Maybe a dumb question. Can I use oil pastels for weathering? The wife gave me her old artist box. Lots of paints and pencils but I was most interested in the possibility of using the oil pastels. Does anyone use these, and any success? Thank you in advance. 

There was a thread, which I can't seem to find - sigh!, That mentioned the complete collection of Mainline Modeler was available on DVD. After buying a copy I am convinced 90% of the people here would enjoy it. Some thoughts:

1) There is an incredible amount of information in drawings, detailed descriptions, and period photographs.

2) Some stories are laughably out of date. Best example was how to narrow the hood on a Blue-Box Wide Body GP-35 to scale width. Even Athearn doesn't use that shell anymore choosing an improved RPP shell.

I found information online that from NMRA?, I think, that says the max height of an HO scale locomotive is usually 3 5/32 (3.15625).  Is that rule generally held to?  Or is there height variation, especially on the high side?

Thanks

Gills

So, at a big train show today, I picked up an old Proto 2000 SD7 (CNW #1663) that turned out to have a few...problems. Ones that I admittedly should have picked up on given how obvious they are, but the price I got was extremely good and overall the issues are largely just cosmetic in nature as the locomotive itself is mechanically perfect. Specifically, I need to replace the rear numberboard/headlamp clear piece (see attached picture) as well as one of the side cab windows.