Fine N Scale

[JoeD]

I've been trying to contact Fine N Scale...no response.  Have I missed something?...

Joe

[johnb]

His site is up....I assume that you emailed and called?

[JoeD]

He was out of town...back in contact...all is right with the world. 

Thanks

Joe

[peteski]

I hope Micro Trains is not looking for outsourcing some of your casting to Fine N Scale. While the quality of the castings is great, Dick uses resin with strong odor (which not only stinks - the smell never goes away), it actually shrinks after several years (I have seen that in his Pioneer Zephyr kit and other castings).
Dick's resin smells like the resin used by the old Magnuson Models, and by Chooch.  It smells sort of like mothballs, or some other similar chemical smell. Most other resin casters use resins with no, or very little odor.  I wish Dick would do the same.

[dougnelson]

Our Hell Gate Models PRR headend cars were cast by Dick Billings.  Our experience is an odorless, thin walled, fine detailed casting with no shrinkage.  Dick is a master resin caster.  I cannot speak about the Zephyr, but the castings he did for us are excellent. 

[peteski]

Our Hell Gate Models PRR headend cars were cast by Dick Billings.  Our experience is an odorless, thin walled, fine detailed casting with no shrinkage.  Dick is a master resin caster.  I cannot speak about the Zephyr, but the castings he did for us are excellent.

Yes, I never questioned his mastership - just the smell of the resin he used.  Maybe he changed it in the last few years?  That would be great as I do think his offerings were, and are, excellent (sans the stink).

[johnb]

Yes, I never questioned his mastership - just the smell of the resin he used.  Maybe he changed it in the last few years?  That would be great as I do think his offerings were, and are, excellent (sans the stink).

I have some of his cars from 30 years ago,  and they don't stink

[ednadolski]

I recall some of the well car castings -- no smell, but they did warp.

Ed

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I've got some crushed autos from the early 2000s.

I can always tell when I've recently opened the box they're in. Stink city!

[CRL]

I’ve cut down some Chooch bridge abutments, and that resin smells like a$$.

[robert3985]

I've got a bunch of Fine N Scale cars, and although some of them have a strong odor when I first take them out of the box and while I'm cleaning up the base of the castings or the edges of the floors with a file, after paint (I paint both inside & outside) the odor becomes unnoticeable...to the point that it "goes away" for my olfactories.

I don't perceive it as a problem, at all.

But, my nose isn't noted for its sensitivity.

As for shrinkage, I have never noticed any shrinkage whatsoever in any of my Fine N Scale cars, and I've had many of them for decades.

My PFE R50-1 50' Wood Reefers and PFE Wood Express Reefers are more often than not included in my photos because their high quality and uniqueness compliments the super detailed cabooses and engines which are the main subjects of many of my photos.

Photo (1) - FNS PFE R50-1 50' Wood Reefer leading highly modified/superdetailed brass UP CA-8 caboose on the west end of Echo Yard behind one of my scratchbuilt brass UP cantilever signal bridges:


Photo (2) - FNS PFE Express Reefer as I built it over two decades ago:


I've also had good luck with the FNS Caboose Interiors & Toolboxes for the Micro Trains "Wood Caboose".  The toolbox is a precise fit in the proper position for both U.P. CA and S.P. C-30-1 cabooses and I've used many of them for customer caboose builds.

Still in their boxes awaiting assembly and painting are several dozen UP B50-25 Express Boxcars, Pennsy, B&O and Nickel Plate boxcars which are so prominent in photos and videos of UP freights in the late 40's to middle 50's.

From my experience with the Fine N Scale products, I would highly recommend to MTL to take advantage of their attention to detail and casting expertise, even if the castings may stink for a while.

What I'm hoping @Shipsure is doing, is planning a limited run of properly painted & numbered MTL UP CA or SP C-30-1 cabooses using the Fine N Scale interior/toolbox parts.

That'd be very nice!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[peteski]

I guess reactions to odors are very personal. Some people hate it, others barely notice.  I have several Fine N Scale products and they (to me) still smell quite strong.  Yes, paint blocks some of the odor, but I can still smell it.  What I'm simply saying is that I would prefer Dick's castings to  be made with an odor-free resin. Maybe other companies use such reasons, and their castings are just as good.  For example Rasuptin's N scale vehicles have no unpleasant odor.

Just to put things in perspective, my nose is not all that sensitive.   I still use organic solvent based paints, like Floquil, Scalecoat II, Tru-Color, Accu Paint, Testors, and others, and I don't find those odors unpleasant (plus those odors diminish as the paint dries).

[ednadolski]

I still use organic solvent based paints, like Floquil, Scalecoat II, Tru-Color, Accu Paint, Testors, and others, and I don't find those odors unpleasant

Naaah.... too easy....   

(Just teasing of course! )

Ed

[Simon D.]

It smells sort of like mothballs

Mothballs!  That's it.  I've been trying to place that pong on my wonderful Caswell gondolas for ages.

[Steveruger45]

Just wondering if washing the odorous parts in vinegar would help.  It’s an “old” method of getting mothball smell out of clothes.