This is for the Mopac guys in S scale.
I just received the stainless Eagle etchings and the MP buzzsaw logo decal and the T&P diamond logo decal to go on the etching.
These are forPA,E and rear of the observation car.
Mike Swederska
--
Mike Swederska
Meramec Valley Lines
Modeling Mopac equipment in 3/16
Don't let perfection get in the way of good enough! Keep model railroading fun!
|
John,
?
I have assembled and painted four of those BL-2 kits and personally have found the shells themselves to be very well done.? The fine details in the original kits were brass, such as the fans, MU hose fittings, horns, etc. all from BTS.? The only weak spot, in my opinion was the frame which was a very thin resin casting.? But once assembled to the body shell, which is very thick, the unit is quite robust.? I toyed with the idea of making a frame out of sheet brass, but once finished, it wasn't necessary.? If the resin ones fail, brass is still an option.? The unit pictured has been in service for a number of years and MANY hours at shows and on my home layout pulling a consist of short (4-6) passenger cars or freights.? After all, they were meant for Branch Line service.? BTW, the EMD power trucks and motor were purchased from American Models, and have proven themselves to be next to bullet-proof.
?
I'm glad you were able to find a few of the kits anyway!? Good luck in your endeavors.? Knowing what kind of modeler you are, I'm know they'll turn out great.? Keep us all informed, will you?
?
Jerry Poniatowski
Brighton, MI
?
 ??  ?
 ? 
|
Great link, Jamie.
Ben Trousdale?
|
Just for fun, I went searching on Google Maps for the boxcar. If you're interested, here it is.
Jamie Bothwell Bethlehem, PA
On Tue, Feb 4, 2025 at 8:38?PM Nick Kinnear via <nick.kinnear= [email protected]> wrote: You are correct Jace.
--
Nick Kinnear
Plainview, MN
|
|
|
Since my posting, I have managed to locate at least two BL-2 kits that I will likely purchase. But once I received them and review them, depending on the quality of the shells, I may still choose to have a new and improved, 3D printed shell produced.? I have no doubt that professional quality printed resin shells, such as what SMMW can produce, would most almost surely be superior to anything produced previous. I am hoping I won't feel the need to go that route, But having never seen a BL-2 model before, I have to reserve judgment.
John D
In the near term, preserving scratchbuilt patterns and casting copies in resin will be viable for small runs. It would be valuable to locate and preserve these and other patterns from the past 20+ years. Surely there are many such that are dormant in someone's basement or storage locker.
?
I also think about the patterns for the RDC shells and other products sold by American Hi-Rail (Tom Hodson) in early 2000s. And some other products from that era.
?
In the longer term, of course CAD and 3-D printing will make older patterns worthless.
--
Mark Charles
Ann Arbor, Mich. USA
|
On Wed, Feb 5, 2025 at 05:11 AM, Mark Charles wrote:
I also think about the patterns for the RDC shells and other products sold by American Hi-Rail (Tom Hodson) in early 2000s. And some other products from that era.
A lot of Hodgson's patterns were HO models (like the RDC, Athearn's HO models were the pattern.)? There was a chemical process (which I don't understand) that he used to expand the mold to S Scale.
?
Rich G(ajnak)
|
In the near term, preserving scratchbuilt patterns and casting copies in resin will be viable for small runs. It would be valuable to locate and preserve these and other patterns from the past 20+ years. Surely there are many such that are dormant in someone's basement or storage locker.
?
I also think about the patterns for the RDC shells and other products sold by American Hi-Rail (Tom Hodson) in early 2000s. And some other products from that era.
?
In the longer term, of course CAD and 3-D printing will make older patterns worthless.
--
Mark Charles
Ann Arbor, Mich. USA
|
You are correct Jace.
--
Nick Kinnear
Plainview, MN
|
Peter,
I saw the 100% increase in the number of visits to the website between December and January and the 50% increase in the number of unique visitors...if I'm reading the data correctly.? ?That's really exciting!? Does the data you have access to provide any information about what specific pages saw significant increases in visits?? ?It would be interesting, and useful, to know if the increased visits, and visitors, are looking for information about AF/HR or scale.? I tried to do a little analysis from what's posted in the Members Only portal but only one month's data on page visits is posted.
?
One thing that's curious is that the NASG's RMC campaign has been running for a long time, entering it's fourth year now, so it seems less likely that it generated such a huge increase in visitors and visits month to month.? The NASG ad campaigns in Model Railroader and? Classic Toy Trains were far less comprehensive...simple 1/2 page ads in four issues of each of those magazines.? ?If those small ads drove the gigantic increase in visits to the NASG site, then the significant costs to run those ads might be justified...and would warrant the BOT approving funds for more MR and CTT.
?
Bottom line, the increase in visits to the site is encouraging but any information that would shed light on what actually drove the increase and what aspects of S the many, many new visitors had interest in, the better decisions the BOT can make going forward.
?
I think I'm safe in saying that anyone who has ideas for what the NASG can do to promote S should contact their regional VP, get their support for the idea and then help the VP take it to the BOT.? Then, most importantly, be prepared to do the work to get the idea implemented.?
Brooks Stover
|
All aboard Mike!? Please take look at the playlists when you have a moment. Austin?
On Tue, Feb 4, 2025, 6:56?PM Mike Swederska via <MikeSscale= [email protected]> wrote: HI Austin,
I just subscribed to your channel and clicked on the bell.
?
I am not a flyer guy but just an all around S guy. So I will enjoy your videos when you post them. Thanks for the channel.?
--
Mike Swederska
Meramec Valley Lines
Modeling Mopac equipment in 3/16
Don't let perfection get in the way of good enough! Keep model railroading fun!
|
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Thank you, Austin. Mighty kind words!
And, conversely, I visit your YouTube channel routinely, and when I see
you feature a specific car or engine, I make a link to your YouTube
video for that car or engine in the NASG web site's "Product Gallery"
section, so hopefully you get some traffic from that.
- Peter.
On 02/04/2025 04:43 PM, Austin Birkey via wrote:
> Peter...I mentioned using the website to solve a wiring issue I had
> not previously encountered nor did I have in my references.
> I'll be putting a YouTube together on this project and will include
> not only the reference I used but show how to find schematics....the
> engine is a 336 Northern.? Any video I do one one of these engines
> sees a good amount of traffic. Hopefully I'll drive more towards the NASG.
>
> And thank you again for the tremendous work ...dare I say
> transformation...you have made to the website.? It really is the one
> place to go for all things S!? Well done! ?
> Austin
--
Peter Vanvliet (info@...)
owner, Fourth Ray Software
Houston, Texas
(personal web site)
|
The NASG, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) "Educational" non-profit corporation,
so it is able to accept donations, and for U.S. residents, the
donation may even be tax-deductible. Contact a member of the NASG
BOT for more info (I'm not a lawyer).
- Peter.
On 02/04/2025 05:43 PM, John Degnan via
groups.io wrote:
GREAT
NEWS!!!
?
So, with
that said, I have a suggestion...
With all
of these advertising campaigns going on... would it be
possible for the NASG to run a RAFFLE to go along with it??
I'm talking about a raffle to win a FREE freight car???? I,
for one, would definitely be willing to purchase and donate a
(non-AF) ('scale') freight car, or two, to this cause!? And I
challenge ALL other S scalers to do the same!? If the NASG
would take donations from us for a few months to see how many
of us will donate to this cause, these donations can be the
prizes for the raffle!
?
Or better
yet... maybe a few of us could team up to purchase one (or
more) diesel locomotive(s) to donate to this cause of
PROMOTING OUR SCALE!?!? Anything to entice people to come and
give S a try is wort it to me!
?
Challenge
issued!
?
?
John D
Scaler164
--
Peter Vanvliet (info@...)
owner, Fourth Ray Software
Houston, Texas
(personal web site)
|
HI Austin,
I just subscribed to your channel and clicked on the bell.
?
I am not a flyer guy but just an all around S guy. So I will enjoy your videos when you post them. Thanks for the channel.?
--
Mike Swederska
Meramec Valley Lines
Modeling Mopac equipment in 3/16
https://www.youtube.com/@mikesscale3149
Don't let perfection get in the way of good enough! Keep model railroading fun!
|
GREAT NEWS!!!
?
So, with that said, I have a suggestion...
With all of these advertising campaigns going on... would it be possible for the NASG to run a RAFFLE to go along with it?? I'm talking about a raffle to win a FREE freight car???? I, for one, would definitely be willing to purchase and donate a (non-AF) ('scale') freight car, or two, to this cause!? And I challenge ALL other S scalers to do the same!? If the NASG would take donations from us for a few months to see how many of us will donate to this cause, these donations can be the prizes for the raffle!
?
Or better yet... maybe a few of us could team up to purchase one (or more) diesel locomotive(s) to donate to this cause of PROMOTING OUR SCALE!?!? Anything to entice people to come and give S a try is wort it to me!
?
Challenge issued!
?
?
John D
Scaler164
?
?
On 02/04/2025 5:24 PM EST Peter Vanvliet <peter@...> wrote:
?
?
And, more good news: we had a massive record number of unique visitors to the NASG web site during the month of January.
Since the current BOT of the NASG started the various advertising campaigns, the web site has consistently gotten more and more unique visitors, month over month. From my perspective, there appears to be a lot of interest in S, and it is growing. So, I simply cannot buy into the doom-n-gloom of S' future; the real-world metrics say otherwise.
- Peter.
On 02/04/2025 11:14 AM, Mike Swederska via groups.io wrote:
?
So, for all the negative talk on this group lately about the future of S. I am supper excited for this year.?
?
Thank you again for the wonderful web site.?
?
--
Peter Vanvliet (info@...)
owner, Fourth Ray Software
Houston, Texas
(personal web site)
|
Thank you, Austin. Mighty kind words!
And, conversely, I visit your YouTube channel routinely, and when I see you feature a specific car or engine, I make a link to your YouTube video for that car or engine in the NASG web site's "Product Gallery" section, so hopefully you get some traffic from that.
- Peter.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On 02/04/2025 04:43 PM, Austin Birkey via groups.io wrote: Peter...I mentioned using the website to solve a wiring issue I had not previously encountered nor did I have in my references.
I'll be putting a YouTube together on this project and will include not only the reference I used but show how to find schematics....the engine is a 336 Northern.? Any video I do one one of these engines sees a good amount of traffic. Hopefully I'll drive more towards the NASG.
And thank you again for the tremendous work ...dare I say transformation...you have made to the website.? It really is the one place to go for all things S!? Well done! ?
Austin
--
Peter Vanvliet (info@...)
owner, Fourth Ray Software
Houston, Texas
(personal web site)
|
Rich..not sure if the following is helpful or not as I do not have a good way of measuring the following... But I get comment probably once or twice a month from some one saying they are new to the hobby and have questions.? Sometime they received an uncle or grandfather's flyer and want to get it going.? Sometimes they just tell me they are new to the hobby. In the past year I have had contact with two people just getting into Flyer that I have had better follow up with.? In both those cases they are super excited and find themselves getting bit by the train bug HARD.? In the both case these 50 something guys had purchased significant amounts of flyer with in the first few months of getting started. A third group I've seen some fun emails from are people who have retired (65+) who have a flyer set packed away that they want to get operating.?? With our question I've seen more start-ups reach out from one of these three groups in the past year than in all the previous years combined. Be encouraged! Austin?
On Tue, Feb 4, 2025 at 02:24 PM, Peter Vanvliet wrote:
Since the current BOT of the NASG started the various advertising campaigns, the web site has consistently gotten more and more unique visitors, month over month. From my perspective, there appears to be a lot of interest in S, and it is growing. So, I simply cannot buy into the doom-n-gloom of S' future; the real-world metrics say otherwise.
While it's great the NASG website is getting a lot of new interest, the real-world proof will be how many of those folks get into S, be they coming from other scales or newbies.
?
Rich G(ajnak)
|
On Tue, Feb 4, 2025 at 02:24 PM, Peter Vanvliet wrote:
Since the current BOT of the NASG started the various advertising campaigns, the web site has consistently gotten more and more unique visitors, month over month. From my perspective, there appears to be a lot of interest in S, and it is growing. So, I simply cannot buy into the doom-n-gloom of S' future; the real-world metrics say otherwise.
While it's great the NASG website is getting a lot of new interest, the real-world proof will be how many of those folks get into S, be they coming from other scales or newbies.
?
Rich G(ajnak)
|
Peter...I mentioned using the website to solve a wiring issue I had not previously encountered nor did I have in my references.?? I'll be putting a YouTube together on this project and will include not only the reference I used but show how to find schematics....the engine is a 336 Northern.? Any video I do one one of these engines sees a good amount of traffic.? Hopefully I'll drive more towards the NASG.
And thank you again for the tremendous work ...dare I say transformation...you have made to the website.? It really is the one place to go for all things S!? Well done! ?? Austin
And, more good news: we had a massive record number of unique
visitors to the NASG web site during the month of January.
Since the current BOT of the NASG started the various advertising
campaigns, the web site has consistently gotten more and more unique
visitors, month over month. From my perspective, there appears to be
a lot of interest in S, and it is growing. So, I simply cannot buy
into the doom-n-gloom of S' future; the real-world metrics say
otherwise.
- Peter.
On 02/04/2025 11:14 AM, Mike Swederska
via wrote:
So, for all the negative talk on this group lately about the
future of S. I am supper excited for this year.?
Thank you again for the wonderful web site.?
--
Peter Vanvliet (info@...)
owner, Fourth Ray Software
Houston, Texas
(personal web site)
|
And, more good news: we had a massive record number of unique
visitors to the NASG web site during the month of January.
Since the current BOT of the NASG started the various advertising
campaigns, the web site has consistently gotten more and more unique
visitors, month over month. From my perspective, there appears to be
a lot of interest in S, and it is growing. So, I simply cannot buy
into the doom-n-gloom of S' future; the real-world metrics say
otherwise.
- Peter.
On 02/04/2025 11:14 AM, Mike Swederska
via groups.io wrote:
So, for all the negative talk on this group lately about the
future of S. I am supper excited for this year.?
Thank you again for the wonderful web site.?
--
Peter Vanvliet (info@...)
owner, Fourth Ray Software
Houston, Texas
(personal web site)
|
Jerry Poniatowski
Ben
Tom Lennon
John Degnan
Nick Kinnear