Jordan or Plymouth Mad
Mid-Western Thunderer
What make is the 'stencil' TCX lettering? I could do with a sheet of that style - preferably dry-rub 'letraset' type; I like dry rub transfers for lettering.
P48 for Cotton Belt: Roster addition SW1200
- Thread starter Yorkshire Dave
- Start date
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
Archer Fine Transfers - the same guys who do all the printed resin rivets (and military decals) in all scales for military and railroad modellers.
Listed as Generic Lettering for all scales, Style commonly found used for vehicle names on WWII allied vehicles (cat no. AR35108W) and is dry transfer rub down lettering to boot
.
Listed as Generic Lettering for all scales, Style commonly found used for vehicle names on WWII allied vehicles (cat no. AR35108W) and is dry transfer rub down lettering to boot
.
Jordan or Plymouth Mad
Mid-Western Thunderer
Thanks Dave! I feel an order to Archers coming on... 
JasonD
Western Thunderer
Yet another great thread (hmmm, I looked at westernthunder some time ago and didn't find any American stuff for reasons that are depressingly clear - to me anyway). The Roco/Atlas 40ft. boxcars are based on a Pennsy prototype and the reefers used the end and roof in their moulding. I don't think Atlas changed the bodywork much for the Trainman version. I took the roofwalk off and filled/filed the mounting holes too, but either left the moulded-on end supports filed a bit, or put All-Nation type metal ones there. Plastruct angle (yes before they brought out the nicer stuff) represents the roof-walk supports. Many older, FRA-affected cars retained these, highly visible. Some cars also had the brake wheels left up high so had the full-length ladders to access them too ... aaaaahh American O-scale, as Aristotle may have said "the the more you know, the more you know you don't know" or was that Einstein or ...?
Jason
Jason
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
There's an article in issue 9 (Jul/Aug 2003) O Scale Trains Magazine by Gene Deimling http://www.oscalemag.com/docs/ost_9.pdf giving a summary of the prototypes of the O scale cars.
I have a Weaver car to convert to one of these
and my Roco/Atlas car I intend to convert to one of these.
JasonD
Western Thunderer
Gene's article is comprehensive, I've had the pleasure of meeting him and we all need people (like him) to aspire to. What's interested me most on these US threads is the depth of detail the posters go to. I've been lucky(?) enough to live close-by to clubs with O-scale running and have ended up saying "I need a longish train, if I can scratch/parts-build to AtlasO (for example) standards I'll be happy", so the threads are a good source of inspiration.
Nitty-gritty: the Weaver PS-1 has a poor end. It's like a flat piece with ribs laid thereon. The Blue Streak Cotton Belt car has the real thing, very close to the All-Nation brass one (all you need to do is drill all the right holes - bl***y craftsmanship). The Improved Dreadnaught End on the SP car is virtually the same as the one on the SP car to the right: the top horizontal ribs are different widths, the shadows on the lower ribs are deeper so maybe (maybe) closer spaced. Not related, the side-sill is continuous between the bolster ends done with a 'double-dipping' piece that looks like an overhaul overlay. That right-hand SP car is higher: has it got 36" wheels and 107401 has 33"s? Wasn't expecting that! O-scale - big enough to worry about the things. BTW I picked up a Lionel PS-1 Rock Island to repaint D&H. It's a great PS car (OK, apart from some annoying underframe bits by the trucks, but...). Those Lionel PS cars - gon, 3-bay covd hopper, etc are all great. Do I need to learn how to post pics?
The new Avatar is my D&H MoW van I brought back to England to turn into a camper. OK nurse, I'm just signing off .
Jason
Nitty-gritty: the Weaver PS-1 has a poor end. It's like a flat piece with ribs laid thereon. The Blue Streak Cotton Belt car has the real thing, very close to the All-Nation brass one (all you need to do is drill all the right holes - bl***y craftsmanship). The Improved Dreadnaught End on the SP car is virtually the same as the one on the SP car to the right: the top horizontal ribs are different widths, the shadows on the lower ribs are deeper so maybe (maybe) closer spaced. Not related, the side-sill is continuous between the bolster ends done with a 'double-dipping' piece that looks like an overhaul overlay. That right-hand SP car is higher: has it got 36" wheels and 107401 has 33"s? Wasn't expecting that! O-scale - big enough to worry about the things. BTW I picked up a Lionel PS-1 Rock Island to repaint D&H. It's a great PS car (OK, apart from some annoying underframe bits by the trucks, but...). Those Lionel PS cars - gon, 3-bay covd hopper, etc are all great. Do I need to learn how to post pics?
The new Avatar is my D&H MoW van I brought back to England to turn into a camper. OK nurse, I'm just signing off .
Jason
Jordan or Plymouth Mad
Mid-Western Thunderer
There's been American stuff here ever since The Guv (Cynric Williams, WT's founder) let me in the front door 
Been trying to educate the membership about Man-sized trains ever since...
But my contents probably never had "American" in the Thread Titles so a search might not have flagged it up.
Been trying to educate the membership about Man-sized trains ever since...
But my contents probably never had "American" in the Thread Titles so a search might not have flagged it up.
Dog Star
Western Thunderer
You could ask the FS for an appropriate "tag" to go in the title pre-fix field... something like "SOO spoken here".
Big Train James
Western Thunderer
Hi Jason,
Welcome to Western Thunder. I'm sort of returning myself. I got involved here heavily back during the summer last year. Since August or so I've gone missing as any number of other things took precedence over modeling
. I'm hoping to get active again here soon when I can fit the time in, but that's another story.
I'm an American modeler, and you can take that both ways. I've got a rather long-winded introduction posted elsewhere here, and I've got a workbench type post on kitbashing an EMD sw1500 from an Atlas mp15dc that ran roughly in concert with Mickoo working on his CSXT mp15dc. Work on the sw1500 got set aside as mentioned above, but I have it with me during a temporary move and hope to get back started on it immediately.
And yes, you will need to start posting up some pictures with your work. They're really quite obsessive around here about that
! Can't say I disagree, I like pictures too. Interestingly enough you'll find a bit about that with respect to file sizes and formats and so on in another thread I started named "posting conventions".
Take a look around. There are actually quite a few U.S. outline modelers here, and quite a few more that can appreciate it even if they don't model it themselves. Get something going and they tend to come out of the woodwork
.
Cheers,
Jim
Welcome to Western Thunder. I'm sort of returning myself. I got involved here heavily back during the summer last year. Since August or so I've gone missing as any number of other things took precedence over modeling
. I'm hoping to get active again here soon when I can fit the time in, but that's another story.I'm an American modeler, and you can take that both ways. I've got a rather long-winded introduction posted elsewhere here, and I've got a workbench type post on kitbashing an EMD sw1500 from an Atlas mp15dc that ran roughly in concert with Mickoo working on his CSXT mp15dc. Work on the sw1500 got set aside as mentioned above, but I have it with me during a temporary move and hope to get back started on it immediately.
And yes, you will need to start posting up some pictures with your work. They're really quite obsessive around here about that
! Can't say I disagree, I like pictures too. Interestingly enough you'll find a bit about that with respect to file sizes and formats and so on in another thread I started named "posting conventions".Take a look around. There are actually quite a few U.S. outline modelers here, and quite a few more that can appreciate it even if they don't model it themselves. Get something going and they tend to come out of the woodwork
.Cheers,
Jim
GWR Jim
Western Thunderer
Hello Dave.
Do you find it easy to have P48, including the payment of, items shipped over to the UK?
I have collected together over the past months a few bits and bobs in US O scale stuff but can't make up my mind to go P48 or stick with standard O?
I do like the look of your offering.
Regards
James
Do you find it easy to have P48, including the payment of, items shipped over to the UK?
I have collected together over the past months a few bits and bobs in US O scale stuff but can't make up my mind to go P48 or stick with standard O?
I do like the look of your offering.
Regards
James
JasonD
Western Thunderer
James, I'd collected too much Ow5 to think about P48, much like many finescale O-gaugers who try and decide whether to go to Scale Seven. It's track and wheel stds. A great looking piece of rolling stock can sit on either. For me it was what do I do with it when finished, run it at home and show it to others, or take it to the O-gauge meeting and run it on the organiser's Peco circuit?
Jason
Jason
Jordan or Plymouth Mad
Mid-Western Thunderer
Protocraft - a main supplier of P48 bits - will ship to UK & take Paypal, and helpful via email, so no difficulties at all in actually obtaining stuff.
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
As Jordan has alluded to I've had no problems with Protocraft. Sorry about delay in replying I was down I Bristol over the weekend.
Jordan or Plymouth Mad
Mid-Western Thunderer
Just my own opinion, but what puts me off going P48:-
- the substantial cost of replacement wheelsets, on everything
- the significant difference in tolerances. I suspect my rough'n'ready track, & the methods I use to lay it (e.g. wooden track gauges!!) would not be viable with P48. My models stay on the track because there's a fair bit of leeway in Ow5 standards.
- I don't think the overall effect of my models would be enhanced enough to justify the expense. They are not detailed to the Nth degree - P48 works best as part of an overall 'package' of the absolutely highest modelling standards possible. I don't think I have enough lifetime left to attain that.
- Visually the actual gauge difference is hard to distinguish, especially from low, eye-level viewpoints.
As I say, just my point of view; I wouldn't want to deter anyone else from doing it.
- the substantial cost of replacement wheelsets, on everything
- the significant difference in tolerances. I suspect my rough'n'ready track, & the methods I use to lay it (e.g. wooden track gauges!!) would not be viable with P48. My models stay on the track because there's a fair bit of leeway in Ow5 standards.
- I don't think the overall effect of my models would be enhanced enough to justify the expense. They are not detailed to the Nth degree - P48 works best as part of an overall 'package' of the absolutely highest modelling standards possible. I don't think I have enough lifetime left to attain that.
- Visually the actual gauge difference is hard to distinguish, especially from low, eye-level viewpoints.
As I say, just my point of view; I wouldn't want to deter anyone else from doing it.
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
Going by your photographs I would disagree.
In the dim and distant past I built an On30 layout (pics below) to RP25 88 standards and my hand laid track (first attempt, code 75) was rough'n'ready. Everything stayed on and I put this down to the fact the bogie stock using 'short' wheelbase trucks was self compensating.
Certainly, if I'd started US O scale years ago it would have been Ow5 standards. Having only just started, and with only a small amount of stock (8 vehicles and 1 loco), I elected for P48 psychologically knowing the track gauge is correct. Unfortunately with my modelling now the scale/track gauge combinations is one of my bugbears.
However, I doubt if my rolling stock will ever achieve the same levels as the dyed-in-the-wool P48 modellers. I'm satisfied with adding sufficient detail so the overall effect looks right with the minimum effort........
Rest assured, I ain't counting them thar rivets either
.
Jordan or Plymouth Mad
Mid-Western Thunderer
With modern stock being welded, rivet counting is an obsolete sport anyway.
... the Accuracy Police can count ripples in the welding seams instead...
... the Accuracy Police can count ripples in the welding seams instead...
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
Just been to the York Wargaming Society show at the Racecourse today and purchased this for £25.
It's a laser cut 2mm MDF, slotted construction kit of a generic Railroad Station. When I asked at the stand what scale it was and the reply was 28mm figures or around 1:56.
The parts are below and although a rather basic it will form a shell to which extra details will be added such as window sashes, clapboarding, shingles, gutters etc.
After all it is designed for wargaming and has to stand up to a fair amount of handling hence no or scant details. The other kits on offer today for the Wild West were a livery stable, saloon bar, hardware store, hotel, church, wind pump and a water tank. Another trader was selling hitching posts, tables, chairs, pianos to complete the scene.
To give an idea of the scale this is the door and a 1:48 scale figure. During construction I may raise the sides by about 7mm so the door does not look too small.
Canopy supports and telegraph office.
Walls and chimney
Doors and roof
Platform base
It's a laser cut 2mm MDF, slotted construction kit of a generic Railroad Station. When I asked at the stand what scale it was and the reply was 28mm figures or around 1:56.
The parts are below and although a rather basic it will form a shell to which extra details will be added such as window sashes, clapboarding, shingles, gutters etc.
After all it is designed for wargaming and has to stand up to a fair amount of handling hence no or scant details. The other kits on offer today for the Wild West were a livery stable, saloon bar, hardware store, hotel, church, wind pump and a water tank. Another trader was selling hitching posts, tables, chairs, pianos to complete the scene.
To give an idea of the scale this is the door and a 1:48 scale figure. During construction I may raise the sides by about 7mm so the door does not look too small.
Canopy supports and telegraph office.
Walls and chimney
Doors and roof
Platform base
oldravendale
Western Thunderer
Hi Dave.
That figure looks a touch out of period. Does he know???
Brian
That figure looks a touch out of period. Does he know???
Brian