Classic Model Railroading - The Franchise

[SteamFreak]

I prefer to think of it as "tenderizing."



 

Meet the Staff


Here our CMR senior technician, Otto Krankenveis (recently deceased), discovers that powering more than two Hobbytown units with the average power pack is indeed a bad idea.

CMR is currently accepting applications for Mr. Kranenveis' position. 

[Dave Vollmer]

PA,

Yep, that's Bowser's shop, alright.  Good on you!

As for this thread, maybe we can pound out a few more jokes...

This may be my new favorite animated .gif!

[PASMITH]

As the unofficial Classic historian, you should not miss reading this issues cover story about how Pete Smith ( Me) classically kit bashed ( A modern term) a Bowser Mountain kit that was made in the Classical Bowser machine shop shown on the cover. Additional photos of the Classical Bowser machine shop are shown below. It appears from these photos that one of the Classical Bowser employees drives a classic car which may be a Studebaker. A summary of my story along with photos have already appeared on this thread.

Peter Smith, Memphis

[on30francisco]

New Product Reviews

Block of Wood Has Many Uses

This new product from William K. Woodchuck's is the most versatile product to be introduced since raw sawdust.  It comes with clear instructions that help you transform it into a wide variety of craftsman quality models.

We selected the directions for a piece of rolling stock, which go as follows:

"Find a photograph of your favorite freight car, passenger car or other piece of rolling stock, and tape it to the wall over your work bench.

Next, take your block of wood, and remove all material that doesn't look like the picture."

Our senior editor, David Popsicle Stick, took on the project, as did our junior assistant to the editor's assistant, Wordy Whippersnapper.  After several weeks of painstaking work, here are the results:

David was able to create this stunning replica of a Brill Trolley.  He is currently at his workbench hand turning appropriatele scaled wheels from Canadian nickels.  This great kit really shows its strengths, as well as the skills of a dedicated classic model railroader.

Wordy, on the other hand, had some difficulty.  He has been an HO enthusiast since he was eleven, so for the last two years he has done nothing but add ready to run equipment to his layout, and built up structures.  To say the least, he is still working on refining his skills...

You can really do a lot of things with this, including propping up part of your layout.

Block of Wood - $29.98 - Wm K. Woodchucks Inc. 

 

$29.98? That's the discounted price. If you order direct from Wm K. Woodchuck it's $49.98 plus $15 S&H. Don't delay order today as this is an extremely limited production item and will absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, never be reproduced again. 

[dknelson]

Real model railroaders make their own blocks of wood. We're doing some remodeling at the house and that's generating a large number of blocks of wood that would otherwise be wasted.  In fact, we've got so many blocks of wood, I'm seriously considering selling the excess on eBay.

Andre

Excuse me, Andre but REAL model railroaders grow their own trees, and then harvest the wood.  You ready to run types want everything handed to you on a silver platter.

Dave Nelson

[reklein]

David Popsicklestick? Wordy whippersnapper??? Hey I know those guys!!

[andrechapelon]

New Product Reviews

Block of Wood Has Many Uses

This new product from William K. Woodchuck's is the most versatile product to be introduced since raw sawdust.  It comes with clear instructions that help you transform it into a wide variety of craftsman quality models.

We selected the directions for a piece of rolling stock, which go as follows:

"Find a photograph of your favorite freight car, passenger car or other piece of rolling stock, and tape it to the wall over your work bench.

Next, take your block of wood, and remove all material that doesn't look like the picture."

Our senior editor, David Popsicle Stick, took on the project, as did our junior assistant to the editor's assistant, Wordy Whippersnapper.  After several weeks of painstaking work, here are the results:

David was able to create this stunning replica of a Brill Trolley.  He is currently at his workbench hand turning appropriatele scaled wheels from Canadian nickels.  This great kit really shows its strengths, as well as the skills of a dedicated classic model railroader.

Wordy, on the other hand, had some difficulty.  He has been an HO enthusiast since he was eleven, so for the last two years he has done nothing but add ready to run equipment to his layout, and built up structures.  To say the least, he is still working on refining his skills...

You can really do a lot of things with this, including propping up part of your layout.

Block of Wood - $29.98 - Wm K. Woodchucks Inc. 

 

Real model railroaders make their own blocks of wood. We're doing some remodeling at the house and that's generating a large number of blocks of wood that would otherwise be wasted.  In fact, we've got so many blocks of wood, I'm seriously considering selling the excess on eBay.

Andre

[tattooguy67]

Model Railroading Mythbusters - That's my show. I have dibs. The whole idea is to debunk popular myths about the hobby. If I'm going to do that, I might as well get paid (handsomely) for it.  Very good Andre, outstanding idea here, but you will be needing a shaved headed goateed sarcastic co-host, so let me know when we start filming, the first show will be about brass track, pearl drops trick, and wahls clipper oil.

[wm3798]

New Product Reviews

Block of Wood Has Many Uses

This new product from William K. Woodchuck's is the most versatile product to be introduced since raw sawdust.  It comes with clear instructions that help you transform it into a wide variety of craftsman quality models.

We selected the directions for a piece of rolling stock, which go as follows:

"Find a photograph of your favorite freight car, passenger car or other piece of rolling stock, and tape it to the wall over your work bench.

Next, take your block of wood, and remove all material that doesn't look like the picture."

Our senior editor, David Popsicle Stick, took on the project, as did our junior assistant to the editor's assistant, Wordy Whippersnapper.  After several weeks of painstaking work, here are the results:

David was able to create this stunning replica of a Brill Trolley.  He is currently at his workbench hand turning appropriatele scaled wheels from Canadian nickels.  This great kit really shows its strengths, as well as the skills of a dedicated classic model railroader.

Wordy, on the other hand, had some difficulty.  He has been an HO enthusiast since he was eleven, so for the last two years he has done nothing but add ready to run equipment to his layout, and built up structures.  To say the least, he is still working on refining his skills...

You can really do a lot of things with this, including propping up part of your layout.

Block of Wood - $29.98 - Wm K. Woodchucks Inc. 

 

[concretelackey]

That reminds me of a model airplane kit I received as a kid. It was a WWII bomber (unknown prototype)that came in a box with far eastern lettering (chinese, korean, ?????????). Anyway, there were no sprues AT ALL. All the parts were plastic castings, on a sheet approx 8"x11". I had to cut each part along it's entire perimeter from the sheets. It almost seemed like the molds were kept seperated by a 1/16" of an inch or so. I recall spending about 2 hours just to free the wings before deciding if the model would be more interesting if it experienced a fatal encounter with some fireworks.

needless to say, the fireworks won the argument.....

[andrechapelon]

I came across this ad as I was thumbing through the last issue...

Lee 

That reminds me. If CMR is going to truly be the magazine of the 50's golden age, we're going to need locomotive models just like we used to have.

Therefore, I have decided to found Imprecisely Cast Models (ICM). All locomotives will be manufactured as kits cast in Zamac and all castings will contain sufficient casting flash to keep the classic modeler happily filing each casting for at least two hours.  Boilers will have very prominent casting ridges down the center line at the top of the boiler. These ridges will be virtually impossible to file into invisibility. All "detail" will be cast into the boiler and will only vaguely represent the parts that actually were mounted on the boiler of a real steam locomotive. Additionally, all locomotives will bear only the vaguest resemblance to an actually existing steam locomotive. It is our intention use the 1950 era Mantua Mikado as our standard for detail and prototype fidelity and our motto is, "We make 'em just like they used to be made, only worse".

Classic modelers, rejoice. The long slide into the darkness of highly detailed prototypically correct models is over. From now on, you will be able to spend endless hours putting together sparsely detailed generic models and lettering them for any railroad your little heart desires. There's no model like an Imprecisely Cast Model.

Andre

[wm3798]

I came across this ad as I was thumbing through the last issue...

Lee 

[PASMITH]

Maybe this now makes me eligible to become the CMR historian?

Peter Smith, Memphis

Only if you insist model railroading in the 50s was the pinacle of the hobby, and that the hobby's going to be dead any day now ...  

In the 50s, the cry was "a chicken in every pot and a train set in every bedroom" if you recall. VBG

Uh oh, I can't do that. ( See my previous post: ......"as Yogi once said, " the future ain't what it use to be." ( AND MAYBE FOR GOOD REASON) I guess then, I am fired. In any event, historical research is the most interesting part of the hobby for me. In fact, I model the SP Klamath Falls branch in 1909 and for every hour of modeling, I do about five hours of research. It is especially hard when you model this part of the country and you live in Memphis.

Peter Smith, Memphis

[andrechapelon]

Seems to me that there was an article during the John Page era about using stove polish to "paint" a locomotive. Ah, those were the days.

I'm pretty sure the story that goes with that article is that Floquil was upset that MR had published an article showing modelers how to avoid using their product.  Supposedly, they pulled their ads from MR for a month or two before cooler heads prevailed.

Something John Page said in his famous stove polish article upset Floquil.  The head of Floquil said he would advertise again in Model Railroader "when hell freezes over."  Some time went by.  Then Joe O'Hearn the advertising sales manager for MR found an article stating that Hell, Norway, had totally frozen over.  He sent the article to Floquil and they resumed advertising.

Or so the story goes. 

Dave Nelson 

 

There's also one in Michigan. http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=55275 

That means if you tell a fellow modeler to go to Hell, you may be just giving him travel advice.

Hell, Norway, even has train service. http://www.myphotographs.net/norway/picture14.html

http://www.myphotographs.net/norway/picture15.html

Andre

[jfugate]

Maybe this now makes me eligible to become the CMR historian?

Peter Smith, Memphis

Only if you insist model railroading in the 50s was the pinacle of the hobby, and that the hobby's going to be dead any day now ...  

In the 50s, the cry was "a chicken in every pot and a train set in every bedroom" if you recall. VBG

[PASMITH]

Well, I found the MR issue containing John Page's article on painting with stove polish. It appeared in the April 1954 issue but it never was mentioned in the index. I remember it as a cover story. If you go to the MR index and click on April 1954 you will see a picture of the front cover. There were several cover pictures illustrating the articles which appeared in this issue. In the bottom left hand corner is a picture of an O gauge brass locomotive half painted with stove polish just as I recall. The date makes sense because it predates the RMC article on the same topic which appeared in September of 1954 and I am certain that John Page originated the idea. This makes me wonder if Floquil boycotted RMC too.

Maybe this now makes me eligible to become the CMR historian?

Peter Smith, Memphis

[SteamFreak]

Meet the CMR editorial staff. 

[dknelson]

Seems to me that there was an article during the John Page era about using stove polish to "paint" a locomotive. Ah, those were the days.

I'm pretty sure the story that goes with that article is that Floquil was upset that MR had published an article showing modelers how to avoid using their product.  Supposedly, they pulled their ads from MR for a month or two before cooler heads prevailed.

Something John Page said in his famous stove polish article upset Floquil.  The head of Floquil said he would advertise again in Model Railroader "when hell freezes over."  Some time went by.  Then Joe O'Hearn the advertising sales manager for MR found an article stating that Hell, Norway, had totally frozen over.  He sent the article to Floquil and they resumed advertising.

Or so the story goes. 

Dave Nelson 

 

[PASMITH]

I love the stuff and have been looking for it for years now to no avail. You might note from the picture that there are several bottles behind my work bench that had the stuff before I spilled it and it corroded my work bench (As you can also see in the picture) I don't care because it works so good. If I can get my story published in CMR, I will tell you all the advantages it has over any other product that has come out since the 50's ( except maybe Pliobond )

Peter Smith, Memphis

[SteamFreak]

Do you want to see an article on how I painted my locomotive with stove polish using chemicals recycled from the Love Canal?

Peter Smith, Memphis

So, if you don't believe me, here it is:

Now that was model railroading - there was none of this lightweight off-the-shelf plastic crap. You probably couldn't get that stove polish anymore, just because a bunch of pantywaists now say it causes nerve damage, cancer, and extra appendages. Sissies.

 

 

[PASMITH]

Tom, that is my thinking too but, as Yogi once said, " the future an't what it use to be." ( And maybe for good reasons)

Peter Smith, Memphis

[on30francisco]

Do you want to see an article on how I painted my locomotive with stove polish using chemicals recycled from the Love Canal?

Peter Smith, Memphis

So, if you don't believe me, here it is:




It a Bowser Mountain painted with stove polish. I Built it back in the 50's. I paid something like $42.50 at the time. It had a cast brass boiler. I had to grind off all the cast on piping and details. The smoke deflectors were fashioned from brass sheet and embossed with rivets. I converted it to a 4-8-4 by adding a new trailing truck. I also added over fire jets, a new dome and other details. You will be happy to hear that the tender is a Varney and is made from brass. All this stuff may be of interest to the Classic guys.

If you look closely, here there are some drivers in the background. They are from a Tyco 4-8-0 ( Yikes) That is another article that the editors of Classic Model Railroading may be interested in? But, I hesitate to say that I intend to use the boiler over a Spectrum 4-6-0 mechanism to represent an SP T-1 ( Yikes)

Peter Smith, Memphis

Seems to me that there was an article during the John Page era about using stove polish to "paint" a locomotive. Ah, those were the days.

Isn't it about time for the powers that be at Kalmbach resurrect that article? Or is it going to be reserved strictly for the use of "Classic Model Railroading" readers (all 5 of us)?

Andre

I need a lot of help. There was an article in MR written by John Page ( Then editor of MR) that touted the use of stove polish for painting brass locomotives ( I believe it was a cover story) and that is what I used to paint my brass Bowser Mountain back in the 50''s. As a matter of fact, the paint manufactures of the time were threatening to boycott MR as a result. I have just done a search of every article in MR from 1950 to 1957 and have come up empty. I believe this story was also written up in the 1985 MR series by John page, "Looking Back". What surprised me is that I found an article in the September 1954 issue of RMC touting this same method. Could it be that the powers of the time have erased history or, I have missed something?

Peter Smith, Memphis

I remember I read about that in "Looking Back With John Page." The stove polish was called Fyrproof. 

[andrechapelon]

[i]Following that line of thinking, I wonder how well Classic Model Railroading would be supported by potential sponsors.  There are very few mfgr's active today that align themselves with CMR's point of view.  Bowser, NWSL, Clover House, and maybe a few others are the only ones that come to mind.  Most of the other guys would probably pull their ads after the first issue.

Tom[/]

Ads? We don't need no stinking ads. Real model railroaders don't buy stuff, they MAKE stuff.

Andre

[wm3798]

I love "eBay Watch".. That's hysterical.

I don't know about the quality of his comb over, but I nominate Koester for the Trump role in the Apprentice series.  And David Popp would be his erstwhile assistant, specializing in clever banter while he struts his stuff in his Model Railroader apron.  We really need to chip in and get him a new one.  It's starting to look pretty mangey.

Lee

[tatans]

I'm just waiting for all the responses from those do not like any type of criticism about MR, such as: (if you don't like the hobby, do something else,)  (You can do no wrong in model railroading,)  (you cannot be critical in any manner,) ( how dare anyone critique N/S track, kaydee couplers, big boys.)  ( MR's with unlimited amounts of money who feel the need to tell others they are just jealous.) And on it goes. -------------pasmith -beautiful job on the loco.

[PASMITH]

Do you want to see an article on how I painted my locomotive with stove polish using chemicals recycled from the Love Canal?

Peter Smith, Memphis

So, if you don't believe me, here it is:




It a Bowser Mountain painted with stove polish. I Built it back in the 50's. I paid something like $42.50 at the time. It had a cast brass boiler. I had to grind off all the cast on piping and details. The smoke deflectors were fashioned from brass sheet and embossed with rivets. I converted it to a 4-8-4 by adding a new trailing truck. I also added over fire jets, a new dome and other details. You will be happy to hear that the tender is a Varney and is made from brass. All this stuff may be of interest to the Classic guys.

If you look closely, here there are some drivers in the background. They are from a Tyco 4-8-0 ( Yikes) That is another article that the editors of Classic Model Railroading may be interested in? But, I hesitate to say that I intend to use the boiler over a Spectrum 4-6-0 mechanism to represent an SP T-1 ( Yikes)

Peter Smith, Memphis

Seems to me that there was an article during the John Page era about using stove polish to "paint" a locomotive. Ah, those were the days.

Isn't it about time for the powers that be at Kalmbach resurrect that article? Or is it going to be reserved strictly for the use of "Classic Model Railroading" readers (all 5 of us)?

Andre

I need a lot of help. There was an article in MR written by John Page ( Then editor of MR) that touted the use of stove polish for painting brass locomotives ( I believe it was a cover story) and that is what I used to paint my brass Bowser Mountain back in the 50''s. As a matter of fact, the paint manufactures of the time were threatening to boycott MR as a result. I have just done a search of every article in MR from 1950 to 1957 and have come up empty. I believe this story was also written up in the 1985 MR series by John page, "Looking Back". What surprised me is that I found an article in the September 1954 issue of RMC touting this same method. Could it be that the powers of the time have erased history or, I have missed something?

Peter Smith, Memphis

[concretelackey]

Seems to me that there was an article during the John Page era about using stove polish to "paint" a locomotive. Ah, those were the days.

I'm pretty sure the story that goes with that article is that Floquil was upset that MR had published an article showing modelers how to avoid using their product.  Supposedly, they pulled their ads from MR for a month or two before cooler heads prevailed.

Following that line of thinking, I wonder how well Classic Model Railroading would be supported by potential sponsors.  There are very few mfgr's active today that align themselves with CMR's point of view.  Bowser, NWSL, Clover House, and maybe a few others are the only ones that come to mind.  Most of the other guys would probably pull their ads after the first issue.

Tom

That may all depend on what character comedian qualified individual was promoting sales...

[potlatcher]

Seems to me that there was an article during the John Page era about using stove polish to "paint" a locomotive. Ah, those were the days.

I'm pretty sure the story that goes with that article is that Floquil was upset that MR had published an article showing modelers how to avoid using their product.  Supposedly, they pulled their ads from MR for a month or two before cooler heads prevailed.

Following that line of thinking, I wonder how well Classic Model Railroading would be supported by potential sponsors.  There are very few mfgr's active today that align themselves with CMR's point of view.  Bowser, NWSL, Clover House, and maybe a few others are the only ones that come to mind.  Most of the other guys would probably pull their ads after the first issue.

Tom

[andrechapelon]

Do you want to see an article on how I painted my locomotive with stove polish using chemicals recycled from the Love Canal?

Peter Smith, Memphis

So, if you don't believe me, here it is:




It a Bowser Mountain painted with stove polish. I Built it back in the 50's. I paid something like $42.50 at the time. It had a cast brass boiler. I had to grind off all the cast on piping and details. The smoke deflectors were fashioned from brass sheet and embossed with rivets. I converted it to a 4-8-4 by adding a new trailing truck. I also added over fire jets, a new dome and other details. You will be happy to hear that the tender is a Varney and is made from brass. All this stuff may be of interest to the Classic guys.

If you look closely, here there are some drivers in the background. They are from a Tyco 4-8-0 ( Yikes) That is another article that the editors of Classic Model Railroading may be interested in? But, I hesitate to say that I intend to use the boiler over a Spectrum 4-6-0 mechanism to represent an SP T-1 ( Yikes)

Peter Smith, Memphis

Seems to me that there was an article during the John Page era about using stove polish to "paint" a locomotive. Ah, those were the days.

Isn't it about time for the powers that be at Kalmbach resurrect that article? Or is it going to be reserved strictly for the use of "Classic Model Railroading" readers (all 5 of us)?

Andre