Brian Austin

Automobile box cars. A loading diorama could be built in 1:32 scale (or around 1:29 scale utilizing box-scaled diecast cars), but an automobile railcar in 1:24 or 1:25 would have to be entirely scratch built.

An enclosed rack car.

What were we discussing? Oh, yeah...railcars.

Note the '59 Australian Chevy with accessory indicator.

Australian car sites are fun.

Actually those little trunk lights are kinda cute. How well did the bumper-mounted tail lights in the '70s hold up? Here is some info and context relating to those Kia/Chevy Bolt lights you guys don't like. ? https://www.thedrive.com/news/41945/why-some-cars-have-silly-bumper-mounted-brake-lights-and-turn-signals

Flashing red lights on school buses are their own thing. They are understood to mean STOP, especially if the little STOP sign on the swing arm deploys. ?

I used to think of this all the time, but now that we've been asked, I can't come up with much. ? For certain projects I needed particular wheels. It's one reason many of my projects drag on for too long. I think I used to grumble that the heavy truck kits tended to have fancy wheels and not the common painted 5-hole steel wheels. The release of the Moebius one-ton Ford trucks will fill a big hole with their wheel/tire combo. I'm sure they'll find their way under custom car haulers. For a more recent project I was looking for 1:24 scale 15" Halibrand kidney bean wheels. I settled for the ones from Monogram's '57 Chevy snap kit, though they appear to be modern interpretations of the classic design, in larger diameter along with lower-profile tires.

For those with numerous car show albums, do you have much "foot traffic" in your older folders, or do people only visit the newer ones posted?

It seems to me there have been numerous occasions over the years for "Is FOTKI down?" posts. I've liked the way the site is structured with nesting folders. For some time I've had a free FLICKR account, but my album is no longer useful to me since I hit the image limit they imposed a few years ago. Every time people debate free vs paid albums I think of Photopoint.

While we're at it, now that with LEDs more cars have sequential turn signals, are they still cool? ? Also, LEDs were supposed to be better than incandescent lights, but I've seen so many broken LED tail lights over the years. They don't seem to hold up.

Who knew there are people on YouTube who don't like things? ? People also like to complain that Americans use the English language wrong, spell "aluminum" wrong, and harp on our supposed non-use of the Metric System, even though we have been using it for a long while. So next in line is complaining about tail lights on US cars. In the end, does it really matter? I saw the video in question some time ago, and I thought the YouTuber liked to gripe for the sake of kvetching. Different nations are going to have different standards. I've had no problem understanding red turn signals. Just pay close attention to your driving and you'll be fine. Note that also headlight standards and usage are different between the US and abroad. I've always thought the '60s custom cars (Barris, etc.) sporting those classic CIBIE rectangular (oval?) headlights looked cool. When white tail light lenses came into fashion I thought they looked odd. I thought tail light lenses in the US were supposed to reflect red. I recall in the 1980s GM cars got amber directional lenses, part of the Euro influence of the time I think, along with blacked-out window trim (which used to be bright). In my school days I used to sketch concept vehicles. I was influenced by those nifty "Euro look" tail lights. Below is a mini-van study from 1985 with standard lights in the usual place, and a second set of red/amber lights at the top, along with the license plate placed way up there for good measure. I used the upper light theme in other sketches of the period. This is the best of the bunch. I don't know how well the bump would have worked aerodynamically so I added spoilers. Plus, spoilers look cool. As an aside, I think I was better at drawing than I was at coming up with good car names.

IIRC the Studebaker did show up as a 1:25 diecast under the Johnny Lightning moniker, though IIRC it was fairly limited in terms of production. I don't think I've actually seen one.

Relax. You missed my point. I wasn't casting shade on Mr. Allen, in fact I was always a fan of his. Nor was I casting shade on the layout featured in the video I posted. I'm not even sure where that criticism might have come from. I was just contrasting the mindset of correctly detailing every item on a model railroad vs what I recalled from the old magazines, the do whatever you feel approach (can't think of any particular names, sorry). Judging from various forums, some modelers today consider the wordplay railroad names to be quaint or even cringe-inducing. One could criticize one approach as too-frivolous, and the other as too serious, but I'm not going to. To each his own. As far as my own efforts go, I have a motley collection of vintage O Scale equipment, with no particular road theme.

I remember the layouts in the old hobby magazines with cutesy names and loose connection to reality. ?

Here's an older gallery of build photos of some of his steam locomotives. https://www.cumberlandmodelengineering.com/BogsSteamLocomotives.html Some of his diesel locos https://www.cumberlandmodelengineering.com/BogsDieselLocomotives.html Some of his freight cars https://www.cumberlandmodelengineering.com/BogsFreightCars.html

From Rio Grande 3 foot gauge to Standard Gauge Big Boys and EMD F Units and Krauss Maffai diesels.

Japan's kit production capitol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJltHrMWoas

I wish I recalled the particular issue, but decades ago Collectible Automobile magazine published an article on the Cowboy so I had been aware of it. I always thought this was a neat looking concept, but I doubt it would have been a success.

Several pictures of images of Main Street vehicles. https://www.charactercentral.net/L394_DisneyCharacters_DisneylandParis_ParcDisneyland_MainStreetVehicles.aspx Global Van Lines truck as it appeared in the 1960s. https://davelandblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/main-street-usa-january-1964.html

The Ice Cream Truck here looks pretty cool. https://www.charactercentral.net/L411_DisneyCharacters_DisneylandParis_ParcDisneyland_PopcornandSnackCarts.aspx

The jittneys, double-decker omnibuses and fire truck of Disneyland's Main Street

Ten years ago I went to a fancy concours event here in Massachusetts and got there just as a thunderstorm rolled through. Of course I had left my raincoat in my car and that would have been a shuttle bus ride back to get it. In the end it was fascinating change from the usual sunny day fare.

Many model railroad building kits made in Europe had swirled or mottled plastic.