I just recieved a set of 2 new Corrugated Auto Carriers from MTH today. On the newer versions, they’ve moved the trucks back to to more prototypical position. Additionally, the new auto carriers sit lower on the trucks than the previous models. Well done, MTH! Below I’ve posted some before/after pictures. The car on the left is an older auto carrier, the car on the right is the new updated version.
A wonderful mistake happened yesterday. I bought an Atlas tank car at the store and didn’t notice that it was a 2-Rail car. When I opened it up, I saw that the car had scale couplers and shiny scale wheels. I like this! I’m seriously thinking of going with 2-Rail freight cars from now on, for the more prototypical look. Isn’t it funny how we sometimes make our biggest advancements due to mistakes?
I can’t tell you how happy I am with the results I’m getting out my new Iwata airbrush and compressor. The subtle weathering possible with an airbrush is just so cool. I’ve been doing at least 1 or 2 cars every day for the last week or so. At the very least I will start off by giving each car a light coat of Scalecoat II “dust” color. This subtly fades the car’s factory paint job and makes it look like it’s been out in the sun for a while. At this point the car is simple faded, not dirty. Once I’ve faded the car, I may opt to go back and enhance the car by adding a touch of Scalecoat II “railroad grime #1″ and “railroad grime #2 to the trucks and underside of the car. From there, I can keep adding layers until I’m satisfied. This is fun! Check out this before and after shot of an MTH Conrail boxcar…
I’ve procrastinated doing this for so long, but I really need to buy a good track cleaning car. I’ve narrowed my selection down to 2 cars. The first one is the CMX “Clean Machine” track cleaning car. It runs about $250. This car was recommended to me by a local O-Scale friend. He says it does a great job. The only downside is that it’s pretty ugly. The second choice is the “Typhoon” track cleaning car made by Aztec Trains. This runs about $235 and is built into a nice looking Weaver hopper car. It’s much more pleasing to the eye than the CMX car and it also includes a magnet on the front of the car that picks up any metal fragments on the tracks, which is a nice bonus. Both cars are about the same price, so at this point it’s just a judgement call. I’m going to try to make up my mind in the next week or so.
