What non-auto model did you get today?

[Ace-Garageguy]

Sad remains of a very heavy cast brass HO scale 4-8-2 light "mountain" type steam locomotive. Bodged, parts lost, thrown out, and rescued from the scrap metal bin.                     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USRA_Light_Mountain

I have enough bits to make a nice engine from the boiler, cab, cylinder assembly, frame, pilot truck and trailing truck shown below.

I paid $12 for this mess. Decent plastic ones go for $100-200, nice brass ones for up to $1300+.

But she'll take a little work...  

While she's getting rebuilt, her major parts will be featured in an engine erection building diorama.

What she looks like finished.

 

Edited January 10 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

Also bought a couple broken Baldwin "Sharknose" deisels in Pennsy livery.

Though the worst one was looking beyond saving, I've already carefully pieced her back together, and the repairs are all but invisible.

Every Shark built (but two) was scrapped decades ago, and those two have recently come out in the daylight.

 

Edited January 10 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

I've always been fascinated by the visual complexity and multitude of cars and equipment in railroad yards. When I lived in downtown Atlanta, I sometimes used to watch the action from the Marietta Street bridge over Inman Yard (above), until the bridge was demolished in 1978.

I've wanted to incorporate a good sized yard in my next layout, and have been buying broken, bodged, and parts-missing freight cars for pennies for some years...mostly to fill the yards with interesting rolling stock from the late '30s and '40s to early '60s era.

Most of them had missing wheelsets or trucks, and though I've swapped some around, I still ended up with a lot of cars with no wheels at all.

Recently I found a sweet deal on enough Bettendorf trucks (by Tichy) for 40 cars  and another group of earlier archbar trucks (also Tichy) to equip 10 more.  

Around the same time, I found an even sweeter deal on 12, late '40s era Pennsy 40' boxcar kits, all with different numbers. I ended up paying almost exactly what they sold for new in 1987.

To sweeten the deal even more, when I opened the boxcar kits, I found each one had an extra pair of rigid Bettendorf truck frames in addition to the high-quality fully-sprung trucks (including nice wheels) the kits normally include. That's enough extra truck frames for 12 more freight cars...but they had no wheels.

China and eBay to the rescue, with a bag of 48 wheelsets, enough for all the extra truck frames, brandy new, made to the RP25 standard (supposedly)...cheap. So cheap I bought 48 more, so I think I'm covered as far as getting all my sad little freight cars at least to the point where they'll roll.

As most of the cars in the freight yard won't ever move much, if at all...other than getting switched around at very low speeds...high-quality metal wheelsets won't be necessary.

I also snagged a pair of vintage, NIB Campbell Howe truss bridge kits, for considerably under current retail market price. These are intended to go in the mountainous part of the layout, supporting shortline trackage that will serve several mining operations.

These are all wood "craftsman" kits, with steel wire tension rods and plastic molded boltheads and other detail parts.

Finally, I got a really cheap powered frame intended for a '50s or so EMD SD diesel locomotive, "broken". Already fixed it, and it's a perfect fit under an SD shell I bought a while back at a flea market for $1. Now I have a heavy diesel road-switcher with a lot of pulling power for less than $15.

  

                                    

With a little more work, she'll look like this. I'm happy.   

 

 

Edited January 18 by Ace-Garageguy

[NYLIBUD]

Not really sure why i bought this 🤷‍♂️.Oh well,Yo Rocky.

[Ace-Garageguy]

A couple little tiny airplane models, 1/88 to be exact, a close-enough scale to work with 1/87, which is HO.

First up is Aurora (nee Comet) kit #83 from 1963, of a Beechcraft Super 18. There were thousands of these things built, some heavily modified and even turbine-re-engined, and they served in private, corporate, transport, and military roles.

The kit sold for a buck new, very few survive, and percentage-wise, it may be the most cost-inflated model I ever bought.

This one will probably represent John Galt's personal airplane, as part of a heavily compressed Mulligan's Valley module to be incorporated into my next layout. It will need landing gear fabbed, as it's a pylon-mounted model only, box art notwithstanding. It looks almost right parked alongside the old 1/90 DC-3 from Revell, which is pretty common and WAY cheaper.

                                                     

Next up is another 1/88 Aurora kit, #286 from 1964, a P-47 Thunderbolt. This one sold for 39 cents new, and is also pretty rare...though the price I got this one for was considerably less inflated. Just as well, 'cause it's missing the clear canopy...but hey...I'm s'posed to be a modeler, right? It'll need feet and legs made too, as it's also only a pylon-mount.

                                                       

You have to remember that many surplus military aircraft could be bought for not much more than scrap value after the war, so it's entirely feasible that somebody who could afford the gas could have had ons as a private toy in the late '50s and early '60s, which is the approximate time frame my layout is to represent.

These are both nicer models than I'd expected, with recessed panel lines, rather than raised, which were much easier to tool and fairly common on early plastic aircraft kits. A few subtle mods like cutting the flaps and elevators loose, and a few more minor upgrades like metalized finishes, these should look great parked on the ramp.

Edited January 25 by Ace-Garageguy
CLARITY and ACCURACY

[TonyK]

Interesting little models.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I posted above I'd recently acquired a "1/88 scale" model of a Beech 18, based on what the seller and MULTIPLE interdwerb sites quoted as the scale being...which I checked PRIOR to buying the thing.

A friend who's very knowledgeable about aircraft models contacted me, to let me know THERE IS NO 1/88 SCALE BEECH 18.

And he's correct. I dry-assembled the model and measured the wingspan at roughly 10". The REAL Beech 18 wingspan is 47' 8", or 572".

Elementary-school arithmetic shows the actual scale to be approximately 1/57.

So what I get for believing and repeating info that's apparently mindlessly rebleated widely on the interdwerbs is an expensive model I have no use for. 

 

I DID check multiple sources, as the interdwerbs also repeat endlessly that the old Pyro / Lindberg Gee Bee is 1/32, when in fact it's about 1/26, by measuring the wingspan...though the little pilot figure is indeed about 1/32. 

 

Endlessly repeated WRONG information is still WRONG.

 

Simple math and measuring have been too hard for the general populace for decades it seems, and it's just getting worse daily. 

 

Thanks fer letting me know, old friend. Now that I've assembled it and put it next to an HO locomotive, it's very obviously huge.

 

Looks like I won't need to fab landing gear after all. It'll get built as a desk model, on its pylon, as it was intended.

[Ace-Garageguy]

More cool HO stuff, lots of it NOS vintage, and "trash" needing work, and state-of-the-art upgrade parts...but I'll spare y'all most of that for now.

Couple of fun things I found cheap were this pair of old-time "trolleys".

The painted one is actually a San Francisco cable car, an entirely different animal from a trolley. It's not a bad little model, but it's an inexpensive toy-grade piece. Still, with a little work (like replacing the absolutely incorrect trucks under it), it will make a nice model.

Restored cable cars continue to operate on the streets of San Francisco.

       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_cable_car_system

The bare metal one was a roll of the dice, as I didn't know what it was (though I had an idea) and I knew it represented an old Brill electric trolley car.

Here's a real one, still operating at a trolley museum in Portland in 1986. The design was introduced in 1902.

                   https://www.midcontinent.org/rollingstock/builders/brill2.htm

It turned out to be an early-ish Bowser kit-built powered model, with the heavy diecast chassis and an "open frame" motor driving one truck...and it runs. It's missing both trolley-poles (the electrical pickups that would have in reality worked with an old-school overhead catenary system), and it normally sells for several times what I paid for both of 'em.

As one part of the planned layout is to be a "car shop" where railroad equipment is rebuilt, modernized, and restored, I thought it might be kinda fun to have these two heavily weathered and looking like they're waiting for restoration for a new life as museum pieces.

Speaking of catenary systems...though it's unlikely I'll ever go to the painstaking trouble to build one, I couldn't pass up this pair of NOS AHM / Rivarossi GG1 electric locomotives...for less than 1/2 the usual price. The GG1s were Pennsylvania RR / Penn Central / Amtrak icons from 1935 when they were introduced, until 1983 when the last of them were retired, and all but 16 were scrapped. As originally geared, they could maintain 100 MPH. Pretty cool for 1934 tech that stayed in service for 48 years.

The styling of the real GG1 locomotives was largely the work, again, of Raymond Loewy, the '53 Studebaker and Avanti guy.

                                 

The operating pantographs on the models can be set up to actually supply power to the models, just like real.

This period shot shows the complex overhead suspended "catenary" wiring that was necessary to run the things.

 

Edited February 5 by Ace-Garageguy

[Earl Marischal]

22 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

More cool HO stuff, lots of it NOS vintage, and "trash" needing work, and state-of-the-art upgrade parts...but I'll spare y'all most of that for now.

Couple of fun things I found cheap were this pair of old-time "trolleys".

The painted one is actually a San Francisco cable car, an entirely different animal from a trolley. It's not a bad little model, but it's an inexpensive toy-grade piece. Still, with a little work (like replacing the absolutely incorrect trucks under it), it will make a nice model.

Restored cable cars continue to operate on the streets of San Francisco.

       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_cable_car_system

The bare metal one was a roll of the dice, as I didn't know what it was (though I had an idea) and I knew it represented an old Brill electric trolley car.

Here's a real one, still operating at a trolley museum in Portland in 1986. The design was introduced in 1902.

                   https://www.midcontinent.org/rollingstock/builders/brill2.htm

It turned out to be an early-ish Bowser kit-built powered model, with the heavy diecast chassis and an "open frame" motor driving one truck...and it runs. It's missing both trolley-poles (the electrical pickups that would have in reality worked with an old-school overhead catenary system), and it normally sells for several times what I paid for both of 'em.

As one part of the planned layout is to be a "car shop" where railroad equipment is rebuilt, modernized, and restored, I thought it might be kinda fun to have these two heavily weathered and looking like they're waiting for restoration for a new life as museum pieces.

Speaking of catenary systems...though it's unlikely I'll ever go to the painstaking trouble to build one, I couldn't pass up this pair of NOS AHM / Rivarossi GG1 electric locomotives...for less than 1/2 the usual price. The GG1s were Pennsylvania RR / Penn Central / Amtrak icons from 1935 when they were introduced, until 1983 when the last of them were retired, and all but 16 were scrapped. As originally geared, they could maintain 100 MPH. Pretty cool for 1934 tech that stayed in service for 48 years.

The styling of the real GG1 locomotives was largely the work, again, of Raymond Loewy, the '53 Studebaker and Avanti guy.

                                 

The operating pantographs on the models can be set up to actually supply power to the models, just like real.

This period shot shows the complex overhead suspended "catenary" wiring that was necessary to run the things.

 

Amongst UK railway enthusiasts, the overhead catenary is known as “the knitting”. 😁

steve

[Ace-Garageguy]

Got a pretty good deal on my third brass locomotive, an older (1970s?) but beautiful Fairbanks Morse "Erie Built" diesel, HO scale, new-in-the-box, made by Red Ball. The "collector value" isn't high enough to preclude a little super-detailing and some revisions, plus possibly upgrading the running gear. It's factory-finished in clear lacquer to keep it from tarnishing, and I may just leave it as-is...with a backstory that after having been repaired after a wreck/restored/re-engined by the locomotive shop represented on the layout (and getting a restyled nose), it was painted to simulate a brass model locomotive as a rather elaborate and expensive joke.  

EDIT: The FM "Erie Built", produced from late 1945 to 1949, was styled by famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy, the '53 Studebaker and Avanti guy. Unfortunately, the engines were derived from WWII submarine powerplants, and were not well suited to railroad use. The resulting engine failures and maintenance procedures that were more difficult than competing locomotives of the time, led to re-engining a fair number of them with GM/EMD prime movers. The last one was scrapped in 2010.

To keep it company, I snagged a slightly-used A-B-A set of FM Erie Builts from Proto 1000 (dating back to 2001). There are significant styling and detail discrepancies between the later-model plastic units and the brass one. The noses are very different, the brass one sits too high on its frame, hatches and access panels are different, etc., so some research into what's "correct" should be interesting...though I don't really intend to modify the brass unit much. It's very nice just the way it is...though it will definitely get lowered to match the newer ones. EDIT2: The nose on the brass model, though apparently incorrect, is prettier, more graceful, and has a longer pilot than the "correct" plastic models...and all of 'em lack the second headlight hole, the upper of which would have been an oscillating Mars light (or Gyralight?) on a Santa Fe loco.

The real deal...every one of these beautiful machines was scrapped.

Edited February 20 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

Train tools.

Steam locomotives, both full scale and models, require the driving wheels on each axle to be in a very specific angular relationship to each other, known as "quartering".

This Northwest Short Line "The Quarterer" tool facilitates getting it right. Because many of the older HO locos I buy have bodged driving rods or broken gears and axles, repairing them requires quartering of the driving wheels.

    

A companion toolset allows working on small shafts with an arbor press, without twisting.

 

 

[ColonelKrypton]

5 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

angular relationship to each other, known as "quartering"

Learn something new every day.  Several things today in fact which seems to be a normal day to day affair.

cheers, Graham 

[Brian Austin]

A few weeks ago I purchased a British O Gauge (scale of 1:43 or 7mm to the foot) freight set from the website of the UK manufacturer Dapol.  It was a bundle, that is, a little tank engine, two freight wagons and a brake van.  No track, etc.  While I was at it, I also got a wagon in a sharp red livery.  It is labeled for a coal works in Worcester, England.  I live an hour's drive east of Worcester, Mass.  🙂  The loco has a neat feature:  the firebox and cab glow with red and orange LEDs.  Unfortunately, the engine cuts out at around 5V, so getting clear slow-speed pictures or video of the effect is quite difficult.  Loco is tiny by US standards.  It is roughly the size of a smallish S Gauge loco.  Buffers are sprung, and it's fun to knock the string of wagons together to watch how they bounce into eachother.  🙂

In anticipation of getting a British loco, last year from trainz.com I got three old plastic coaches made in Italy by LIMA.  While for the price I paid for these three I thought they were fairly decent, they are looked down upon by today's modelers in the UK.  Unfortunately current state-of-the-art model coaches of this type are out of my budget for now.  The coaches I got came assorted in liveries.  Luckily one of them happened to be painted for the same railway as my loco.  I stuffed a battery-powered light string in it to see how it looked.  The roof isn't properly seated in my photo.  I am eagerly anticipating ordering another type of tank engine, of a different railway, and hope to get an appropriate coach for it.  These things do turn up second hand on UK websites.

 

Edited February 27 by Brian Austin

[Brian Austin]

Shaky, short clip of the firebox glow effect in action, plus mfr website for reference.

 

https://www.dapol.co.uk/collections/o-gauge

[Ace-Garageguy]

Old Herb Deeks resin "1/72" scale '30s-'40s Flash Gordon-style rocket model, part of Mr. Deeks' Past Future Series.

Solid, symmetrical, well made kit, looks like a candidate for some upgrading.   

[atomicholiday]

Lhs in Fort Wayne had a bunch of vintage airplane kits from an estate.  I brought these home.

[Ace-Garageguy]

2 hours ago, atomicholiday said:

Lhs in Fort Wayne had a bunch of vintage airplane kits from an estate.  I brought these home.

Nice haul there...   

[imarriedawitch]

This caught my eye, finally found one.

[Mike C]

Yesterday I was at an IPMS contest and won a model on a raffle ticket. There were no car models left to choose from so I selected this airplane kit. It's a pretty nice kit too. I kind of chose it for simplicity but it actually has good detail and a little more complexity to it. It has a small PE sheet and some white metal parts too. Anyway, I like the kit and will probably build it one day.

[JollySipper]

That's really cool.......... Love the old racing planes!

[Ace-Garageguy]

Not models, but model-railroad-related books. 

This is basically a printed edition of all the topics covered at the 1990 NMRA convention. Absolutely fascinating stuff to me, including things like the development history of railroad tank cars and boxcars, which are a direct reflection of the growth of American (and Canadian) industrial development. Many model railroaders sweat the details, strive for far more esoteric accuracy than I do, and the research they do and publish for other modelers has to be seen to be believed.

This NOS 1995 special edition from Model Railroader Magazine's title is self explanatory...though it's valuable information for modelers of ANY subject.

Another NOS publication, this time from 1982. It includes railroad paint mixing formulas for several paint manufacturers no longer with us, like Floquil, but thankfully Microscale has put together an extensive cross-reference chart allowing the same colors to be mixed from currently available paints like Tamiya and Vallejo. Unfortunately, many of THOSE formulas rely on the defunt Testors Model Master line, and Scalecoat closed up shop in 2023. Tru-Color paint is still in business, happily, and have probably every color Floquil ever did...so the mixing charts are still potentially valuable.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I'm really stoked about this one...a NOS HO-scale powered Bowser Fairbanks Morse H-16-44 "Baby Trainmaster" kit, complete with a factory-modified Athearn F-7 8-wheel drive, all the nice wire handrails, couplers, etc. 

These ancient die-cast locomotives are heavy, and with 8-wheel drive, will just about pull stumps. The detail is far better on them than one would generally expect from a model this old (originally a Penn-Line kit from the 1950s IIRC), and with a little extra work, they can compare very favorably with today's stuff. There's sufficient room inside for current-generation DCC too.

Edited March 24 by Ace-Garageguy

[Dave Ambrose]

My Christmas present finally came. It's an ornithopter from the new Dune movie. Nice detail and pretty simple too. Built the Harkonen version and will tackle this one soon. 

[stavanzer]

I got the 1/48 Scale (ex-Lindberg) Curtiss JN-4 Jenny now in the Atlantis box. Molded in a Shocking Green, it is a very simple and not very accurate kit. Very Nice Decals, though.

Now, looking for the (ex-Aurora) now Glencoe 1/48 JN-4 Jenny kit.

[Earl Marischal]

This OO/4mm industrial shunter (US - Switcher) that was originally announced in 2020 but only arrived with me on Saturday.

steve