No WAY!

Yup... after umpteen years of inactivity in regards to applying decals... I'm actually decaling again! (I nearly fainted just typing that.)

Gotta' admit, it sure smells great to be getting whif's of good ol' Solvaset again. I have sooo many good memories associated with Solvaset's distinct aroma. It fell to the fella's behind the counter at "Spotlight Model Railroad" shop (on Troost Ave. in good ol' Kansas City, MO) to introduce me to Floquil paints, Champ decals, and Walther's Solvaset waaay back in the mid-1960s.

Yup... 'ya couldn't purchase nary a Mop engine over the counter, and I was all revved-up after a trip to the Mop's KCMO yard/service facilities via a chap that worked at Mop's Car Dept (and at my dad's supermarket part time some nights). Little did my modest fleet of box stock Athearn Blue Box Santa Fe engines realize they were getting ready to get a new paint and decal job: Mop here I come. (Brush painted, no less!)

BUT, I digress. (Sigh. I do that a lot.)

With my layout 100% functional (see my thread in "Benchwork and roadbed"), I've been "loosely" operating some trains... and now the lack of equipment is sorely felt. So, it's time to get busy! Seeing as I have some (4) painted/unlettered boxcars on hand, and seeing I have the needed decal sets on hand... time to get git after it.

And thus I have. Here's the first side of the first boxcar after it's first application of Solvaset...

OMG... I'm actually decaling!!! (After all these years, it's sort of hard to me to believe!)

All fer now.

Andre

WAY!

Stay in the hobby long enough and it all comes around again..........sounds like a good time. Just remember....if you can.........don't sniff the glue.

Too Late...

This afternoon, I had the need to glue a part on a boxcar... and another bottle of memories was opened: Testors Liquid Cement. For decades that used to be my "go to" cement for my projects. (I have sort of migrated to Faller Expert/Super Expert liquid cement recently.) Again, with just a fleeting whiff upon opening the lid, a kaleidoscope of good memories of sitting at a workbench creating another "masterpiece" (in my mind it was!) flitted through my psyche.

I think as we go through life as a model railroader, some of us form nostalgic attachment to certain things. I know I have. I also get a kick out of models that hearken to my early years in the hobby. Those early years were wonderful times of "sweet innocence" in that I wasn't so anal about some of the protoytypical things I'm anal about now. No, it was all about fun then, and "impressionistic" modeling was the about the best I could manage.

But it was fun!

I'm hoping to recapture a lot of the fun with this layout and modeling themes. I am making a conscious effort to "lighten up Francis" and enjoy the funner aspects of model railroading and do less hand wringing over prototype minutia. So far, so good!

Shucks... I'm even going to run these cars (pic below) on the layout... just because I like 'em! I've cleaned up the white oxidation residues, fixed some odds and ends, fitted Kadee's and metal wheel sets... and into service they will go!

Andre

Oxidation

What do you use to clean these? I am getting reoccurring white oxidation on some of my large scale rolling stock and have tried a number of things. Maybe our area is just too humid?

Hi Neil!

As I recall, I used some really hi-tech cleaner and methods: Warm water w/detergent, a toothbrush and toothpick (for the tiny crevices).

I don't know what the stuff is, but that batch of Varney cars had it hither n' yon on them.

Andre

Old HO

Hi Andre,  I still have my old HO stuff too.  I get a different feeling working on or running it than I do from new models. I especially like the old Athearn metal boxcars with their thin tin sides and doors and wire grabirons and steps. For me they capture the feel of the era better than a new well detailed plastic car. If I ever build another HO layout it will likely be to run the old stuff..........DaveB

Hi DaveB!

Yes, there's a weird "warm" feeling as I tinker with older stuff. I also get great vibes decaling w/Solvaset and such because of my history with Solvaset.

As for old vintage kits running about the layout:

I've long ago accepted that my layout will be my layout.

That is, it's only function is to please me. Thus, I flushed the idea of trying to make a humdinger of a layout with all my i's dotted and t's crossed and "I'm gonna' wow the troops, just you watch" type of motiviation.

No, I seriously doubt my layout efforts will ever have National (or Global in today's internet world) recognition, and you will likely never see it in the likes of MRH mags or RMC/MR, etc. Compared to what today's "Super Modelers" produce, it will be quite ordinary, IMHO.

After all, the bulk of the rolling stock fleet will be based upon "Blue Box" type cars. (And a handful of vintage cars.) I don't want fragile/delicate details for my rolling stock fleet will receive a lot of handling over the course of operation, to say nothing of the EEE factor. (Errant Elbow Effect.)

However, the entire concept (engines, rolling stock, layout trackplan, et al) is designed to cater to my likes and preferences, and I hope the scenery will be executed in a way that I'm comfortable with. If it can accomplish these meager goals, I'll be happy with it.

Still piddlin' with decaling the mini-fleet of KC&G boxcars. Such a long way to go before I ever just "adequate" amounts of rolling stock and functional diesels to run my diesel era.

All fer now!

Andre

Finally!

Well, it took me longer than I remembered decal work taking... but I had also sort of forgotten how much tedium there is when placing letters and numbers one letter/digit at a time.  Then again, I didn't work solid on them, either... just when I felt like it. No biggie.

However, it probably does behoove me to try to get some custom decals made to speed the process.

ANYHOO...

My quadruplets are finished and ready for dull coat:

The meager fleet above more than doubled the previous fleet of KC&G boxcars! (I had a measly three XM's leftover from my KC&G years back in the mid-1990s.)

Still much to do in order to have sufficient home road cars of all types.

All fer now!

Andre

"Well, it took me longer than

Hi Andre,  One thing I like about decaling modern era cars is I don't need to  have the correct decals for much of the small data as I can just put something generic on there then graffiti over it :> ) .....DaveB

Ha!

...I simply dig through my stash and grab data that's "close 'enuf" and call it good!

I mean, IF a visiting modeler pulls out a magnifying glass and starts going over my Athearn BB boxcars... he's definitely shown up at the wrong layout! (Sort of like driving his Ferrari on a gravel forest road.)

My models are:

* Durable.

* Simplistic.

* Cheap. (The cheaper the better.)

I'm not after a layout filled with contest quality models... just ones that look good to my eyes from typical operational viewing distances. After all, the models will often be taken on/off the layout between sessions, stored in apple box trays lined with newspaper to await their turn again, manually uncoupled, and of course, knocked over when one of us suffers a spasm of kludgitis.

I have a friend that models his personal models to contest quality, and he's made the comment that there's no way his stuff would survive in an operational environment. Shucks, when he brings some of his engines to run, he's had small OEM details get knocked off his Genesis stuff with no more than the handling out of the box, to/from the track, and back to the box!

I think aiming at a durable layout for operational purposes and modeling contest quality equipment/layouts are two very different animals. I don't want the stress! (GASP): "Don't handle it there... you need to pick it up like this..."

All fer now!

Andre

"Sort of like driving his

  LOL, I have a friend that was showing me the computer traction control on his Ferrari 458 , and my first thought was I'd like to take it out on a dirt track and see what it could do in the mud(I just wondered  if the computer could turn faster laps than I could with it turned off). He didn't seem as interested as I was in the question....DaveB

I have to agree

I feel that it is two very different concepts. Contest models are to display and look at and be awed about. Operation is a very different thing. Look at the real world. In every train you will see cars with “blemishes” on them. I feel the “good enough “ philosophy works well for details. If you can’t see them at arms length or more, what good is it!

1950s-vintage Varney freight cars

I, too, have a soft spot for Varney freight cars manufactured in the 1950s. They were the best I could afford starting out in my teens.

Replies!

Cool! Input!

Rich:

Well, I think most of us modeler's salivate and sit in awe when we see superb modeling. There are several really, really, good modelers on these forums that create fantastic layout scenes and amazing equipment and structures.

BUT... as already mentioned... even if I could model to that level... I'd be a nervous wreck others operating on it!

So, my version of "Good 'Enuf" has served me well in the past, and will again. IF I had a goal, it would be to capture the overall "realistic" feel that the Allen McClellan's venerable Afton Division V&O layout. (Allen's most publicized V&O layout from the 70s.) So much of his execution of that layout just flat-out looked "right".

Mark:

We're on the same page concerning Varney and select cars of the 50s and 60s.

Another brand that's near and dear to my heart is the "Lindberg Line". My first true scale (for back then) HO set was a "Lindberg Line" set I surprisingly received for Christmas, 1962. I loved that set as soon as I ripped enough wrapping paper off for my eyes to behold the beautiful box art! It was an artist's rendition of a night switching scene with a switch engine... and given the Kansas City area I lived in as a youngster (where I saw switch engines a lot)... it was right up my alley! Here's a set I purchased a few years ago that is like my set I received as a child. After 57 years the colors are worn and not as bright... but you get the idea:

Here's a scan of the cover of a sales brochure I purchased off eBay some time ago that isn't faded and utilizes the same art:

Quite striking, isn't it? Talk about that art stirring this young man's imagination!

Plus, the cars were ALL painted in flat paints in railroad-looking colors. Loved it. One of my original cars survives to this day and has served duty on every HO layout I've ever built. (Yup, it's on this one, too!)

Speaking of the cars Here's the set cars from my current set:

Now, compare those cars, paint and livery, to your typical train set cars (molded in garish colors, etc) and you'll see the visual differences immediately.

Oh, and my parents also surprised me with extra track and some switches that year, too! I was in HO heaven having a train set with an engine and cars that reflected the look of the switch jobs I saw most often in KC.

BUT... I digress... again.

Bottom line: I like a some of the vintage stuff and intend to indulge myself as I see fit.

In fact, I'm watching some Varney stuff on eBay as I type!

Andre

Want more?

I have so many cars in HO scale that will never roll again unless they find a home. Shipping cost is about the same as the value of what goes inside (despite the sentimental value). 

So, um, how old were you when you got that first set in 1962. (Tell me to buzz off of you want. I’ll be 60 this year.)

Hi Neil!

I was 10. Born in March of '52.

Trains were in my blood, I reckon'. Can't remember when I wasn't fascinated by them. My idiocy about trains may go back to when I was very young and was riding out of KC on a train with my mom and sis on our way to Arkansas for the funeral of my Grandpa Ming. (A Grandpa that I was too young to remember.) I still have vague memories of that train ride... and maybe some not so vague. (I think I remember seeing the engine up ahead on a curve and other images. I learned many years later it was a Missouri Pacific train.) I was up in the cab of operating engines by the time I was 6 or 7 (which continued over the years), was silly about them as a youngster and then became fascinated with railroading and ended up retiring as a Certified Engineer.

All fer now!

EDIT: Just saw your offer! Email me at laming@cebridge.net and let me know what you want to get rid of!

Andre

Lemonade!

Some time ago I purchased this Lindberg Line SFRD reefer to collect... but it wasn't as nice as I was expecting for a collectible. So, it was set aside and kept an eye out for another. (Which I found: An unassembled kit new in the box.)

Anyway... seeing as I can't find my original Lindberg Line SFRD reefer to run (and it's looking pretty tired, too, lots of paint chips and stuff) I decided to salvage the step child SFRD reefer into something usable on the layout.

That's when I discovered that an idiot in the past decided to GLUE the underframe to the body (instead of press fitting as designed) and hadn't done it quite right. So, another other idiot decided to fix it by cutting the body free from the frame. Unfortunately, that idiot (whom shall remain unnamed) botched that attempt and ended up cutting through the side of the body during one of the passes with the Xacto knife.

At that point, I decided the NIB kit wasn't doing me any good sitting on the shelf... so I assembled it and put it on the layout!

Then today, I got to looking at the botched reefer and happened to think how much it looked like the car had been scrapped along the side during a switching accident or something. Then..

Why not renumber this one, and make it usable (modify to receive Kadees, steel wheels, etc), and once it goes to the weathering phase... make it look like that was indeed a side scrape from some incident?  Yeah... that's the ticket!

So I did, and now it's ready for weathering when that time comes.

Here's a pic of it showing the long dent and score from it's "encounter":

Lemons to lemonade!

Plus, because of that damage, it's going to make a cool looking little car once done with the weathering!

Andre

Now you will send me down a rabbit hole......................

You got me thinking about some of my past "learning events".  

Regards,

Jerry

PS - You interested in an interchange?  I'll waybill one carload of Aluminum ingot from the Reynolds Aluminum plant in Bohemia, WA, in a Spokane Southern boxcar for a suitable load from the KC$G.  I'll weather mine with my methods, you letter yours with your methods.  Contact me at my home e-mail if interested.

Great save!

Awesome job. I have seen several cars with marks much like that one. Good idea and good save.

Hi Guys!

Jerry:

That could be fun... but it will be a while on my part, 'cause I'm still trying amass enough early 60s era rolling stock to have meaningful operation, (and having to eek out my meager stash of KC&G decals) so having the luxury of a disposable KC&G car is still a ways off. Hit me on my above listed email (no way I still have your email address... I'm on a different computer than I was a few years ago) and let's compare notes.

RicharH:

"I have seen several cars with marks much like that one."

Yup, me too. When I was over being disgusted with myself for botching the car in the first place, a few days later I picked it up and voila: "Hey! That looks like it was involved in a switching accident!"

Some sanding on the printed numbers to remove them, put the new ones on via decal, and after modifying it for a Kadee box n' couplers: Ta-da! Ready for weathering and it will look neat once finished. (Couplers: Lindberg had a "different" sort of way of doing their horn-hook couplers, so a Lindberg model has to be irreversably altered in order to install Kadee's.)

I intend to have one example of each Lindberg factory painted/lettered car running about the layout for nostalgia's sake. However, seeing as they only made five freight car models, and those in only one road name (unless you count the limited run "Illinois Central" set that is hard to find)... that's not a formidable task!

However, I will need to search and find select examples of Lindberg's rolling stock on eBay, because I don't have any more extras on hand in my collection that I can spare.

All fer now!

Andre

Mantua

It would not be exactly the same, but I believe Mantua purchased the Lindberg freight car tooling.  So if you want non-collector rolling stock on your layout, that might be an option.  I’m guessing the Mantua might be easier to find.

Lou in Idaho 

Hi Lou!

I did not know that. (Mantua purchase.) Hm... how curious. Wonder if the former Lindberg/Mantua molds were part of the mold acquisition when Lionel purchased a portion of the Mantua line?

As for options: Not really any. It wouldn't be the same to me (mentally) if the car is not an original Lindberg car with factory lettering. I already have two running about: The C&NW boxcar from my original Christmas 1962 train set, a surplus SFRD reefer kit that I modified for Kadee's and put into service, and the glued example of the SFRD reefer that I tried to disassemble, botched the attempt, then salvaged.

SO, if I follow through with my idea, that would leave only three cars to find: The C&NW gondola w/coal load, the Great Northern cattle car (they're almost always missing the fragile brake wheel), and the Rock Island flat car w/molded crates load.

Here are factory examples of those cars from my collection. Note the gondola still had its two figures (in the small plastic pack in front of the gon) that Lindberg included with their rolling stock kits/RTR cars!

As you can see, those cars are plenty "good enuf" to run among my other "good enuf" stuff!

All fer now!  Need to see what I can come up with for a print 'n cut corrugated sheet iron engine house today. (Gonna' make a stand in for the future 1960s engine house at Ozarka.)

Andre

Good Poimt

Andre-  I agree a non-original would not be the same.  I’m sure they will show up on e-Bay or at a train show.  With all the amazing work you are doing with two layouts I’m sure the Model Railroad Karma will help you in your search.

Lou in Idaho

Hi again Lou!

Yup... good examples of each will show up on eBay eventually. I'm in zero hurry. I have my hands full with getting the rolling stock fleet filled out as fast as practical.

In fact, there are examples of each on eBay right now, but they don't pass muster. I'm fine with no box, broken coupler, etc, but I'm not fine with broken/missing stirrups or gouged pricing.

Speaking of two layouts: I'm very much looking forward to having a KC West Bottoms switching layout... but right now I need to make hay on my 1960s Ozark theme. It's the closest era of being able to host genuine operation.

Right now I'm limiting my purchases to rolling stock, and that in small bites financially to conserve my hobby fund. Until the motorcycle shop is finished with one of my bikes they have, I'm not spending on any big ticket items. Once the bike's finished and I'm settled up with them, THEN I'll feel free to lay out some cash for a big ticket item. My current goals:

* Continue with small purchases for rolling stock (preferably already factory lettered) and stay caught up getting them modified (if needed) and track ready w/metal wheels and Kadee couplers.

* Get the bike back and paid for.

* Purchase the second NCE system I need.

* Start getting DCC/Sound decoders installed in the remaining 7 painted/weathered KC&G engines I have on hand.

* And so it goes.

Whew... still lots to do and some pretty hefty spending ahead.

Andre