Any modelers on Fedora Lounge?

[Viola]

Go talk to the guy who started IHC is still alive - old Jewish fellow, you two should hit it off.
http://modeltrains.about.com/od/manufacturers/p/IHC.htm

I feel terrible for saying this but it didn't occur to me he was still around. Thanks, Story.

Bachmann is local too I think, or it used to be?

 

[Diamondback]

In the '50s, but as of the '80s they're wholly owned by Kader Industries in China. And most Bachmann stuff is sorely lacking in quality--more like "HO/N toy-trains" than "scale models". Their Spectrum line is a head-and-shoulders improvement, but still has issues... (and their Pullman 10-1-12 heavyweight sleeper is one of the best plastic Pullmans ever released, the problem is it's a particular floorplan of which less than three dozen were built--by contrast, Pullman 3410B, the least common single variant of the most common floorplan Pullman cranked out and the prototype for the severely-flawed Rivarossi Pullman, there were 80, and the combined total for just the 3410/3410/3410B 12-1s was a couple thousand.)

 

[Absinthe_1900]

I love model trains. At the moment I can't afford them but I am plotting a set up (a very simple diorama with a hidden loop, I think, probably just running a trolley) and am getting/designing bits of scenery and houses in the meantime as that is more cost-approachable at the moment.

O-scale is what i am leaning to for ease of doing scenery but HO has so much stuff and N would be more in less space so I am torn.

I do plot away at a really developed intricate someday project based on the Our Own Vintage Town thread - good thing my honey humors me!

You are probably in the best area for O gauge, have you checked out the big TCA meet at York?

When I get up that way to see my family, I end up mailing back something for my Tin-Plate collection.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I'm somewhat conflicted as to whether I would want to do an American or British/European layout as I love both. A few years ago Hornby in the UK introduced an HO scale live steam train. The boiler is heated by the current from the tracks. So far they've produced some Gresley A4 Mallards and the Flying Scotsman. I wish they would do some American trains.

One idea I've been kicking around is an HO scale amusement park. Heller in Germany produces working roller coaster and amusement park ride kits and an amusement park would allow me to run both American and European trains.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Here is a site with some enviable examples of exquisite modeling:

http://svsm.org/gallery/members

-dixon cannon

 

[Silver Dollar]

Here is a site with some enviable examples of exquisite modeling:

http://svsm.org/gallery/members

-dixon cannon

Geez, I've been on all kinds of modeling sites. How did I ever miss this one. Thanks Dixon for posting that. There are some gorgeous pieces of work there.

 

[Yeps]

I made a model giant for a game I play. I haven't gotten around to painting it yet, nor have I had a chance to use it, but sculpting was fun.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

I made a model giant for a game I play. I haven't gotten around to painting it yet, nor have I had a chance to use it, but sculpting was fun.

Yeps, how'd you do that? Is that resin hand carved?

-dixon cannon

 

[Warbaby]

What is this called...

If any of you are collectors of plastic model cars, perhaps you can help me identify this master model for making the mold for a 1965 Ford plastic car body. I'd like to put it up on eBay, but I don't know what to call it - and without a recognizable name it's pretty hard to title the listing. Also wondering if it would be of interest to model car collectors or if I'd just be wasting my time listing it. Here are some pix of it:

 

[Yeps]

Yeps, how'd you do that? Is that resin hand carved?

-dixon cannon

I used an oven bake clay. I think it was they higher grade of Sculpey. It came it a big brick, and I sculpted it over a twisted copper frame and then made the hair with little twisted noodles of clay which I then scored with a guitar pick.

 

[David Conwill]

Recovered modeler here. I’ve done rail, aircraft, armor, and automobiles fairly extensively in the past, and even tried at least one ship. I didn’t really have the patience for it back then, though, and I haven’t got much worth showcasing.

Now that I’m older, and might be better on it, I find that I’d rather spend my money on my real car, or my real vintage house. This is not a knock against anyone who derives joy from modeling, simply an explanation as to why I’ve not gotten back into it.

Someday, when my financial resources are better, I hope to interest my girls in model railroading. We have a nice, dry basement that seems well suited to hosting an N- or HO-scale layout.

-Dave

 

[David Conwill]

I'm somewhat conflicted as to whether I would want to do an American or British/European layout as I love both...

I’ve always thought it would be fun to freelance an American layout using European/British steam motive power. As though some real railroad had used those designs over here.

Myself, I’d like to freelance the “Michigan Lakeshore Railway” c. 1945, which would be heavily based on the real-life Pere Marquette Railway (that eventually merged into the C&O). That would allow me to model the beautiful West Michigan scenery I grew up in, along with the interesting industrial and farm towns in the area, without being held to too exacting a standard.

I thought I might start with a switching yard and move out from there, as I’d kind of like to try operation.

-Dave

 

[Warbaby]

All my life I've made it a point to avoid model trains. They're one of those things that, as I am a somewhat obsessive person, would take over my life and get completely out of hand. And the thought of becoming one of those old guys wearing a railroad cap, sitting in the midst of an entire basement filled with a railroad layout was just too scary to consider.

OTOH, about 30 years ago I built a Marklin Z guage layout complete with landscaping into a briefcase for an old train buff who had done me a very generous favor. I can't begin to tell you how badly I've wanted to do a little tabletop Z guage layout ever since.

 

[kampkatz]

Warbaby, you must have excellent eyesight to work with Z scale. Even N scale gets too blurry for older model RR fans. HO is as small as I can go nowadays(being over 50).

 

[RetroToday]

If any of you are collectors of plastic model cars, perhaps you can help me identify this master model for making the mold for a 1965 Ford plastic car body. I'd like to put it up on eBay, but I don't know what to call it - and without a recognizable name it's pretty hard to title the listing. Also wondering if it would be of interest to model car collectors or if I'd just be wasting my time listing it. Here are some pix of it:

Looks like a Ford "Galaxie" to me.

 

[David Conwill]

Looks like a Ford "Galaxie" to me.

Oh, I thought he meant like "buck" or "form".

I would probably title the listing something like "1965 Ford Galaxie promo mold buck". That should maximise your hits without tossing in disingenuous terms like "Mustang" or "rat rod".

-Dave

 

[Warbaby]

Oh, I thought he meant like "buck" or "form".

I would probably title the listing something like "1965 Ford Galaxie promo mold buck". That should maximise your hits without tossing in disingenuous terms like "Mustang" or "rat rod".

-Dave

Aha! A mold buck - that's the sort of terminology I was looking for. The only thing I could come up with was "master mold form", but I thought there must be a better term.

 

[Warbaby]

Warbaby, you must have excellent eyesight to work with Z scale. Even N scale gets too blurry for older model RR fans. HO is as small as I can go nowadays(being over 50).

Did have, once upon a time (being over 60) - I built that Z scale briefcase back in 1982...

 

[Diamondback]

Oh, just remembered...

Dix, a paper (even more vintage than plastic, as a build-medium!) model publisher I've dealt with for many years recently released a Hughes Airwest DC-9--it doesn't look too difficult, and I'm considering it as a practice target to try to get back in the game. Interested in giving it a home if I can ever finish it?

 

[Silver Dollar]

I've got a couple of buddies who do some of the paper models. You wouldn't believe they were made of paper. There's a site somewhere that I think originates from either the UK or Germany (Not sure which one) where the members just do paper planes. These guys are incredible. Some of the plastic guys make fun of the paper modelers, but if you see what can be done, you'd tell those guys to go jump in a lake.

If you really want to see something that will knock your socks off, check out Fine Arts Models. They make large scale stuff scratchbuilt from metal, rivets and all. Those guys are animals over there.