Canute

Back in days of yore, Floquil made a prep for metals. I never used it, but learned to clean white metal/ pot metal/zamac with vinegar to give some "tooth" to the surface so primers would work properly.

Was that a vinegar bath or just water? The reason I ask is that the acid in the vinegar is a good prep for getting metals clean enough to prime.

Lou, they weren't the first to do that.

Well, it seemed like fun, at the time. The old "Catch me if you can".

Lou, that was me most of the time over the North.

Reminds me a little of Dusty Springfield, too. I vaguely remember that band. C'mon, late 60s college?? NYC FM rock stations were very eclectic in their playlists back then, especially the late , very lamented WNEW=FM 102.7. Very laid back DJs, like Scott Muni, Roscoe and Alison Steele - the Night Bird. <Sigh>

Craig, the motor looks real. Well done. I hadn't looked at these aircraft. My last squadron flew SPAD VIIs and XIIIs at the tail end of WWI. (yeah, they're that old). And their 2 kills were Fokker DVIIs. Looks like Wingnut doesn't make SPADs, but they do do the Fokker. Hmmm....

Vossie, sure you would. I once escorted an RF4C over Hanoi; we called it the" run for the roses" . We were quite happy to head out of the Gulf after that ride.

Well done Mark.

Other issues at this time. Sorry for a lack of time.

J, like that marking color. The a/c in the 30's were certainly colorful. I await your reveal of this "bird."

More like Hotel California, "you can check out any time, but you can never leave."

Check out Kombrig. They have the Hoche in both scales. http://combrig-models.com/

Spar looks good, OC.

Yes, you have grooves on this, rather than stand out lines. Way easier to do up properly. I remember having to sand markings and rivet lines off a plane, way back when. The rivets must have been 3-4 scale inches across. An old Hawk brand kit from the 50s I believe.

There are a lot of aftermarket goodies for these, although finding them can be a long process. Part of it is knowing what each piece is called. And these part manufactures are mostly mom & pop kinds of makers, so can go out of business unexpectedly. If one is lucky, the company assets are bought up by another person or company. The model railroad hobby, like many, has morphed into a "ready to run" one. I admire the zeal to do this up, but be prepared for a long haul if you plan to really doll this up.

Yes, they'd hang a canvas screen to keep some of the weather out of the cab. Good idea for an added detail. I guess they may have used some red knobs, but I don't know too much about wood burning steam engines. One detail you should show is the water sight glass. It'd be a vertical clear glass tube, with brass fittings holding it to the firebox face showing the water level of the boiler. Would be about mid boiler face , both vertical and horizontal. It was critical that the water level was monitored. If the crown sheet (between the firebox and the actual boiler) inside the boiler was exposed and then fresh water pumped in, the water would flash over to steam and could cause an explosion. If that happened the crew would be killed or badly scalded. Railroading was pretty dangerous in the 1800s.

OC, you might check Hannants and other sites for aftermarket parts. I'll bet there are those bulged wheels. And I know there is a US company making metal replacement landing gear for many airplanes.

Denis, Mark, the level of detail available is stunning. And as guys get more into 3D printing of parts... The technology is amazing. Some kit makers have such a level of detail, it'll blow your sox off. Boxcars with the oil canning of the sides. Greg Lester is a master doing that on his ships, but it takes time and work. I pulled a resin cast car out of the box and the oil canning is already done. I still have a lot of work on the car, drilling out grab irons, adding brake rigging, putting on doors and running boards, painting and weathering. Denis I will do an actual build soon. I have 3 half finished cars I need to get closer to completion. I'm too far along to get "starting out" pictures. The digital command control we have now is very cool and being able to use the tiny speakers from your cell phone really adds to the effect. The sounds are superb. We have to be very careful with speakers, since the sound systems are in the 2 watt range. Some of the sounds can be corny (station announcements), but I can match the actual air horn sound to the loco I'm running. Find a club in your local area and ask to visit the layout. If it's HO, S or O scale, you'll get the sound effects. The N Scales have sound, it's just tougher to fit all the goodies into their equipment.

The Wooden Wonder, very cool. I'm in, OC.

Yes, that is a great airbrush site. Denis, this is all a cooperate and graduate kind of affair. I learn stuff all over this website. I have played with resins and worked some metal stuff, too. Tapping zamac is an exercise, with using a fluid (I use 3 in oil, because it's handy). Nice and easy does it. Ain't no race. Drawing a bath for Batman and Robin? I'm sure they'll like it. Some guys also rub the resin parts with alcohol wipes. I don't know about that. I would recommend keeping your bare fingers off the freshly washed resin, to prevent finger oils contaminating the bare resin. I'd do the same for styrene plastic.

Brass knobs, Denis. Oh and it's the engine cab, not a booth. Engine is looking good. Good thing this is a wood burner. Some early coal burners from railroads in northeastern PA had very wide fire boxes, to help burn anthracite. They had a shelter of sorts at the back of the locomotive. This was where the fireman kept the water level up and the fire going. The engineer rode in a cab in the mid section of the boiler, right over the drive rods and wheels.

Thanks, J. Much appreciated. And all you folks hitting the react button, too. It's a fun hobby.

Whatever it takes to get the part shaped and glued. Greg, what is the flat round doohickey laying on the surface plate in post #54? Looks like a scraper/shaper tool?

Keith, that's the Tiffany glass I mentioned. One hundred plus years back, the railroads really did themselves proud with fancy work like that. Lou, we run cars around the layout with drone cameras (smaller than GoPros) to give our visitors a view "out of the cab" from one of our locos running around the various sections of the club. Many think we're running videos, until we tell them to wave at the camera car and they see themselves. They eat it up. We ask our engineers to follow their trains to prevent wrecks, but "cornfield meets" can happen. Craig, it is fun. Build up a miniature world and run your trains around in a prototypical manner. Beats working for The graffiti on cars happens when they sit in a yard somewhere for too long a period of time. That big, blue autobox I did was used to haul parts from the parts makers (Delco, etc.) to assembly plants. We had a number of assembly plants in north Jersey (Mahwah - Ford, Linden - GM) It was considered captive service, since those cars were very specialized internal racks for GM or Ford parts. Keeping track of all them needed a slew of clerks, since we weren't into a lot of computerization. Denis, Ambroid and Northeastern kits are available, usually on Fleabay. Interesting kits, although the level of details isn't up to the current capabilities. And they tend to try to make wood look like steel. I have some QualityCraft "steel" cars that show the wood, despite four or five coats of sanding sealer. I have a couple of vinegar and pickle cars (nice wood cars) that I will substitute some styrene parts where they should be steel. There are decals to do graffiti, like Denis says, but I know a few custom painters who study the cars a lot. They tend to take and gather a lot of photos so they can duplicate the real thing. I'm off to a railroad prototype modelers meet tomorrow, down in Savannah, Georgia. A few of those guys may be there, so I'll ask around.. I've got a few kitbashes in the mill, Denis. One is a conversion of a coal hopper to a clay hopper. Chopped the bottom hopper chutes off with my scrollsaw and cleaned up the plastic crumbs. Plumbed the brake lines and started fitting two side channels. Next step is some bottom doors. Another project is a Northeastern stock car with a little modernization of detail parts.