First train in Aylmer!

Well that only took 2.3 years!

Today I managed to run a way freight from the St Thomas yard, into Aylmer.
Now all those customers in Aylmer can start getting the rail traffic they've been hollering for!
Still have so much to do in the town, mind you.
Canning plant, stock yard, freight house, coal dealers, milk condensing plant all need to be built.
And then there's all that ground cover.
But that's all for another day.
Today, I rest on my laurels a bit.

Sill Steps for PRR X37 & X38

Today we have a guest posting
Eric Thur has taken one of Yarmouth Model Works sill step designs and applied them to a car we didn't even consider at the time.
Thanks for sharing Eric!

While browsing Yarmouth Model Works HO Photo Etch Stirrup section, I came across YMW-220. This Stirrup set, (sold as a replacement for Tangent’s GSC Tank car RTR Models), can be easily modified to replace Funaro & Camerlengos PRR X37, a, b, X38 kits. Most resin cast Stirrup Steps from kits are fragile and can break easily. Also they are much thicker than prototype Stirrup steps. By cutting one step leg, you can make a prototypical looking Stirrup with the correct looking thickness as well as the strength of metal.

As seen in the photos, from top to bottom:

First, carefully cut the Stirrup part from the sprue (I highly suggest using XURON #440 Photo Etch Scissors). Sand the edge carefully with an emery board till smooth.

Carefully cut off the vertical leg closest to the angled leg (See Photo) the one with the point at the end. Do Not cut the vertical closest to the angled corner support (the one that bends 90 degrees (no point on end).

Don’t try to cut too close to the joint; you can leave a little metal there which can be trimmed with a Xacto blade. Carefully cut downward with the end of the blade to remove excess metal (Do not try to shave the metal off by slicing sideways) you will damage the part.

Next, bend the angled corner brace leg carefully at an angle 90 degrees. Test fit the part to the underbody. You want the outer vertical leg to be as close as possible to the end of the car body so that the angled brace lays flat against the end sill under the grab iron’s inner side. Adjust angle if needed.

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Mark your drill points and drill with a #70 bit.

Check your step is straight and the corner brace fits level with the body end.

Carefully attach with ACC. Check alignment and let dry. Remove any excess ACC if needed.  Paint your model.

Although the YMW-220 is slightly shorter than the original prototype, they give a much cleaner and authentic appearance than the kit parts.

Happy Modeling!

Eric Thur

Little River, SC

That's a lot of Orange!

Now I've built a lot of reefer kits over the years now. Sunshine, Westerfield, Tichy, etc.
These 5 were a new experience for me.
These kits were created by the late Stan Rydarowicz, to recreate the Hormel company steel reefers.

The kits use an Intermountain PFE reefer kit as a core, and Stan created resin ends and sides to accurately model these cars.
I had to do a little digging to discover the correct shade of orange for these cars and consensus was the orange you see on the models.
I mixed Scalecoat reefer orange and reefer yellow, 50/50, to tone the orange down a tad. And they're still pretty bright!
Decals and flat finish will calm things down I'm sure.
Another day of paint curing and I can apply decals, and put away my sunglasses!

No NBWs on this bad boy!

Just finished this lovely O scale caboose kit, from Mullett River.
These are such well done kits, it's a shame the Glenn can't continue to produce them. A nice mix of laser cut and photo etched parts.
I've built a number of his cabooses now, and they've all been a pleasure to work on.
And my soldering skills get a bit of workout, on the underframes, end railings and ladders. Which is not a bad thing.
Now I can clean the work bench and try and catch up with all the HO scale freight cars I have waiting here

350+ should suffice

I'm almost done assembling these 2 Mullet River Models boxcar kits.

And frankly I'll be happy to get paint on them soon.
These guys turned out to be more work than I'd anticipated, but the end results are well worth the effort.
Theses O scale boxcar kits come with a lot of details to add.
It's taken me days to add the over 350 individual nut/bolt/washer castings. 2 for every grab iron, 80 on the lower belt of the Great Northern car, etc.
But I can honestly say, I've had my fill of NBW castings for awhile.