That is great way to honor your grandmother! Nice!
@Barry547 Considering she paid for quite a bit of my early train cars, I figured I better honor that. The entire 3100 series of my GP20s, other than the 3630 which is in the album, is based on the March 1st date.
Grandmothers always watched over us!
@Barry547 Very true. Especially when you happen to be the oldest grandchild and Grandma wasn’t exactly balanced.
Hopefully my pix loaded. I used my photo of a Chessie System SD40-2 that I took on one my many trips to Sand Patch in the late 1970’s and thru the 1980’s. I used the photo to model 3 of my Athearn Blue Box SD40-2’s with around $50.00 of parts on each one. I used the Athearn motors but polished each commutator with a 400 grade emery cloth. They do run nice and even triple head with no issues.
I believe detail parts are disappearing is RTR models, but also many hobby shops are not stocking these items anymore. The inventory just sits now, because of finished models. I like detail parts, because this the modeling part of model railroading.
1 Like
I agree, it’s hard to find detail parts. I’m not one to buy a $400 locomotive.
Here in Canada we recently lost a great source of Canadian specific details. We do things a little different up here. Details by Eric were mostly brass castings and he was just a guy in his basement turning them out. When you ordered from him, he often would throw in a couple of extra detail parts that he thought you might want or need. Sadly, he passed away recently and no one is picking up his business.
I find it amusing how people think they will save money by detailing their own locomotives. By the time you buy all the needed parts and put all the work to bring a basic blue box kind of locomotive up to the same level as a good RTR model, you haven’t saved any money, and the locomotive may not run as well as a current release. But the reason I go to the effort is to make fairly exact models of the prototype that may not be offered as RTR. I will even buy a RTR detailed model and change the details to match a prototype in a specific era. Here is a Atlas Trainman GP39-2 that I detailed long before the Athearn Genesis version came out.
3 Likes
Try E-Bay Auctions for HO model Trains Detail Parts. There are 100’s of HO Detail parts for sale you just need to search the auction and the buy it now option. If your lucky you might find something you need that you just can’t find elsewhere. there are a lot of the old CalScale RR brass detail parts there and others.
Good Luck
Dan
@RioGrandeDan
That’s what I routinely use as I don’t have an LHS. But even that has its limits. As said earlier, I found the one listing but now snail mail has lost the package.
Welcome new and returning forum posters! It’s good to have so many different ideas and posts.
You should try to cope with the scarcity of realistic O scale detail parts. They are practically non-existent in a scale dominated by toy trains and tinplate.
Having all the discretionary cash to spend does not help if the item required is simply as rare as a snowplow in Brazil.
My only locomotive is a brass model from Overland of a Colorado and Southern 2-6-0 that was re-detailed to represent Denver South Park and Pacific #9 in 1887. I had to send it to a custom locomotive builder for work because I could not find any parts. I don’t know if he had a stash from the 1960s or if he made his own, but it was not cheap work.
The Proto:48n3 drivers look amazing. I should have requested a video record of how they were produced.
Forgot to mention that after a trip to the local post office, filling out a information form and a telephone conversation with the postmaster and an email from him to Denver on Monday (12/30), the package was found in Salt Lake City and got to me on Thursday (1/2).
Parts are still there; the market has just shifted to digital. With the advent of 3D printing in the home, you can now make or buy a file and print as many as you like. Best purchase I made was getting a couple of 3D printers for modeling. I mostly do N Scale, but I do have some HO stuff. Plus, it is easy to convert from one scale to another using the digital files. I myself have a small presence on Cults3D with some free and some paid for designs. I’m not sure I’m allowed to post about on these forums though as some designs do have a cost and some are free.
1 Like
Blame me in part.
I just bought 36 40’ box cars, all RTR.
Rich
Toy Train Heaven has had a lot of detail parts available as part of their “Cloud 9” and other sales. Search for HO-Detail Parts (manufacturer) and they may have what you haven’t been able to find elsewhere.
Yikes Rich, that’s quite an investment!
Regards, Chris
1 Like
Yeah, it is a big investment, Chris.
Back in 2004 when I first got into the Ho scale side of the hobby, I bought a whole bunch of 50’ box cars from every imaginable road name.
Once I settled on modeling Dearborn Station in the 1950s, I realized that to be more prototypical I needed 40’ boxcars from the road names that actually used the freight houses at Dearborn Station.
To moderate the cost somewhat, I am selling off all of the 50’ boxcars.
Rich
As I posted in the Diner section of this forum, I made the trip to Massachusetts for the big train show and I was able to solve all of my 1/48 scale detail part problems in one trip.
The negative tone of my previous post in this thread has been replaced by elation due to the fact that I no longer need to search in frustration for small details to complete my scenes.
2 Likes