QUOTE: Originally posted by nickinwestwales Hi -me again -CNJ-ZAMAC-heard the name,not familiar with the material,is it flat grey casting,--looks a bit like pewter,but less dense???? nick
Ray Breyer
Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943
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Mark P.
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QUOTE: Originally posted by Autobus Prime Dear folks: I have a pile of old Model Craftsman magazines (forerunner to RMC) from the mid '30s, back when they covered all kinds of models, not just trains. I did not know that Lionel's 700E introduced zinc die casting to model railroading, but it makes sense, since most locomotive kits appear to be brass or bronze. (Incidentally, if you adjust for inflation, only today are prices beginning to approach the cost of 1930's scale models. ) It seems to me that the people back then who liked operating more than building would generally take tinplate equipment and modify it for a better appearance. Some very nice models were built this way, and they had few reservations about gluing wood, card, or any sort of detail on to a tinplate locomotive. (We don't seem to see people mixing materials very much. What if somebody were to scratchbuild a steam locomotive, using brass or styrene where each would work better?) Eric La Nal had a number of articles, too, where he would use various ingenious tricks to build a superstructure of wood and cardboard and adapt it to (sometimes tinplate) HO mechanisms. These are still worth reading today, I think. He had a '20% effort for an 80% result' attitude that we seem to be lacking these days. Cordially yours, A. P.