Model Train Journal

I put ball bearings in a small Mallet - they actually added drag. They need to either be perfectly aligned or floating. This one has a tiny heart pump Escap motor, and it is all it can do to haul four or five plastic cars around. I left the ball bearings in - but never repeated the experiment. https...

Or just fill with K&S Tube. Nice work; gears look brand new.

What he really wanted is the President Donald J Trump US Flag Day. Maybe they talked him out of it?

These are ancient: one on left is Scale Craft, right is Westbrook. Both on Lobaugh trucks. Neither makes it to today's standards - but I wanted a very specific shade of orange, to match my 1939 Lobaugh ice cars. I couldn't find the right color anywhere, except in two unopened 1950s bottles of A-C ra...

$180. About right. Salvageable.

Here it is a year and a half later, and my Erie Berk is extremely close to finished. My Lobaugh Berk collection includes at least two that are in almost kit shape. Here is one I would leap on if I didn't already have more than my share: https://www.ebay.com/itm/407078349731 The only thing I see that...

Here it is - the last paint job for a while. Locomotive is an SP S-9 (slide valve, but Walschaerts, 54" drivers, 17/64 scale). I may add red cab doors. The tender belongs to # 1274 above - this one gets the slope-back. I thought they interchanged, but they are slightly different. I really like ...

Would serious heat - say, a hairdryer or heat shrinker - do any good, or would it just melt it?

Just did another SP 0-6-0. The guys replaced the glass and added beads, so the blaster is better than it has ever been. I got six locomotives painted with that one can of SEM - I'd say I got my $ worth. I note that this one had those ancient but fun headlight bulbs. I missed that, and both bulbs dis...

Sometimes this happens - too often, of course, in our end of the hobby. I had this experience with NWSL - Raoul was great, the new owners more interested in something other than good customer communication. Then Micro Fasteners - the very best source for the billions of screws I seem to use. Then th...

I think this belongs here - still not quite finished, but really close. Tender needs handrails - a roughly one hour project, since the forward part is semi-complicated. And it probably needs heavy weathering, since that's the way UP really liked their steam - until the early 1980s. It does run - and...

I do weather stuff - my favorite is Floquil "Weathered Black" applied with the Paasche. A light coat. Greg gave me a whole bunch of chalk about a quarter century ago, and that plus very light coats of Dullcote always produces nice weathering. I only get serious about weathering when contem...

I am currently using the $33 SEM rattlecan. But the secret is the light bead blasting before painting. I can do good paint if I try, but the last really good steam paint jobs I did were with the Paasche model H and Scale Coat. I took the time to mask and spray the smokebox and firebox graphite. Thes...

Some of their overpriced stuff may be consignment. I had heard the guy who runs the place is an avid O Scaler, and maybe even a Lobaugh collector. But yes, most seems overpriced, the photos are lousy, and a lot of shipping complaints. Glad I don't run a business. Isn't it Trainz that has the $3000 L...

I am sure this is the wrong thread for this, but it needs to be posted. I believe this is a well-detailed Lobaugh Cab Forward - surely a very rare model. Those may be exotic Kleinschmidt gearboxes. The only real downside is the blind drivers. They don't show the tender underframe - that is a good Lo...