HO Figures

[Anonymous]

I see a lot of different figures on featured layouts in Model Railroader and Model Railroading. Where do they come from? If they are scratch made, where can I find info on how to make figures?

[Sperandeo]

Hi Erin,

We've published many stories about painting and modifying figures. The most recent was "Making people unique" in Lionel Strang's Workin' on the Railroad column in the :
MODEL RAILROADER. For a list of other stories on this subject, click on the MR logo at left to get to our magazine home page, then click on Model Train Magazine Index. There you can do a keyword search on "figures" and find all the references you could want.

Good luck,

Andy Sperandeo
Editor
MODEL RAILROADER Magazine

[Anonymous]

Andy

Thank you for the reply. How many years can I get back issues of MR? My Dad and I just got back into railroading last year and I just started getting MR then. I live in Colfax, Iowa. Has MR ever been to Trainland USA in Colfax for that layout?

Thank you
Erin

[Sperandeo]

You're welcome, Erin.

You can order back issues of MODEL RAILROADER from as long ago as May 1973 by going to the Train Shops section of this Web site and clicking on "Model Railroader Products." There will be individual issues that are out of stock as you get farther back than a few years, but the online listing shows exactly what we have.

If you want an article from any out-of-print issue – as far back as January 1934! – you can order a photocopy from [e-mail]. the price for this service is $3 per article, with a $5 minimum charge.

We did a story on Trainland U.S.A. in our November 1985 issue, pages 118-122. I took the photographs for that feature myself, and I had a good time visitng with builder Red Atwood.

Best wishes,

Andy Sperandeo
Editor
MODEL RAILROADER Magazine

[Anonymous]

Most figures are coming from the range of Unpainted Figures Sets from Preiser (a german manufacturer) and are sold by Walthers. They can be modified to match an era or a prototype railroad (as I make for my Own layouts, one featuring DRGW and a free-lance short line called Colorado & North Western, the other based on the Belgian National Railways near the german border). For painting them, I use Vallejo's Acrylics. More explanations about painting the figures on my website : www.ibelgique.com/Trainmaster. The article about figures is only in french at this time, but I plan to add an engli***ranslation soon.

Ricky.

[Anonymous]

The only thing I would add to this dicussion is to say that painting your own figures might seem intimidating to someone who hasn't tried it, but it's really quite easy, & VERY economical. I'd recommend getting one of the unpainted bulk packs from Preiser. One of my best investments ever, for this task was a bench mounting flourescent light, with a built in magnifier. Get a couple of 00 spotter brushes, & you're in business.