I have not made this request in a long time.
I've made progress on my book on Kumata brass in N scale.
Called:
The Kumata Primer: An N Scale Brass Guide by Ron Bearden
Many of you on this board helped me (thanks). I have actually held in my hands and studied almost every KMT brass example.
But I could still use a few more.
I would love for someone to loan me the following locomotives if you have them- or can put me in contact with someone who has them....
Your help will contribute greatly to the book.
--Hallmark RSD4/5
--Hallmark RS1
--Sunset Trainmaster in the NON-Pennsy version with no antennas.
--NJ Custom Brass Pennsy MP54 Commuter cars/set. THIS one is the greatest need. YAY! Thanks Allen This has been the hardest.
--NJ Custom Brass Silverliner in Reading scheme (only 30 were made)- just need to only
photograph this one.
--NJ Custom Brass NH Washboard in the orange and white McGuiness scheme (original or add-on sets)- just need to only photograph this one.
--Kumata 2000 EP-2 bi-polar (not the one sold by NJ in the 1980s). I doubt I'd ever see another since they were only sold in Japan. I have photos of these, and the one I have was the last one and appears to be a factory reject. So I'd love to actually hold/run another. Though I'm not expecting anyone to risk sending me one all the way from Japan.
As always, the deal is:
--I will pay all shipping from and back to you.
--Permission to lovingly remove the shell so I can study and photo it.
--Permission to run on a track for only a few minutes to see how well/bad it runs.
--If you want, I will improve it for free. I know a lot about these locos and most people like me to make them run better (most run absolutely horribly). But if you prefer, I will do nothing.
--I'll give you a thanks acknowledgement in the introduction.
The reason for actually holding these locos in my hands is because each and every time I assume I know all there is to know about these.... and I get another loco I haven't seen before-- I discover something new. Kumata seems to have tweaked almost every one. So I have learned not to assume.
Book status. The survey is completed (but still hoping for the locos I requested above). It is about 70 pages.
The tweaks and improvements section is slowly being written.
When completed, I'm thinking the book will be about 100 pages with hundreds of color photos.
When I began this many years ago, I was expecting to give away a free 30 page PDF. But this has grown much much larger than that.
I'll probably have this printed and charge only a very modest amount.
You can contact me by PM here.
Thanks for reading.
And since text is boring, here is a shot of one I worked on:
