P, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,350.00PSC PRR B-6, 0-6-0 w⁄Straight Cylinders, LN, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,450.00SS PRR I1 2-10-0, LN, 2-Available... each . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,150.00USH NKP S2,2-8-4, C⁄P, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,350.00CW H16-44, C⁄P ATSF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,495.00OM #0561 ATSF FM “Erie Built” AB Set, F⁄P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3,095.00OM #0561 ATSF FM “Erie Built” A Unit, F⁄P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,795.00(Above in ABA Set $4,550.00)

OM #0289⁄0291 F3 AB set, C⁄P D&RGW, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,395.00Scratch Built PRR GG1, Ptd Green, 5-Stripe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$575.00SS FM Trainmaster, C⁄P SP Bloody Nose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,395.00OL GN 2-D-2 #5001⁄5002 Set, C⁄P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2,495.00USH SD45, C⁄P SP, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$695.00 OM #0206 RS11 High Hood, N⁄P, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$850.00 PSC#15011 2-Bay OS Side Hopper, C⁄P, Wtd, C&O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$195.00OM#0020 50í Flat, C⁄P ATSF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$295.00PL#300 PRR R-7 Reefer, C⁄P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$295.00Priester C⁄Built Morrell Reefers... each . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$159.00MG #120 TT Flats, C⁄P PRR w⁄USH RB Tks(30 available)... each . . . . . . .$129.00PRB 60' Greenville Boxcars, Various Roads ... each . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$300.00PRB 62' PC&F Boxcars, Various Roads each . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$300.00MG PRR N8 Caboose, N⁄P, NOB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$250.00PSC PRR Stock Car, N⁄P, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$250.00OM#0752 NP Caboose, C⁄P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$375.00Alco PRR N6a, C⁄P or N⁄P each . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$225.00PSC #15283 40í Boxcar, C⁄P State of Maine, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$295.00ALW ATSF Chief Pullmans⁄Diner⁄Observation each . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$475.00OM #0025 Bi-Level Auto Rack, N⁄P, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$495.00CB PRR N8 Caboose, N⁄P, OB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$295.00PRB Boxcars , Kit 33.00, Built (most roadnames) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$39.00,

5 Car CP Passenger Train w⁄MG 4-4-014 Car SS Congressional Limited Complete13 Car Lionel Smithsonian NYC 20th Cent Set12 Car PRB SP Daylight Set

Writeor callformoreinfo


Scale Command - Part IILionel TMCC�Adapted for 2-Rail O Scale OperationScale Command - Part II

Don WoodwellDon Woodwell

Lionel TMCC�Adapted for 2-Rail O Scale Operation

Last issue I introduced Lionel'sTMCC™, described its functions, fea-tures for the 2-rail operator, and listedseveral locomotive manufacturers whoinclude 2-rail TMCC™ in their productlines. In Part II, I'll go into more depthabout power requirements and switchand reverse loop control applications.Train America Studios pioneeredTMCC™ in a 2-rail environment andthey call this technology Scale Com-mand.Two-Rail TMCC Power Requirements

Now that you understand how theTMCC™ components communicate weneed to discuss how the system is pow-ered. DC (Direct Current) is the pre-ferred power source in scale modelrailroading. In order for TMCC™ toperform reliably in a DC environmentwe have to synchronize the power signalwith a Train America Studios' Inverter.

This power signal synchronization isrequired to allow the onboard commandreceiver in the locomotive to synchro-nize itself to the command base signalthat is transmitted 60 times a second.The TAS Inverter allows this synchro-nization to occur when used with a stan-dard DC transformer.

The TAS Inverter is placed betweenyour DC power pack and the track, andrestores the missing “sync” therebyallowing the TMCC signal to work reli-ably with DC power. The inverter con-nects to the AC accessory output of yourDC power source and samples the ACpower. It sets the zero cross point that isthe sync signal. The Inverter leaks ACcurrent onto the track along with the DCcurrent. The Inverter also connects theLionel TMCC™ Command Base to thetracks. The Command Base injects the

radio signal into both rails without creat-ing a short circuit, and this signal isreceived by the locomotive's antenna.The hand held Lionel CAB-1 RemoteController® transmits commands to theCommand Base on a different frequency.

Once the Inverter is installed, you canselect between conventional DC opera-tion and Scale Command operation withthe flip of the inverter's selector switch.In conventional DC train control, theamount of voltage applied to the trackdetermines the speed of the locomotive,but in the TMCC™ environment thetrack power is set for constant voltagebetween 14 and 18 volts.

Locomotives equipped with ScaleCommand (2-rail TMCC™) lie dormantuntil a command is sent to them fromthe CAB-1, but their lights are constant-ly bright due to the fixed track voltage.For the same reason, passenger car andcaboose lights will always be on evenwhen the train is sitting still. Flickeringengine and car lights as they roll downthe track are now a thing of the past. Connect a TAS 60 Hz Inverter to a DCPower Pack.

The schematic below shows the con-nections made between an existing DCpower pack, the TAS 60 Hz Inverter andthe track. The 7 TAS Inverter wires are:variable DC track power (2, black⁄red);AC Accessory power (2, green⁄green);Track Power (2, yellow⁄yellow); and,

Command Base input (1,orange). Once these con-

nections are made, the throttle on yourDC power pack must be set between 14and 18 volts.

The Lionel Command Base must beplugged into the same terminal strip asthe DC power packs. The Commandbase references earth ground and mustbe in “phase/polarity” with all the DCpower supplies. The Command base sig-nal (output at the "U" post connects tothe TAS Inverter) transmits the signaldown both rails without creating a shortcircuit.Creating "Power Districts"

This following diagram shows howto create power districts between two ormore loops of track.

Creating power districts lets youmaximize the amount of amperage ineach loop of track in order to simultane-ously run more locomotives on eachloop. For instance, if you have 2 power

packs and 2 loops of track, it makessense to connect one power pack to oneloop and one to the other loop.

The scheme works by isolating eachloop with track gaps located whereverswitches connect the two loops of tracks.When the locomotives cross over thegaps between each power district no hes-itation will occur if loop 1 and loop 2 areat the same voltage. The locomotives justglide through the switches onto the otherloop and into the next power district.

like those produced by Tenshodo, PFM,NJ International, etc.

Pictured below is a Lionel SC-2 thatcomes with a wall pack and thoroughinstallation instructions.

2. A Lionel Accessory Switch Con-troller (ASC) operates up to four switchmachines or eight accessories such aslights. It allows control of twin coil andsolenoid type switch machines likethose produced by Tenshodo, PFM, NJInternational, etc. The ASC is the rec-ommended controller for the new AtlasO 2-rail remote switch motors.

The ASC is also ideal for DC switchmotors such as Tortoise, Switchmaster,Torquemaster, Rotor Motors, etc. TheASC can be programmed for constantpower or momentary power. Each ASCcomes with detailed and illustratedwiring instructions.

Pictured below is a Lionel ASC thatrequires an external power source and a

data communication cable to connectthe ASC to the Lionel Command base.Reverse Loops

Reverse loops and crossovers are


DC Power Packs vs AC TransformersIn order to keep the cost of using

Scale Command as low as possible, theTAS Inverter was designed to keepoperators from selling their DC powerpacks and buying new AC power packs.But most DC power packs are designedto run only 1 or 2 locomotives. Thismeans that the power rating of DCpower packs is much inferior to that ofAC transformers.

For example, an AC transformer likethe Lionel 180 watt, 10 amp, Power-House that retails for $89.95 is capableof running up to 5 trains under heavyloads. When you purchase an additionalpower supply in the future, Train Ameri-ca Studios recommends an AC trans-former. If you decide to purchase an ACtransformer you must use a TAStudios'Signal Enhancer to infuse the commandsignal into both rails without creating ashort circuit.

On the other hand, a robust Bridgew-erks' DC power pack, rated at 15 ampswill effectively handle several locomo-tives under a heavy load, but it retails forupwards of $400.00. It makes morefinancial sense to buy a low cost ACtransformer and Signal Enhancer forScale Command operations than it doesto buy a more powerful yet costly DCpower pack and still need an Inverter. Controlling Switches

How do I control my switches?The Trainmaster Command Control

system uses stationary switch con-trollers to control various switchmachines and accessories on your lay-out. These switch controllers fall underwhat we refer to as stationary TMCCcomponents. There are 2 types of con-trollers from which to choose:

Lionel's SC-2 and ASC.1. The SC-2 controls up to 6 remote

switch machines with AC loads up to 15amps. The SC-2 is powered by anexternal wall pack and fused for maxi-mum durability and circuit protection.Its outputs can be used to control twincoil and solenoid type switch machines

always a challenge on a 2-rail layout,but for Scale Command the solution isvery simple. Both rails are gapped onboth sides of the switch (straight anddiverging). TAStudios Auto ReversingBooster (ARB) reverses the polarityautomatically. An ARB is connectedwith 2 pairs of wires connect to bothrails on the mainline (orange) and bothend-gapped rails in the reverse loop(yellow).

When a train enters the reverse loopand creates a short between the gaps inthe rail caused by mismatched polarity,the ARB detects the short and immedi-ately reverses the polarity in the reverseloop. This reversal occurs so rapidly thatthe train does not even detect it. Whenthe engine reaches the other end of thereverse loop, the reversal sequencerepeats. One ARB is required for a sin-gle reverse loop or crossover section.

The following schematic shows justhow simple it is towire an ARBinto a reverseloop.

SummaryScale Command is an operational

alternative to DCC and Train AmericaStudios makes it easy to connect to a 2-rail DC track system. Their Inverter con-nects directly to the track with input fromboth the DC power pack's variable and afixed voltage posts, and the Lionel Com-mand Base that injects the radio signal intothe rails. DC switch control is enabled witheither of two Lionel controllers. Reverseloop polarity problems are solved with theTAS ARB.

In Part III, I'll discuss how to get started withScale Command by describing typical compo-nent configurations and pricing. ◆

Lionel SC-2

Lionel ASC


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Modeler's ShelfModeler's Shelf


I guess I brag too much when I dosomething. Recently, I mentioned in pass-ing on an email list that I was doing someresin repros of the motorcycle that camewith the Revell ’56 Ford pickup truck kit.Well that generated some email, offlist ofcourse, so I guess I have to respond bytelling everyone how it’s done. It’s really avery simple process. It just takes forever toexplain how it.

The key to successful model buildingis detail. While another railroader visitingyour layout might not notice all of thedetail (simply because they are payingmore attention to the trains) their spouseor friend might be very impressed by allthe extras. Women, for instance, arealways impressed by miniatures, not nec-essarily the trains. In many cases, theywould be the ones to notice the garbagecans in the alley or the tools in the garage.

So here’s the secret to getting tons ofdetail parts... cold casting. You use rubbermolds and polyurethane. As long as yourmolds and resin supplies hold out, youdon’t even have to leave the comfort ofyour own home.

Some of you might be questioning thelegality of copying detail parts. It isn’tillegal. What is illegal is making parts thatyou didn’t design and selling them.

In this article, I will show you how tomake two piece molds and discuss a onepiece mold. The two part, or multi part

mold, is used to cast all sides of one part atthe same time. These would include thingslike trash cans, fifty five gallon drums andother small parts. It can also be used to castautomobile bodies and other parts. I knowthat finding true O scale (1:48) automobilesis difficult and by knowing how to do thecasting process, someone might just beable to cast some really nice vehicles.

If you want to do some casting, firstread this article, then go to Micro Mark*,and order their resin casting starter set,#82698, usually on sale for $69.95. This setincludes RTV rubber mold compound,casting resin, mold release for makingmolds, a spray can of mold release for cast-ing, a box of Kleen Klay, a small packageof measuring cups, some brushes and stir-ring sticks. And for those that are wonder-ing, no, I don’t work for Micro Mark.

Two Part MoldsYou will need what is called a master

pattern. This pattern can be one you designand make yourself, or it can be anythingyou want to copy. As you see in the photo-graphs, I’m using some trash cans out ofthe Berkshire Valley Drugstore kit. Theseare really nice pieces, and will providesome really nice castings providing, ofcourse, that the mold is made correctly.

These parts are made in such a waythat all sides are cast as a unit. Thatrequires a two piece mold. The first thingyou need is clay. Kleen Klay is a good,non drying clay that holds the parts in

place while the first half of the mold iscast. For the few small parts being copiedhere, all you will need is one of the foursquares of clay out of the package.

You start by kneading the clay and mak-ing it wide and flat. Don’t worry aboutthere being too much, as you will cut someback. You’re just making a seat for theitems to be copied at this point and this willbe the first half of the two part mold.

Form the clay into a 3/8" pancake. Itdoesn’t have to be perfectly round; it can besquare. If you need it, use more clay. Thereis enough in the package that came withyour basic casting kit.

There is another way of making a twopiece mold and that would be to suspendthe parts inside a mold box (See RolandMarx’s article in this issue). I’m not goingto show that here because that wouldn’twork well for the multiple castings we are

Casting Your Own PartsCasting Your Own Parts

By Gary Woodard

Clay base that will be used to hold the parts asthe first half of the mold is being made.


putting into one mold. As we go along Iwill refer to the suspension type of moldmaking at certain points.

Next, line up the castings in a logicalmanner. Make sure they are at least 1" fromeach other if they have small details. If theyare larger, make the space between themasters bigger. You will need to locate thegates, not only to pour the resin in themold, but also to get it from cavity to cavi-ty. You will also need room for a gate thatcomes out the top of the mold, allowing airto escape while the mold is being filled. Allthese gates allow you to make several cast-ings at once.

Now push the detail parts into the clayabout halfway, covering each detail in allareas. Avoid undercuts,. Undercuts areareas where the mold compound couldflow under the master. This would makegetting the master out of the mold nearlyimpossible and will damage the mold. Atthe price of mold making compound, youdon’t want too many mistakes. If your mas-ter is going to create undercuts, then it

might be better to make a three piece mold.After the detail parts are in the clay, the

next thing to do is make the gates. Anymaterial can be used for this. I used a bam-boo shish-kabob stick for this. It’s justabout the right size to make a good flowinggate. I have used styrene strip and evenused old plastic kit sprue to make the gates.I have also just cast the mold without gatesand cut the gates in after the mold is made.That is best used when you are making atwo piece mold for just one part, such as amold that where you don’t use clay, butactually suspend the part. Do whateverworks best for each individual mold.

There are two places where the gates aremost important. You never fill a mold cavi-

ty from the top. It fills from the bottom, sothere must be a gate going into each cavityfrom the bottom. In order for the air toescape, there must be another gate thatleads from the top of each mold cavity.With the set up you see here, it will insureconsistently good castings. Each gate usedto allow air to escape the mold must comeoff the highest point of each cavity. Thisinsures that the casting cavity will fill fullywith resin. Without those gates, you mightpour the resin in but it won’t fill the cavity.

You will also notice that I didn’t create afunnel at the pour point. I can do that afterthe mold has been made since it isn’t need-ed while actually making the mold. I don’thave anything handy that would create afunnel at this time, so I will cut one into themold when it is completely set. I will alsobe doing all the trimming at that point. Youwill find that when you cast your first moldthere will be quite a bit of flash and it willrequire clean up.

Okay, on to making the mold. Now thatwe have the basic setup of the casting systemfor the mold, it’s time to cut the clay around

the pattern. This makes it easier to build upstyrene sides around the pattern. You willnotice in the photographs that I started byputting the clay onto a base of styrene sheet.This makes it much easier to build the boxaround the pattern and will hold the RTVrubber in place over the pattern.

You will also notice that I’m using amold release compound here. It is designedto keep the new mold from sticking to theclay and the rest of the pattern, and itbecomes especially important when you goto make the second half of the mold. Iknow. I made the mistake of forgetting itonce, and only once. While RTV doesn’treally stick too hard to many of the patternsyou might be using, it sticks to itself likecrazy. So, I can’t stress this enough, whenyou make the second half of the mold, USETHE MOLD RELEASE.

If you’re using the stuff from MicroMark, their RTV mold compound isdesigned to be a 50/50 mix. You use twodifferent measuring cups. For this moldyou won’t need more than about one ounceof each and that will be a two ounce total

for each half of the mold. So, one ounceeach of part A, and one ounce of part B, usea third cup to mix the two parts in. Mixwell and blow on it to get as many bubblesout as you possibly can, then pour into themold box. This should cover everything. If

Push the parts in until they are halfwaysubmerged into the clay.

Make the gates by using styrene, wooddowel, or even use old plastic kit gate

castings, note that the entrance gates comeup from underneath the mold cavities. Also

note that I had put small indentations into theclay, the rubber will go into that and createline up lugs that will help line up the mold

when in use.Notice that the gates for the airescape run up to the top for each mold

cavity, when in use, these gates will allow airto escape, allowing the casting resin to enter

the cavity and create the casting.

Build a mold box around the clay base soyou can pour the RTV rubber over the master and hold the rubber in place

long enough for it to set.

Make sure you use the release agent formolds when making a two part mold,

especially when making the second half ofthe mold.

When all is ready, mix up the two part rubbermold compound and pour into the mold box,

covering everything inside the box.


it doesn’t, just mix another small batch andpour over it.

Sit back and play on the computer forabout four hours. Go take a nap. Go to din-ner... anything. Setup and make anothermold if you wish. BUT, don’t try to pullthat mold out of the box for at least four,that’s FOUR (4) hours. It takes at least thatlong for the mold to completely set and ifyour using another brand of RTV rubber itcould require a setting time of up to 24hours. I like to make my molds late atnight, then go to bed and let the mold setovernight.

Once the mold has set I don’t just pullthe mold out of the box as that could dam-age the mold. You should break the sides ofthe styrene box apart, and gently lift themold at each of the corners. The mold willthen come up fairly easily, especially if youused the mold release compound.

At this point, you will notice muchflash on the mold. Some areas of the moldhave flash simply because you might nothave had a perfectly square box or the claywasn’t perfectly square. It will trim upfairly easily. I use a knife to carefully trim

the flash around the mold cavities and allthe gates. Around the outer edges of themold, you can use a good sharp pair ofscissors. Cut that outer flash off carefully,don’t just pull it off as that can also rip themold. As robust as these molds are, theydo have their delicate side. Taking care notto damage the mold will give you a longermold life.

Now it’s time to make the other half ofthe mold. After all the trimming and clean-ing is done on the first half, it’s time to putthe master patterns back into the mold. Thistime you can put the clay away as the nextmold pour will be done right on top of thefirst mold pour.

Putting the masters back into the firsthalf is easy. They should fit the mold per-fectly. Just remember to put them back in

exactly the same location they came out.The extra pieces used to make the gates inthe first half of the mold will also be usedagain. After you make the second half ofthe mold, you can throw them away.

Before you mix the rubber, you willneed to put the mold box back together. Dothis by putting the first half of the moldwhere the clay base was before, thenrebuild the sides. This will only take a fewminutes. Once you have everything inplace, it’s time to put on the mold release.Remember, this is the most important step.

Mix the RTV rubber just like you didbefore. Pour into the mold box, sit backand relax... just don’t try to pull that newmold off for at least four hours.

As you can see in the photographs, afterbreaking the sides of the mold box we havewhat appears to be a solid mold. At thispoint, it is important to be careful. Don’t be

in a hurry. Gently work around the cornersfirst and pry apart the mold with yourhands. If it looks like some mold releasedidn’t get into certain parts, not a prob-lem. That’s what X-Acto knives are madefor. Be sure you are cutting as close to theseam as possible. The mold will begin tocome apart on its own, provided, ofcourse, that you used mold release com-pound.

Now that the mold is apart, it’s time topull everything out of the mold. For thetime being, unless you want to use themto make another mold, it isn’t necessary tokeep the masters around.

Clean the second half of the mold offlash, the same way you cleaned the firsthalf. Once this is done, your new mold isready for casting.

For those that are using the Micro Markstuff, it is the same with the casting resin asit is with the mold making material: a 50/50mix of parts A and B. The thing to remem-ber here is that it isn’t going to take verymuch resin to fill a mold of this size. Noticethat I also cast another motorcycle, so as not

When sufficient time has elapsed, break themold out by breaking the mold box apart,

and then carefully remove the mold from ontop of the clay base.

Notice all the flash on the mold when itcomes off of the master, carefully remove allflash from the mold, and be especially careful

around the mold cavities.

The mold really begins to take shape as youclean it up, notice how the gates are arranged.

Once the mold is cleaned up of all flash, putall the masters back into the mold the way

they were cast, they should fit right in, if theydon’t fit right, make sure you putting the right

master into the right cavity.

Rebuild the mold box and brush the moldrelease over everything again. Then, mix

more RTV rubber mold compound and pourinto the mold box

Casting Your Own PartsCasting Your Own Parts


to waste any resin.The first order of business here is to

spray the mold with casting mold release.This comes with the Micro Mark beginnerskit and it is a nice large can that will proba-bly outlast all the resin you have. You justneed to spray the inside surfaces of themold, Make sure you spray into all cavitiesand the mold is ready for casting.

Now you need to secure the mold halvestogether. You do that by cutting a couple of

pieces of wood, styrene, heavy card stockor Bristol board to the same size as the out-side of your mold. It doesn’t have to beexact, but it does need to be enough thatyou can wrap a couple of rubber bandsaround it. They don’t need to be real tight,but snug enough to hold the mold together.

Pour some resin from the bottle labeledPart A. Try to pour only as much as youthink you will need to fill your mold. Forsmall parts like this, it isn’t very much,

maybe a half ounce. Then do the same intoanother measuring cup from the bottlemarked Part B. Into a third cup, any cheap,disposable cup will do, pour both Parts Aand B and mix completely. Scrape the sidesof the cup with a wood mixing stick. Onceyou have done this, you have about five toseven minutes to work with the castingresin. Start pouring into the mold. Do itslowly. The stuff from Micro Mark is waterthin, however, you still need to go slowly

so you don’t end up with a mess all overyourself or your work bench. Continue fill-ing the mold from the entrance gate untilyou see the resin coming up through the air

vents. When you see the mold is full, set itaside. It will take about forty five minutesto fully set. According to the instructions

with the resin, the resin has a pot life ofabout seven minutes, and a full setting timeof thirty to forty minutes. I usually give itabout forty five minutes just to make sure.

After letting the castings cure in themold, it is safe to remove the rubber bands.Gently pull the mold apart. You can see bythe photographs that the first castings out ofthis mold came out fine. They aren’t per-fect, but you can’t expect them to all beperfect every time. One casting had a littlebubble in it. Other than that, these first cast-ings are totally usable.

Less than an hour old, I have painted thetrash cans I just cast. They’ll be placed onthe diorama that I’m working on and I will,of course, use this mold again. ◆

Micro Mark, 340-3151 Snyder Ave.,Berkeley Heights NJ 07922-1538

www.micromark.com 800-225-1066

Now the second half of the mold is ready tobe removed and cleaned. Be careful, as some

of this mold may still be stuck to itself.

Here are both parts of the mold, clean thesecond half and cut a nice funnel into the

entrance gate at the top of the mold.

The finished mold ready to cast, the moldrelease has been sprayed on, now to put the

mold together.

To make a backup for the mold, as it will needone while the rubber bands hold the two

halves together, you can use any good flatmaterial, wood, styrene, or even heavy duty

Bristol board.

Here is the mold inuse, the resin hasbeen mixed andpoured, now towait about forty

five minutes, andthis set of castingsshould come out.

After the castings are set, it's time to pullthem out of the mold, notice that these

castings look pretty good, not bad for a moldin use for the very first time, notice also that I

did cast another motorcycle, I did thatbecause I always seem to mix too much resin

when doing the really small parts.

Fresh out of the mold, these castings do have some flash, but it cleans up fairly easily.


Here are the fresh castings now cleaned up. They do look really good at this pointThese castings painted up well. Not even an hour old and they are ready to be

put into any scene.

Here I add two tothe station, as it

only had onebefore from

another mold,note that the fifty

five gallon drum isalso one of my

castings.

Casting Your Own Parts

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Crapolafrom theCupolaJohn C. SmithPecos River Brass

Chapter IXSoon after I came home from my first

Korean trip in late 1987, problems started todevelop. My friend Jun was having a lot oftrouble with another importer. It doesn’tmatter which one. They had a difference ofopinion and a lot of money was at stake.GangSan built a very poor model for them,and they refused to pay. Jun came to theU.S. to try and resolve the problem. Theymade a compromise, but it was a mistakethat would cost GangSan heavily.

While in the U.S., Jun paid a visit to hisother customers, and I was one of them. Juntried to get me involved in the dispute, but Ihad a very difficult time with that. I couldsee both sides of the argument and knewthat there was plenty of fault to go around. Ilive in a glass house and I couldn’t takesides. I liked Jun very much. We were veryclose. I spent time with him and his familyand watched his boy grow up. Our relation-ship went beyond business. Many people inbusiness told me to not get personallyinvolved with my builder, but I had to. Itwas my way to know the person too, andrespect the family. Then I knew it would bea two way street.

Gang San sent over a pilot model of verypoor quality, but it was accepted by theimporter. It was an O Scale steam loco andvery Pennsy, i.e., curves everywhere. Butpilot accepted, the production was startedand the models were shipped. Still no com-plaint from the importer. Soon, consumersstarted to complain and then the ball waspassed to Korea. The models had to bepainted to cover the finish, but the importercharged Gang San for this painting at Amer-ican costs, and also charged the dealer forthe painting as well. Granted I didn’t likewhat was going on, but I also didn’t like to

see my builder and friend building such apoor model. But the price was low, and thepilot was accepted. You get what you payfor, and in Korea, in this business, you getwhat you accept. However, there was a loop-hole in the LC (Letter of Credit) and theimporter refused payment.

Much of the model business is done withan LC. If something goes wrong, or thebuilder disappears, the only thing you areout is the cost of the LC. But the LC is toprotect the builder. He is guaranteed thatwhen he ships, he will be paid. He couldship a box of rocks, and if the paperwork tothe bank is correct, he will be paid. The onlyprotection to the importer is that if thebuilder wants to continue working, he willfix problems honorably. But the paperworkmust be perfect. Once I got a shipment andthen a call from the bank. The builder sentme extra trucks. On the invoice it read 100pair of trucks. On the bank paperwork, itread 100 pieces of trucks. The bank refusedpayment. I gave my OK, payment was madeand I got my trucks. However, this importerchose to NOT pay. It cost Gang San (mybuilder) great woe.

I didn’t get involved, and perhaps thatwas a mistake. It was the beginning of theend for Gang San, and I did not see it com-ing. I also got in my first Sn3 project, aDRGW gondola and flat car in 11 versions.I don’t know why I did that project to thisday. I wanted to do many different things,and I wanted to make the pie bigger.

I was doing well with Sn3 in my hobbyshop and thought the market would be terrif-ic. I did not take into consideration anothermajor Sn3 importer. When my project camein, I couldn’t get one major Sn3 shop tocarry it. It seemed as though the word wentout that if they supported another Sn3importer, they would lose favor. That is whyI wanted to do the project in the first place,so there would be choices. Competition isbetter for everyone, right?

It hurt. It took 9 years to sell those gon-dolas, and except for a little too muchweight, they were perfect to accuracy. Youdon't make any money carrying inventoryfor 9 years. I think Sn3 lost. They could havehad some choices, and they ended up losinga source of models. I had the same problemin N Scale. It worked for others, but just didn’t work for me.

While this Sn3 gondola was approach-ing, reservations had not accrued like I hadhoped, so I encouraged Jun to cut me someslack on the price. Then I could move themout cheap and get out of a pending disaster.Jun was a good business man. He knew thatif I lost again so soon after the T&P poorshowing, the cash flow to him would stop.Therefore he cut the price, costing him, too.It was still a disaster.

When Jun returned to Korea, he foundout that his best friend had died. He was ayoung man in his thirties and his death wassudden and painful. Jun dropped everythingimmediately and went to the side of hisfriend’s wife. At the same time, his book-keeper decided to take off with about$40,000 of the company’s money. Had Jungone right to the factory upon his return, hemight have stopped that theft, but he did not,and that allowed the man to escape with thefunds and have time to get lost.

All of this was too much for Gang San.When Jun finally got back to the factory, theend was in sight. They had just enough timeto escape with the materials, plans andmachinery, and go into hiding before thebank came to collect. The bank came to thefactory and found only a building. They tookthat. Everyone was gone in just a day.

Next week, I got a call from Mort Mannat Sunset asking me if I knew where Junwas. I said that I hadn’t heard from him in aweek. Mort told me that the factory phonewas not working. I said not to worry as Ihad Jun’s home phone. I would call and lethim know. I called Korea and Jun’s homephone was also disconnected. I called DaveBush from Precision Scale, and found outthat he was in Seoul. I told his staff that ifhe called in, please ask him to call me fromKorea. He did and informed me that the fac-tory was empty, and nobody knew whereanyone was.

Both importers had lost models. I had aLC (Letter of Credit) that was cancelledwhen the company went bankrupt, so I onlylost time, samples, and plans. That could allbe replaced. No money was lost. After a fewdays, it was evident that I would have to goto Korea again. I made a call to my travelagent, and two calls to other Korean buildersto start up a relationship. In one week, I wason my way to Korea for the second time in 6months, to start over. ◆


corner posts. The next change occurredwhen a new style end was introduced. Ithas been labeled as the “improved”Dreadnaught with the major corruga-tions looking like rolling pins. General-ly, these cars were produced with 4⁄4ends. There were nearly 20,000 carsbuilt to a 10' interior height with animproved Dreadnaught (3⁄4) design.Most 1937 cars had riveted 10-panelsides but that started changing with theintroduction of 12-panel with rivetedseams and eventually welded seams.You have probably noticed that doordesigns vary with a commonYoungstown design, Superior and oth-ers. Nearly all of the cars of this erawere built with a Murphy raised panelroof. In the late 1940’s, a new designthat featured diagonal raised roof panelswas introduced and quickly adopted.

In the late 1940’s, Pullman introducedthe PS-1 boxcar. It was a totally newlook with an end that looked like corru-gated metal that was not tapered. Theroof changed with introduction of atapered raised panel instead of the raisedpanel Murphy roof found on nearly all1937 AAR cars. Railroads may havebought a standard design boxcar but theydid customize their cars with differentbrake equipment, roof walks, trucks andother equipment like Duryea cushionedunderframes, Royal F slack adjusters,and other more subtle changes.

We are fortunate in O scale to beable to obtain many of these specialdetail parts to aid in customizing ofour models. Companies like CustomFinishing, Details Associates, Preci-sion Scale Models, San Juan CarCompany, Chooch Enterprises, GrandtLine, Keil Line and others make agood selection of parts and trucks toaid in your quest of an accurate model.While the selection of parts is good,the inventory of good kits or R-T-Rcars is somewhat limited.

Here is my critique of “steel” typemodels that I am familiar with:

• Intermountain AAR 1937 - Accu-

Trains or Proto48. One such website,“Steam Era Freight Car Modeling”, isan excellent example: [http:⁄⁄www.steamfreightcars.com⁄]

Ted Culotta has done a beautiful job ofpresenting a diverse amount of freight carinformation. Some of you may havenoticed Ted’s articles in Railroad ModelCraftsman on building urethane kits. Whilehe writes about HO kits, these are ideasthat can be used on O urethane kits as well.

Consider a car like the Intermountain1937 AAR boxcar. As many of youknow, this was nearly a universal stan-dard for steel boxcars from around 1936to well into the WWII period when itwas superseded with the modified 1937AAR and later cars like the PS-1. TheAAR 1937 design can be distinguishedfrom earlier and later cars by the interiorheight and the style of ends, the under-frame design and roof styles used. Theywere 10' 0" high on the inside with fewexceptions like the WP at 9' 6". Thatrelates to an overall height from the topof the rail to the top of the running boardof 14' 6" and a fraction. Most were builtwith either a square-corner Dreadnaughtend or an end with a “W” corner post(rounded corner). The end had 4 majorribs on top and five below the rivetedseam. If you look at the PRR X-31a endshown above, you can see what a 4⁄5square corner Dreadnaught end lookslike.

In the early 1940’s a “modified” 1937AAR boxcar was introduced. It raisedthe roof height to 10' 6" (some variationcould be found as well). This raised therunning board height to just over 15'above the rail. The ends became 5⁄5Dreadnaught with either square or “W”

Proto48 Modeling

Gene Deimling

Freight Cars In this day and age, you can obtain

information, history, drawings and pho-tographs on nearly every railroad thatexisted or still exists. Model railroadinghas become more attuned to prototypemodeling. HO is now the hotbed for thisinterest. Model kits and R-T-R equip-ment have come a long way in achiev-ing prototype accuracy. It isn’t goodenough to just paint a model in yourfavorite lettering or color scheme; youhave to be sure that it is the correctmodel that fits the era and lettering forthe road you model. Some call this“rivet counting” and consider it toomuch trouble to bother. To others it isjust one more dimension in a verydiverse hobby. It can bring you a greatdeal of satisfaction to modify a kit orR-T-R model to more accurately reflectsthe prototype.

It seems that O scale modelers havenot been as interested in what is pulledbehind the tender. Many have been con-tent to buy a large number of cars to cre-ate long trains running behind theirfavorite locomotive. Rather than buying100 cars of questionable accuracy, whynot own a couple dozen accurate piecesof rolling stock that compare to thehighly detailed steam locomotivesimported these days?

Accurate models start with informa-tion in the form of plans, photos andtechnical data. Hobby magazines, his-torical societies, railroad books and theInternet offer an immense amount ofinformation to sift through. If you areinterested, you can find websites dedi-cated to freight car modeling and even abulletin board on Yahoo similar to O


rate model of 1937 AAR design.Offered in square and “W” cornerposts, two different doors, Murphyroof and the unusual Viking roof.Not all of the lettering schemes pro-duced are accurate for the car. Somewere lettered for cars with 10' 6"interior height. It could be describedas a stand-in.

• Lionel PS-1 - Accurate modelof Pullman’s standard car of the late1940’s through 1950’s. Lionel hasbeen offering accurate colorschemes and lettering. Converting toscale will require some efforts sincecompromises were made in theunderframe to permit the installationof the usual 3-rail trucks.

• Atlas LLC PS-1 - Accuratemodel of Pullman’s 50' car with sev-eral door configurations and under-frames available. The basic car isaccurate with a fair representation of lettering and coloringschemes.

• Atlas⁄Roco - They introduced a plastic 40' boxcar pat-terned after the PRR X-43 design of 1947. The tooling wasquite good for its day. The car was somewhat compromised onheight. The design is very similar to a large group of cars builtby AC&F in the late 1940’s through the middle 1950’s.

• Weaver PS-1 - A fair representation of the Pullman 40'boxcar. The ends and roof are not as accurately tooled as theLionel and Atlas cars. Lettering schemes are not all accuratefor the car type.

• All Nation 40' Boxcar - It has been offered in a couple ofvariations including a smooth-sided car with PS-1 ends and aMurphy roof. Not quite accurate for a common PS-1. An earli-er version depicted the common modified 1937 AAR with 5⁄5Dreadnaught end, riveted sides and a Murphy roof. The mod-els feature metal exterior parts with a wood core. You woulduse small brads and hammer to assemble the parts. A logicalsolution before the days of epoxy and ACC super glues. Thismodel is nearly 50 years old and is not quite up to Intermoun-tain standards (as you would expect given its age and thechanges in manufacturing technology since its introduction.)

• Pecos River Brass 50' AAR boxcar - A fairly accuratemodel of an AAR standard with its 10' 6" height. They haveimported a variety of color schemes. The car is equivalent tothe venerable Athearn car in prototype. PRB is the first to offera working end-loading door on a plastic car. Clouser Modelsoffered a non-working casting in epoxy many years ago.

• Athearn 40' and 50’' boxcars - The cars are patterned after

the 10' 6" height AAR designs. Athearncars were the benchmark 50 years agowhen they first came out. Many stillfind them attractive and actively collectthem. The models were made fromstamped steel with a wood floor.

• Clouser Models - Bill Clouseroffered several different 40' and 50'AAR boxcar models (10' 6" interiorheight with “W” corner posts) cast inmetal-filled epoxy. The cars were veryaccurate and surpassed the Athearnand All Nation cars in detail. Theywere first released in the 1970’s. Thecars were expensive and saw only lim-ited distribution directly by Clouserand others. High Sierra Models wasthe last to offer them nearly 10 yearsago.

There were other models producedin O scale but I have not seen them so itwould be difficult to comment on their

accuracy. Even with this selection, there are some serious gapsin the boxcar lineup. We lack a good quality 10' 6" height 40'boxcar with a variety of ends and roofs to depict a very commoncar in the late steam era lasting well into the 1970s. We candream can’t we? ◆


Reader FeedbackReader FeedbackAn Offer You Can’t Refuse

I have an offer to anyone interested inpossibly subscribing to send them acomplimentary issue of Trolley Talk.All they need to do is send me theiraddress by mail or email [email protected]. You may feel free tolet you readers know this. I enjoy OScale magazine tremendously. It’s thegauge I model.

Thanks Best regards. Drew SackPublisher⁄editor. 1913 Roanoke Ave.Louisville, KY 40205-1415

The Graying Of O ScaleIn regard to your statement about the

status of O scale being in good shape, Irecently advertised some PrecisionScale trucks in your competitor. I gottwo replies and both gentlemen wereover seventy years old. There is a "gray-ing" of the current O scaler. Also, it is anexpensive hobby in spite of the Chineseimports. One way to beat the high costwas through kits and scratchbuilding.But, parts are disappearing from themarket. Northeastern has stopped mak-ing O scale wood parts and Champdecal will be out soon if it isn't sold. Allthe beautiful kits by American Standardare also gone. I enjoy O scale for its sizeand, at 85 years old, I am still buildingand enjoying it.

Oscar Wilhelm, Blaine Wash.Joe says: Oscar, good for you! Keep

the spirit alive. Yes, O scale has both anolder demographic and a scarcity ofkits. I think that many modelers in small-er scales move "up" to O as they getolder. Parts and equipment are harder tohandle and see in HO and N when youreyesight starts to fade. As for the lack ofkits, well we've become a society thatdemands instant gratification. And mostpeople value their time more than theirmoney. When a manufacturer finds hecan sell more ready-to-run cars at a

higher profit than a kit, then good busi-ness practice tells him to keep his inven-tory down and sell only RTR. Whenpeople stop ordering parts to the pointwhere inventory gets very old, then com-panies like Northeastern make decisionsto stop making those parts. However, weat OST are trying to bring in new peopleto O scale by putting this magazine inplaces where new blood will see it, likein supermarkets and on newsstandsrather than just hobby shops.

We also encourage both kit andscratchbuilding in the articles we pub-lish. Those skills are being lost. Whatyou "more mature" O scalers can do ismake sure the skills you’ve developedget passed along to a new generation ofmodelers. Share your knowledge andmentor a younger (meaning anywherefrom 25 to 55) modeler.

More On Power For O ScaleI’ve noticed there seems to be no real

power source for O-scale trains. I’vebeen having a problem that is drivingme batty and I was wondering if youcould help. I’m in the final design phas-es of my layout and I am using Atlas 3-rail track. However I would also like towire up the track to run D.C. powered 2rail equipment. All I'm using is a simpleloop in a bent dogbone fashion of about75 feet of track. I’m going with ascenery approach and not just trains,trains, trains. Anyway I recently boughta Red Caboose GP9 and love it. When Iwire up my MRC transformer to myAtlas track it does not seem to have thepower to electrify the whole track. Itwill do a short section but once I com-bine it with others it just peters away tonothing. Do I need a power pack for G-scale trains to provide the necessaryumph to move my diesel. I had it run-ning on a small loop of MTH track but Ifeel that has better conductive qualities

than the Atlas. Should I just give up, orcan I do what I want to do. Thanks forthe help, Bill

Joe says: Bill, what you need to do isrun multiple feeders. Your problem islikely resistance losses at the track jointsand a too small power supply. Runningmultiple feeder wires will help with thecurrent drop. Try running just an extraset of wire to the farthest point from thethrottle. See how that works.

Disagrees With SamIn respectful disagreement with Sam

Shumaker's remarks (OST # 8, Page 31)about the forthcoming Atlas USRASteel Rebuild Boxcars, I saw an actualsample of this car during February atNorm’s O Scale display at O ScaleWest. In my opinion, the artwork onAtlas’ website does not do this car jus-tice. The only compromise with the pro-totype, likely due to tooling costconsiderations, is that the side sill is notinset quite as deeply as it should be. Theeffect of the bottom tips of the sidebraces extending below the outer steelsides is achieved by what I think israther clever 3-D molding.

In comparing the model with the pro-totype photo on page 439 of the 1940CAR BUILDERS CYCLOPEDIA, Idon’t think it’s as poor a model as Samimplies. If one thinks the appearance istoo far off, I suggest cutting off the sidesill, slightly narrowing the bottom edgesof the ends and reworking the chassis asrequired to achieve one's desired result.(Another approach might be to leave thesills “as is” and cut out both entire sidesand move them slightly outward.)

The car will certainly cost less than abrass model as a basis for further modi-fication. Also, Atlas can convert anyunsold 2-rail cars to 3-rail by changingthe chassis, and using the leftover 2-railchassis under other, more “accurate”


models such as their USRA outside-braced single-sheathed boxcar. Myguess is that they won’t have to convertmany, if any at all. I know they won’thave to convert the one I’ve ordered!The models should be available by thetime OST # 9 is released, and readerswill then be able to judge these cars forthemselves.

J W ("Woody") Mathews, Seattle Wash.

OST#7 ReviewThe feature on the small shelf layout

in OST#7 was very well done and it willshow people once and for all that youcan build a[n O scale] layout in a smallspace and it does not have to be a mega-dollar project either. At the other end ofthe spectrum is the huge home layout ofBob & Elizabeth Jakl and what a superlayout that is. I think it’s great that thelayout is open to visitors. Harry Heike isnot only a master builder in brass andother metals, he is also an expert custompainter as well if that hopper car is anyindication. It was nice to see that youalso find the time to do some modelingand your article on converting a Lionelexpress refer to a realistic looking 2railversion was very good with lots of pic-tures to show what you had done to thetruck assemblies.

OST#8 is one of the best (they haveall been good) yet and all the “mugshots” are a nice touch. I’m impressedthat Pacific Limited popped for a fulltwo page ad in this issue. I reallyenjoyed Bobber's article about restoringand rebuilding a Whitcomb “critter”locomotive. Thanks Bobber for includ-ing a photo of those rare axle assemblieswith their two sets of driving wheels.Brian Scace had two good articles. Theonly thing I would add about the couplerissue is it sure would be nice if all themanufacturers would equip all theirproducts with a “common” couplermounting pad in case the modeler want-ed to replace the factory supplied cou-plers with Kadee couplers mounted intheir own draft gear. With Weaver Mod-

another All Nation EMD F-3A unit andI have to tell you, Joe, these are still nicekits and build into a real nice lookinglocomotive in spite of dies that areancient. And to top it off, these all metalkits are less expensive than a plastic OScale diesel locomotive and it will prob-ably outlast the plastic version by a mar-gin of ten to one!

Pete Klick, Sequim, Washington

Chiclets As DetailsExcellent issue, that # 8, and I see my

friend Herm Botzow has now ‘made it’as a member of the “OST Author'sClub.” I do miss the Buckeye but I’mdoodling some possible track plans ofmy own now. Herm mentions Chicletsused as flour bags. Attached is where hegot the idea. This car at times was in theSunbeam Bakers siding when operatedon the Buckeye. The Lehigh Valley carwas built from styrene using Intermoun-tain parts for the roof, doors and under-frame frame which was “backdated” toan earlier AAR version. LV used theseprimarily in the milled flour tradebetween Buffalo and the metro NY area.The model is fully detailed with interiorwood sheathing and doors that can beopened. There is a load of Chiclets asflour sacks inside as well. Because theycan weigh rather much, only the doorarea is so detailed. The stacks of gumwere glued together and are held inplace with foam inserts in the car ends.

Ed Bommer, Okla. ◆

els this is not a problem as they havealways built in a pad that will acceptKadee as well as their own coupler butwith AtlasO it can be a hassle on theirdiesel locomotives. It never ceases toamaze me why someone would deliber-ately make it difficult to remove a com-ponent that so many people will want toreplace in the quest for better reliability.Brian’s other article on mail trains wasgreat as I learned a lot from that espe-cially how to assemble a realistic look-ing consist of head end equipment. Ireally like the article by Phil Opielowskion building three different caboose mod-els. Phil did an excellent job of paintingand decaling as well since when youlook real close at the photos there is nota trace of decal film which ruins somany otherwise fine models pictured inall of the magazines. The Rose Riverwas another fine home layout with a lotof nice features. Thanks Herm Botzowfor some real good tips about addinginterior detail to structures as I learned alot from his article. As usual, the Model-er’s Shelf photos were outstanding andare always a real treat. With regards toyour Observations Column, I reallyliked your comment about there being“room for both” as it applies to brassmodels of wide ranging prices and levelof detail. I recently acquired a New YorkCentral J1D Hudson by Sunset Modelsand although the detail is nowhere asnice as the Hudson imported by GeorgeKohs, for me it was a real good value forthe money and I am satisfied with it. So,yes, you are absolutelycorrect when you saythat there is room forboth. Scott Mann andRich Yoder are to becommended for theirefforts to keep the priceof brass O Scale mod-els at what I wouldconsider a reasonablelevel.

Speaking of reason-able, I just purchased

western locomotives, so, your RGSsteamer fits right in.

SoundTraxx has a web site(www.soundtraxx.com) that tellswhich locomotives they support andeven has sound clips of the soundsthey produce.

Their DSD line has units that com-bine the DCC controller with thesound generator. So the receiver con-trols speed like any DCC unit, and thesound unit knows, from the DCC sig-nals, how fast the locomotive is mov-ing and can generate correspondingsounds. The DSD line is out of stocknow (may be going again by the timeyou read this) but they do not provideenough current for some O scale loco-motives. Soundtraxx also makes theDSX line that are just for sound andcan be installed in a locomotive thatalready has a DCC speed controller.The DSX connects to the wheels inparallel with the DCC controller. Ofcourse, their products come withinstallation instructions. I usually buymy DCC equipment from Tony's TrainExchange (www.ttx-dcc.com), whichseems to have everything in stock andthey send extra instructions and sellcompatible speakers.

But, there is a small problem. For Oscale, SoundTraxx recommends andsupplies a 39-ohm resistor to go inseries with the DCC sound unit to dropthe voltage. This is because O Scalecan use 18 volt systems rather than the14 volt HO systems. That resistor caninterfere with programming the soundunit. Programming the sound unit mayalso interfere with programming theDCC speed controller. (Actually mySoundTraxx unit worked fine as facto-

ry programmed). So it pays to have away to temporarily short out the resis-tor or disconnect one of the DCC units.I use a small integrated circuit socketmounted in the bottom of the locomo-tive and plug in small "croquet wick-ets" of solid wire, formed with pointednose pliers, to make or unmake theappropriate connections.

After doing all this, you want to getgood sound out of the unit. Personalcomputer sound units are about thesame size as an O scale boxcar. Sowhy do computers sound so good andtrains sound so bad?

Try this experiment. Set up yourSoundTraxx unit and a speaker onyour workbench, with two wires goingto your DCC master controller. It willsound tinny and unrealistic. Then dosomething as simple as moving thespeaker from the table top and settingit on a glass or coffee cup. You willnotice a startling increase in basssounds and therefore, more realism.

Sound is created by something thatvibrates and so compresses anduncompresses the air. That wave trav-els through the air and to our earswhere it causes vibrations that ourbrain hears as sound. Sound is charac-terized by frequency (think of the dif-ferent notes on a piano) and amplitudeor loudness. Real-life sounds are acomplex combination of different fre-quencies and amplitudes.

A speaker in a model locomotivegenerates train sounds by such vibra-tions. But, while the front of the coneis compressing the air, the back isdecompressing it. Especially at lowfrequencies, these two sound wavescan combine and cancel out. So, pre-

This is the second of theDCC Columns for O ScaleTrains and some people havestarted to contact me with theirinterests and problems. But I'mstill looking for your interestsand possibly your contributionsto the column.

This time I want to talkabout DCC locomotive soundsystems. When people visittrain layouts in a mall, they areattracted to the larger, e.g. Oscale, layouts. You know that.But have you noticed that peo-ple now crowd around the setupthat makes the most realisticsounds?

But why should an O scaleDCC column talk about soundwhich is so obviously inde-pendent of scale? Well, thereare some differences with Oscale in how the sound equip-ment gets connected and howthe sound comes out.

There are basically threeways to control DCC locomo-tive sound; directly from theDCC commands, from thefunction outputs on the DCCcontroller, or from the motorvoltage that is controlled by theDCC decoder. The first way isthe best and the most complex.But fortunately, SoundTraxxhas solved that for us.

SoundTraxx sound units areso realistic that they make dif-ferent models for differentclasses of locomotives. Thecompany is located in Durango,Colorado, and leans toward

O Scale DCCO Scale DCCDCC - SoundTed Byrne



vent the back sound from escaping by putting the speaker in a closed container.Modelers in smaller scales use such things as 35 millimeter film cans. But withsound, bigger is better. O scale has an advantage that locomotive speakers andsound boxes can be twice as large as HO and so reproduce sounds an octave

lower in frequency! The idea is to use the shell of the locomotive, or tender, as asound box. But you have to block all holes where the back sound can escape.When you have the hole-free container, you can improve it more by lining theinside with some porous substance. Foam is good but fasten it so it cannot rattle.

Figures 1 and 2 show a SoundTraxx unit mounted in my Weaver model of an

Alco RS3, used as a B unit. An RS3provides a challenge because it has anarrow body shell. I used an ovalspeaker, 15⁄8" by 21⁄4" that just fits inthe shell. But its mounting holes get inthe way so I had to clamp it in. I filledin all other holes in the bottom plateand sealed around the speaker framewith Walthers Goo. You see the Sound-Traxx which is about a large as a fingerjoint, and the 39 ohm resistor and thecapacitor that goes in series with thespeaker. I cut the bottom out of the fueltank and used the pieces to strengthenthe tank ends. In the shell, I installed abaffle to close off the engineer's com-partment.

O Scale: not only looks better andworks better, but also sounds better!

✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎

I want to agree with reader RichardCooke (OST #7) who provided elec-trical current needs for five of hislocomotives. We need that informa-tion, in O scale, where current can'tjust be ignored. I plan to add morelocomotives to his list and also solicityour inputs. But how do you measureoperating current when your RadioShack multimeter has no currentscale that large (or at all)? The answeris to put a resistor in series with the dcpower (not DCC) and measure the dcvoltage across that resistor. Then cur-rent equals the voltage you measuredivided by resistance. A good com-promise is Radio Shack's 0.47 ohm, 5watt power resistor (nr. 271-130). Formore efficient motors, put two resis-tors in series for almost one ohm.Then the voltage reading equals cur-rent. Remember power dissipatedequals current squared times resist-ance (P=I2R). So 4 amperes and a halfohm resistor will make 8 watts ofheat and drop your voltage to theengine by 2 volts (V=IR).

Send me your measurementsthrough OST and we will create a list.

◆


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Freight Cars - Arbuckles' Ariosa Despatch Wooden Box Carmodeler: Don Clauder

O SCALE WEST 2003 FAVORITE MODEL CONTEST

3rd place (tie) winner - Steam Locomotives - "Dunkirk"modeler: John C. Sigurdson, Escondido CA


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The transformer design engineers atWestinghouse were required to workclosely with the company traffic depart-ment to ensure that the outside dimen-sions of any product as shipped wouldpass through all the obstruction clear-ances throughout the selected rail routefrom the factory to the installation site.As transformers became increasinglylarger, special rail cars evolved to meetthis need. Depressed center flat carsallowed full use of the width clearancebut the depth of the center section of theflat car still limited the available verticalclearance. Hollow center well carsallowed full use of the vertical clearanceabove the rails but the permissible widthwas limited by the space required for theside beams of the car. The advent of theSchnabel car allowed full use of both thevertical clearance above the rails and thewidth clearance for the safe passage ofthe transformer. The Schnabel car wouldmeasure about 75 feet long without anytransformer and with a typical trans-former inserted it would be about 100 ftlong. It was often referred to as thelongest rail car in the world, even with-out the presence of a transformer.

Announcements for an O Scale repli-ca of the Schnabel were first noted inJanuary 2000. As a retired ElectricalEngineer that used to work at a Westing-house division which manufacturedtransformers that sometimes requiredthe Schnabel car, this was announce-ment immediately recognized as aMUST BUY for my O scale railroad.

It is unfortunate there is much gener-al confusion and very little clear distinc-tion made between true O scale for 2 railoperation and O gauge⁄scale for 3 railoperation. Three rail models have pro-gressed a long way from the tin-plateand diecast models of the 1900 - 1980era and are now being offered as modelsmore realistically copying the prototype.In the current marketplace it is easy foreven a knowledgeable 2 railer to getstuck with an unwanted conversion proj-ect and gifts from well-intentioned, butless knowledgeable, relatives are evenmore likely to be 3 rail. Thus, it slowlydawned on me that the Schnabel Carfrom MTH was a 3 rail product.

Although announced in early 2000,the model did not become available fordistribution until the summer of 2001.Throughout the interval of waiting, Idiscussed with several hobby shops andalso with MTH the possibility of its con-version for 2 rail operation, and withoutexception the responses all indicatedthat conversion was not possible.

In August 2001 I was finally able toinspect the MTH Schnabel car at aCanadian retailer. I was so impressedwith its quality and faithful reproductionof the prototype that I immediatelymade the purchase in spite of theprospect that I may be able to use it onlyas a nostalgic display item. Howeverwith a little persistence I have been quitesuccessful in the conversion of the MTHSchnabel car for 2 rail operation. Theconversion attention was focused on

three items in particular, the wheel sets,the couplers, and what I will later referto as vertical articulation.Wheel Sets

The underbody wheelsets consist offour 4 wheel and two 6 wheel trucks.The obvious first step was to remove the14 axles with their 3 rail wheel profilesand electrical continuity common to 3rail operations, and replace them withappropriate 2 rail scale axles with insu-lated wheels. For this I should haveobtained wheel sets with NMRA Type Iaxles with pointed ends that would morereadily have matched the axles of thewheel sets being removed.

Since I was in a hurry and alreadypossessed a sufficient supply of wheel

sets with NMRA Type II axles, I filedthe ends to crudely match the required

MTH Schnabel Car ConversionAnother 3 rail to 2 rail conversion

MTH Schnabel Car ConversionAnother 3 rail to 2 rail conversion

by Norman Hills

50° Max

UType I

UType II


axle end shape and they worked fine.The illustration copied from the NMRARecommended practices illustrate whatI mean by Type I and Type II axles. Thephotograph shows a 3 rail wheelset onthe left, a wheelset with NMRA Type IIaxle in the center and on the right, onewith the axle ends filed to a point whichapproximates the NMRA Type I

The complete car assembly consistsof 3 main elements. The Westinghouselarge power transformer is the optionalmiddle element. The two identical carbodies fore and aft of the transformercan be joined together for travel withoutany transformer. Each identical car bodyof the Schnabel consists of 3 sections,with two bolsters that pivot, belowwhich are one 6 wheel truck and two 4wheel trucks. The pivoting of the twobolsters and three trucks of each carbody provide the articulation requiredfor the car to navigate any curves.

The assembly of the car has been

quite cleverly accomplished with noscrews visible from above, and very fewvisible on the underside. To remove thetrucks, one must first remove the twobolsters to which the trucks are attachedby a concealed pivot screw from the top-side of each bolster. The pointer in thephotograph of the forward or secondary

bolster shows the location of the pivotscrew to be removed that attaches thisbolster to the main bolster.

The forward platform has to beremoved from the forward bolster inorder to obtain access to the pivot screwand assembly screws of the four wheeltrucks. The pointer in the forward plat-form picture show the location of thescrew attaching the forward platform tothe forward bolster.

The pointers in the photograph of the

four wheel trucks still attached to theforward bolster, show the location of thecountersunk screws that can be removedto allow the original wheel sets to betaken out and replaced with the 2 railreplacements. Black screws show upwell when contrasted to any blue bodyparts. These black countersunk screwsinto the black truck body were photo-graphically invisible until they weretouched up with white.

Access to the truck pivot screw and

the assembly screws of the 6 wheeltruck requires the removal of the mainbolster. The pointers in the picture of themain bolster identify the location of thethree screws attaching the middle plat-form to this bolster and the pivot screwattaching the main bolster to the trussstructure of the main car body. Note thatthe forward centerline screw is attachedto the underside of the small transformeron top of the middle platform.

The pointers in the six wheel truckphotograph show the 4 assembly screwsof the 6 wheel truck that can be removed

to allow the taking out of the 3 railwheelsets and their replacement with the2 rail wheelsets. The pivot screw of thesix wheel truck will be referred to laterin the paragraph on vertical articulation.

Before reversing the above steps toreassemble the Schnabel, read about thecouplers and vertical articulation asthose changes should be made beforereassembly.Couplers

Kadee couplers were installed to theunderside of the forward platform ateach end of the Schnabel car. The Kadeecoupler provides for attachment byeither 2 screws on its centerline, or onescrew on each side of the coupler body. Ichose the latter option as I was unsure ifthe plastic car floor in this area was ofsufficient thickness for securing the cou-pler. I prepared a small metal block withtwo tapped holes as per the sketch andcemented this into place. The two holeswere drilled with a #51 drill for a 2-56tap. Flat shim spacers the same outlineas the coupler body were used toachieve the correct coupler height abovethe rails, as checked with the couplerheight gauge.

7⁄16"1⁄4"

3⁄16"

1⁄2"

11⁄16"


Vertical ArticulationThe Schnabel car is beautifully articu-

lated to enable operation on curves assmall as a 30 inch radius, which is muchtighter than would be used by a typical Oscale modeler. This product specificationprovided my first suspicion that the prod-uct was actually built for 3 rail operation.The model as received was tight in thevertical direction. Because of its extremelength, any change in grade would resultin some of the wheels losing contact withthe rails. Whenever the car encountered apositive change in grade, the six wheeltrucks would be elevated clear of the railsand whenever the car encountered a neg-ative change in grade the fore and aft 4wheel trucks would be elevated clear ofthe rails. With approximately 6 inchesbetween the forward 4 wheel truck andthe 6 wheel truck, by simple triangulationfor each 1% of grade, the affected wheelswill lift off the rails by about 1⁄16 of aninch. For a 5% grade, this separation ofwheel to rail contact could be over 1⁄4 ofan inch. I felt this to also be a seriousproblem for 3 rail operations even thoughthe wheel flanges for 3 rail are muchmore generous.

I solved this problem by using alonger pivot screw for all of the trucksso that it would provide some verticalmovement of the truck relative to thecar. In the six wheel truck picture, thepivot screw replacement is a 4-40 screw1⁄2 inch long. A fine wire coil springshown in the vertical articulation pictureprovides slight downward pressure to

maintain truck to rail contact throughoutgrade changes. The hub extension isthree concentric brass tubes to make upthe hub dimensions of 1⁄8 ID x 7⁄32 OD x7⁄32 . When the pivot screw is tightenedthere is freedom for about 1⁄4 inch of ver-tical movement of the 6 wheel truck.The spring has to be light enough so thatthe weight of the Schnabel car is capableof fully compressing it, yet strongenough so that its presence adds to theeffective downward pressure of thewheels against the rail.

Wheel to rail contact for the 4 wheeltrucks were improved by two means. By

adding a 1⁄32 inch thick washer 1⁄8 ID x 5⁄16

OD, the hub length of the truck waseffectively increased. By opening up thepivot holes of the forward bolster with a15⁄64 drill, there was more freedom for the4 wheel trucks to pivot in all directions,including both rotation and tilt. Summary

I suppose I could have more simplysaid that I removed the 3 rail wheelsetsand replaced them with 2 rail wheelsetsand then added Kadee couplers to com-plete the conversion. Because I had beentold by several who should have beenauthentic information sources that thisconversion was not possible, it seemedthat I should go into greater detail formy story to be believable. ◆

MTH Schnabel Car Conversion


Modeler’s TricksModeler’s TricksEqual SpacingAlong Any LineBill Becker

ond line (Line OB) at an oblique angle to this line (30 - 45° often works well). Online OB, mark the actual total length required on the car.

Using a ruler, mark off the required number of equally spaced divisions at a con-venient interval on line A. (lines C). I used 8 divisions in the figure, but it was 15 forthe Main-Line kit. I often use a length not too much different from the required spac-ing, but one that is convenient to mark off, say, 1⁄2 inch when the true dimension ismore like 31⁄64 in. The point is that it should be something convenient. This will deter-mine the total length of line OA.

Mark the true total length on line OB (Point D). Draw the line AD from the lastdivision on Line OA to the end point of the true length on Line OB.

Now use two triangles to draw the remaining seven lines parallel to line AD,marking the true lengths on line OB (Fig 3). If you use 30-60-90 triangles, put thetwo long sides together and line up one side of a triangle parallel to AD . If you nowslide one triangle relative to the other, the two sides remain parallel to each other as

you move one of the triangles. Move the triangle along, each time marking the inter-section on OB. You now have a template that you can use to glue up the supports onthe roof ribs. ◆

If you do any scratch building, orbuilding from plans not drawn to scale,it is often necessary to locate a repeti-tively spaced part on the model - exam-ples include side bracing, roof ribs, roofwalk supports, etc. (Even if the plansare drawn to scale, humidity causespaper to expand⁄contract non-uniformlyso that the plans may become unreli-able.) What follows is a quick proce-dure to accurately lay out the spacing.

One procedure that many peopleattempt is to use a pair of dividers andset the spacing between the parts, thensystematically move the dividers, put-ting one side of the dividers into the pre-viously marked location. This doesn’twork. Any error in marking one loca-tion is systematically carried to the nextlocation and the accumulated error soonbecomes impossibly large.

A procedure that does work requiresonly two triangles (Yes, they are stillmade in spite of all of the computerdrafting software available), and a ruler.I recently had to lay out roof walk sup-port spacing on a Main Line Models(now Ye Olde Huff-N-Puff) poultry car.Reference to the plans showed 15 sup-ports between the end of the car and asolid roof support over a 511⁄16" span.The plans were not to scale and couldnot be used as a template. Yes, the spac-ing is almost 3⁄8", but not quite. I sup-pose in this case it would have beenpossible to fudge the small difference,but the point is how to do it in generalwithout fudging. The following proce-dure makes it easy. The example uses 8equally spaced locations rather than 15,but illustrates the technique..

Draw a line on a piece of paper somelength longer than the actual requiredlength (Line OA in Fig. 1). Draw a sec-

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3


Modeler’s TricksModeler’s TricksBuilding a LocomotiveDeck PlateStuart RamseyI have a number of steam engines that didn’t come with abridge or deck plate between the locomotive and tender.Without the deck plate there is a big gap which doesn’tlook prototypical. So I decided to build a deck plate. I triedto find some small hinges and had no luck. The plan Iended up with was the simplest. I used a piece of 1⁄16 inchbrass tube for part of the hinge. I measured the size of deckplate I needed and cut it out of .020" sheet brass. To make abetter looking one you could use diamond plate stock. Ithen soldered the tube to the plate by laying both pieces ona flat surface. This will put the tube⁄hinge on the bottomwhen finished. I used a piece of .025" wire through the tubeto complete the hinge with the ends bent at right angles tothe plate. I then measured and drilled 2 holes into the backof the cab deck and inserted the hinge wires. If the engineand the tender are the same polarity you won’t have to insu-late the bottom of the plate where it rests on the tender, oth-erwise you need to glue a piece of styrene to the bottom ofthe plate. Add some paint and you are finished. ◆


Here is a sample photo of part of the "City Block" module on NevilleRossiter's layout "Brooklyn Terminal Railroad" (BTR).

David Schultz built this modified Lionel kit.The photo was taken at the March 2003 MidWest O Scale Meet.

Robert Schultz scratchbuilt this model of a Monon 317 passenger car.The sides are made from a gallon paint can.

March 2003 MidWest O Scale Meet.



Great Central RailwayShot 1 (GCR 16) south bound freight passes the local at Tara Mills. (Locos are

Atlas SW, Weaver RS and Red Caboose GP)Shot 2 & 3 (GCR 18 and 19) RS-3 # 418 switches Acme steel in Tara Mills.

(RS-3 is a reworked Weaver , the gondola is Lionel)All photos taken by Trevor Marshall

of those trucks at the Col-orado RR Museum. Every-thing is there.

The 2-10-4 is a scratch-built Burlington M-4 class.Note position of the valvegear, I have a separatemotor that will move thevalve gear to the correctposition. This engine is notfinished.

I work in Proto 48, started in the late 50's whenI was a young sergeant of Marines and bought my

Dear JoeThe ten wheeler is a

scratchbuilt Burlington K-2class.There are a few more

details to add before it is fin-ished. The stack is wrong,need to build another one.The tender trucks arescratchbuilt.

The CB&Q caboose isscratchbuilt, including thetrucks. I took many photosand measurements of some


Scratchbuilt brass models by Tom Mix



tric $699; AT&SF c-44-9w #654 $699; UP C-44-9w #9734 $699 Ph: 727-391-3135,John Clemens, 5273 97 Way N, St. Peters-burg, FL 33708-3752.

FOR SALE: Two Weaver GP-38-2's NIB. OneGP-38-2 custom high-hood Norfolk Southern,one Central Loco Works GP-38-2, SeaboardSystem. All Nation NW-2, custom, CLWdrive, SCL. Approx. 70 freight cars, mostlyWeaver, some craftsman. Ph: 561-746-4710,[[email protected]] Wayne Garhart,19296 Country Club Dr., Tequesta, FL33469.

FOR SALE: Thinning collection. Too many tolist. Some unusual items, rare. New in originalboxes. LSSAE for list. NO CALLS. Phil.,34075 Mt Pleasant Rd, Lebanon, OR 97355-9465.

RESERVE: Pacific Limited USRA OutsideBraced boxcars. Many roads, some with limit-ed production numbers. Send SSAE to T-BoneModels, 32264 Cleveland,Cottage Grove,Oregon, 97424-9381 [email protected]

Buy, Sell, TradeBuy-Sell-Trade ads are $5 for 30 words plus your address information. Additional words are$0.25 each. Subscribers are permitted one free ad per subscription cycle. All B-S-T ads are pre-paid. You may send ads by postal service with a check or money order. Ads sent by email orcalled in must use a credit card. See our contact info on page 2.

FOR SALE: KEYSTONE MODEL WORKSPennsylvania Gla hoppers, unpainted. $279;painted, weathered w⁄PRR Keystone & PRRlarge modern lettering, $329. PennsylvaniaGS gondolas, GSd drop bottom gondolas,Tin cars, both painted & unpainted. SASERESERVE Pennsylvania H-21, H-25 quad hop-pers, Outside Braced Boxcar... Ph: 727-391-3135, John Clemens, 5273 97 Way N, St.Petersburg, FL 33708-3752.

FOR SALE: Adirondack Car & Foundry prod-ucts, Weaver, NWSL, Grandt Line, Kadeecouplers, Athearn trucks, Intermountain (whilesupplies last), OSN, OST. Contact Ed Reut-ling, AC&F. PH: 423-477-5790. Email: [email protected] Ed Reutling, 160 Harwood Rd.,Gray, TN 37615-3728.

SUNSET MODELS NP A-5 #2681 $989;NKP #845 4-8-2 $979; RF&P #518 4-8-2$979; GN Glacier S-2 4-8-4 #2558 $1079;AT&SF #5011 2-10-4 $989; B&O Early 2-8-8-4 #7615 $1499; B&O late 2-8-8-4 #7624$1499 PENNSYLVANIA Q-2 4-4-6-4 #6184$1499; Pennsylvania P-5a Streamlined Elec-

FOR SALE: CB GTW S-4 OB $550, CB S-4OB $500, CW S-2 OB $550, CW S-4 OB$550, CW S-6 SP OB $500, CW S-6 OB$500, Kemtron RS-3 $475. Kyle Armitage,1980 Connecticut Ave., Ottawa, OntarioCanada K1H-6Y4. 613-737-5289,[email protected]

FOR SALE OR TRADE: 2 USH SD 45's,Kemtron RS-1, Early All Nation SW, Sunset S-2 4-8-4 green, Sunset GP-9 (2)Santa Fe, UP,Atlas SDP-35 (3) UP, flex track, Old Pullman,Micro, Roco⁄early Atlas Turnouts, Pullman,Roco, R-O-W, Diehl Eng. #5 thru #20. TomThorpe, 3768 Foulk Rd., Boothwyn PA 19061, 610-485-1236,[email protected]

FOR SALE: Steam, Diesel, Freight Cars. Thin-ning out. Call or write for free list. Trade onOMI P&LE A2 Berkshire 2-8-4, ptd. 330-758-1561 or [email protected], W.R.Burns,7455 Westview Dr., Youngstown OH 44512

first lathe, a Unimat SL. Back then there weren't many work-ing in "Fine Scale" as it used to be called.

Tom Mix,Colo.


Advertisers IndexAccurate O Scale 42Andersen’s Train Station 37AtlasO IBCBTS 19California Roadbed Co. 9Central Locomotive Works 37Chicagoland 31Get Real Productions 51Jim Hackworth Model Trains 31Harry Hieke, Jr. 51House of Duddy 45JV Models 9Keil-Line Products 59Keystone Model Works 36NCE Corp 50O Scale Realty 9O Scale Signals 50Old Pullman 19P&D Hobby Shop 21Pecos River Brass BCPrecision Scale Models IFCPRR Brass 37Public Delivery Track 54Rons Books 37RY Models 21Stevenson Preservation Lines 9Sunset⁄3rd Rail 10, 22T Bone Models 9Train America Studios 36Weaver 42Whitehall Models 51

EventsJuly 2003

12, St. Paul, MinnesotaTwin City Model Railroad Museum, Inc., Model RR &

Hobby Sale, 9 am to 3 pm, admission is free. 1021

Bandana Blvd. East, Ste 222, St. Paul, Minn. Info:

651-647-9628, www.tcmrm.org

August 200316 & 17, Gettysburg, PennsylvaniaThe Great Scale Model Train Show & The All-Ameri-

can High-Rail & Collectors Show at Gettysburg Col-

lege ballroom at College Union Building. Admission:

$6, children under 12 free, family max $12. Vendor

costs: 8’ tables $55 (includes 2 worker’s passes for

the first table and 1 for each add’l table), free elec-

tricity if you bring your own 50’ cord. Info: ECSMRA,

5236 Thunder Hill Rd, Columbia, MD 21045;

Howard Zane, (410) 730-1036; [email:

[email protected]] [web: http:⁄⁄www.gsmts.com⁄]

September 20036, Merchantville, New Jersey2-rail, "O" Scale Swap Meet Saturday, May 10th,

2003 Held at the Grace Episcopal Church, 7 Maple

Avenue, Merchantville NJ 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Admission is $4.00; there is no charge for your

spouse or children under 12 years of age. There are

only 36 tables available, a check must be enclosed

with your reservation. Tables are $16 for the first

table (includes one admission) and $12 for each

additional table (helpers are $4 each). For additional

information contact Chuck Jacobs (856-234-1898)

or Dave Richter (215-639-7290) E-mail

[email protected]. Make checks payable to Cherry

Valley Model Railroad Club (CVMRC) P.O. Box 192,

Maple Shade, NJ 08052

20, St. Paul, MinnesotaTwin City Model Railroad Museum, Inc., Model RR &

Hobby Sale, 9 am to 3 pm.Education Building at the

Minnesota State Fairgrounds. Admission $4, under 5

free (includes admission to the RR Museum at Ban-

dana Square on the day of sale if you get your hand

stamped). Info: 651-647-9628, www.tcmrm.org

19 & 20, Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis Midwest “O” Scale Fall Meet, at the

Sheraton Inn, 7701 E 42nd St., 317-897-4000. O

Scale, Proto:48, On3, On2, O Trolley⁄Traction dis-

plays and sale, 5,000 square feet, manufacturers and

importers. INFO: Jim Canter, 1203 Rotherham Ln,

Beech Grove, IN 46107-3323, Ph: 317-782-3322,

[email: [email protected]]

20 & 21, Dothan, AlabamaWiregrass Annual Model Railroad Show and Sale,

Sponsored by the Wiregrass Heritage Chapter of the

National Railway Historical Society. Admission: $4

adults, under 12 free. Open 9 am – 5 pm Saturday,

10am – 4 pm Sunday. For more info contact Danny

Lewis (334) 792-4979, or email

[[email protected]].

October 200311 & 12, Timonium, MarylandThe Great Scale Model Train Show & The All-Ameri-

can High-Rail & Collectors Show at the Maryland

State Fairgrounds. Admission: $6, children under 12

free, family max $12. Vendor costs: 8’ tables $55

(includes 2 worker’s passes for the first table and 1

for each add’l table), free electricity if you bring your

own 50’ cord. Info: ECSMRA, 5236 Thunder Hill Rd,

Columbia, MD 21045; Howard Zane, (410) 730-

1036; [email: [email protected]] [web:

http:⁄⁄www.gsmts.com⁄]

11, Gardner, MassachusettsSouthern New England Model Railroad Club O Scale

Show & Open House. Chestnut Street United

Methodist Church, 161 Chestnut St. 9:30 Am - 4:00

PM. Admission $5; family max $8. Contact Bob

Jines, PO Box 272, Ballouville CT 06233; 860-774-

8622; [email: [email protected]] [web:

http:⁄⁄www.snemrr.org]

November 20031, Wind Gap, PennsylvaniaEastern “O” Scalers O Scale 2-Rail O Scale Swap

Meet - Plainfield Fire Hall, 6480 Sullivan Trail. From

9 am to 1 pm. Admission $5 ($1 discount on admis-

sion is given if you bring an index card with your

name and address). Vendors: table $16 (includes 1

admission), additional tables $12. Info: EOS, PO Box

1781, Bensalem, PA 19020; (215) 639-3864; [web:

http:⁄⁄www.EasternOScalers.com]

15, Strongsville, Ohio (Clevelandarea)Annual Western Reserve O Scale Meet at the Holiday

Inn Select in Strongsville. From 9 am to 3 pm. Admis-

sion: $5; tables $20. Info: Bob Boeddener, 32165

Hickory Ln, Avon Lake, OH 44012. Phone: 440-933-

7169.

December 200320-21, Greensboro, MarylandCaroline County Public Library Toy Train & Model

Railroad Exhibit. North County Library at 101 Cedar

St. From 10 am to 3 pm. Free Admission. For more

info contact Richard O Smith, Branch Manager, 410-

482-2173.

July 200422-25, Washington, D.C.2004 O Scale National Convention at the Hyatt

Regency, Crystal City at Reagan National Airport.

Convention and Dealer registration will be available

at the 2003 convention in Dallas, Texas, or you may

write for info to the Capital Area O Scalers, 2004 O

Scale National Convention, 10401 Grandin Rd, Sil-

ver Spring, MD 20902, or email to sonc2004@hot-

mail.com.


OST Dealer ListArkansasHobby Shack1200 John Harden DrJacksonville, AR 72076501-982-6836

Mickey’s Model Works611 Court St, Ste 4Conway,AR 72032-5417501-450-9423

ArizonaCoronado Scale Models1544 E Cypress StPhoenix,AZ 85006602-254-9650

CaliforniaAll Aboard Model RREmporium3867 Pacific Coast HwyTorrance,CA 90505310-791-2637

Bruce’s Train Shop2752 Marconi AveSacramento,CA 95821916-485-5288

Fulton Station454 Larkfield Shop CntrSanta Rosa CA 95439707-523-3522

Just Trains5650-H Imhoff DrConcord,CA 94520925-685-6566

Original Whistle Stop 2490 E Colorado BlvdPasadena,CA 91107626-796-7791

Railroad Hobbies119 Vernon StRoseville CA 95678916-782-6067

Reed’s Hobbies LLC8039 La Mesa Blvd.La Mesa,CA 91941619-464-1672

Train Shop1829 Pruneridge AveSanta Clara,CA 95050408-296-1050

ColoradoCaboose Hobbies, Inc.500 S. BroadwayDenver,CO 80209303-777-6766

DelawareMitchells’2303 Concord PikeWilmington, DE 19803

302-652-3258

Trains & Hobbies313 Newark Shopping Cntr.Newark,DE 19711302-266-8063

FloridaKirkland Hobbies187 Concord CirclePanama City FL 32405850-215-1973

GeorgiaRiverdale Station6632 Hwy 85Riverdale,GA 30045770-991-6085

IowaCaboose Stop Hobbies301 Main StCedar Falls,IA 50613800-642-7012

IllinoisChicagoland Hobbies 6017 Northwest HwyChicago,IL 60631773-775-4848

Des Plaines Hobbies1468 Lee StDes Plaines,IL 60018847-297-2118

Hill’s Hobby Shop10 Prairie AvePark Ridge,IL 60068847-823-4464

Mike’s Scale Rails3008 N SterlingPeoria,IL 61604309-689-0656

Rails Unlimited126 Will ScarletElgin,IL 60120847-697-5353

IndianaBig Four Hobbies1005 E Main StPlainfield IN 46168317-837-1024

Mishawaka Railyard Inc410 S Spring StMishawaka IN 46545574-252-7245

KansasJ’s Hobby Haven5303 Johnson DrMission,KS 66205913-432-8820

MaineNorm’s O ScalePO Box 147S Casco,ME 04077

207-655-2550

MassachusettsModeler’s Junction88 Lowell StMethuen,MA 01844978-683-0885

Tucker’s Hobbies29 Bacon StWarren,MA 01083413-436-5318

MichiganEureka Trains1219 Eureka RdWyandotte,MI 48192734-284-0521

P&D Hobby Shop31280 Groesbeck HwyFraser,MI 48026586-296-6116

Rider’s Hobby Shop2055 28th St SEGrand Rapids MI616-247-9933

MinnesotaSecond Ave Shops173 2nd Ave SENew Brighton,MN 55112651-633-5722

MissouriMarty’s Model Railroads9622 Gravois RdSt Louis,MO 63123-4345314-638-8250

North CarolinaDry Bridge Station236 N Main StMount Airy,NC 27030336-786-9811

NevadaHigh Sierra Models4020 Kietzke LnReno,NV 89502775-825-5557

New HampshireCustom TrainsPO Box 48Bath,NH 03740603-747-3492

New JerseyBig Little Railroad Shop206 W Main StSomerville,NJ 08876908-429-0220

New MexicoTrains West Inc.3351A Candelaria Rd NEAlbuquerque,NM 87107505-881-2322New YorkK-Val Hobbies277 Hinman AveBuffalo,NY 14216

716-875-2837

Ohio20th Century Models32575 Pettibone RdSolon,OH 44139-5454440-248-3055

M&S Trains4157 W Broad St.Columbus OH 43228614-274-1178

Terminal Hobby Supply10200 Springfield PikeCincinnati,OH 45215513-326-3613

Western Hills Photo &Hobby6319 Glenway AveCincinnati,OH 45211513-661-2141

OregonWhistle Stop Trains11724 SE Division StPortland,OR 97266503-761-1822

PennsylvaniaC&E Branchline RR Shop102 W. Grove St.Dunmore, PA 18509570-347-7909

English’s Model RR Supply21 Howard StMontoursville,PA 17754570-368-2516

G&K Hobbies720 Gordon StReading,PA 19601-2312610-374-8598

Lin’s Junction128 S Line StLansdale,PA 19446215-412-7711

Mainline Hobby Supply15066 Buchanan Trail EBlue Ridge Summit,PA17214717-794-2860

Strasburg Train ShopRte 741 E, Box 130Strasburg,PA 17579717-687-0464

TennesseeAdirondack Car &Foundry160 Harwood Rd.Gray TN 37615423-477-5790

Hobbytown USA, 8901Town & Country Circle,Knoxville, TN, 37923,

865-690-1099

TexasPecos River Brass560 E Church StLewisville,TX 75057972-219-0202

VirginiaGranddad’s Hobby Shop5260-A Port Royal RdSpringfield,VA 22151703-426-0700

Railyard Hobby Shop7547 Williamson RdRoanoke,VA 24019540-362-1714

Walt's Hobby Shop, PO Box 1805,Petersburg, VA, 23805,804-861-1333

WashingtonThe Inside Gateway14725 Northeast 20thBellevue, WA 98007425-747-2016

WisconsinDepot Drygoods220 W Wisconsin AveNeenah,WI 54956920-725-8854

Greenfield News & Hobby6815 W Layton StGreenfield,WI 53220414-281-1800

Non-US Dealers

CanadaGeorge’s Trains510 Mt Pleasant RdToronto Ontario M4S 2M2416-489-9783

SwitzerlandTrainmaster3 Hochweidstr. KilchbergCH-8802 011-411-715-3666

United KingdomQuince Valley Designs17 West StreetWeedon,Northants NN7 4QU044-132-734-1374


ObservationsJoe Giannovario, Editor⁄Publisher

Congratulations to Ron Gribler and Steve Sansome forwinning the Design-A-Layout Contest. Well done guys.All of the entrants received an OST tee-shirt and an“attaboy.” In future issues, we’ll show you some of thebest contest submissions that didn’t win the Grand Prize.We’d like to do another layout contest in the near futureso keep watching these pages for an announcement.

As for the magazine, we’re doing very well, thankyou. In fact, much better than we had expected to do.One part of our plan was to reach out to O scale modelersin “non-traditional” hobby venues and that’s workinggreat. Some of our advertisers report they are gettingorders from people who found this magazine in a grocerystore or a newsstand. That benefits all of us by bringingnew blood into the hobby. And, if 2 rail O scale needsanything, it’s new members.

Several people called me around the 5th or 6th ofMay to ask where their magazine was. We didn’t get itinto the mail until May 2nd, so their calls were a bit pre-mature. People got used to having the magazine arriveearly in the month. Sometimes our schedule doesn’talways allow us to make an early mail drop. In the caseof the May issue, it was our printer who was later thanusual. But, be assured, you will receive your issues inthe month printed on the cover, and usually no later thanthe 15th of that month.

A few callers asked about First Class postage subscrip-tions. We’ve talked it over here and we can do that but it’sgoing to cost you more, like $48 a year. Overseas sub-scribers pay $80 and receive their issues by Air Mail. Insome cases, they get their issues before U.S. subscribers,but they’re paying for that fast service. So, let us know ifyou would be willing to pay $48 a year for First Classdelivery. Call or email us.

Some of the people I discussed this with felt our sub-scription rate was already too high. Yes, the cover price ishigh but subscribers get a 25% discount. Also, considerthe quantity of the content you receive in each issue. OSTgives you just about one-third more editorial content thanour colleagues at O Scale News. That means every threeissues of OST are equivalent to four of OSN. Six issuesof OST (one year) are equivalent to eight of OSN. Guess

what? Eight issues of OSN cost the same as six of OST,$36. Except you get the content faster.

I also realize that some people buy OST and OSN forthe ads as much as the content. And, we’ve been askedwhy isn’t so-and-so advertising in OST? Good question.We have solicited every O scale vendor multiple times. Ifyour favorite supplier, manufacturer, or importer isn’tadvertising in OST ask them why, not us. One thing I willpromise, however, is that we will keep our ad to contentratio at no more than 30⁄70 percent. As we gain moreadvertisers, we will add more pages to keep giving youthe best articles about O scale that we can. Don’t hold meto any promises but I would like to see OST at 80 colorpages by year’s end.

I want to apologize to all our readers for the inordinatenumber of typos in the last issue, even our new phonenumber was incorrect. We’re going to use a proof-reader(other than ourselves) starting with this issue.

This issue carries Part 2 of the three part Scale Com-mand feature we started in OST#8. I’ll be building a newlayout in our new digs and I’m still on the fence about acontrol system. I definitely want the options provided bya command control system and I was pretty much set onusing Digital Command Control (DCC) until I saw TrainAmerica’s Scale Command system. The more I learnabout it, the more I like it, and the entry cost is extremelyattractive. We’d like to know what you think about thefuture of Digital Command Control in O scale, in gener-al, and, in particular, what you think about Scale Com-mand. Write or email us with your opinions.

I want to encourage all readers of OST to provide uswith feedback on any aspect of the magazine. We reallydo read every letter and email sent and make decisionsabout the direction the magazine takes from that feed-back. This is, after all, a magazine for you, by you. Gotan idea for an article? We’ll help you make that idea areality. We need articles on every aspect of the O scalehobby, from trackwork to scratch building brass locomo-tives and anything in between. You don’t need a degree injournalism. If you can put your thoughts together in alogical manner, we can make them into an article.

Meanwhile, keep high ballin’! ◆

ATLAS O, LLC • 378 Florence Avenue • Hillside, NJ • 07205 • www.atlasO.com

ITEM # ITEM # 3-RAIL DESCRIPTION 2-RAIL

O 36' WOOD REEFER8000 Undecorated 90008008 Kingan's 90088009 Krey's 90098010 Nuckolls 90108011 Selecto 90118012 Swift (Red) 9012

Two road numbers are available per road nameexcept for Swift, which has four road numbers.

O 50 TON WAR EMERGENCY HOPPER6420 Undecorated 7420

NEW ROAD NUMBERS!6421 Baltimore & Ohio 74216423 Chesapeake & Ohio 7423

NEW ROAD NAMES!6427 Central of Georgia 74276428 L&N 7428

Four road numbers are available per road name.

To get your "Official Member" of the Atlas O Forum Pin shownat right, please send $3 to the address shown below.

NEW!

NEW!

(Item #8008)

(Item #6428)

Features Include:• Highly detailed ABS body• Separately-applied grab irons, ladders and stirrups• Opening hatches and doors • Die-cast chassis and detailed braking system• 40-ton Bettendorf-style die-cast sprung trucks• Minimum diameter curve (3-rail): O-31 • Minimum radius curve (2-rail): 24"• And More...

Features Include:• Unique construction in die-cast and ABS• Full interior details • Accurate trainline details and brake system details• Separately-applied grab irons and ladders • Sprung hopper doors• Removable coal load • 50 ton Bettendorf die-cast sprung trucks• Minimum diameter curve (3-rail): O-27 • Minimum radius curve (2-rail): 24"• And More...


Documents

Modeling Trains O Scale Craftsman - O Scale Trains ...oscalemag.com/docs/ost_9.pdf · The lowest layout height is 36" at Dayton and continually climbs to 56" at Union City. The design