Mail Call! Railway Post Office, commonly abbreviated as RPO has rolled in!

[Smudge617]

No excuses get to work on weathering.

I hear they suck.

So do I, at weathering.

 

[TLOC]

Bought these on the weekend, seeing as I have so few, I didn't realise they were this size though.

View attachment 160666

I have read and seen videos of guys using WWS powders. Just be careful when you seal the powders, some of the matt finishes are very aggressive towards powders. Have fun practicing.

 

[Smudge617]

I have read and seen videos of guys using WWS powders. Just be careful when you seal the powders, some of the matt finishes are very aggressive towards powders. Have fun practicing.

luckily I have a few practice pieces, I know it's here somewhere, but I can't find it, is your % for the Tamiya flat clear, I think you said 60/40 mix, correct ?

 

[TLOC]

Well I now have 10 of the 12 Tropicana cars Atlas released.View attachment 160683

They are nice cars. I have the ARMN cars from BLMA and now the Atlas ones and they are exact. Atlas purchased BLMA and thankfully the tooling for these cars was in excellent shape. I think they are a good value.

I also have Exactrail cars and they also are nice. A few more very fragile details than Atlas. But not IMO even at the $41 I paid per car as good as the Atlas/BLMA pricing.
When do these hit your bench?

Enjoy!

 

[TLOC]

luckily I have a few practice pieces, I know it's here somewhere, but I can't find it, is your % for the Tamiya flat clear, I think you said 60/40 mix, correct ?

I would start with that yes. Then experiment.

I mainly use now VMS’s flat (mat) clear that definitely is less aggressive with the Pan Pastels I use. The WWS stuff is a powder that I have not used, so make notes and go from there

 

[CambriaArea51]

So do I, at weathering.

We all had learning curves when we started.

When do these hit your bench?

When it stops snowing, just got home. Hopefully tomorrow though.

 

[TLOC]

We all had learning curves when we started.

When it stops snowing, just got home. Hopefully tomorrow though.

Post often! I started on the trucks and wheels on my 4 duplicates of the ARMN # 111029

Are you in the Snowamedgon or do you Great Lake effect snow which IMO might be worst.

 

[Alcomotive]

Well I now have 10 of the 12 Tropicana cars Atlas released.View attachment 160683

Great cars and lucky you! Those are really sharp! I used to watch the "juice" Train leave everyday from the Bradenton plant, it would cross right over the Manatee River bridge and head on up to Jersey. I got a few pictures of it crossing the river.

 

[Alcomotive]

Well several months ago as in last summer. I bought a switcher that was damaged and missing hand rails and other minor parts. I got a good deal as it was about 50 bucks. An Athearn RTR 95823 EMD SW 1500 Union Pacific UPY 1139 DCC Ready. I knew that someday I would find some replacement parts for it in the future. Well I scored the parts for 30 bucks that included a whole bunch of parts. It runs well to it just somehow took a dive a long the way from the previous owner. Once I replace parts and repair it and little TLC and weathering it will be great!

So here is what I bought and started out with......

As you can see parts missing and parts scattered all over the place. MU hoses, hand rails, fan grill, and so on.


Here is what I won 3 days ago to do the repairs.....

 

[Alcomotive]

I should easily be able to do the repairs I need with these parts. I am really happy that my patience paid off on this idea. I will have left over parts for the shop scene too!

 

[CambriaArea51]

Post often! I started on the trucks and wheels on my 4 duplicates of the ARMN # 111029

Are you in the Snowamedgon or do you Great Lake effect snow which IMO might be worst.

I'm in between Lake Erie and Ontario and work for the Town. There are some guys that are close to retirement and don't want to come in and plow at night. I'd rather do evenings, less cars on the road to deal with.

 

[TLOC]

I'm in between Lake Erie and Ontario and work for the Town. There are some guys that are close to retirement and don't want to come in and plow at night. I'd rather do evenings, less cars on the road to deal with.

Be safe out there

 

[Rico]

I'm in between Lake Erie and Ontario and work for the Town. There are some guys that are close to retirement and don't want to come in and plow at night. I'd rather do evenings, less cars on the road to deal with.

I used to like night plowing, it was like a 3D video game when the bars closed!

 

[CambriaArea51]

I used to like night plowing, it was like a 3D video game when the bars closed!

Good thing I'm in the country, deere and garbage cans are my biggest obstacles.

 

[CambriaArea51]

Picked up this pick set from the Snap On guy. I've broken many Harbor Freight and the ones at the train shows they sell. As many times I've broken the cheap picks and bought new ones, I would've paid for these that are guaranteed.

 

[Alcomotive]

And here we are! Matching my avatar almost This came today as brand new in the box, never used opened or taken of the rack.

Atlas Master Line 10 001 925 Alco S-2 Union Pacific UP 1113 DCC ESU sound

 

[skyliner]

Here's a couple recent additions. Made it to a local show/swap meet the other weekend. Kinda dry, not much interesting to me, but I had been looking forward to it for a few weeks, so I couldn't leave empty-handed, right? I came across what appeared to be a Rivarossi CB&Q RPO in an old AHM box. I know those two companies were linked for a while, but I don't think the box was original. It could use a little touch-up paint, and I was going to replace the trucks with some Walthers heavyweight trucks I've got in the parts bin, but after pulling the originals, I discovered that the Walthers trucks won't fit without some significant modification.

So the originals stayed on, and I also discovered a couple of the axles were a bit sluggish rolling. I removed them and found something strange--one of the outboard axles had two different size wheels! One 33" and one 36" wheel on the same axle! Can anyone think of a reason for such a thing? Or did the previous owner just not notice it? I ended up replacing the dragging axles with some ball-bearing wheels I have.

This car will eventually complement the rest of a Burlington mail train I assembled some years ago after seeing an article about them in Classic Trains.

Also picked up a pin and a NYC tie bar, which I've not seen before. At least I think it's a tie bar, for the skinny tie era, as it's pretty short.

And finally, I was in Atlanta for work this week, so during a break I ran down to a local shop I know in the area. Found this on the sale rack. This is the first American Limited car I've ever purchased, but the detail is impressive for the price I paid.

 

[TLOC]

Here's a couple recent additions. Made it to a local show/swap meet the other weekend. Kinda dry, not much interesting to me, but I had been looking forward to it for a few weeks, so I couldn't leave empty-handed, right? I came across what appeared to be a Rivarossi CB&Q RPO in an old AHM box. I know those two companies were linked for a while, but I don't think the box was original. It could use a little touch-up paint, and I was going to replace the trucks with some Walthers heavyweight trucks I've got in the parts bin, but after pulling the originals, I discovered that the Walthers trucks won't fit without some significant modification.

So the originals stayed on, and I also discovered a couple of the axles were a bit sluggish rolling. I removed them and found something strange--one of the outboard axles had two different size wheels! One 33" and one 36" wheel on the same axle! Can anyone think of a reason for such a thing? Or did the previous owner just not notice it? I ended up replacing the dragging axles with some ball-bearing wheels I have.

This car will eventually complement the rest of a Burlington mail train I assembled some years ago after seeing an article about them in Classic Trains.

Also picked up a pin and a NYC tie bar, which I've not seen before. At least I think it's a tie bar, for the skinny tie era, as it's pretty short.

And finally, I was in Atlanta for work this week, so during a break I ran down to a local shop I know in the area. Found this on the sale rack. This is the first American Limited car I've ever purchased, but the detail is impressive for the price I paid.

Good price on the American Limited. Nothing around here for less then $38

 

[Smudge617]

Just received this this morning, this is the last structure I need for my industrial area. I was going to ask James if he could find something like this on his little outing the other day, luckily I found this the day before so didn't need to, I'm not sure why, but although this is a Heljan kit, Walthers also has it.

 

[skyliner]

Alright I couldn't resist. Plus, we're obligated to support local shops right? I was in Atlanta last week again for work, so I grabbed another one of these American Limited hoppers. Plus a container chassis, from a Canadian brand I haven't seen before.