I searched every recommended source, but couldn't find a particular item I needed: Tiny brass stanchions in various lengths.
During a recent trip to Grand Junction I stopped at the LHS and asked for stanchions, expecting the usual "Don't have any"...Surprise...they had 6 different lengths from 1.5 mm to 4.0 mm for all scales.
The hole in the 1.5mm is a precision fit for .020 PB wire. I use .015 for grabs and stirrups but like the looks of .020 for handrails.
The manufacturer should come to no surprise: Precision Scale. You won't find them in the Walther's catalog but are listed on their website. Part #585-370 for the smallest, they are a bit short for Bachmann boiler stanchions, other sizes may work. I didn't check the hole size of other lengths, I was just excited to get the smaller for the cut levers and handrails on my Bachmann "Green Goat" project.
I also like the caption on the package: Made in Montana, USA
Bob
Bob;
The good folk at precision Scale do indeed have a website, and it is pretty informative. I like their product line; I also like Greenway and Bowser on the same level of quality, as well as general availability. I do a lot of rebuilding, scratchbuilding, and scratchbashing, so I have assembled a pretty extensive list of who makes what; and I am surely glad they are where they are, and hope they stay there for a long while.
Being as I am stepping up my interest in Fn3 (per the K-27s I bought), I will be interested in building Fn3 cars on that same level of quality; using wood, metal, plastic, real bolts, nuts, etc, etc. No, it isn't going to be easier. You can't "fudge" detail like you can in smaller scales-it will stand out like a sore thumb, and YOU will know it-even if no one else does (or at least doesn't mention it...)
Rich
PS: no, I am not dumping HO...
Rich
Manufacturer's web sites don't have details on their products. Maybe they assume that everyone has used every single item they make. so why bother with details. I'm not referring to OEM replacements for locos or cars, just universal detail parts. I'm sure they have shop drawings for the production, they should post a small version with specifications, or offer a downloadable PDF.
I hate buying anything sight unseen. I don't expect the LHS to carry everything, but the factories should supply them with specification sheets. Am I wrong?
Anyway, thanks to Don Tichy and Precision Scale, I now have most items I need. As for the stanchions, score a big 10 for the LHS. Without them I'd still be looking.
As you said, I can get away with a little "selective compression or expansion" of scale on HO, it usually looks better than the original thick styrene parts. I have a digital caliper that keeps me within reasonable scale limits. I sometimes use .020 instead of .015, it works for me.
I wouldn't call my work super detailing in the sense of making everything exactly proto, I just like dressing up or customizing my locos and cars a little.
I had Precision bookmarked once, but now I can't seem to find them by Google. Do you have a link for them?
Thanks
Bob
I had Precision bookmarked once, but now I can't seem to find them by Google. Do you have a link for them?
Thanks
Bob
This help? http://psc1.virtualfocus.com/ (http://psc1.virtualfocus.com/)
Andre
Thanks Andre
That must be the one, it's in Montana. They show a different address than on one of my part packages, I assume the one on the site is the latest.
I remember now they are the company with the brass models, wow, they are something else. A little too rich for my blood, but something for everyone.
Thanks once again
Bob
Bob, Andre;
www.precisionscaleco.com/
This is the address I have, and it works.
Yes, they have some beautiful stuff; unfortunately, Wall St., although having been more benign than not, hasn't been all THAT benign. I should have gone into the resturant business like the Greek side of my family did...
I am only driving a Jeep, not a BMW...
Rich
Thanks Rich
Both links work, one redirects to the other.
It's not the market that bothers me, everytime the feds lower prime rates, my bond income goes down. I also keep working funds in money market, it dropped from 4.6% to 3.2% the last 1/2% cut. That cost me $5,000 a year in income.
If people would quit buying homes they can't afford there wouldn't be so many foreclosures. I drive a Ford, wifey wants a Jaguar.
There must be a market for these locos. I know a guy that spent $30,000 building a 1/2 scale RC Airplane, crashed the maiden flight. Of course I laughed LOL.
Bob
Bob;
A quick fact of life:
Recessions and other bumps in the economy do not bother the "upper class" appreciably. The guy who goes out to buy a Rolls, or a Beachcraft isn't worried about losing his home.
As far as your portfolio goes-mine too, for that matter, there are a lot of pitfalls and shortcomings to each and every approach. I have been a bit lucky; that is all. Grand Scheme? The market doesn't care a tinkerer's hoot about you, me, or anyone else. It is, after all, a jungle out there.
The buying echelon to which you infer does exist, for all the reasons posted above, and probably more too. Old money, great jobs requiring a ton of brains (not mine), Mafia Dons, etc.
Overland models just posted an ad for a Korean-built Mike that is one of the handsomest engines I have ever laid eyes on, but I won't buy it. Reason? I am not inclined to spend that kind of money in this hobby on an HO engine, whether I can or not. To me, four figures portside of the decimal point is just a little too much.
Rich
I've been frugal (make that stingy) all my life to survive. Now that I can afford things doesn't mean I'm throwing it away.
I thought $3.75 for 12 tiny stanchions was a bit high, but then again I still remember 18 cent gasoline. At the LHS I saw a molded plastic tunnel at $39, it probably cost nothing to make.
My Connies are the most expensive locos I have, at $119 each. My detailing is not proto, I want natural brass, polished rails, possibly even paint the drivers white. The tender ladders and rails have been replaced with brass or PB. The Bachmann 70 I'm building will be a real "hot rod".
Bob
Bob we must be from the same time zone. I go into a store and see a 5 cent candy bar. It now
cost 65 or 70 cents. I an not going to pay that much for a nickel candy bar. FDR was the first president that I remembered. Hoover was in office when I was born. Steam was king, and still is. We just don't have a king anymore.
Yup, we kicked the last one out in 1776. Guess what, we now have a "King George"
(country music or politics,take your choice)
Bob
Movies with a box of popcorn was .25 and a coke was .05. I remeber buying a brand new car for $2500.00 and that was an expensive car for me.I could also fix whatever needed fixing by myself. I do long for the more simple days.
Don
I do long for the more simple days.
I think I am as old as you are or thereabouts, and as far as the old days go, you can have 'em! I now have rights and avenues of recourse I would have never had in the "goode olde days", as well as technical advances in medicine. my mother died at 37 from cancer. I am not saying miracles happen now on a regular basis, but her chances of living a good fairly old life would have been much better now.
Steam? Beautiful. Vietnamese girls? Beautiful. I wouldn't want the pollutive ramifications commensurate with the first (I grew up in Boston area, Dover street), and the second would probably give me a massive coronary now.
Do I long for the old days? No. Good memories? Some. Today we have options as to the global warming thing, etc; lets get up off of our keesters, get on your politicians' cases and git 'er done! Life can be great. Now, let's get back to trains.
Rich
Yes sir, coming right up Sir Richie,
Where was I? Oh yeah, I notice some modelers make stirrups for a boxcar with .015 or .020 PB wire, then stick them up underneath the box. But to be authenic, shouldn't they "bolted" to the side of the box?
Usually the box comes off, so I drill 2 holes on the side, a tad above the bottom, poke them through and "clinch" them down on the inside. They still look a bit odd, but at least they don't fall off.
Real stirrups are wider but flat. I've never tried this, but I'm thinking, use a piece of thin brass about 1/32" wide, long enough to bend for the step, then twist the tops to bolt to the sides, using scale rivets.
We used to make them that way for farm wagons, using steel strap 2" wide X 1/4" thick, heat with a torch and twist for a mounting base.
Anyone tried this?
Bob
Bob;
There are two places to find stirrups that are really good: Grandt line and Tichy; both I am sure you are familiar with. They are of an acetal plastic which do not fuse with any glue I know of, so the best thing I can think to do is what I do, and that is to drill holes in the position the inserts will insert into, and acc them in place. I know this is by no means foolproof, but it does work, and you do have the bolt detail.
Another way is to make them out of .015 flat brass wire, turn the risers 90 degrees in relation to the footer, and then pin it to the car by your method; drilling a hole, bending the end 90 degrees, and inserting it, peining it on the other side. Both methods are a lot of work, but doable, and the result may be well worth the effort to you.
Sir Richie, the rail snob.
Sir Richie
I was describing the same thing you did in your second paragraph, but didn't know those fancy words like "risers" and "footer". LOL
Thanks to some years in the precision optics business, and a jeweler friend, I have very teensy weensy screws, bolts and nuts. All accessories such as snow plows, hopper extensions, etc gets bolted or screwed. This comes from many years of attaching cowlings, nacelles and canopies on scale RC planes. I never glue on what I can screw on. Oh my , no matter how I phrase that it's bad LMAO...
I better shut up while I'm ahead. I'm having one of those "open mouth insert foot" days....
Bob
I better shut up while I'm ahead. I'm having one of those "open mouth insert foot" days....
Mornin' Robert;
I Didn't know you were in politics...
The stirrups to which I infer are acetal plastic compound (in this case delrin) and as such, it is smooth-closed cellular material. This means that no conventional glue will work worth squat. I understand that there is a compatible adhesive for it. I haven't seen hide nor hair of it. As far as terminology goes, I have been exposed to that sort of thing over the years. makes me no smarter than the next guy; only know some different words.
The only tiny things you will need is a bit and a reamer. The reamers of that size are worth the purchase price. If you waht to use screws and tiny bolts to assemble parts, that is fine. My thing is detail and placement of same. While I am no "scale-rule Richard", I do like to see something that is at least convincing and neatly done. For me, that is a good part of the challenge this hobby can present. Othes may find that to be gilding the lily, or a total drag, and that too, is fine.
At present, I am trying to blow through about ten of Steve Funaro's kits, as well as George Barrett's trucks. I am dangling about five intermountain kits at the end of that tunnel. Talk about a carrot...
I haven't done anything on the layout for a while; largely because I am uninspired. What I need to do is see a really nice layout to get some ideas, as I have little or no imagination. SOmetimes I thik I would be just as happy with a spur line off to some industry, a 44-tonner, and some well-built cars; but old man ego spurs me on. THis spring I am going back to chasing women.
Have a good one.
Sir Richie the rail snob.
At my age, even if I could catch my wife, wouldn't know what to do with her.
I think I have a mood swing hangover from yesterday. I have days when everything is just one big joke, and I find myself laughing all day and saying really stupid things.
After only a year in RR, I already have way too many cars and some have got to go. I had 50 hand picked cars, then a friend in Kansas sent me 30 he was thinning out. They are all Con Cor and Kadee, but had plastic wheels and needed a little work. Another friend here gave me a box of older cars he got at a garage sale for a couple bucks. I got cars up to my XXXXX.
I have 10 locos, and I'm saying "whoa". What is it about us modelers that we can't be satisfied with one loco and a few cars? Must be an addiction, a train junkie.
I'm really not picky about details on my cars other than ladders and steps. I'd rather be running than using a bunch of magnifiers to stick tiny pieces on cars. I think one has to have a tremendous passion for detailing, I see articles about all the precise work on the bottom of a box car. I could care less what bottoms look like, it's the tops that count (quit thinking of women Richie) Yup, it's a hangover.
Every one I've talked to is in the doldrums lately. I'm trying to get my goats detailed, but just have no motivation.
Bob
Bob;
Winter+gas prices+the elections+bush++++++...
I am a detail hound, but only on my own stuff. I couldn't care less what the other guy does with his stuff-it is his jing. I will look at it, give him/her a compliment, and go on.
I have a rule of thumb acquired a while back. It is that I don't want what I consider to be a lot of mediocre equipment on my layout. You heard the expression "the Marines are looking for a few good men". That and Thornton Wilder's thoughts about what he considers good.
You know, I look at it this way: I am going to be here for a finite time. I want to be happy. I am making myself happy. If the layout gets finished, good; if not, so what?!! I build cars and modify just about every steamer I have. That is good, no? I am making myself happy. I would lke to see everyone else here follow my example: Do what makes you happy. There is a lot of satisfaction in saying "I am happy with that". Now, I will go and watch Katie...and toss down a Bailey's.
Rich
The only one who can and will meet your standards are you.
Don :-X
Rich
I'm sure glad you're happy. I wouldn't want to see you when you are unhappy LOL
Bob
Bob;
I learned long time ago that like other things, happiness comes from within; it is only yourself that will determine your life, and also the amount of time you are happy. I prefer to be happy as much as possible. I tried the other way...it didn't work out too well. A self-made pat on the back and a self-directed "attaboy" can do wonders; much more than Bailey's.
Trains? This hobby can be a lot of things to a lot of people; in a lot of cases, it is theraputic; in some, it is an obsession, etc etc. I am no shrink, just a guy like most out here, and enjoy building my collection of engines, and cars for a lot of reasons. Some are nostalgic, as in the two DL-109s that ran past Quincy station twice a week (that I knew of) in the late forties, in a very unique aluminum paint job (Yep, they were New Haven). Also, being able to see
articulateds while in Virginia area visiting, and much more (I met Johnny Phillip Morris at South station in Boston once)... Mostly, I just like creating for its own sake. The layout is probably a secondary thing, if I were to sit back and analyze the whole, as I get a lot of satisfaction out of the building aspect, as I mentioned. What slays me is that every time I hear a good jazz group with a Hammond B-3, I think of places like Dearborn station, or South station, etc. Not sure why, but it couldn't hoirt... To me, when I look at the twin draws across the Eastport River on my layout, I see something really neat-but at the same time, lacking in a lot of detail. Somewhere betwixt the two is a point at which I would be satisfied. Clutter and detail is what the scene lacks right now. Well, retirement is looming large, so maybe then. Until then, I will get a kick out of this hobby the ways I see fit, and hopt that it stays around a while. This is the best time I have ever seen for model railroading and I hope the other people in it enjoy it as much as I do.
Sir Richie the Rail Snob
Rich
I thoroughly enjoy my trains also. It really has become an obsession as you said.
I have noticed that I am starting to take a second look at my rolling stock, and becoming more aware of the finer details. The guy sent me one Kadee box car that has incredible fine detail. I can't imagine why he didn't want it.
Since I now have way too many cars, I am really scrutinizing them. About 20 will be sent to my son, he don't give a hoot about detail as long as they have wheels.
Guess the detail bug has bit me. I just like to tease you occasionally to see if you're alive and well. I have a habit of rattling people's cages, sometime I get bit.
Maybe someday I can sign my name:
Bob the Snob
Quote from: Yampa Bob on February 20, 2008, 06:03:26 PM
I have 10 locos, and I'm saying "whoa". What is it about us modelers that we can't be satisfied with one loco and a few cars? Must be an addiction, a train junkie.
You can say that twice and mean it. How else does someone end up with 15 computer paper boxes and then some of rolling stock in a one-bedroom condo? ;D
(Computer paper boxes make great storage for boxed rolling stock, BTW. They're not so big that they get real heavy when they're full.)
Rich: "That is good YES"
Jeff: I don't remember.
Bob