Monday, May 20, 2013

It's been too long

It's been way too long since I've updated this blog so here it is.

My latest purchases are 2 newly released kits from Railway Recollections: the steam launch kit and 24 foot passenger combine with the monitor roof. I have no pictures yet, but you can see them here if you have a facebook account and "friend" Barry McClelland: https://www.facebook.com/barry.mcclelland.77/photos.

Barry has released several incarnations of the 24 foot box car: combine, coach, excursion and baggage cars. There is also a 24 foot caboose with baggage style side doors.

The steam launch is similar to the one once offered by Sheepscot Scale Models but now out of production. Frenchman River (http://www.frenchmanriver.com/Pages/HO/Boats/steamLaunch/steamLaunch.html) also has one still available.

There is a distant picture of the completed Sheepscot kit in my post from April 2008: http://hon30.blogspot.com/2008/04/latest-linekin-bay.html

Barry's kit is more like the Sheepscot kit as the cockpit is curved. The Frenchman kit has a square cockpit. Barry's is a little longer than the Sheepscot kit.

If you can only buy one steam launch kit in HO scale, I recommend Barry's kit as it looks more "classic" and the hull lines are more graceful. The Frenchman River kit has a more utilitarian look. There may be room for both on many layouts.

Check out Mount Blue's expanded offerings in HOn30. He now has a conversion kit for a diesel and SRRL cabooses. These bring the total HOn30 rolling stock kits offered to 19! 6 of them are WW&F kits.
http://www.mountbluemodelco.com/HO.htm

Other projects on the workbench:

Railway Recollections Sandy River Box car A. (Yes, I know it was on the workbench back in 2008)
Aru Models Porter 0-4-0 kit No. 72
Mt Blue SRRL Boxcar No.s 87-99
scratch-built China Station
China module scenery

Here's an old picture of some of my locomotives.
From left to right are the AHM Baldwin saddle tank shell on a Fleischmann 0-4-0 mechanism, an MDC/Athearn 2-6-0 with a laser cut wood cab (Small Scale Logistics out of production) and the ubiquitous Frary & Hayden Trix FM switcher conversion with the AHM Plymouth cab.