Yes, I'm still here!

There are many customers out there who are waiting patiently(I hope) for me to fill their orders for kits and etched parts.
Yarmouth Model Works has experienced unprecedented delays in restocking etchings and resin castings from my suppliers these last few months.
No one is more unhappy about this than I, let me assure you.
Nothing irks me more than having someones money and not being able to send them the items they have purchased.
Please bear with me a little longer. I'm expecting a large etching order to arrive in a couple of days, and castings within a couple of weeks.

And once we get all our back orders addressed look for more new cars this coming year.
Like;

Bringing up the rear

These two cabooses just emerged from the shop, to take their place on the caboose track, while they await crews and their trains.

Built from kits offered by American Model Builders, these 2 laser cut kits were an absolute delight to put together.
Well engineered laser cut kits area shear joy to work on, everything fits as it should, nice crisp detail. What more could one want?
The finishing of these 2 cabooses presented one minor problem. One that I was frankly rather surprised about. With the huge popularity of the Southern Pacific in the modeling community, I was surprised that no one offers decals specifically for this class of caboose.
Fortunately the solution was rather simple.
I used Speedwitch Media SP boxcar decals. Simple solution.
Weathered the heck out of them with washes and some overspray, and they're ready for service.

Money well spent!

This past January, while attending Prototype Rails in Cocoa Beach, FL, I came across a product that I found rather intriguing.
This company, Dimensional Modeling Concepts, was selling this neat looking system for making barbed wire fences.
https://dmcrrproducts.com/product/bwf-4001-barbed-wire-fencing-kit-ho-scale-4-strand-spacing/

Knowing that I had more than my fair share of right of way fencing in the offing, I purchased the system, and I can now report, I LOVE IT!

What you get is a bag of posts, a spacer tool and this fancy reel holder thingie, that holds 4 spools of a metallic thread that has a texture in it which suggests barbed wire.

The process is simple.
Plant the poles, every 15' is suggested, and using the spacer tool move down the line using CA to adhere the wire to the poles as you go.
The holder has just the right amount of tension in it to help keep the strands taut enough to work with.
It took me maybe 10 minutes to run 4' of fencing, and that was on the first attempt.
Tomorrow, I'll come back and color the wires a rust tone, they're a little bright right now!

The D&H Oneonta boxcar

Finally!
The latest kit from Yarmouth Model Works is listed on the website and available for purchase.
http://www.yarmouthmodelworks.com/index.php/ResinModelKits/YMW-116

Sorry for the delay.

I'd also like to thank everyone who provided me with input regarding flat cast vs one piece bodies.
The vast majority of you are quite happy with the notion of flat cast kits and as a result I'm heavily inclined to take that path with future kits.
Stay tuned!

One piece body vs Flat cast resin kits

The huge debate!

In part prompted by some struggles my caster has been having with some of my one piece bodies, I've been ruminating about returning to flat cast resin kits.
A few builders of resin in my circle have zero issue with flat cast bodies, and some even prefer them.
Myself, I have no issues dealing with properly cast flat cast kits. It rarely takes me more than 1/2 an hour to form the box.
Add in the reality that flat casting will help hold down the rising prices of resin freight car kits, and the idea of returning to that method as a lot of merit.
I find myself wondering if sales would be truly impacted by a return to older methods. I know that molds will last longer, and certain details will be able to be better rendered.
So I'm looking for input.
Tell me your thoughts.
It will influence the decision.

3 more for the home team

Just got these 3 kits all finished up and on the layout.

These are Westerfield #12851 kits of Southern Pacific B-50-15 boxcars.
They are reissues of Sunshine Models kits from the #38.xx series.
The kits have been upgraded and improved.
They are now a one piece body casting which greatly simplifies assembly. The kit also includes some etched details from Yarmouth Model Works, (one of my favorite parts suppliers).
I did substitute the cast resin running boards with laser cut wood running boards, I find they look better.
The cars were weathered with my new favorite mediums, AK Interactive weathering washes and streaking mediums.
The only glitch was the decals. And I'd forgotten that there was this issue.
The decals were printed using an ink that is resistant to all known setting solutions, now this wasn't a problem on the sides, as these are steel sided cars, but on the end the decals refusal to conform over the ribs required a little fudging on location to get them to lay flat. I've since talked to Andrew Dahm and he's looking at alternatives.
I'm very pleased with how these cars turned out and would not hesitate to recommend this kit to anyone.

An object lesson in differential movement

My resin caster has been struggling with creating replacement mold for our YMW #105 kit, the ATSF 12 panel boxcar.
As you can see in the photos both of the car sides have bowed outwards and dished somewhat as well.
The caster struggled with trying to true the body up while not altering the pattern, to no avail.
In our discussions he wasn't really describing the issue very well to me, until he actually sent me a photo.
I instantly knew what the problem was.
The actual car sides are resin castings, laminated to styrene backers. Now the pattern held up well for the first couple of years, but it's now been in the hands of 3 different casters in rather climatically different parts of the continent, so I'm not at all surprised.

Styrene and resin have different expansion and contraction rates. And this issue with the pattern is why I strongly discourage resin builders from using a lot of styrene inside their models for bracing, etc. Under the right conditions, glue joints can be broken and new kit results.
So, as you can see, buttresses are being inserted and the car sides should straighten out and we can get the model kit back in production.
I have a few very patient customers with this kit on back order.