I just bought one of Bill's kits and it is truly impressive. Granted, the list
price is more than a ready-to-operate SHS 2-8-0 with sound and DCC, but it is a
prototype
unavailable any other way, and discounting the sweat-equity in building it (and
for those who like to build, the old argument is that one pays a premium for
the
privilege of exercising one's skills--the higher the skill-requirements, the
higher the cost), it is still less than most brass imports. And probably
likely to be rarer
than most imports--I doubt Bill imported more than a few dozen kits of each of
the prototypes.
I was browsing the latest issue of S Guagian at Jeff Saine's place (my second
chance to visit the Plaines and Prairies group) and read Rusty Rustermeier's
column on
hoppers in S scale. My reaction was that (having now done 7-8 AF hopper
conversions), I tend not to bother with replacing the ladder grabs with wire
(although I
often thin the plastic a bit), as that is more work than I want to do for a
simple conversion (silk purses and all that); if I went that route, I'd go
ahead and replace the
clunky stiles while I was at it with styrene strip. I do add grabirons from
brass wire where they are entirely missing and fabricated stirrup steps from
some steel flat
wire I had on hand (old Walthers stock)--which I usually need to do several if
not all of, the junker bodies I buy generally missing some or all of them.
Where the
step is still usable I drill and file it out. I augment the undersize brake
step with a bit of sheet styrene, and that is most of the conversion, Ace
bolsters and trucks
understood. I think very occasionally of scraping off the cast-on brake lever
and replacing it with the white-metal MainLine/YOHF castings but mostly just
leave them.
The single item I don't do but would like to is to add the AB brake gear under
the B-end slope sheet. Rusty mentions using AM castings, which would surely
work,
but my question then is, does AM routinely sell those separately?
A last thought, since another list member swapped me some freight car parts,
including a half-dozen assorted Ace tank car conversion bolsters, I bought a
junker AF
tanker at SMS in St Paul to try one out. While it doesn't look awful, it does
seem misproportioned--too long when viewed with my PSR/SSA tankcars. I
probably won't
do many/any more of those.
Jace Kahn
General Manager
Ceres & Canisteo RR Co./Champlain County Traction Co.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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