Stephen
Western Thunderer
Seeing as I've been slowly disposing of all my UK based OO gauge and concentrating solely on O gauge, I took the first step into moving from HO to O with my interest in American railroads too.
The first purchase is an Intermountain 40' 1937 AAR Box Car in SP livery. The kit looks pretty decent, although the detail very fine, so holding off starting it until I've replenish my scalpel collection to ensure precise cuts.
As far as this side project will go, I'm going to aim for a short rake of box vans with a caboose and hopefully a 2-8-0 at the head of the cut. SP is my preferred road, although a mix of box cars from other railroads would always be welcome.
As I've started looking more into this 'side project', I have a myriad of questions, I wonder any of the good folk on here could answer or comment on?
1. Is there any other company who make kits to the same level of detail (or better) than the Intermountain former products? A run through google and the Walthers website hasn't revealed much, and the imagery on the Atlas website possibly does convince me of their quality - am I wrong ?
2. Looking tat the box car kit it recommends Kadee 804 or 805 couplings. One is plastic, the other is metal, both however are the same price from gaugemaster. Would anyone recommend one over the other?
3. Does anyone know of a company that makes transfers/decals for SP Box Cars? Microscale don't seem to have anything for the steam era.
4. Any recommendations for RTR or good caboose kits that would be suitable for SP? Again a trawl of the t'interweb hasn't been that successful.
5. The expensive one - can anyone recommend what sort of brass 2-8-0 I should look out for, and is there a general brass retailer who would be a good starting point?
Many Thanks in advance!
The first purchase is an Intermountain 40' 1937 AAR Box Car in SP livery. The kit looks pretty decent, although the detail very fine, so holding off starting it until I've replenish my scalpel collection to ensure precise cuts.
As far as this side project will go, I'm going to aim for a short rake of box vans with a caboose and hopefully a 2-8-0 at the head of the cut. SP is my preferred road, although a mix of box cars from other railroads would always be welcome.
As I've started looking more into this 'side project', I have a myriad of questions, I wonder any of the good folk on here could answer or comment on?
1. Is there any other company who make kits to the same level of detail (or better) than the Intermountain former products? A run through google and the Walthers website hasn't revealed much, and the imagery on the Atlas website possibly does convince me of their quality - am I wrong ?
2. Looking tat the box car kit it recommends Kadee 804 or 805 couplings. One is plastic, the other is metal, both however are the same price from gaugemaster. Would anyone recommend one over the other?
3. Does anyone know of a company that makes transfers/decals for SP Box Cars? Microscale don't seem to have anything for the steam era.
4. Any recommendations for RTR or good caboose kits that would be suitable for SP? Again a trawl of the t'interweb hasn't been that successful.
5. The expensive one - can anyone recommend what sort of brass 2-8-0 I should look out for, and is there a general brass retailer who would be a good starting point?
Many Thanks in advance!