Detail Parts Wish List

[sirenwerks]

Wow!

Great suggestion!

I'd take 100 of 'em.


Although I already have a number of major products in the works, it was worth starting this thread just to get feedback like this for additional product ideas.

I'd like to explore this particular idea in more depth. Please contribute your expectations on such a product or range of related products.

As they used to say in the ad business, time for some blue sky ideas--in other words, assume anything (within reason) was doable.

If we're allowed to get pie in the sky here, I'll bite. If the externally-visible throw arm could incorporate a sector gear, which turns a horizontally mounted pinion that rotates, at its center, the switch stand's vertical shaft, you could have a working movable target. It sounds more complicated than it actually is but would require a certain level of accuracy in construction, meaning higher price for built-up or more attention by modeler for kit. But if an affordable kit could be made, I would grovel at your feat. I don't know if such an idea's beyond fulfillment via an etched product, if the physics could be worked out in scale. Maybe a twisted rubber band design, instead of gears?

Even without the above, the idea of a backsaver works for the modern modelers; and actually offers a cool bi-product - the triangular loop could be easily thrown with a wire pen device, rather than clumsy beefy fingers. Incorporating such an operating feature would allow for a finer scale appearance. Now if a similar design could be made that would fit an older era, that would be groovy too.

[Sokramiketes]

Thank you for your concern. It's good to know others are giving my business as much thought as I am. But there's a lot more to it than me just trying to make a buck doing a bunch of detail parts. Unfortunately you're making some assumptions that aren't quite correct. I wish I could lay out my entire business plan for all to see; I can say, though, that spincasting details will be just one part of the eventual product line. I won't be able to make everything for everyone, but it will be useful to know what modelers need.

Just saw your blog post and note now that this is a full time venture.  You can ignore my comments, party on.  Good luck!

[u18b]

Sizemore said it first-- I agree.

Never been produced in N scale.  Chessie rock pilot.  Round instead of a snow plow.  Good for Chessie and CSX.

http://www.trainweb.org/chessiephotos/photos/GP40-2/1977cs-b&o.jpg

[wcfn100]

I've given it two days and only came up with a couple things.

As far as diesel parts go, spark arrestors are certainly something that people can use.  And I'm still trying to make electronic horns for a MILW project.

One thing I know I'm going to need in quantity is parking meters (maybe if I make the master, you could cast them?).  Another thing that I know is needed (and could use) is bridge shoes.  For some reason bridges don't come with them even though they're always there.  ???

FWIW, I had contacted GHQ several years ago about producing a scale coupler.  Not one that's usable, but one that can be used for photos or other purposes.

Good luck.

Jason

[SkipGear]

ME makes bridge shoes in both HO and N. HO can be used for larger bridges. N fine for most.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I was not impressed with the ME shoes in N. They're kinda soft and melty looking.

[wcfn100]

ME makes bridge shoes in both HO and N. HO can be used for larger bridges. N fine for most.

I'd prefer something that didn't require telling someone what it is when looking at it.


Jason

[sirenwerks]

Loco and car shop equipment (pipe benders, heavy lathes, etc.) and RIP track stuff (jack stands, heavy welding equipment, proto looking truck and coupler PARTS, etc.). Yes, I know about the few Detail Associates parts, but Walthers gave us a roundhouse, car shop, and machine shop and they look silly empty even stuffed with rolling stock. They should be gems of the yard.

Wheels (w/ axles) for track carts and for turning road vehicles into hi-rail vehicle.

Spoked lead and trailing truck wheel sets for older steamers.

And I'm not sure if you want to go in this direction, but I would like to see detailed flat car loads, which are kind of detail parts. What I have in mind is agriculture implements; part detail item, part vehicle, and enough in each 'box' to fill a flat car. The whole covered blob, big crate thing doesn't do it for me.

[robert3985]

David,
How about proper hard pewter Q-truck frames for all those (thousands) of improperly numbered and painted Micro Trains UP CA Harriman era cabooses that are out there? I'm getting tired of cannibalizing Bachmann Old Timers of their trucks then modifying them and still not being happy with the results because they're modeled with the journals completely extended (like the car is suspended in air) so they ride high. Add-on brake rigging and shoes for the truck ends would be great too!  These should work for back-dating Intermountain UP CA-3's and CA-4's too. 

Inside swing-bar truck frames would also be great too for the CA cabooses that had 'em.

A cupola detailing kit would be great!  Seats, safety bars and maybe a brakeman and conductor (a conductor standing on the end-platform would add a lot to any caboose).  Make 'em for the most popular cabooses first, along with LASER-cut Styrene windows to get rid of that 12 foot thick look of cast Styrene panes with the accompanying sink-marks!

If you're thinking of doing etched details, some proper metal ladder kits would be great! Like ladder rails with .007" holes etched in them so that .007" wire could be inserted into the holes, soldered and trimmed to make a prototype ladder of varying widths with round "steps" just like many ladders found on  signal bridges, cabooses, water towers, mast signals etc.  I'm really tired of seeing the same old flat, one-piece ladders being supplied with etched kits. The flat ones are easy to draw up, but etching detailed ones doesn't take any more time or cost more.  Ladders with flat "steps" would have their steps also separately etched but with prototypical "shoulders" to keep the rails separated.  Easy!

Speaking of cabooses, some really detailed etched caboose ladder tops, railings and stanchions, brake wheels and housings, and running boards out of hard brass.  A set of grabs (cupola, caboose body ends and sides) and window guard bars would really speed up the process of superdetailing various cabooses.  Various antennae, sliding window screens, lights and proper smokejacks, as well as proper etched folding steps and expanded metal (or wood) platforms could round out some very complete superdetailing/modifying kits.

Also conversion kits for Intermountain CA-3's and CA-4's to turn them into CA-5's, and CA-6's might sell.  Would have to include different end platforms, railings, running boards, smokejacks (and support hardware) as well as radio antennae, alternator, battery box.  Different roofs with different panels (resin?) and etched, expanded metal steps.  A few lines of properly spaced and sized resin rivet decal lines (ala Archer Transfers) to add the extra lines of rivets on the CA-6 would complete the package. Owner's plates would add that extra "touch".

You could also offer along with the regular UP CA superdetail kits, a "Pool" kit that would add the extra safety features on UP's "Pool" fleet of cabooses, with or without running boards and ladder tops.

M & R Sides already makes an etched stainless fret of running boards, brake wheels, end-chains, battery box covers and eyebolts for the Intermountain CA-3 and CA-4 cabooses (I have one in my sweaty hands right now!)....SOooo...the vibes are out there already! I wish they would have taken it a couple of steps further with the addition of ladders and railings!  Now, it's up to you....

Remember, there's a caboose on the end of every model train, except the most modern models!

Oh, and some hard brass etched type-D signal heads with the big snow-guards, braces and various snow shields/breakers (at least that's what I have deduced they are).  I've built several of these from scratch and after the first two or three, they're not that difficult.  However, they are time consuming and a kit that could be lit by the proper sized LED's would really be a God-send for a lot of modelers.  In fact, a kit with a proper-sized mast and non-flat etched kit-ladders and etched number plates would be something I'd buy a couple of dozen (or more) of!

Amen to the telegraph, power and telephone poles!  However, I'd make 'em injection molded like the Rix kits with clear or green insulators and arms out of high-impact Styrene or Lexan (if possible) so they would resist breakage and be able to be "strung".  Paint the arms and leave the insulators clear!  I'd prefer a real wood pole, but finding the proper diameter wooden poles might be a problem.  I've used swab sticks I buy at a local pharmacy nearby, sand 'em and scribe "grain" lines in them with my Zona saw.  I made a bunch of them from the N-scale of Nevada pot metal kits for Nate Goodman (NATO), but the arms are VERY delicate and could never be strung. And, they're of a very specific SP prototype and appear to be a little large next to trains alongside the tracks. For sure the cast insulators are too big, but some crossarms just have the insulator mounting pegs, and I added a blob of tinted white glue which dried into an "insulator" in a hour or so.

I don't think an aluminum injection mold would be too expensive for just the arms with integral insulators.  Pretty simple parts.  Hard stainless etchings for the cross arms might work too, but they'd have to be pretty thick stock (around .022") and I don't know if that's feasible.  They could be "stacked" in a sandwich of three sheets of .007" or .010" hard stainless (to allow the surface to etch down to reveal nut and bolt details), the outer sheet with nut and bolt and metal brace details, the center piece with the mounting pegs for the insulators, and the inner sheet with appropriate nut and bolt details.  All three would have a center hole to help register them to be glued or soldered together using a brass wire running through it, which would later be used to mount the cross arm in a hole drilled through the wooden "pole".  Hmmm...that'd work, especially if you could source a small enough glass bead in either opaque dark brown, clear green or clear to mount on the pegs representing insulators of different colors.

How about some etched kits of switch stands? Sequoia Models used to manufacture an injection-molded kit of two switch stands that were perfect for my transition era UP.  I cast some of them up in brass, and got the targets to swivel realistically as my Tortoises actuated my hand-built turnouts.  For a while there, they were a real crowd-pleaser at the shows!  I still have a couple of dozen of the kits and my investment casting equipment is a long way from being set up again.  Nearly 100% of layouts have at least one turnout.  A fret with half a dozen impeccably detailed switch stand kits with several different style targets and a half dozen pewter switch lamps and the appropriate red and green MV lenses sounds pretty good to me!  You could offer them one at a time too for an increased cost-per-switchstand.  Oh, and you might include brooms and shovels to go along with the kits, maybe as a separate accessory.

Bernie Kempenski (sp?) used to offer a "trackside details" fret with switchstands included, but it was Pennsy specific if I remember correctly.  Now discontinued, unfortunately before I got my act together to buy one of 'em.  For me, there were too many extraneous parts that didn't fit my UP specific layout.  I would have certainly purchased a fret of just switchstands.

Oh, then there are semaphores.  Specifically lower quadrant semaphore blades.  Along the same subject would be train-order signals of various types.  For a long while, most stations had one.

How about a really nice transition era pewter and etched brass speeder/motorcar kit?...with a trailer or other accessories and crew?  All the railroads had 'em, and they are SMALL...but command attention displayed in a highly detailed scene.

How about a few different, highly detailed water and oil columns? Yeah, I know there are a few out there already (very few).  I want a specific type that was at Echo and Ogden on the UP.  I believe they were used at other larger engine facilities too.

A really superdetailed etched brass and pewter kit of a major engine terminal's sanding tower and sand-drying house would be great too!

Several detail parts for Athearn Big Boys and Challengers really need to be made.  Proper pilot platform railings with bracing is needed as are higher water hatches that ALL Big Boys and Challengers eventually had.  Big Boy trailing truck brake cylinders and rigging would make the trailing truck correct.  Folded canvas cab curtains would be the same for both Challengers and Big Boys and a kit to get rid of the ugly phillips head screw in the front stack of both models is needed.  How about an etched superdetailing kit for the recessed ladders on both sides of the tenders with proper rail and step configuration and bracing?  A drop-in etched shorter drawbar would make the models look much better than they do stock.  And, while we're at it, a new chassis for both of them that articulates like the real deal!  Hahaha...I can hope can't I?

And lastly (I have to go to bed!) how about a superdetailing kit for the Walthers 130' turntable?  Needed would be etched hard brass railings, power bridge, a lighting kit and control house with the external throw-lever/brake and your choice of a war-time pretty lady or a post-war normal guy at the controls.  Of course we all know this kit is modeled after the Cheyenne UP turntable and it's fully documented.  Why not make it "exact"?

And any more early to middle transition era stuff I can think of!

Good luck David on your pending enterprise.  I would be happy to produce masters or drawings for you if it would influence your decisions or speed up the process!

Bob Gilmore

 

[DKS]

David,
How about proper hard pewter Q-truck frames for all those (thousands) of improperly numbered and painted Micro Trains UP CA Harriman era cabooses that are out there?...

Wow, Bob, did you join just to post that tome? Certainly more food for thought than I can digest in one pass. Thanks for your insight--I'll be chewing on this for days to come.

[John]

I'd prefer something that didn't require telling someone what it is when looking at it.


Jason

I make my own ...

[160pennsy]

At the moment, I can't get into the particulars on what some of my first products will be, but I can say that in a few months I'll be acquiring a spin caster with the intent of making, among other things, detail parts. Although lightly used, it's been sitting idle for about 20 years, so my first order of business will be rebuilding it to get it back into shape.

Meanwhile, I invite RW members to build a wishlist for detail items. Obviously I won't be able to make them all, but it will help to give me an idea which ones might be the most popular.

David,

Aside from the occasional LHS dusty shelf or swap meet find,  I'd like to see the ENTIRE catalog of detail parts from the old product lines brought back to life and be readily available when needed - (ie: Alloy forms, Period Miniatures, Sunrise, Gloor Craft, etc). When I start in on a structure scratch-building project, I like to gather up everything I need (including the cast pewter detail parts) and then begin mocking up what it will look like. During this process the need for that special detail part, that so & so company used to make, often comes up. Then reality sinks in and you realize that you used up all of them on an older project & they are "out-of-production".

[Ed Kapuscinski]

If we're blue skying it... an SW1500. That's a detail part, right?

[mcjaco]

I'll jump in here, but I don't think you could go wrong doing SP light packages.  

I bring this up all the time, but CNW gong bells, both styles.  And Rotary beacons!  

[Iain]

Does anyone make N scale K type brake gear?